Naataanii Consulting, LLC

Six services, one continuous method

Naataanii Consulting, LLC runs a community strategy and program advisory practice from 1319 W 750 S, Provo - 84601-3949, United States (US). The services below are not separate products. They are the same loom set up for different passes: first the frame, then the warp, then the rows. Most partners begin with a planning circle and return for grant guidance, coaching or a reporting framework as the program matures.

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Program Planning Circles

A planning circle is a small, repeated gathering of the people who will actually carry the program: staff, participants, a partner or two, and a decision maker with the authority to say yes. We facilitate six to ten sessions across a season, each with a narrow question and a written output. The circle is not a listening session in disguise and it is not a committee that meets forever. It has a fixed end date, a written plan and a named owner for every commitment in that plan.

We prepare the circle with a short intake, a review of whatever plans already exist, and a walk through the neighborhoods or facilities the program serves. From there the sessions move deliberately: purpose and population, activities and staffing, budget and timeline, risk and fallback, then a final read-back before the plan is adopted. Between sessions we write up the decisions in plain language, so nobody has to reconstruct the conversation from memory a month later. Programs that want a stronger start often pair this service with a community needs assessment, while long-running programs use the circle to refresh a plan that has drifted.

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Grant and Funding Guidance

Funding guidance begins with a map, not an application. We chart the local, state, federal and philanthropic sources that fit your program, note their cycles and match requirements, and help leadership choose two or three worth pursuing rather than applying everywhere at once. The map is short enough to keep on a wall and honest enough to show which opportunities you are genuinely ready for today and which need another year of groundwork.

When an application is the right move, we draft the narrative with your team in the room, align the budget line by line with the plan from the circle, and rehearse the site visit or panel interview before it happens. We also prepare the less glamorous pieces: letters of commitment, logic models, timelines, evaluation plans and the documentation that a funder will ask for during closeout. Our practice does not charge a percentage of any award, and we will say plainly when a program is not yet ready to compete.

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Organizational Coaching

Coaching is regular, practical support for the people who run the organization. We meet directors, program managers and emerging leaders for sessions every two to four weeks, working on delegation, decision rights, meeting habits, supervisory conversations and the boundaries that keep a small team from burning out. Each session ends with one or two commitments that can be tested before the next meeting.

This is not therapy and it is not a personality assessment. It is the craft of running an organization that is outgrowing its founder-driven habits, told in the order the problems actually appear. Typical coaching arcs include preparing a first executive director for board oversight, supporting a program manager stepping into supervision for the first time, and helping a leadership duo divide responsibilities so that both can take a vacation without the work collapsing. Coaching clients usually keep a facilitator on retainer alongside, so that the coaching room and the board room are never confused.

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Community Needs Assessments

A needs assessment is a promise to listen and then a discipline in keeping it. We design the instruments with you, usually a short survey, a set of interviews with people who are rarely asked, a walkthrough of the places where the program happens, and a handful of partner consultations. The mix depends on the question, the population and the time available before the application deadline.

We handle recruitment carefully, in the language and through the channels the community already trusts, and we do not fill a room with the usual voices and call it representative. Findings come back to the people who shared them before they appear in any proposal, a step that builds trust and catches misreadings early. The deliverable is a written report with themes, verbatim examples, disaggregated tables where the sample allows, and a short list of implications for program design. Reports are written for a board and a neighbor alike.

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Board and Team Facilitation

We facilitate retreats, planning days, annual reviews and the occasional difficult meeting that leadership cannot hold alone. The design work happens before the room fills: we interview participants, agree the outcomes with the chair, build an agenda with real time boxes, and arrange the room so that decisions can actually be made.

During the session we keep the conversation in the hands of the participants, hold the agenda steady through disagreement, and write the decisions, owners and dates onto the record as they are made. Afterwards every participant receives the notes within two working days, including the dissents, so that the minutes reflect what happened rather than what was supposed to happen. Teams sometimes book a single retreat and sometimes a short series across the year. Either way, the facilitation is neutral, the process is transparent and the follow-through is the client own work.

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Reporting Frameworks

Reporting frameworks are where most programs quietly lose their energy. We build tracking routines that fit inside the work people already do: a short monthly note, a simple table, a shared folder with a clear naming rule, and a quarterly review that lasts under an hour. The framework is designed around the funder requirements first, then around the questions the board and the community actually want answered.

We draft the indicators, define how each one is counted, and test the routine for a cycle before finalizing it, because a reporting plan that nobody can sustain is worse than no plan at all. Templates are handed over in editable formats, with a short written guide and one training session for the staff who will maintain them. Programs that pair reporting with coaching often find the whole system settles within two quarters, leaving the team free to do the work rather than describe it.

How an engagement unfolds

  1. First conversation. A short call or visit to hear the program, the deadline and the pressure points. We tell you honestly whether we can help this season.
  2. Written scope. A one-page agreement naming the services, the deliverables, the calendar and the fee. No hidden add-ons.
  3. Listening and mapping. Intake interviews, document review and a walkthrough of the places the program serves.
  4. The working passes. Planning circles, facilitation, assessment or coaching sessions according to the scope, each with written outputs within days.
  5. Finishing. A binder, a calendar, a budget and a reporting routine that staff can maintain without us.
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