Helping organizations
achieve their missions!

Board Members
We were all so impressed with the final product Peggy produced with us - a truly comprehensive Strategic Plan to guide our growth and improvement in all areas of the organization for the next several years. More impressive was the process. Peggy gently, deftly, and successfully brought our diverse board and staff together to identify and prioritize the various needs, challenges, and opportunities we face in the future. She quickly gained our respect and a deep understanding of us all as individuals and as an organization. We owe Peggy many thanks. She helped us become a stronger organization and we now face our future with confidence and solidarity.
Jon Evans, Board Chair
White Birch Community Center

Among the numerous consultants I have worked with over the years, Peggy Kieschnick is at the top in terms of talent and skill. As a facilitator she is remarkably adept at balancing "process" with "results" -- she ensures that diverse viewpoints are heard and acknowledged while always keeping
people focused and moving towards the goal... Her detailed reports at the conclusion of the process are excellent blueprints for helping organizations take the next steps. Peggy also has a deep personal commitment to social change, and grasps how the dynamics within organizations fit within the greater political context. She is simply one of the best.
Lee Sullivan, Board of Directors
Center for Wildlife. Cape Neddick, ME

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Collaborations
While we were working with Peggy, I realized that the conflicts and differing perspectives within our group were actually helping us to make better decisions.  Peggy's facilitation enabled us to hear each other and learn from each other.  Peggy's style was clear and direct, but never intrusive.  She created opportunities for us to discuss issues thoroughly, and then she helped us to see where we had consensus.

Maggie Fogarty

Housing Action New Hampshire

I've been in 3 or 4 collaborations that have worked with Peggy as facilitator, organizational development consultant, project coordinator and pretty much chief bottle washer. In all of those roles she has consistently gone beyond the expected to tackle a wide range of functions, issues, and concerns in a way that had everyone involved feeling good about the outcome. She has managed to get people with sharp philosophical differences, personality conflicts, and easily-bruised egos to work together in a constructive and professional manner, even when some of them were dragged kicking and screaming into the process.

But what I especially like about Peggy's approach to this work is that she doesn't come at you with pre-disposed methods, the "7 or 9 laws of collaboration" or a 'shtick' of any kind. Rather, she brings to the task a strong understanding of how non-profits need to function in the real world, and she always took the time and trouble to really find out about the specific groups, organizations, and individuals she was working with...She devoted all her effort as facilitator to meeting our goals, not trying to sell us a pre-packaged plan that she could fit us into..."
Stephen Geller, Former Executive Director
Rockingham Community Action, Rockingham County, NH

Our coalition has created various plans - business, strategic, financial - but staying on track with a plan is primarily my responsibility as coordinator of the coalition. This is tricky work, keeping vision, values and mission in focus... while still dealing with the dozens of "surprises" and thousands of details that I face each week. The best support I've found for staying with a long range plan is meeting regularly with Peggy as "executive coach", to look again at the big picture and then adapt the plan to the realities of the present. Peggy is great at helping me to celebrate successes, take a hard look at what I can realistically manage to get done...and then make choices for the next few weeks ahead.
Diane Brandon, Director
Community Wellness Coalition, Southern, Maine

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Funders
"Peggy is my top referral when a nonprofit needs help with their strategic planning. Her approach is accessible and pragmatic - she is a coach, a task master, and an educator. And it works!"
New Hampshire Funder

Peggy is an intent and careful listener. She is able to facilitate groups whose members have tremendously diverse backgrounds, and has an innate ability to synthesize information from a variety of stakeholders. She has excellent communication skills and the ability to provide clear, concise and useful bodies of work that can then be implemented by the client.
New Hampshire/Southern Maine Funder

As a program Director, Peggy taught me how to work effectively with my Advisory Board...Working with my Advisory Board, Peggy valued and integrated each person's participation. She probed and synthesized what was said, moving the group discussion rather than parroting comments.
Her preparation and follow-up were thorough, insightful, and at times innovative.
Effie Malley, Program Director
Suicide Prevention Partnership, Portsmouth, NH

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Nonprofit Directors
 

“Two years ago, New Hampshire Public Radio launched a strategic planning process, its first since the mid-1990’s.  Over the last decade, NHPR had grown and changed as had the media industry.  Peggy Kieschnick’s management of our strategic planning process was brilliant.  In a short period of time, she was able to develop a deep understanding of public media, synthesize complex ideas, and capture fast-moving conversations; and facilitate discussions between staff teams and board committees.  The outcome was a dynamic plan that set our vision and serves as our day-to-day operating manual.  Peggy’s work was simply invaluable.”  

Betsy Gardella, President and CEO
NH Public Radio

 

While strategic planning can get a “bad rap” for not creating an impact, Peggy Kieschnick has an approach and a commitment that will surprise even the most jaded strategic planning participant. She is committed to not only facilitating the “live” sessions, but also to the detailed follow-up and timelines that are essential to moving a process forward. She creates individualized documents and work plans that are molded by the particular needs and challenges of the participants—there is no magic template or over used boilerplates, no jargon, or trendy exercises—it is years of background in this field that creates and original process for each group, tailored to specifically for you.  

Marianne Jones, Executive Director
Women's Fund of NH

The Adult Learning Center has had the good fortune to work with Peggy on both our most recent strategic plans, in 2001 and again in 2007/2008. I can’t say enough about the high quality of Peggy’s leadership. She is rock solid knowledgeable in this field, works wonderfully well with a range of people, and is results oriented. Our last strategic plan guided our organization well for five years and this one is doing the same. Definitely NOT sitting on a shelf!
Jim Verschueren, Executive Director
Dover Adult Learning Center of Strafford County

The three year strategic plan we developed in 2001 is dog-eared from use as a helpful reference, and continues to serve as our reference point for both daily and longer term work decisions.
Katherine Hartnett, Senior Project Director, NH Minimum Impact Development, The Jordan Institute

Peggy has won the respect and admiration of both the families and staff of Concord Even Start. She has an exceptional ability to facilitate meaningful discussions by asking thoughtful, insightful questions as she listens with respect to individual stories, as well as group discussions. Peggy is then able to support the group through the process of organizing and clarifying various thoughts and ideas to reveal common goals of the individuals in the group. As a result, the group is able to quickly move toward a unified approach to problem solving and goal setting.

Concord Even Start has come to rely on the skillful guidance that Peggy offers through her local evaluation each year. Her recommendations are practical and attainable, focusing on existing program strengths, yet offering opportunities to continually develop areas in need of improvement.

Families and staff thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to work with Peggy, whose warm, positive energy is an inspiration as we work together.
Laurie Hart, Director, Concord Even Start
Concord, NH

Peggy has great organizational, communication, and facilitation skills. When you work with her, she spends time upfront understanding your issues, and then plans a very tailored, not cookie cutter, response for your organization, whether it is grant writing, facilitating board/staff strategic planning, staff workshops, etc. She is very perceptive at understanding the dynamics of your organization..., and can communicate well the positive characteristics of your agency. This combination of skills...means that your group is much more likely to have a successful outcome and move forward.

Peggy has always made us feel that she really cares about our organization and the process that is so important to having a successful outcome. She has excellent follow-through and sees this process through from beginning to end, as opposed to some consultants who come in and out very quickly. It is always worth the time and money working with Peggy, because you are always sure of what you are getting from Peggy's work and its value.
Helen Taft, Executive Director, Families First of the Greater Seacoast, Portsmouth, NH

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Schools
I have known Peggy in a professional capacity for over 8 years and have found her to be consistently excellent in her consultant services. Peggy is able to cut through to the heart of the matter in a skillful and considerate manner and produce a final product of amazing clarity and organization. She has worked with many different constituencies within the Dover School District with a high level of success and professionalism. She is a master at building consensus, yet able to keep even the most difficult group focused and on task. Peggy is by far one of the most skilled facilitators I have ever worked with, no exceptions.....
Jean Briggs, Federal Projects Coordinator
Dover School Department, Dover, NH
 

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Workshop Participants
Peggy Kieschnick is one of the most effective facilitators it has been my pleasure to work with. The amazing energy and enthusiasm she has are contagious to those participating in her sessions. She listens well to other people and skillfully communicates what they are saying to the rest of the group. I cannot think of a facilitator I would rather work with.
John Russell, Workshop Participant, Dover, NH
 

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