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Organizational Development
Let's increase your impact by strengthening the organization from the inside out.
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Organizational assessment - Understand your organization's strengths and areas of opportunity.
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Board governance - Create a process to recruit, onboard, and retain board members.
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Accreditation support - Broaden your team, develop manageable steps to maintain progress, and partner with someone familiar with the process so you don't have to figure it out alone.
02
Strategic planning
Let's clarify your priorities, build inspirational strategy, and develop actionable workplans.
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Mission, vision, and values - Explore and clarify the foundational principles that guide your organization.
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SWOT Analysis - Build a shared view of where you are - what's working, what's not, and what's ahead.
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Stakeholder input - Gather insights about how community members, donors, partners and prospective collaborators view your organization.
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Goal setting - Establish goals and strategies that inspire donors and funders while remaining realistic enough to implement.
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Work planning - Develop clear workplans with timelines, responsibilities and next steps.
03
Facilitation
Let's create meaningful and engaging conversations that move the work forward.
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Staff retreats - Bring staff together for interactive, content-related activities that strengthen culture, and create space for every voice.
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Board retreats - Create shared understanding, develop trust, increase confidence and support sustained commitment.
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Collaborative convening - Bring people together for important dialogue that advances collaboration and builds alignment.
Hi, I'm Jen.
I launched Plowden Consulting in 2025 to provide critical services to organizations seeking to increase capacity, strengthen leadership, build sustainable governance structures, work strategically, and implement best practices.
It can be hard to find an organizational development consultant that understands the nuance of land trusts and conservation organizations.
I bring 15 years of unique and specialized expertise in land conservation to this work.
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Led the New England Program at the Land Trust Alliance, where I supported land trusts across a wide range of size and capacity, convened leaders to talk about pressing needs and emerging trends impacting conservation groups and helped build capacity through assessments, training, peer groups, strategic planning, and coaching support.
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Managed membership, fundraising, & outreach at Blue Hill Heritage Trust
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Designed surveys and focus groups at Boston University
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Measured and communicated the economic benefits of parks, trails, and open space in communities across the country at the Trust for Public Land.
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Served on the board of the all volunteer Orono Land Trust
This perspective allows me to meet organizations where they are and provide support that reflects their constraints and opportunities.
An introvert who loves building community? Sounds strange, but yes! I thrive on the challenge of building authentic connection that's related to the task at hand. I believe in the value of everyone's wisdom and experience and take great pride in creating spaces that welcome and empower participants. No more meeting dread!
Let's create an experience that leaves your team more confident, aligned, and better equipped to navigate its next stage.
Let’s Partner
I maintain a focused practice to provide personalized attention and hands-on partnership to each client. This allows me to meet each organization's needs with agility and flexibility and to offer a process that provides structure without rigidity. Please reach out to discuss how I can help increase your organization's impact.
jennifer.plowden@gmail.com
(413)281-5066