WHO WE HELP
Since January 2005, Barkada Circle® has been a strategic partner for organizations that seek to create community around their missions. And every day is an opportunity to build trust. Click to view our growing Circle of Trust.
1. Foundations provide their nonprofit partners the opportunity to connect and collaborate for building stronger programs that benefit the individuals, families and communities they serve. Our workshops provide venues for organizations to share stories, learn from each other and achieve a common voice for delivering a compelling message.
Learning cohorts help to realize larger impact
Creating synergy between their grantees helps foundations and philanthropic organizations deliver on their mission. Storytelling sets key players on the path for understanding the needs of clients, organizations, and communities. Barkada Circle helps prepare grantees and foundations for building field capacity to realize greater impact. Interactive trainings with small group discussions and seminars provide organizations with collaborative learning through trust building and critical thinking. These are linchpins for successful improvements and transformation.
Barkada Circle helps unleash the full potential for every not-for-profit board member to succeed in fundraising as powerful storytellers. As we reframe the work of fundraising—from 'asking for money' to relationship building—Barkada's work with board members gives them the information, the tools, and the confidence they need to fulfill this essential role as powerful storytellers.
Otto Reinisch
Director
Organizational Development
Episcopal Charities
2. Associations bring together people with common interests and goals. Their shared narrative provides a strong base for collaboration. By sharing knowledge and resources, they can help members meet their individual needs and build a community that achieves a higher collective mission.
Communication is key to a thriving community
Whether it's marketing for member recruitment and retention, honing your leadership skills to inspire your team, or creating a memorable experience at your next conference, storytelling is an essential high-level component in your communication strategy. Associations are in the business of human connections, and stories make these connections personal and deep. When people learn new skills and forge strong relationships in the process, they value their membership and become fully engaged.
Barkada Circle brought a much needed fresh perspective to our annual Board Retreat. For a group of volunteers to come together and work effectively it is important to understand everyone's motivation. The use of storytelling as a facilitation tool allowed the perfect forum for our team to get to know each other and develop the common "story" for our association. Pon was a delight to work with during the planning process and really listened to what our needs were. He then came prepared to deliver a targeted program which was well received by all the attendees. I have to admit that I was skeptical about taking such an "out of the box" approach for our retreat but I'm so glad I took a chance.
Bill Kubiak
CSEP
2013-2014, President
MPI-CAC
3. Healthcare is a community filled with professionals who are passionate about helping people heal. These same professionals are also overwhelmed and deeply frustrated by too many demands that take them away from spending enough time actually caring for patients.
Inspire change to improve patient safety and health outcomes
The healthcare culture must support change, and story raises peer learning to a transformative level. Stories reveal details that can make a significant difference when used to improve the caregiving process. When healthcare peers have the opportunity to coach one another, their stories become a source of concrete solutions which in turn, get integrated into systems that drive change. These help to build relationships and trust between caregivers, staff and other stakeholders—all essential components for promoting patient safety.
What people are resistant to is being changed. When solutions are imposed, they are apt to be rejected. We need to inspire people to invent their own change.
Dennis Wagner
Director
Quality Improvement and Innovation Centers
Medicare & Medicaid Services