PlantLanta has always been good at making things happen. From garden builds and nutrition programming to hands-on sustainability education, the Atlanta-based nonprofit brings creativity, strong community relationships, and a commitment to helping young people lead. But as the organization continues to grow, its team is learning that making an impact also means building the structures to sustain it.
Through Georgia Tech’s MBA Pro Bono Consulting Program, a team of MBA students worked with PlantLanta to identify opportunities to strengthen its operations and build a foundation for sustainable growth. To learn more about the team’s recommendations and their work with PlantLanta, read the original article: Georiga Tech MBA Students Help PlantLanta Build a Foundation for Sustainable Growth.
Since the project’s conclusion, PlantLanta has begun putting those recommendations into practice, transforming how the organization approaches funding, operations, and future growth. The organization received a Sprouts grant to expand garden and nutrition programming at Kindezi Old Fourth Ward, along with a second $45,000 Microsoft grant for fall programming. These opportunities have reinforced the importance of thoughtful budgeting, clear responsibilities, and understanding organizational capacity. To support its growth, PlantLanta has developed a Development Hub to track funding opportunities and reorganized its Asana workspace to better manage programs, budgets, and team responsibilities.
The organization has also taken time to focus on the people behind the work. In October, PlantLanta participated in an in-person team development session with Kathleen Kurre, exploring work styles, decision-making, and team dynamics through the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The session complemented the MBA team’s organizational recommendations by helping PlantLanta better understand how its team members work together.
Reflecting on the project’s lasting impact, Olivia Payton, PlantLanta Resources & Operations Manager, shared:
Before the MBA project, PlantLanta needed helped to make things happen. The team helped us start thinking about what needs to exist behind the scenes so the work can keep happening, grow responsibly and eventually be carried out by more people than just the three of us. They gave us a bridge between the creative, relationship-driven organization we naturally are and the more sustainable organization we’re working to become, without losing the heart of PlantLanta along the way.”
As PlantLanta continues to navigate new opportunities, the organization is learning that sustainable growth means knowing not only what it can do, but what it has the capacity to do well. The Georgia Tech MBA team’s work is already helping PlantLanta approach those decisions differently, building a stronger foundation for the community impact it hopes to carry forward.
The Institute for Leadership and Social Impact (ILSI) is an interdisciplinary institute at Georgia Tech dedicated to promoting servant leadership and advancing organizational practices that contribute to a more just, caring, and sustainable world. Through experiential learning, research, and community partnerships, we nurture leaders who drive meaningful social change—locally in Atlanta and globally. To learn more about our initiatives and programs, visit https://www.scheller.gatech.edu/centers-and-initiatives/institute-for-leadership-and-social-impact/index.html.