Contract Facilitator

The Young Women's Christian Association of Kalamazoo, Mich•Parchment, MI

About The Position

The Kalamazoo Nonprofit Coalition is seeking a skilled consultant to design, facilitate, and synthesize coalition strategy sessions. The Kalamazoo Nonprofit Coalition formed in early 2025 in response to sector volatility impacting nonprofits across the community. It operates with YWCA Kalamazoo serving as the administrative backbone, who is administering the funds and support for the facilitator sought. The coalition is comprised primarily of one executive per local organization. The coalition’s mission statement is: Centering nonprofits essential to the well-being of Kalamazoo County, we aim to be a responsive, strategic, and solution-focused collaborative in order to help people and community survive and thrive. In 2026, the coalition’s objectives are to have: Created and followed an advocacy plan Increased trust between nonprofits Demonstrated high engagement in relationship building Demonstrated commitment to community, not competition Begun securing alternative funding streams Created new avenues for donors to uplift the sector Engaged local philanthropy Defined shared goals and communication The coalition will name new or continuing objectives into 2027. The Kalamazoo Nonprofit Coalition is seeking a consultant to design, facilitate, and synthesize coalition strategy sessions for 2 years. The consultant will guide intentional, in-person and virtual conversations to further the coalition’s progress toward core objectives. Priority session topics and activities include: Collectively generating community agreements, decision-making protocols and structures, and other coalition-defined infrastructure Providing opportunities for new members orient into the coalition effectively Sustaining alignment on identified objectives and activities Establishing structured opportunities for organizations to learn from each other Facilitating strategy sessions to identify opportunities for partnership Balancing time between committee updates, action items, and planning Repairing past ruptures and establishing new collective norms Facilitating responsive strategy sessions in the event of time-sensitive sector changes The consultant will support any preparation needed prior to the session, including session design, communications, materials, etc. Additionally, the consultant will document and synthesize each session, creating any take-aways, summaries, tools, or other deliverables as necessary from each session.

Requirements

Lives in or around Southwest Michigan. Work to be completed in Kalamazoo.
Familiar with nonprofit leadership and social services
External to the Kalamazoo nonprofit network
Strong facilitation skills, including engaging voices across many identities, personalities, and organization types, and meaningfully advancing nuanced conversations
Demonstrate high levels of organization, attention to detail, and follow up
Brings race, gender, power, and social justice lens to the work, grounded in a decolonized, community-rooted framework

Responsibilities

Collectively generating community agreements, decision-making protocols and structures, and other coalition-defined infrastructure
Providing opportunities for new members orient into the coalition effectively
Sustaining alignment on identified objectives and activities
Establishing structured opportunities for organizations to learn from each other
Facilitating strategy sessions to identify opportunities for partnership
Balancing time between committee updates, action items, and planning
Repairing past ruptures and establishing new collective norms
Facilitating responsive strategy sessions in the event of time-sensitive sector changes
Support any preparation needed prior to the session, including session design, communications, materials, etc.
Document and synthesize each session, creating any take-aways, summaries, tools, or other deliverables as necessary from each session.
12-15 facilitated sessions. It is expected that the consultant will facilitate a session at least every other month, in-person as much as possible, with potentially urgent convenings when new changes arise.
Regular check-ins with the coalition administrative backbone and any other stakeholders as identified through structure development.
Session summaries and deliverables unique to each topic