The National Center for Family Philanthropy is indebted to Open Impact for their expert guidance and partnership throughout our strategic planning process. Their depth of experience, knowledge of the philanthropic sector, and expert facilitation led us through a thoughtful process to reimagine the organization and strengthen our position as a premier resource for philanthropic families. The clarity and distinction of the plan helped us to successfully make the case to several funders, strengthening our ability to provide resources and support.
About the Client
A 25+ year-old philanthropy-serving organization, the National Center for Family Philanthropy (NCFP) is a highly-respected nonprofit that innovated a model for educating and connecting multi-generational donor families to strengthen their philanthropy. In 2020, with the arrival of a new CEO and several new Board members, the organization was at an important inflection point in its development and poised to scale its impact.
Goals
As NCFP’s new CEO took the helm, the landscape of philanthropy was—and continues to be—changing rapidly; with COVID-19, questions of relevance, equity, and power are taking center stage for both philanthropies and philanthropy-serving organizations. In launching an adaptive strategy process, NCFP sought to harness these shifts, scale its field-level impact, and expand and deepen their support of a diverse set of family philanthropies. Due to COVID, the process was entirely virtual.
Process
NCFP was at a critical point in time to:
- Reflect on what it has learned since its inception
- Adapt its strategy for impact to the rapidly changing context
- Clarify its business model and capacity to scale
The Open Impact team began the process by first engaging NCFP’s Board of 15+ family philanthropy leaders to envision the organization’s future in light of the incredible growth of living donors and their changing needs. Open Impact facilitated conversations across diverse viewpoints to gain clarity, align leadership and board, and help the organization make decisions about its vision for philanthropy and point of view.
The Open Impact team then worked closely with NCFP’s senior leadership to facilitate worksessions and planning that deepened the Board’s direction into a full strategic plan with revised vision, mission and values, as well as a clear value proposition and three core strategies. The working group developed a full business plan, including a new revenue model and a scaled organizational design, as well as an operational timeline and plan for the next three years. In addition, an early set of outcomes metrics and implementation milestones were developed to support accountability and alignment as the plan was rolled out.
Outcomes
At the end of the strategic planning process, NCFP approved and began implementation of the plan. By end of year one, the organization had met its milestones, including three key senior hires, and outperformed its fundraising targets to fully fund the first two years of the plan. This included an unrestricted grant from MacKenzie Scott.
