Strategic planning

Plan A facilitates strategic planning processes through in-depth research; building consensus around a vision for the impact the organization aims to achieve; development of a framework including a small but powerful group of goals and objectives; and detailed tactical plans calibrated to realistic timelines, evaluative metrics, staff capacity, and financial realities.

Business planning and scaling

Plan A facilitates the development of strategies and detailed business plans— with financial modeling—for organizations that aspire to expand the programs or services that they offer, add or expand facilities, reach new populations or increase the number of people they serve, or extend their geographic reach.

Program planning

Plan A facilitates the development of new programs and services— with financial modeling—for organizations that aspire to reach a new audience or expand their impact.

Plan implementation

Plan A may remain engaged with clients following a strategic, business, financial or scaling planning process to assist with implementing select objectives or on a retainer basis to provide ongoing oversight and implementation coaching.

Governance assessment

Plan A assesses the performance of a nonprofit's board against generally accepted benchmarks for best practices and makes recommendations to improve board performance.

Board development

Plan A assesses the composition of a nonprofit's board in terms of expertise, capacities, and diversities relative to the organization’s immediate needs and strategic vision, and guides the practical process of identifying, recruiting, soliciting, and integrating new members.

Organizational design & succession planning

Plan A works with the board and executive leadership of nonprofits to redesign organizational structures including divisions, departments, teams, and positions to improve collaboration, communication, and impact. Plan A also works with organizations to develop succession plans, and coaches and trains incoming and future leaders to prepare them for new responsibilities.

Retreats and meetings

Plan A employs a design-thinking approach to facilitate active, creative, and engaging organizational retreats and meetings. A post-retreat report enables the organization to immediately act on major outcomes and decisions. Plan A also leads engaging workshops around case studies for boards and staff teams on a range of nonprofit management and governance topics.

Environmental and peer scanning

Plan A conducts scans of comparable organizations in a given field to help clients benchmark best practices and discover alternative models to improve management and governance practices, and long-term impact.

Strategic partnership development

Plan A negotiates strategic partnership agreements between organizations, facilitating conversations between boards and staff leadership on shared vision and implementation, drafting the Memorandum of Understanding, and helping to set financial terms.

Mergers & acquisitions

Plan A facilitates comprehensive merger or acquisition plans for two or more organizations. For nonprofits or fiscally sponsored programs seeking a home within another organization, or nonprofits seeking to expand through acquisition of a complementary partner, Plan A guides candidate identification, engagement strategy, and comprehensive plans for acquisition. When two organizations agree to an acquisition or merger, Plan A develops a Memorandum of Understanding to govern the process, and then facilitates joint task forces to help draft a shared mission and vision; refine the program and services portfolio; and develop staffing, governance, operational, and financial plans. Plan A then creates the merger plan and works with legal counsel to develop the Term Sheet. Plan A is also available to facilitate the mechanics of merger implementation.

Fundraising planning

Plan A assesses the performance of a nonprofit's fundraising efforts against benchmarks for best practices and makes recommendations to improve performance. Plan A works with nonprofits to match organizational goals and aspirations (i.e. those set in a strategic plan) to realistic and actionable fundraising programs and plans to secure the financial resources necessary to sustain the nonprofit.

Feasibility studies

An essential precursor to any major fundraising campaign, Plan A feasibility studies help clients set realistic fundraising goals, craft the messages that will resonate with prospective donors, expand their prospect pool, and identify campaign leadership.

Capital and comprehensive campaigns

Plan A designs and executes campaigns as fundraising counsel, writing and testing the case for support, drafting campaign materials, researching prospective donors, training and preparing solicitors, designing the strategy around each “ask,” assisting with gift negotiations, crafting acknowledgements, and more.

Philanthropic visioning & counsel

Plan A works with community and private foundations to design their philanthropic agendas, determine the focus for their giving platform and design the specific processes through which they will distribute grants, and hone the measurable outcomes they hope to achieve.