Sapientis

Lessons Learned 2006

Sapientis’ “Lessons Learned” give us a chance to reflect on the previous year, identify areas for growth, and explore possible new opportunities.  This document further serves as a tool for preserving institutional memory and provides staff with a structured format to honestly reflect on our successes and challenges.  Finally, it provides investors and supporters with a complete picture of the previous year and insight into Sapientis’ future.

As we grow, learn, and revise our work, we keep our focus on our organizational purpose:  to achieve dramatic improvements in the quality of public education by developing Puerto Rico’s largest and most diverse network of change agents who exercise leadership to generate educational progress. To achieve our purpose, Sapientis works in six key areas which are listed below.  The “Lessons Learned” is organized by area. 

1.      Ensure people in school communities exercise leadership to improve student achievement and the school environment.

2.      Ensure teachers exercise leadership to improve student achievement in their classrooms. 

3.      Raise awareness about the importance of public education in the business and government sectors and in the general community. 

4.      Expand our network while raising revenue by preparing individuals to exercise leadership to generate change in their circle of influence.

5.      Develop a diverse sustainable funding base to support our efforts.

6.      Internally, build the capacity, systems, practices, policies, and environment needed to create a thriving organization capable of sustained growth while producing outstanding results annually.

Ensure people in school communities exercise leadership to improve student achievement and the school environment.

Lesson One:  Engaging schools is important but challenging. 

When Sapientis began identifying schools for Schools on the Move, we learned that most problems schools face – such as low student achievement, lack of teacher or parent participation– are usually shared with other schools. To tackle these challenges in a strategic and systemic way, Sapientis has decided to work with a cluster of K-12 schools that are in the same community and work with the same student population. An additional challenge is gaining credibility in the school communities. Listening to teachers, directors, and parents explain the school’s challenges; supporting their work; developing long-term relationships; and showing that we are a respected organization recognized by the Department of Education all help position Sapientis as an important ally for schools.

Lesson Two:  To effect change in schools, it is important to engage decision-makers at different levels of the system.

It is not easy to ask directors to make the decision to invest their school’s limited resources (time and money) in adaptive leadership and to engage their faculty in difficult conversations.  We have learned that it is important to engage other decision-makers who define the direction of the school, including superintendents and other educational officials. They are important allies who can support our work by creating the structures that will help protect our school-based programs if a key ally within the school leaves. Also, developing cooperative relationships between educational officials is vital to integrating efforts at different levels of the system.

Lesson Three:  Schools need to directly experience the adaptive leadership model to understand its utility.   

Sapientis’ leadership model is abstract and directors and superintendents cannot always understand how separating time to train their community will benefit their schools. It is also hard for directors to ask teachers who have already received many nonintegrated trainings of varied quality to attend a new workshop outside of their regular hours without overtime pay if they have not yet participated in it themselves. Consequently, Sapientis is giving one-day trainings to directors and Superintendents to help them understand the utility of our model and relevance to their work in schools. This has also helped us gain a better understanding of the school’s reality and adapt our model.

Lesson Four: Youth involvement is essential to ensure the longevity and effectiveness of change in schools.

We have discovered that encouraging youth input during the school’s planning helps the school community adapt its vision to the students’ reality. Youth involvement also helps remind adults that the work is not about them, but about their students’ needs. Therefore, Sapientis has decided to build the leadership skills of key students in the middle and high schools of the cluster so they participate and intervene strategically to guide the change process of their schools.

Lesson Five: Sapientis needs to work with the Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDE) to create structures that protect the schools where we work.

The PRDE has resources that can be channeled to the schools where Sapientis works. Originally, we sought monetary support. However, we have learned that grants and contracts from the Department are complicated by bureaucracy and constant fluctuations within the PRDE.  Consequently, we have decided that the best option is to continue to seek funding from other sources and focus our efforts with the PRDE in defining ways to shield the schools in which we intervene from the system’s fluctuations and constraints.

Ensure teachers exercise leadership to improve student achievement in their classrooms. 

Lesson One: It is hard to secure school contributions to train teachers in leadership.

Budget approval in most schools is not done in a timely manner and is usually committed to educational activities, thus limiting the possibility that schools will pay some or all of the costs of leadership training. As we want to serve as a catalyst for coalition formation and leadership development of teachers, Sapientis has decided to raise funds to offer trainings to schools for free.

Lesson Two: Directors are essential to support teachers’ leadership in schools.

Directors need to be engaged in leadership training so that they support teachers who exercise leadership in their schools. Leadership training also helps directors and teachers understand that they need to use each other as a resource if they want to effect and sustain changes in their schools. Furthermore, directors and teachers confront different dimensions of the challenges their schools face, which must be considered when solutions are proposed. Consequently, Sapientis has decided to expand Front-line Teachers and include directors in its trainings.

Lesson Three: Education organizations are an effective way of identifying candidates to train in leadership.

Working with educators that have a common background increases the likelihood of forming alliances that sustain our work. Also, working with teacher organizations, the Department of Education and other groups to identify candidates for our program is an effective use of our resources.

Lesson Four: Leadership follow-up promotes effective leadership.

Training alone cannot guarantee that teachers will exercise leadership effectively in schools. Sapientis will combine trainings with follow-up activities to help teachers as they modify and adapt to exercise leadership.

Raise awareness about the importance of public education in the business and government sectors and in the general community

Lesson One:  The participation of high profile individuals during Sapientis Week allowed us to involve more people in public education.  We should continue to create opportunities for these people to stay involved.

During Sapientis Week, our volunteers saw first hand the reality in schools and the need for change.  They readily agreed to participate and many said they look forward to participating in other similar events in the future.  It is important that these volunteers continue their involvement with public education and come to a deeper understanding of the systemic challenges that affect teachers and students.  Next year we will identify programs and activities in which these volunteers can participate, either in the schools where they taught or in schools where we have developed programs, so they will maintain their connection with Sapientis and our purpose of improving public education.

Lesson Two:  Expanding our network of volunteers and giving them more opportunities to get involved will allow us to achieve greater impact and will create more opportunities for us to work with education.

Each volunteer that participates in Get Involved brings us closer to our goal of creating awareness about the importance of public education.  At the beginning of 2006, we determined the different groups that we wanted to work with in the program and the way that we would carry out initiatives with them.  However, to maximize our impact, we have expanded our original focus to include alliances with dedicated corporations.  The results were partnerships with Pfizer and education students in the UPR, Cayey and with Banco Popular and the teachers in schools they are supporting.  In both partnerships, different programs were designed to respond to the interests of the companies and beneficiaries, and in the process we moved closer to our goal of getting more people concerned about public education and participating in the process of change.

Lesson Three:  Sapientis’ programs compliment one another.

Get Involved has demonstrated how important it is for our programs to be integrated.  For example, our work with Banco Popular and Pfizer incorporated important components of the Front-line Teachers program, providing us with the opportunity to train current and future teachers in the adaptive leadership model.  Expanding our focus on volunteers by integrating leadership components allowed us to offer more opportunities to work with change agents and strengthened the impact of the program.  The integration of the programs has also demonstrated that our programs work towards common goals and complement each other.

Lesson Four:  The partnerships and activities that were created for Get Involved have allowed us to work with volunteers in schools, but we should create programs outside of these partnerships which will allow continuity in our work and follow up with volunteers.

Get Involved has allowed us to successfully form important partnerships, such as the first Sapientis Week.  For each of the partnerships, we have designed a program focused on the interests of the businesses and the way they can address needs in specific schools.  Nevertheless, it is important to develop initiatives formed in the schools that give volunteers the opportunity to continue their involvement throughout the school year.  For example, we could design tutoring programs after school, reading days, and parent orientation workshops, among others. By establishing partnerships with schools, we can offer volunteer opportunities that provide a more tangible experience, giving volunteers the chance to further identify with schools and commit to improving public education.

Lesson Five:  Our message has been well-received

In 2006, we worked to expand our public exposure and position Sapientis as an advocate for public education.  We also worked to publicly raise awareness about the importance of public education in the business and government sectors and in the general community.  We learned that sectors are very receptive to our message. The extensive media coverage, the enthusiastic embrace of Sapientis Week and our message that our schools need help, as well as the success of the fort event speak to this receptivity. Our message was frequently met with offers of help.

Lesson Six:  Using numbers to tell the story of our public education system is a powerful tool for raising awareness.

Hard data dramatically drives home the point that poor education affects us all. The comparison of the cost of a year of public education against the cost of a year in prison uniformly brings expressions of amazement.  Because of this knowledge, we will redouble our efforts to let the numbers tell the story. We will also expand our use of education statistics. For example, we plan to launch a program of monthly e-newsletters in 2007 to broaden our message and strengthen our cultivation efforts. We will devote some of those newsletters to education statistics and trends.

Lesson Seven:  Hearing is one thing, participating is another.

We learned that finding large groups to participate in our Sapientis te Escucha (STE) town hall meetings is a challenge.  To try and get better attendance, we are seeking various partnerships with foundations and corporations with experience holding similar meetings in their field. Another strategy is to work to get celebrities to host STE events.  We will also seek a sponsorship by a radio station to host some STE meetings live. Having a radio show broadcast live in a shopping center will help raise the buzz at the event with the added value of transmitting our message of education reform over the airwaves.

Lesson Eight:  Feedback from Sapientis te Escucha can help us adjust our programs.

We learned from STE that people have some deep concerns about public education and believe that a changing society is partly to blame. For example, one of the reasons cited for poor public school performance is that the relationship between the home and the school has grown weaker.  Before, a teacher would visit a home to discuss a problem with a parent, but today that is not as common, according to opinions from our STE town hall dialogues.  So we know moving forward that a strategy for our programs could be to address the need for stronger ties between the home and the schools. 

Lesson Nine: Politicians are listening.

One of the original stated goals of the STE campaign was to produce policy recommendations to make to all political parties for inclusion in their platforms. As the campaign has unfolded, politicians have expressed interest in seeing the results. What this tells us is that if we gather enough data, we can make our voices heard at the highest levels.  Because of this, we are setting our sights higher and aiming to gather 10,000 completed STE surveys during 2007. We will build on our relationship with politicians who participated in Sapientis Week to distribute the data gathered in these surveys. The more numbers we get, the greater impact we can have on government policies.

Lesson Ten:  The business community wants to help and we need to show them how.

Company executives may believe that supporting education is a good cause; however, they may not know the best way to provide that support.  We can give them direction. For example, Sapientis was able to serve as the facilitator between the schools and the business community by helping the Rotary Club of Santurce distribute dictionaries during Sapientis Week.  Sapientis is also working with Triple-S to connect them to schools for a volunteer program.  The Triple-S program will serve as a blueprint for corporate involvement through our Involucrate program. This is a model we will look to repeat in the coming year as we get more members of the corporate sector involved and build our network.

Expand our network while raising revenue by preparing individuals to exercise leadership to generate change in their circle of influence. 

Lesson One:  The methodology used for the leadership trainings in Adapta is innovative and challenging, but can draw negative reactions from participants.

The adaptive leadership model is very different from the teaching structures that participants are used to.  This is true for the form that the workshop is offered and for the methodology itself.  In the context of Puerto Rico, the methodology can cause different reactions, including rejection, from some of the participants.  These results have made us reflect about how we can strategically capture the participants’ interest and desire to learn without losing the essence of the model.  We have noted that participants are more accepting of the group dynamics when the group has been better prepared to accept the challenge that the adaptive leadership model presents.

Lesson Two:  First hand knowledge of the market allows us to adjust Adapta trainings and attract more clients.

Since Adapta’s launch in 2006, several changes were made as we got to know our market better and understand the different dynamics in which businesses operate.  Because each business and organization has predetermined processes and work styles, we have successfully adjusted our style when selling trainings in an effort to maximize Adapta’s opportunities in the market.

Lesson Three:  NGOs are different from private businesses in that they have shown themselves to be more receptive to training personnel in adaptive leadership.

At the September 25-26 Adapta training, 80% of the participants were from NGOs, while 12% were from private businesses.  The other 8% came from the public sector.  We understand that there are many different reasons for these percentages.  One reason is that the non-profit sector often actively seeks the alternative of trainings to become more specialized.  We also face the challenge of responding to different organizational cultures in businesses.  The processes that organizations carry out as a result of their culture can influence decision-making about the types of training and who can give them.  Nevertheless, we are confident that the leadership model is effective and applicable in all sectors and furthermore in the Puerto Rican culture.

Lesson Four:  We need a person dedicated to marketing Adapta trainings to business.

Sapientis does not have enough staff to run Adapta.  We will hire a part-time consultant to help us market, sell, and administer seminars.  Based on performance, this could become a full-time position.

Develop a diverse sustainable funding base to support our efforts.

 Lesson One:  We should request unrestricted donations when possible.

There are many people, corporations, and individuals willing to make unrestricted donations in Puerto Rico and it is easiest to track and spend these types of donations.   However, each donor’s interests and geographic or demographic restrictions must be taken into consideration when writing a proposal.  This will ensure that we present them with the most appealing proposal in line with their philanthropic vision.

Lesson Two: Raise funds for the programs we have.

We saw an opportunity for a grant from the PRDE this year and considered adjusting our program to fit the restricted grant.  This delayed the process of identifying schools in which to work and interrupted our fundraising efforts.  Rather than change our programs to fit grant restrictions, we will execute our work using non-restricted grants from private entities and individuals and apply to restricted grants only when they fit our current programs.

Lesson Three: “Cold letters” for potential donors are more successful when sent through or on the recommendation of a Sapientis supporter.

Sapientis sends out cold letters to companies or individuals with whom we have had no prior contact in order to schedule a meeting to begin establishing a relationship with the potential donor.  To increase our chances of obtaining these follow up meetings, the original approach to the potential donor should come from members of our board or other supporters who already have a contact in these companies.  This is an important step to take before sending proposals.

Lesson Four: Our development plan can not rely on large donations to “fill in the gaps”. 

We need to be careful not to include large donation requests from potential donors who have not given to Sapientis before when creating and updating our development strategy.  Even if we think there is a high probability that the potential donor will give, we should not include them in our projection for the year in case the grant does not come through on the timeline we expected.

Lesson Five:  We must design and implement an aggressive development strategy to reach our $1 million fundraising goal in 2007.

To raise the funds to support our programs for 2007, our development strategy must aggressively seek new funding sources.  A key strategy that has the potential to help us expand and diversify our fundraising efforts in the short-term is campaigns.  Campaign focus groups can help us explore people’s perceptions of the strategy and whether there are individuals who will support the campaign. Assessing the landscape of the philanthropic community this way might allow us to gain better understanding of how people perceive our efforts and could begin a process of educating and cultivating prospective donors.

Lesson Six: The Board had more opportunities to be involved with Sapientis this year and we need to create even more opportunities next year..

Sapientis Week was an excellent way of encouraging participation from Board Members who have not visited schools before.  Every member hosted a volunteer at a school during that event.  We should continue creating opportunities to connect board members with schools to deepen their commitment to public education.  It is also important to achieve 100 percent participation from the board in fulfilling their monetary commitments because of the impact their involvement has on other donors.

Lesson Seven:  Development and marketing should work together to create the most effective fundraising strategy.

It is important to link our current fundraising events with development and marketing as three areas that must communicate and plan collectively as a way to ensure integration and maximize our efforts.  It is not only thinking creatively it is also about thinking interdependently.  We must think both creatively and consistently of vehicles that enable us to have a regular connection with donors and prospects.  This communication lays the groundwork of educating prospects on what Sapientis is about and sets the stage for that point in time when you approach them about supporting campaigns.

 

Lesson Eight:  Do not lose focus of the purpose of our work.

Though the goals of the campaign are to raise money, dollars should not be the campaigns focus. The real focus is that Sapientis is raising money to create conditions for the change that must happen in Puerto Rico’s public education system.  It is very important to remember our goals and purpose as an organization. 

Build the internal systems, practices, policies and environment needed to create a thriving organization capable of sustained growth while producing outstanding results annually.

Lesson One: We have the internal capacity to hold more fundraising events.

This year we held our first fundraising event and it was very well-received.  The food, drinks, location and planning were all excellent and over 350 people attended.  People continued talking positively about the event long after it was over.  This event not only raised funds to run Sapientis’ programs, it introduced many people to the organization for the first time.  We should follow up with three more fundraising events in 2007, including a golf tournament, a movie premier, and an event similar to the 2006 Noche de Luna Llena.

Lesson Two: We need a strategy for attracting and selecting new Board Members.

Creating a campaign leadership/stewardship committee that is not limited to board members could be an opportunity for us to engage different people in the work of Sapientis without giving them all of the duties and responsibility of board membership.  It could be a positive board succession strategy.

Lesson Three: We need to upgrade our system for sharing and saving knowledge in Sapientis.

We are expanding our programs and will soon be taking on new staff.  In order to keep up with the needs of a growing organization, our knowledge management system must preserve organizational history and facilitate the collection of data to track our results and evaluate progress. The improved system will provide quick access to important data, which will promote internal communication and a clear message.

Lesson Four:  Sapientis demonstrates excellent teamwork.

For any activity at Sapientis everybody works for the success of the activity.  Examples of this are the Fort Event and Sapientis Week.  In both activities the staff gave all of their energy for the success of activity. 

Lesson Five: We should begin creating the following year’s budget by August.

This year we worked hard on the budget and were able to have it finished and approved on December 14, 2006.  However, in the future, we would like to have a budget approved by November, to facilitate planning for the coming year.  Based on the experience of 2006, we need to start working on the budget in August to achieve our goal. 

Lesson Six:  In order to maintain an organized and current filing system for finance and human resources, documentation procedures are essential.

Several documentation processes were created last year to prepare for the 2005 audit.  These procedures addressed cash receipt control, petty cash, purchase order control, and a reorganization of the finance filing system.  The 2005 audit was completed on time and Sapientis received a clean report, thanks in part to these procedures.  The finance department should continue creating new documentation processes as the need arises.

Lesson Seven: The filing system for finance and administration must be in order and current.

Documents should be stored so that they can be located easily.  The Finance Director consolidated the filing system from Washington & Puerto Rico offices into one this year so that less time is spent searching for documents.  These filing systems included the personnel files for each employee, which are now uniform and easier to access.