Hispanics Enjoying Camping, Hunting, and the Outdoors (HECHO)

Background

HECHO is a partner of and a fiscally sponsored program of the National Wildlife Federation that inspires Americans to ensure wildlife can thrive in a rapidly changing world. HECHO’s mission is to empower and support Hispanics and Latinos to engage on public lands and conservation policy.

Hispanics are among the most active users and guardians of nature in our local communities and across the country. They are also a growing and influential voting bloc capable of leading change and transforming conservation policy.

With more than 50 million Hispanics living in the United States and over 6,000 Latino elected and appointed officials, Hispanics are important stakeholders for conservation. Yet, their voices are often missing or under-represented in national, state and local policymaking on the use of our shared natural resources. HECHO’s unique role is to educate, empower, and create opportunities for these voices to be heard.

The Process

Working with Executive Director Camila Simon and the members of the HECHO Advisory Board, Due East helped HECHO advance a broadly owned vision with clear and actionable goals and metrics to accelerate growth over the next few years. We clarified short- and long-term strategic opportunities, centering our work on organizational planning and growth, capacity-building, fundraising, governance and coaching.

This collaboration highlights Due East’s ability to help an organization build on existing strategic and operational strengths; work within each organization’s unique circumstances; and to expand capacity and resources to help them achieve their highest potential.

The Results

Due East supported HECHO on three deliverables:

Strategic Plan: Due East helped HECHO to hone and articulate their focus on Hispanic leaders, influencers and activists as key constituents. The new plan also distinguishes HECHO from other organizations in the sector and defines their niche. In alignment with the new strategic plan, HECHO has hired four staff people, doubling the size of their staff, and added new Advisory Board members who add new capacities.

Analysis of Governance Structures: Due East gathered data and analyzed the pros and cons of HECHO’s existing structure as a program of the National Wildlife Federation. We found that the fastest way to execute their strategic roadmap and achieve their conservation goals was to remain at NWF. To make the most of a renewed, longer term partnership with NWF, we recommended a set of changes to organizational staffing, governance and leadership, fundraising, programs, and marketing to be outlined in a partnership MOU.

Development Plan: Due East developed a 3-Year Development Action Plan that outlined strategies and core activities for tripling the organization’s raised revenue from $379K to over $1M over two years with funding from new and diverse sources. We also developed an aligned Case for Support pitch deck for introducing the new plan and development goals to funding prospects.