In 2012, my seventh year of consulting, I’m pleased to report:

• I served 29 organizations (14 returning clients and 15 new clients…see below for the full list). This brings the total number of clients I have served to over 80.
• I facilitated 34 retreats or meetings
• I led 24 trainings attended by over 500 people

Here’s what some of my clients had to say about my consulting:

• “GREAT! Very grounding and supportive. The retreat was well-planned, and engaging from start to finish.” Beverly Keefe, Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust
• “Wonderful! He kept us on track and set a positive tone. Would love to work with him again.” Autumn Rooney, Arroyo SECO Network of Time Banks
• “I like Ron’s energy and creativity and the way that we interact.” Rene Castro, Long Beach Building Healthy Communities
• “He is exceptional. He is professional, thoughtful, and knows the material.” Lindsey Stammerjohn, John Gogian Foundation
• “Ron has an ability to focus on what is important and relevant.” Georgia Case, City Fabrick
• “Ron has an ability to listen and articulate what the group was saying. His attentiveness to our needs before, during and after the retreat was very valuable.” Mireya Pena, Museum of Latin American Art
• “Connectedness” David Kietzman, Youth Speak! Collective

Some highlights for me personally were the retreats I facilitated for the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, Black Women for Wellness, YouthSpeak! Collective, the Museum of Latin American Art and the Los Feliz Improvement Association. I’m pleased to  say 100% of my clients who have worked with other consultants described the quality of my work as “exceptional” or “above average”.

Through my work the clients I served continued to make a positive impact in Southern California, including developing community gardens, providing enriching learning experiences, engaging the parents with public education, cultivating youth leadership, maintaining quality neighborhoods, inspiring health and wellness, improving bicycling conditions, building community and transforming Southern California into a more sustainable region.

Throughout the year, I grew my own network of Affiliates, Associates and other institutions working to build organizational capacity, redesigned my logo and website, and also grew my own capacity to serve by starting a Masters of Science program in Organization Development. I wrote an article that gained some traction, the Case for Los Angeles as a Bicycling City and reflected on the role of bicycling in my own consulting practice. I also wrote ten tips to deal with folks who dominate your meetings, 10 Big decisions a nonprofits make, launched #NPLA on Twitter (for nonprofit related issues in Los Angeles) and updated my popular list of places for an organization to host a retreat in Southern California (now over 50 sites!).

My goal for 2013 is to serve my 100^th client. If you know of an organization that wants to build a stronger team, plan for the future, recruit more effective board members, develop a strategy to raise funds or change in some other way in a positive direction, please contact me and I will reach out to them. Thanks and happy holidays!