WORK WITH US — STRATEGIC PLANNING CONSULTING
Our work as nonprofit strategic planning consultants creates clarity, energy and opportunity.
We lead equitable and inclusive strategic planning consulting that move all of us towards action, justice and growth.
We bring a proven strategic planning process that asks the right questions and then incorporates the perspectives of organizational leaders into the plan. Our process includes:
✅ Knowledge of nonprofit best practices
We are national leaders who bring deep knowledge of trends and challenges in the nonprofit sector.
✅ Experience facilitating conversations with many organizations
Each consulting engagement focuses on a few key questions: What is our vision for this organization to be the best that it can be? What are the questions that the organization desires to answer at this time? These questions and others guide and focus the process.
✅ Focus on Equity
The Ross Collective is deeply committed to racial equity and this is a focus of our facilitation work.
✅ Technology of Participation (ToP) facilitation methods
We use participatory processes and visual facilitation with board or staff members to reflect, brainstorm, explore possible options and then determine the priorities that are most mission-aligned and impactful.
✅From strategic to tactical:
Every process includes building practical operational plans so that your strategic plan is a living document that guides your work going forward.
Some nonprofit organizations that we’ve worked with:
Current or past planning clients include: AEOE, Bike East Bay, East Oakland Collective, Feed Black Futures, interACT, La Cocina, National VOAD, Los Altos-Mountain View Community Foundation, New Museum Los Gatos, Pittsburg Arts & Community Foundation , SOS Meals on Wheels , Yerba Buena Gardens Conservancy and Youth Alive.
Candice Elder,
East Oakland Collective
“We use the strategic plan that we created with The Ross Collective as a basis for everything we do now. It is a guiding document that holds us accountable and focused. Our community received it with a lot of excitement. And when we're doing grant applications, we can often cut and paste from the strategic plan right into the grant proposal.”
Benefits of creating an inclusive nonprofit strategic plan include:
Board and staff members are invested in the strategic plan - so are energized to do the hard work of realizing the group’s vision and better serving community needs.
You have a clear path for organizational growth, including embracing new funding opportunities.
Your clarity about your priorities makes your case for support more compelling, leading to stronger fundraising.
Your board and staff are energized by staying focused on your most important work -and you’re using your capacity to be as effective as possible.
Genevieve Taylor
Executive Director, Ag Innovations
“We appreciated Renee’s design and facilitation of Ag Innovations’ strategic planning process, which supported us to build a strategic plan that included a renewed mission, vision and values. Renee was responsive to the specific needs of our group: many staff members are facilitators ourselves so wanted to track the process closely, and also wanted to bring board and staff together. We liked how she used Google Slides and collaboration software as a way for team members to share ideas and build on each other's work. She had a productive process for incorporating input from team members and board, and did a great job of community building between board and staff throughout.”