To be considered for very large project, HHS provider must prove compliance and build capacity

Challenge:

A respected health and human services provider was offered participation in a new and very large citywide project. In a nutshell, the program would more assertively provide outreach and mental health services to residents in lower-income brackets, with the goal of saving money in the community’s hospital systems by reducing emergency room visits.

It was an exciting opportunity for this HHS provider, but there was a hitch. The distinguished funder (a large educational institution) put forth a stipulation, effectively saying: “We must ensure your systems are extremely robust to meet program compliance before we release the money. In addition, we must be 100% certain you have the capacity to perform this service. You cannot participate with the current systems you have in place.”

Solution:

The HHS provider turned to Joseph Boyd. Over the course of several intense months, Joseph teamed with the HHS provider and potential funder to:

• Clarify the funder’s expectations and specific compliance requirements.
• Create a budget and staffing pattern that would support the program and enable the organization to build capacity.
• Shore up all policies and procedures and put working templates in place, wherever possible.
• Ensure detailed processes were in place for good fiscal accountability including preparing accurate and timely invoices, tracking fund income, allocating fund expenses, and so forth.
• Train staff members to accurately follow all policies and procedures.
• Identify and improve multiple other facets of the organization to ensure it would be set up for success, from the get-go.

Result:

Working closely with the entire team and the funder, Joseph built a solid foundation for ongoing success – and built the HHS provider’s capacity. In fact, they started the program with an initial annual funding of $600,000, which has now doubled to $1.2 million!