CAMEO’s National Training Academy is pleased to offer its Strategic Management Framework series, designed specifically to support microlending / small business lending CDFIs in understanding the components of a robust strategic management framework essential to a strong performing CDFI.
This four-part training series, taught by industry experts Leslie Hoffman and Barbara Eckblad, covers key topics such as the strategic management framework, goal setting, multi-year financial projections, and developing annual operating plans, using interactive case studies and peer networking to enhance learning and practical application.
Each course builds on and references the content in the prior course(s) and therefore, requires participation in the entire series.
If you can’t attend all four courses live, the recordings will be made available shortly after each session so you can review the material before attending the next course.
Who should attend this course?
This series is particularly suited for management-level staff who play critical roles in development, strategic planning, and decision making. Organizations may register up to 10 staff or board members.
PRICING
The cost of attending this 4 part series is $500. CAMEO Member pricing is $250.
Please contact Dara Dado (ddado@CAMEOnetwork.org) for the CAMEO Member discount.
CAMEO MEMBERSHIP
To learn more about CAMEO membership benefits and pricing, please click here.Scholarships are available for organizations that qualify. Please contact Dara Dado (ddado@CAMEOnetwork.org) to learn more.
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Testimonial
Joseph Marlitt, Bridgeway Capital, Impact and Compliance Manager
“I came into CAMEO’s sessions very green and left with ideas that have already transformed how our organization thinks. The engagement with peers, instructors, and experts is organic and honest, and I left feeling confident and reinvigorated.”
Course details
SMF 101: Overview of a CDFI Strategic Management Framework
When: 10am to 11:30am PST, February 12, 2026
Instructor: Leslie Hoffman
Learning Outcomes: As a result of participating in the training, students will
- Have an understanding of the key elements of the strategic management framework;
- Be able to explain the five-pillars concept;
- Have an understanding of key elements of strategic goal setting;
- Have an understanding of the relationship between strategic goals and an annual operating plan;
- Be able to explain the role of the functional feedback loop to support organizational effectiveness;
- Be introduced to a case study example that will be used throughout the course;
- Have built relationships to strengthen their supportive network with peers.
SMF 102: Strategic Goal Setting
When: 10am to 11:30am PST, February 19, 2026
Instructor: Leslie Hoffman
Learning Outcomes: As a result of participating in the training, students will
- Be able to identify the key elements of impact and deployment pillars;
- Have an understanding of the full list of assumptions needed to support the strategic goals;
- Have built relationships to strengthen their supportive network with peers.
SMF 103: Multi-Year Projections
When: 10am to 11:30am PST, March 12, 2026
Instructor: Barbara Eckblad
Learning Outcomes: As a result of participating in the training, students will
- Understand concepts, terms and definitions used in the CDFI industry to assess financial strength and performance;
- Understand how strategic goals for organizational growth cascade into financial projections, both for lending and for operations;
- Understand key financial ratios and how to calculate them from their financial projections;
- Have built relationships to strengthen their supportive network with peers.
SMF 104: Developing an Annual Operating Plan and Functional Feedback Loop
When: 10am to 11:30am PST, March 19, 2026
Instructor: Leslie Hoffman
Learning Outcomes: As a result of participating in the training, students will
- Have an understanding of the key elements of mission growth, financial strength, capitalization, and organizational capacity goal setting;
- Understand how to develop an annual operating plan tied to strategic goals;
- Have an understanding of the key elements of the functional feedback loop;
- Understand various tools and approaches to monitoring organizational progress on strategic management;
- Have built relationships to strengthen their supportive network with peers.
Barbara Eckblad is the principal of The Eckblad Group for whom community development and finance has been a personal and professional passion beginning soon after she entered the workforce. While starting in the commercial credit department of a regional bank, analyzing borrower profiles, she spent evenings planning a still-successful tourism and marketing initiative for the small dairy farming community in Wisconsin in which she lived. During the first tech boom twenty years ago, Barbara helped re-engineer a successful but stressed small tech company with less than five employees. After relocating to the Milwaukee area, Barbara founded a commercial and residential real estate brokerage firm. Both experiences gave her first-hand experience with the challenges facing entrepreneurs. She transitioned her business to employee ownership in 2008 in order to devote full time and attention to microfinance, CDFIs, and the wellbeing of under-served and at-risk populations. Before founding The Eckblad Group, Barbara was Director of Lending for WWBIC (Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp.). Under her leadership, WWBIC’s loan portfolio grew by 67% over 3 years, while experiencing a decrease in delinquency rates to below industry standards. Barbara and her husband Steven live in Milwaukee, where they are active in the ministry of the Episcopal Church. They enjoy bicycling, table shuffleboard played in taverns, and traveling the world to see their children and grandchildren.