“Miguel…the plan is working!”

-David Hood, M.Div., Executive Director, Abilities First Foundation, Inc.

Hiring a consultant to reinforce and build upon a nonprofit’s success through strategic planning is a stressful business. How do we find a consultant with the right expertise? One who really listens to us? One with a proven history of success in their own professional life? With a true understanding and passion for our mission?

For Abilities First, OneSource Center’s volunteer consultant Miguel Garcia (in partnership with fellow OneSource Center Consultant Sandy Edwards) checked each of these vital boxes.

Miguel retired from Procter & Gamble after a career that spanned nearly 30 years and two continents. During his time at P & G he worked in commercial, corporate, and supply chain logistics areas. However, Miguel’s passion projects at the company had everything to do with enhancing P&G’s existing commitment to hiring people with disabilities, complimenting the good work they were already doing by finding new ways to engage these folks throughout the supply chain.

Miguel knows firsthand the positive impact that incorporating people with disabilities has in the workforce. His 28-year-old daughter Natalia has Down’s Syndrome which doesn’t prevent her from having a job in which she thrives and being an active, social, bright light in the lives of her coworkers. He knows firsthand that Natalia is equally—perhaps even more—productive and reliable than those without disabilities. What she teaches her co-workers is that having her on their team is “not just the right thing to do…but the smart thing to do.”

Abilities First, a school in Middletown, Ohio, provides people with autism and other disabilities the education and therapies they need to attain independence, integration and acceptance in the world at large—including the workforce. The organization’s challenge was how to achieve the financial stability needed to pay and retain the extraordinarily talented teachers needed in this educational space. They approached OneSource Center for help with the focused, strategic planning needed to achieve this critical goal using existing resources. Miguel’s expertise in both finance and creation of support systems for people with disabilities made him the perfect match for this challenging project.

Miguel, in partnership with the Abilities First team, successfully created a comprehensive financial model integrating the impact of fee changes, incremental students and improved wages. Between their adherence to the strategic plan and trust in a process designed to take 1½ years to achieve, they found themselves ahead of schedule by at least 6 months of their financial goals with a more engaged workforce services and expanded group of students.

“Miguel worked well beyond the scope of our agreement to create scalable models, sensitivity tables and spreadsheets that proved the math was solid and achievable. Though his focus was our financial and systematic processes, he never lost sight of our mission and never encouraged us to sacrifice quality for a dollar. I am so thankful for Miguel’s guidance and support.” 

 Miguel, thank you for your generosity of time, expertise, and spirit. You make a difference for nonprofits and the people they serve.