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>>I'm thinking in terms of a one-time consultation of an hour or two <http://blog.deborah.elizabeth.finn.com/blog/Consultingservices/_archives/200
5/1/10/237048.html>
Ahhh! I offer something I call a mini-review (normally at their site, so I didn't think about it for your question).
I have done them pro-bono, but currently charge. The purpose of the mini-review is to dump as much useful information as I can out of my head into the org's lap as can usefully be done in 1-2 hrs without having to produce a written report.
It is a structured discussion. I ask that key decision makers and users are present. In advance I give them a short form to fill in that tells me mission, goals, numbers of staff/vols/PCs/Servers etc. and then Y/N questions on "do you have adequate..." hardware, backup, software, networking, donor/vol management, web, online fundraising etc etc. (the key areas that I would in a full tech assessment).
So I come to the meeting knowing what the issue/gap areas are, and we talk through each area. I give them verbal pointers, suggestions, resources; they take notes.
So I might suggest a local refurbisher if they need PCs, or suggest areas to look as to why their network is slow, or point them to TechSoup, or suggest a backup configuration, or how they might go about addressing donor database needs, or how to put a free network4good button on their website. Sometimes because I'm on site we may resolve some problem there and then instantly (I remember one site where some spreadsheet issue was holding them up in some major way - so I just resolved it towards the end of the meeting).
Some groups have had me come back to tackle something we discussed, others have used the information to be self sufficient in getting some things sorted out. One group took the outline of the discussion and for the following couple of yrs have been writing grant requests for each aspect and doing it all themselves. They call occasionally to just make sure they are on track.
I've found it to be an efficient way to get the broad range of info that I gather as an NPtech out to groups, instead of being silo'd to addressing specific needs. Prior to the Mini-Reviews, the only tool I had to do this kind of overview was a full tech assessment, but that kind of consultancy can be long and expensive and shut many small groups out.
I'll share my mini-review form with anyone who'd like to use it.
Jenny
Jenny Council
Southern Oregon Program Manager
netCorps.
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post.