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# Business Skills

Understanding basic business practices is key to delivering successful programs and services. Nutrition programs can benefit from honing business skills for planning, budgeting, marketing, and more. By ensuring your program runs smoothly and efficiently, you can focus on what matters most.

## Quick Guides

                    - Creating a Business Plan  — Blueprint guide to writing your business plan
                    - Conducting Needs Assessment Surveys — Guide from University of Kansas Community Tool Box
                    - Evaluating Food Service Approaches Tip Sheet  — Tips for evaluating features and  limitations of different food service approaches, including contracted  or self-operated models
                    - Quick Tips: Funding Options  — Information and resources related to common  questions on funding for OAA Title III-C Nutrition Services
                    - Business Acumen Basics for Senior Nutrition Programs  — Build better business skills by  understanding “business acumen”
                    - Tips to Run Efficient Senior Nutrition Programs  — Five tips for business
                    - Quality Nutrition Services for Senior Nutrition Programs  — Summary brief addressing components  of quality nutrition services                        - Extended brief 
                    - Food Service Basics for Non-Food Service Program Managers and Staff  — Summary of food service management                       - Extended guide 
                    - Writing Competitive Grants — Keys to successful grant applications from NCOA
                    - Tips To Ensure Your Senior Nutrition Program Runs Smoothly  — Recommendations for running a  successful nutrition program
                    - Tips for PowerPoint Presentations  — Best practices and design tips

## Guides

                    - Resource Guide Partnerships With Community-based Organizations  — Five overarching reasons that health plans should work with CBOs and community care networks as contracted partners
                    - Steps in Conducting a Market Analysis During COVID-19  — Steps to uncover opportunities for valuable strategic partnerships within your community
                    - Tele or Virtual Nutrition Education for Older Adults  — Guide for nutrition services providers
                    - Use of Incentives for Older Americans Act Grantees  — Definition and examples of incentives
                    - Urgency for Change: A Call to Action for the Aging Network  — Making meaningful changes and innovations to meet the needs of older adults
                    - Proposal To Hire a Kitchen Manager  — MSAC Feast Meals case study in evaluating food service approaches

## Tools & Toolkits

                    - HCBS Business Acumen Toolkit — Toolkit to prepare community-based organizations to contract with integrated health care entities
                    - Building the Business Capacity of Senior Nutrition Programs  — Profiles of eight agencies
                    - Change Management Considerations for Senior Nutrition Programs  — Importance of change management
                    - Piece of the Pie: Making the Business Case for Nutrition Services  — Resources to strengthen business skills

##  Presentations

                    - Creating an Effective Business Workflow — SCORE webinar that webinar identifies what workflow is, why it's important, and the steps you should take to evaluate and create an effective workflow
                    - Run Your Non-Profit Like a Business — SCORE webinar that discusses financial, operational, sales (fundraising) and regulatory issues that all small organizations deal with
                    - The “New Normal” Way of Providing Key Nutrition Services to Seniors  — Slide deck from presentation on tips and examples of offering virtual nutrition services
                    - State Unit on Aging Engagement With Area Agencies on Aging (YouTube) — Mississippi State Unit on Aging gathers area agency on aging nutrition professionals regularly to build relationships and provide education
                    - Placing the 'Value' in Evaluation: Practical Tips for Measuring Impact (YouTube) — Webinar discussing why evaluation is important, how it can be used to prioritize limited resources, and how to use malnutrition and food insecurity screening tools to do so                       - Placing the 'Value' in Evaluation Slides 
                    - Business Plan Review  — Considerations for developing business plans by Timothy P. McNeill, RN, MPH
                    - Big Data, Big Results: Leveraging Your Data to Quantify Your Program's Impact — MOWA presentation on validating messaging with data
                    - Life After the Learning Collaborative — MOWA presentation on lessons, achievements, and next steps
                    - Making the Connection: Sales 101 — MOWA presentation on the potential for partnerships
                    - Pitch Perfect Messaging and Communications  — Presentation on services provided by HomeLinks
                    - Sharing Financing Experiences — Presentation from New Hampshire Coalition of Aging Services
                    - Step by Step Business Planning for Community Nutrition Programs  — Presentation on business planning for community nutrition programs

## Resources

                    - What Works: How Howard County, Maryland Is Addressing the Health and Well-being of Its Seniors  — Q&A with the Howard County Office on Aging & Independence

*Last modified on 01/11/2024*

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ACL funds the Nutrition and Aging Resource Center to build the capacity of senior nutrition programs funded by the Older Americans Act to provide high-quality, person-centered services and enhance program sustainability and resiliency.

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An official website of the Administration for Community Living, an operating division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.