Case Study: Botanical Belonging
From idea to thriving nonprofit: Building the foundation for a native plant education organization
The Challenge
In 2021, Patti Ragsdale had a vision: create a nonprofit that would teach people about native plants, run a small native plant nursery, and build community around ecological restoration in Kansas City. She had deep expertise in horticulture and education, and genuine passion for the mission.
What she didn’t have: organizational infrastructure, communications systems, fundraising frameworks, or operational processes. Like many mission-driven founders, Patti was an expert in her field — not in building and running a nonprofit.
She needed someone who could build the scaffolding that would allow her vision to become a sustainable organization.
My Role
I joined Botanical Belonging as founding Board President and communications lead in 2021, serving primarily as a volunteer for the first three years, then transitioning to occasional paid project work as the organization stabilized.
My job wasn’t to grow plants or teach workshops — it was to build everything else that would allow the organization to function, grow, and eventually scale beyond its founder.
What I Built
Strategic Foundation
Strategic Plan: Created the organization’s first multi-year strategic plan, defining programs, target audiences, and growth strategy.
Statement of Need: Wrote the core narrative that articulated the organization’s purpose and value for fundraising and communications. Read it here →
Organizational Structure: Developed role definitions, workflows, and operational systems that would support sustainable growth.
Communications Infrastructure
Website: Built and launched a WordPress site that serves as the hub for all programs, events, and educational content.
Email & Registration Systems: Set up and managed newsletters and program registration through Zeffy, creating templates and workflows that could eventually be managed by staff.
Social Media: Established presence on Instagram and Facebook with consistent voice and strategy, posting regularly to build community and promote programs.
Educational Materials: Created brochures, tabling materials, and print collateral for events and outreach.
Program Support & Training: Co-hosted webinars and created educational resources to support programs. For the Stable M program in 2024, I created and delivered an iNaturalist tutorial teaching participants how to use the app for plant identification and observation logging. Watch the webinar →
Operational Systems
Content Planning: Developed planning systems for communications that aligned with programming.
Process Documentation: Created documentation so systems could be maintained by future staff without specialized communications expertise.
Grant Support: Edited proposals and program descriptions to strengthen funding applications.
Capacity Building & Hiring
First Staff Hire: Wrote the job description for an operations manager position — the role that would eventually take over day-to-day operations and allow the founder to focus on education and plant propagation.
Knowledge Transfer: Built all systems to be manageable by someone without communications expertise, ensuring sustainability beyond my direct involvement.
The Result
Botanical Belonging is now a thriving organization with:
✓ Consistent educational programming and events
✓ Growing membership and donor base
✓ Strong digital presence and community engagement
✓ An operations manager for day-to-day support
✓ Sustainable systems that support continued growth
✓ A founder who can focus on what she does best: teaching and growing plants
The organization successfully transitioned from “founder does everything” to a functioning nonprofit with clear roles, documented processes, and the capacity to scale.
What Made This Work
Systems thinking: I didn’t just create content — I built the systems that would allow communications to happen consistently, even without me.
Founder-centered approach: I understood that Patti’s expertise was in native plants and education, not organizational management. My aim was to handle everything else so she could focus on her strengths.
Sustainable infrastructure: Everything I built was designed to be maintained by non-experts. The operations manager hired using my job description now manages most of what I set up.
Strategic clarity: By creating a clear strategic plan early, we ensured all efforts — from programming to communications — aligned with organizational goals.
Client Perspective
“Anna’s editorial, social media and website talents are indispensable! As a nonprofit, we couldn’t exist without engaging people in our mission, and having a skilled writer and strategist on our team makes community engagement happen. Anna is a master at understanding our mission and getting our voice out there at the right time.”
— Patti Ragsdale, Executive Director, Botanical Belonging
Explore the Work
Visit Botanical Belonging’s website →
See the website and messaging in action
Read the Statement of Need →
The core narrative I wrote that defines the organization’s mission and value
Looking for similar support?
If you’re launching a new organization, building new programs, or need someone to create the strategic and operational infrastructure that makes growth sustainable, I’d love to talk about how I can help.
This work was performed primarily as a volunteer Board President role (2021-2024) with some paid project work (2023-2024). I’m sharing it here because it represents the type of organizational development and capacity-building work I now offer to clients.