NOW OPEN: Strong Farm Incubator
In partnership with Strengthen ND and Baldwin Greenhouse
With a vision to shift how rural residents live and build wealth, Strengthen ND and a team of small producers and local foods stakeholders have been working to answer this question: How might a modern rural repopulation movement reshape and reignite ND’s local food system by challenging myths/misconceptions about how food can be grown, vertically integrated, and leveraged to enhance the short- and long-term ripple effects of more condensed and robust statewide local food chain?
Strengthen ND has been working to gather current and former farmer input on the past, current, and future statuses of family farms; partner and stakeholder limitations and opportunities; and community and agriculturally-based economic development planning to understand and catalyze progress around local foods and the revitalization of small family farms. The extensive work has culminated in a five-year, multifaceted plan to revitalize the future of family farms across rural North Dakota, with the critical piece of that vision being a rural incubator farm.
Bush Prize: North Dakota
In partnership with Strengthen ND and the Bush Foundation
The Bush Prize celebrates organizations that are highly valued within their communities and have a track record of successful community problem-solving.
Bush Prize grants are flexible and can be used to build up reserves or test that next big idea or whatever else would best support the organization’s ongoing good work. The grant amounts are up to 25% of an organization’s most recent fiscal year expenses, with a maximum of $500,000.
The Bush Prize is done in partnership between the Bush Foundation and Strengthen ND. Strengthen ND will select and announce the Bush Prize winners, as well as provide any support along the way.
Launching Leadership Coming May 30 - June 3, 2023
Launching Leadership is a youth leadership program that coordinates several regional youth (9-12 grade) leadership institutes throughout the state of North Dakota. Spring/Summer session spots are now available!
OUR MISSION
Strengthen ND is a dynamic, multi-faceted and well-connected organization that works across North Dakota (ND) to elevate nonprofits and rural communities to support a high quality of life and resources for vulnerable populations through community development.
OUR VALUES
Strengthen ND’s staff encompasses more than 75 years of experience in rural capacity building, planning, development, and placemaking. Through their experience, candor, and “let’s get it done” attitude, Strengthen ND’s team has had the privilege of learning and exercising the “ND Way” of problem solving. We’ve learned from communities that it is imperative to exercise a bottom-up approach, prioritize listening, facilitate community buy-in, and that nearly every disagreement can be resolved through a robust conversation over a shared plate of hotdish. In short, our experience has shaped our values and approach – the actual HOW of Strengthen ND’s work. The way in which we approach our mission is in line with our organizational values:
Meeting Communities & People Where They Are
We believe that every community is different, every organization is different, and every individual is different; therefore, a blanket approach does not best support ND. We “meet them where they are” in terms of attitudes, beliefs, skills, capacity, and available resources
Deploying a Pragmatic Approach
Our approach to supporting communities, organizations, and leaders focuses on inspiring them to think bigger and differently, while also cheerleading small, incremental victories achieved through practical tools and strategies.
Being Resourceful
Strengthen ND’s resources are limited. It is imperative that we are resourceful and leverage all of the other great service providers and assets within ND to create a web of resources and providers that can support organizations and communities to deepen the level of impact made.
Meeting People & Communities Where They Are
Change Network
North Dakota Change Network is a year-long program that will help you build the techniques and networks you need to make the places you live and work more inclusive.
Community Succession Planning
Strengthen ND’s community succession planning process is designed and facilitated around developing five-year reasonable and achievable plans for communities through a focused process including assessing and goal-setting around Community Amenities & Engagement, Creative Placemaking, Economic Status & Growth, and Forward-Thinking Leadership
Community-Centered AmeriCorps
Through the support of AmeriCorps, Strengthen ND assists North Dakota communities to access the people-power they need to undertake community projects by providing individuals to build their community’s capacity
OUR FOCUS
Strengthen rural North Dakota.
Communities with Opportunities
Communities with Opportunities is about fostering the relationship between rural North Dakotan, small communities, and prospective newcomers. By showcasing things that make each community great along with each unique and exciting opportunity, Strengthen ND’s goal is to keep rural communities thriving by encouraging growth!
Strengthen ND’s technical assistance is delivered through customized engagements to accomplish organizational and program-oriented objectives. In each project, we begin with a discovery period to work closely with the organization to design a process that is well-timed and suited to the people within the community, how the community functions, and the objectives of the work.
Find Your Book Here
OUR SERVICES
Board and Staff Development
Strengthen ND places a high priority on being connected to leadership in key issues and practices for maximizing the talents, strengths and efforts of an organization’s most valuable resource – the people who govern, lead and support programs to produce effective, meaningful and measurable impact: the board and staff. We work to do this through customized board and staff development projects, designed to leverage and build effectiveness and teamwork.
Executive Search
Since our inception, Strengthen ND has prided itself on meeting people and organizations where they are; meaning, we are skilled at assessing and understanding organizational and individual capacity. It is with this value that we approach executive search processes. Below is the typical process our organization follows to identify qualified candidates to best support your organization.
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
* We understand what it takes to live and work in North Dakota;
* We understand what it takes to lead and progress in North Dakota;
* Hiring committee experience specific to higher-level directors and management to fully understand what North Dakota organizations need.
To learn more, contact Megan Langley at megan@strengthennd.com.
Program Design and Evaluation
Strengthen ND will work with your organization to develop customized evaluation processes to illustrate the value and impact of your programs for the purposes of informing program design and future development, as well as to share information more effectively with boards, funders and others closely connected to the organization. Conversely, Strengthen ND is skilled at working with private family foundations, trusts, corporations, and community foundations to design grantmaking strategies, mechanisms, and collateral to support targeted charitable investments.
Grant Making and Charitable Investments
Strengthen ND believes investing primarily in North Dakota’s rural communities, and through our the Creative Community Solutions grant making program, established in 2022, our organization is able to support a variety of programs and projects across the state. This is unlike any other grant making program, we want to hear why your project is needed in your community and how it can be sustained.
Strategic and Organizational Action Planning
Strategic planning is the architecture of successful organizations. Strengthen ND’s approach to strategic planning involves a collaborative process of internal and external review and strategic thinking to generate a realistic and practical guide for board and staff in achieving their visionary and operational goals. As you transition from strategic planning to implementation, your first task is to get specific about the work that needs to be done. Practically speaking, this means going through the process of translating the multi-year, high-level strategic goals articulated in your plan into specific initiatives that your organization will undertake in the coming 12- to 18-month period. Breaking down your long-term goals into timely, digestible and definable segments that align with your day-to-day activities is something that Strengthen ND is equipped to help you undertake.
Community Succession Planning
One of the most important responsibilities for community leaders is to help plan for the community’s future, including anticipating and identifying key leadership transitions, economic trends, quality of life shifts, and growth opportunities. Strengthen ND’s community succession planning process is designed and facilitated around developing five-year reasonable and achievable plans for communities through a focused process including assessing and goal-setting around Community Amenities & Engagement, Creative Placemaking, Economic Status & Growth, and Forward-Thinking Leadership.
Economic Development & Community Planning
Strengthen ND works with your community organizations such as Chambers and EDC’s to determine appropraite solutions to community needs. Strengthen ND’s approach will allow all opinions to be heard and considered.
Meeting Facilitation
Strengthen ND works with organizations to develop and implement meetings, retreats, and other forums for specific planning, problem solving, strategizing, or decision-making purposes. Strengthen ND’s approach involves thoughtful planning and preparation and developing agendas to encourage participation and generate useful plans for next steps.
Organizational Succession Planning
One of the most important responsibilities for nonprofit boards is selecting the organization’s next executive director. The search and transition can be complex, and both require careful planning, well before a planned – or unplanned – departure occurs. Strengthen ND can help your organization with succession planning to ensure that this is a smooth, cohesive transition.
FEATURED RESOURCES
Learn more about how we could help!
USDA Tribal Toolkit
With this great toolkit, Tribal Governments can learn more about USDA’s programs and grants.
PESTEL Analysis
A PESTEL Analysis is an important planning tool used for understanding the external macro-level external factors that impact the working of an organization.
Funding Opportunity Database
Utilize this resource to access funding opportunities relevant to rural North Dakota!
Prioritization Exercises
Do you need an exercise to help prioritize your organization’s activities? This one is for you!
Developing a Case Statement
The questions in this tool can help guide the creation of an organization’s Case Statement.
Key Responsibilities Audit
A Key Responsibilities Audit is a simple tool that can be utilized to estimate how much time you spend working on a specific area of operations.
IN THE MEDIA
Learn more about our community outreach!
Strengthen ND Invests Nearly $2.28M in Community Solutions across North Dakota
Minot, ND – Through its inaugural grantmaking round for the Creative Community Solutions grantmaking program, which is funded by the Bush Foundation, Strengthen ND has selected 10 organizations to receive $2,275,000 to develop, test, and spread community-driven...
Strengthen ND: Pioneering Solutions Since 2015
When Strengthen ND was started in 2015, we didn’t have a lot. We had no money. We had no clients. No way to make payroll. But what did we have? A whole lot of ambition, optimism, and, most importantly, a willingness to listen and learn. Eventually, months into our...
Finding home 6,000 miles away from home
(AGWEEK) DICKINSON, N.D. — Barnabas Nyaaba has called Dickinson home for the past five years. It’s a lengthy 6,000-mile jaunt from his native country of Ghana, Africa — a move he’s glad he made. “I’m pretty comfortable here. I do see myself staying,” he said. As a...
Couple makes North Dakota home again and finds a deeper connection to community
(AGWEEK) GRANDIN, N.D. — For Amber and Ross Lockhart, North Dakota holds a special place in their hearts. So much so that after the two moved away to Sacramento, it beckoned them back. “It was nice, we loved living out there. It just, something was missing,” Ross...
Kansas City couple builds better life in Bowman, North Dakota
(AGWEEK) BOWMAN, N.D. — During the great recession in 2008, Melinda Padilla Lynch and her husband Matthew were facing challenging times in their hometown of Kansas City, Missouri. Jobs were few and far between, and getting by was becoming harder and harder for the...
Family and sense of home bring Idahoans to Ashley, ND
(AGWEEK) ASHLEY, N.D. — Shane and Carley Peacock knew they wanted to start their own business; they’d been dreaming about it for a long time. But as residents of the fast-growing city of Boise, Idaho, the two knew it’d be an expensive, challenging and risky venture....
Hawaii native becomes ‘small-town treasure’ in rural North Dakota
(AGWEEK) CROSBY, N.D. — North Dakota wasn’t where Jonathan Kauhako expected to live and work. “If you would have told me three years ago I’d be living in North Dakota, doing this, I’d be like sure, right, right,” said Jonathan Kauhako, owner of Hindsite Creations, a...
Pioneer spirit pulls Coloradan to a new life in North Dakota
(AGWEEK) WATFORD CITY, N.D. — Like a modern-day pioneer, Sandy Rieker packed up her family and moved to the country to start a new life. But unlike the early settlers, Rieker and her family headed north, not west, 10 years ago, leaving her native Colorado and landing...
Divide County Journal: Focus on Community
June 1, 2021 - This is the first of a three-part report on a series of discussions held in Divide County to aid future planning and development work by the Divide County Economic Development Council. Read the full article here.
KX News: Someone You Should Know
April 2, 2021 - With small-town North Dakota roots, Warwick-native Megan Laudenschlager is passionate about improving her home state in any way she can. “There’s nothing better than growing up on a farm and living in a small town, graduating with a class of five...
