

Sarah Naperala
Naperala Consulting LLC
Email:
Physical Location:
Traverse City, MI 49686
Serves Clients Remotely and Onsite:
United States
It's All In The Details
With over 25 years of experience in the not-for-profit,
research, technology and education fields, I have
extensive experience in not-for-profit culture and best practices, policy and procedures development, and evaluation.
I spend much of my time as a consultant guiding and leading land trusts who are seeking Accreditation status from the National Land Trust Accreditation Commission.
EXPERTISE
LAND TRUSTS
Accreditation processes can be an intimidating endeavor for land trusts. I'll guide your organization through a step-by-step process that will get you successfully from assessment to application for Land Trust Accreditation Commission, including a review of all Land Trust Alliance Standards and Practices (S&P) and policy and procedure related to S&P and Accreditation. Read more here.
NONPROFIT BEST PRACTICES
To achieve your goals of long-term sustainability, knowing best practices can save you time and energy. I work with organizations on board and staff development, policy, procedures and strategic planning so that it all comes together in service of your mission.
SURVEYS, ASSESSMENTS, PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Staff and community surveys can be a valuable tool to inform an organization's decisions. Whether your team needs an Extended DiSC assessment to support internal or external communications, evaluation tools ,or extra capacity to manage a project, I customize my work by listening, asking questions, and making a plan together with you.
SERVICES OFFERED
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Stakeholder/Public Engagement – interviews and focus groups, surveys, and meeting facilitation to support planning, decision-making, evaluation
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Volunteer Engagement – recruitment, education and training, relationship building, workday leadership, coordination and communication, recognition
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Project Management – planning, budgeting, pacing milestones, tracking progress, meeting deadline, program development and evaluation, supervision, engaging with diverse teams and team members
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Policy & Procedures – audit, develop or expand identified needs using best practices, and monitoring plans, including conservation easement and fee land policies and procedures, record-keeping, due diligence, partnership agreements
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National Land Trust Accreditation – guided assessments against Land Trust Alliance Standards and Practices, document audit, preparation, training, application support, project management, guidance and support, first-time accreditation or renewal
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Conservation Stewardship – leadership, management planning, capital improvement plans, public access, record-keeping, funding stewardship, events and hikes
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Fund Development – strategy, plans, education and coach staff and board; relationship building, successful donation requests, event management, grant writing and coordination
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Strategic Plans – strategy, goals, metrics, benchmarks, annual operating plans, organizational capacity audit
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Board & Staff Development – assessments, education, training, defining roles and responsibilities, organizational structure, coaching, conflict resolution, performance review
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Human Resources – hiring process, performance review process, employee benefits, compensation structure, intern program, retreats and team building, communication styles, Extended DISC certified
EXPERIENCE
July 2014 - Present
NAPERALA CONSULTING LLC
Traverse City, MI
Owner & Principal
2006 - 2014
GRAND TRAVERSE REGIONAL LAND CONSERVANCY
Traverse City, MI
Project Manager, March 2011 – June 2014
Director of Human Resources, September 2008 – June 2014
Executive Coordinator, January 2009 – March 2011
Director of Stewardship, July 2006 – December 2009
2001 - 2005
ARBOR RESEARCH COLLABORATIVE FOR HEALTH
Ann Arbor, MI
Research Assistant, April 2004 – October 2005
Project Coordinator, May 2001 – July 2003
1998 - 2001
MEDICAL AUTOMATION SYSTEMS (now Alere)
Charlottesville, VA
Project Lead, September 1998 – March 2001
1997
B.S. BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE
Houghton, MI
Michigan Technological University
CLIENTS
Caledonia Conservancy
Racine, WI
Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy
Traverse City, MI
Geneva Lake Conservancy
Fontana, WI
Kettle Moraine Land Trust
Elkhorn, WI
Keweenaw Land Trust
Hancock, MI
Madison Audubon Society
Madison, WI
Mid-Michigan Land Conservancy
East Lansing, MI
Missouri Prairie Foundation
Columbia, MO
Sycamore Land Trust
Bloomington, IN
TART Trails Inc.
(Traverse Area Recreation and Transportation)
Traverse City, MI
The Land Trust Alliance
Washington D.C.
The Watershed Center, Grand Traverse Bay
Traverse City, MI
Upper Peninsula Land Conservancy
Marquette, MI
Walloon Lake Trust and Conservancy
Walloon Lake, MI
"Sarah was able to bring our accreditation work into focus so that the work was seamless, easy to accomplish and organized. Her experience and perspective was just what we needed during the high energy (and sometimes demanding) accreditation process."
— Maggie Zoellner, Kettle Moraine Land Trust