Jean Butzen, President, Mission Plus Strategy Consulting

Times have changed. The days of nonprofits acting unilaterally to maintain and grow their nonprofits is a thing of the past. Today, nonprofit organizations must use “smart power” strategies—partnerships, mergers, alliances, shared service networks, etc.—to combine their strengths with those of other nonprofit organizations to survive and thrive. This workshop will introduce nonprofit leaders to the concept of nonprofit strategic re-restructuring and cover the following topics:

·         The definitions of four basic strategic restructuring models: joint venture partnerships, parent corporations, shared service alliances, and mergers

·         The business drivers for nonprofit strategic restructuring

·         The process for selecting a partner

·         Where to go for more information

Please bring your questions! The workshop is targeted to the staff leadership team and board members. Whether you are considering a strategic restructuring strategy for your organization today or not, strategic restructuring is something all nonprofit leaders need to have in their tool box in the 21^st century and this workshop will explain why.

Speaker Bio

Jean Butzen is an organizational consultant with thirty years in leadership positions in the nonprofit sector, most recently as President/CEO of Lakefront Supportive Housing where she served over 18 years. Ms. Butzen grew Lakefront Supportive Housing from a start-up organization into a nationally-recognized supportive housing provider with an annual combined corporate budget of $12M with over 1,000 units of housing for homeless adults and families in Chicago.

In 2005, Ms. Butzen initiated a merger process for Lakefront Supportive Housing which culminated in a consolidation with a giant in the affordable housing industry, Mercy Housing based in Denver. At the conclusion of the merger she left to create her own consulting business specializing in nonprofit strategic re-structuring including mergers and partnerships and has facilitated numerous transactions since launching her business. Ms. Butzen also delivers training on the topic of nonprofit strategic restructuring for foundations and intermediaries including the Donors Forum of Chicago and BoardStar, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Some of Ms. Butzen’s clients include: Abraham Low Self-Help Center, The Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness, Angelic Organics Learning Center, Center on Halsted, Greater Chicago Food Depository, Chicago Foundation for Women, Delta Institute, Chicago Community Trust, Vision Forward, the Wisconsin Nonprofits Association, the Nonprofit Management Fund of Milwaukee, The James P. and Brenda S. Grusecki Foundation, among many others.

Ms. Butzen has won numerous awards in her career including the 2001 Leadership Greater Chicago Distinguished Fellow Award, and in 2004, was named the 4^th Most Powerful Woman in the Nonprofit Sector, by the Chicago Sun-Times in their series The 100 Most Influential Women in Chicago.

Ms. Butzen has a B.A. from Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, and a certificate in Business Administration from Kellogg School of Management Institute, Northwestern University.