Our clients are an amazing group of creative and energetic professionals. Here are a few things that have impressed us recently:
1. A school developing its first strategic plan reached beyond its traditional leadership and invited a parent who is a university human resources administrator and a principal from a nearby school to join the strategic planning steering committee. Both individuals offered objectivity, fresh ideas, and organizational sustainability expertise to the planning process – helping to prioritize goals and identify actionable, measurable initiatives for the next three years.
2. The executive directors of several social services clients have been meeting regularly for over three years to discuss best practices and challenges in fulfilling their missions. Along the way, these organizations have worked to eliminate duplication in services across agencies, implement more effective systems and programs for serving their clients, collaborate in fundraising efforts, and become real partners in improving the lives of vulnerable people in the community.
3. Our work as a preferred provider for UNC’s upcoming capital campaign has put us in the midst of a number of planning exercises as we assist units across campus with campaign readiness. While each is different, the common denominator is strong engagement by faculty and alumni with the deans and fundraisers in the strategic planning process. This results in a more cohesive approach to setting fundraising goals everyone supports.
4. We loved hearing from a community college foundation, whose strategic plan we helped develop, saying it was time to revisit it. Four years later the board has met most of the original goals, and the team is ready to take on new challenges. Through a retreat and a hard-working task force, we are working with them to prepare for the next phase of growth.
