Strategy and Investment Planning
Case: Advancing Criminal Justice Reform in Oklahoma
Features: Strategy and implementation plan, Investment proposal, Criminal justice.
Scope: George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF) approached us to steer development of a three-year roadmap and national investment proposal for a new initiative working to reduce incarceration and improve economic mobility for people impacted by Oklahoma's criminal legal system. As of 2020, Oklahoma ranked 3rd, 2nd, and 1st worst, respectively, in the U.S. in its incarceration of men, women and Black people.
Contribution: Five-month engagement in 2020-21 included project management, senior stakeholder facilitation, data analysis, contractor oversight, national funder engagement (Justice and Mobility Fund (JAM)), and lead content writing and synthesis for detailed plan including theory of investment, strategic priorities and goals, measurable milestones, and budget and operating structure.
Impact: $20M three-year co-investment secured. New initiative, ProsperOK, is one of JAM's two state investments. Grants to date accelerate policy change, program innovation, and community power-building strengthening BIPOC-led organizations.
Scope: George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF) approached us to steer development of a three-year roadmap and national investment proposal for a new initiative working to reduce incarceration and improve economic mobility for people impacted by Oklahoma's criminal legal system. As of 2020, Oklahoma ranked 3rd, 2nd, and 1st worst, respectively, in the U.S. in its incarceration of men, women and Black people.
Contribution: Five-month engagement in 2020-21 included project management, senior stakeholder facilitation, data analysis, contractor oversight, national funder engagement (Justice and Mobility Fund (JAM)), and lead content writing and synthesis for detailed plan including theory of investment, strategic priorities and goals, measurable milestones, and budget and operating structure.
Impact: $20M three-year co-investment secured. New initiative, ProsperOK, is one of JAM's two state investments. Grants to date accelerate policy change, program innovation, and community power-building strengthening BIPOC-led organizations.
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Case: Accelerating Opportunity for Boys and Young Men of Color in Chicago
Features: Strategic plan, Theory of Action, Logic models, Investment proposal, Racial equity, Educator and postsecondary pathways.
Scope: Thrive Chicago, the city's StriveTogether backbone, approached us to guide development of a strategic plan and investment proposal for its My Brother's Keeper initiative accelerating opportunity for Chicago's ~130,000 boys and young men of color (BYMOC), <20% of whom earn a Bachelor's degree and living wage by young adulthood.
Contribution: Eight-month engagement in 2020 included data and landscape analyses, project management, staff management, external group facilitation, impact modeling, leader coaching, national funder engagement, budgeting, and lead content writing for strategy and implementation roadmap in four focus areas: educator pipeline, systemic mentorship, postsecondary success, and narrative change.
Impact: National and local investments secured. Team hired and projects launched, including new high school education classes. Obama Foundation and Thrive Chicago partnership strengthened.
Scope: Thrive Chicago, the city's StriveTogether backbone, approached us to guide development of a strategic plan and investment proposal for its My Brother's Keeper initiative accelerating opportunity for Chicago's ~130,000 boys and young men of color (BYMOC), <20% of whom earn a Bachelor's degree and living wage by young adulthood.
Contribution: Eight-month engagement in 2020 included data and landscape analyses, project management, staff management, external group facilitation, impact modeling, leader coaching, national funder engagement, budgeting, and lead content writing for strategy and implementation roadmap in four focus areas: educator pipeline, systemic mentorship, postsecondary success, and narrative change.
Impact: National and local investments secured. Team hired and projects launched, including new high school education classes. Obama Foundation and Thrive Chicago partnership strengthened.
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Additional Strategy and Investment Planning examples:
- (As Manager at Bridgespan) StriveTogether five-year strategic plan and investment proposal, 2017. Led client relationships, consulting team activities, external stakeholder interviews, and research and analysis to support StriveTogether national network in developing a roadmap to improve educational opportunity and economic mobility across its 70+ community-based partnerships. Recommendations informed a >$95M scaling investment from a large national funder. 2017-18.
- (As Manager at Bridgespan) Chicago Community Trust strategic plan, 2018. Managed consulting team and senior clients, crafted executive strategic plan content, and co-facilitated Board decision meetings to compel Chicago's largest foundation to focus on closing the racial wealth gap.
- (As Deputy Executive Director at Commit) Commit Partnership five-year strategic plan, 2016. Steered Board and community input process, facilitated off-site workshops, managed internal alignment toward a singular North Star and three priority areas, and developed performance measurement system for the largest StriveTogether backbone partnership. Plan lasted five years.
Issues and Landscaping Assessments
Case: Combatting Intergenerational Poverty in Dallas
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Features: Issue area landscaping, Opportunity evaluation, Investment planning and budgeting, Child poverty, Economic mobility.
Scope: Dallas' backbone for combatting child poverty, the Child Poverty Action Lab (CPAL), has engaged us since its 2018 launch for a range of strategic advisory supports as it grows its team and model: start-up planning and annual budgeting; regional landscaping analyses and opportunity evaluations; actionable issues briefings for governmental and philanthropic investment; and investment framing and milestone reporting for national funders. Contribution: Over 18 months of analysis, writing, external interviewing, and leadership and staff advisory from 2020 to 2022 have resulted in two landscaping reports around high-impact Criminal Justice & Safety and Birth to Age 3 opportunities; localized data innovation pilots; actionable issues briefings around American Rescue Plan Act dollars and educational opportunities; and ongoing funder investment proposals and reporting on learning and innovation. Impact: Over $6M in philanthropic funding secured as a result of engagements, including over $3M from Blue Meridian Partners' Place Matters. Over $4M in governmental funding, including ARPA funds, influenced from issues briefings. Multiple recommendations from Birth to Age 3 landscaping operationalized. |
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Case: Landscaping Investable Opportunities for Improving Economic Mobility and Reducing Inequities in the U.S.
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Features: National landscaping research and synthesis, Investment analysis, Economic mobility, Racial equity.
Scope: New America approached us to guide landscape research, synthesis, and stakeholder facilitation to surface high-impact, actionable opportunities at the federal, state, and local levels for the Open Society Foundations' U.S. program to increase economic mobility and reduce inequality in the U.S. Contribution: Seven-month engagement in 2019 entailed intensive landscape research and sourcing / evaluation of promising investments across 20 issue areas, co-facilitation of discovery and alignment process with "Sprint Team" of 8 national experts, management of experienced consultant sub-contractor, creation of new family persona rubric for comparing investments, and writing of four substantial reports -- on work and workers, economic mobility in place, child development, and family financial mobiltiy and security -- for national funders and networks. Impact: Multiple recommendations operationalized within New America's New Practice Lab working on User Experience (UX) for family economic policy (e.g., Child Tax Credits, paid leave, childcare wages). Additional insights and recommendations socialized with leading national funders, indirectly informing investment. |
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Additional Strategy and Investment Planning examples:
- (As Manager at Bridgespan) StriveTogether five-year strategic plan and investment proposal, 2017. Led client relationships, consulting team activities, external stakeholder interviews, and research and analysis to support StriveTogether national network in developing a roadmap to improve educational opportunity and economic mobility across its 70+ community-based partnerships. Recommendations informed a >$95M scaling investment from a large national funder. 2017-18.
- (As Manager at Bridgespan) Chicago Community Trust strategic plan, 2018. Managed consulting team and senior clients, crafted executive strategic plan content, and co-facilitated Board decision meetings to compel Chicago's largest foundation to focus on closing the racial wealth gap.
- (As Deputy Executive Director at Commit) Commit Partnership five-year strategic plan, 2016. Steered Board and community input process, facilitated off-site workshops, managed internal alignment toward a singular North Star and three priority areas, and developed performance measurement system for the largest StriveTogether backbone partnership. Plan lasted five years.