TRANSFORMATION AT PINES OF SARASOTA
This testimonial was created as a guest blog for The Patterson Foundation‘s Initiative News published on August 21, 2015.
Editor’s Note: Marlene Simons, Development Consultant at Pines of Sarasota in Sarasota, Florida, shares the impact of The Patterson Foundation’s Margin & Mission Ignition earned income business planning process.
The Pines Education Institute was launched eight years ago to address the need for training in the field of aging. We identified the most critical need for training resources existed for those working in the field of dementia care, or those caring for a family member with dementia.
The first DVD produced, It’s all in Your Approach, featured dementia content expert Teepa Snow, and began a partnership that has been the base of this business venture that has produced 18 different media programs and generated more than $250,000 in our last fiscal year.
Given this success, why did we seek to become involved in The Patterson Foundation’s Margin & Mission Ignition Initiative?
The answer involves the following factors:
1) With one full-time staff member and one .75 time staff member devoted to this project, there were numerous growth opportunities being bypassed.
2) There was never the time to stop activity involved in creating products and generating sales to develop a business plan.
3) There was a lack of in-house understanding, as well as a lack of public awareness regarding the success of the Education Institute’s products, now being shipped to 30 different countries.
Thanks to The Patterson Foundation’s gift of one-on-one coaching from the consultants at No Margin, No Mission, this initiative has provided the needed focus, collaboration, guidance and expertise in our business planning process. Our goal is to grow our venture into a powerful revenue stream to improve organizational sustainability and to deliver products that transform the quality of care for individuals with dementia, while increasing understanding and skills and lowering stress levels for caregivers.
Margin & Mission Ignition is helping us to increase awareness about the valuable resources available through our Education Institute, whose products make a critical difference in the understanding and the capabilities of caregivers around the world.
Within our organization, we are experiencing the culture shift that comes from broader and deeper communication, an understanding about the importance of working across departments, involving board members in planning, and the value of having external partners, that care about and support what happens to our organization and to our community.
