N Street Village (NSV), a high-impact organization serving homeless and low-income women, faced a pivotal moment in its development operations. Amid organizational transitions—including nonprofit acquisitions and a temporary staff shortage—NSV engaged Onward to craft a robust five-year development plan.

Taking a deep-dive approach, Onward’s due diligence went beyond traditional reviews and audits. Our consultants immersed themselves directly in NSV’s mission, from serving meals to attending resident training, gaining hands-on insights into the organization’s daily work. This in-depth involvement informed a strategy that touched every aspect of NSV’s programs.

The process included a comprehensive department audit, stakeholder interviews to assess growth opportunities, and a national benchmarking study. Onward’s team interviewed six peer organizations across the country to understand their fundraising strategies, staffing models, and metrics, gathering best practices and innovative approaches.

This immersive approach shaped a forward-thinking development strategy tailored to NSV’s unique needs. The final deliverables included a multi-year strategic development plan, operational plans for each fundraising function, an optimized staffing structure, and a performance dashboard to track progress on strategic objectives. This roadmap equipped NSV with a solid framework and the tools needed to sustainably fund its mission and long-term goals.

First Shift Justice Project (FSJP), a nonprofit championing the workplace rights of low-income workers, aimed to boost its operational efficiency and expand its reach. Initially, FSJP was a one-woman operation, with attorney Laura Brown handling both educational programs and direct legal representation. FSJP enlisted Onward to sharpen its mission, define clear goals, and design a comprehensive logic model with measurable impacts.

Onward partnered with FSJP through focused consultations, honing in on key areas: defining the core problem, understanding the target audience, and refining the mission. Onward helped FSJP distinguish between program, strategic, and mission goals, guiding the creation of a logic model that clearly communicated their strategy to potential funders. This approach resulted in FSJP securing its first significant investment.

With a clear mission and a solid logic model, FSJP secured funding that sparked rapid growth. In just a few years, FSJP expanded from one staff member to a team of seven, with plans for further expansion. This growth amplified FSJP’s  ability to train employers, represent workers, and significantly boost its community impact. Onward’s strategic consultancy proved to be a game-changer, demonstrating the immense value of targeted guidance for small nonprofits.

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in Washington, DC, is a unique national park featuring over 45 ponds of lotus and water lilies, offering both a serene escape and a vital ecosystem. Seeking to enhance visitor experiences, deepen community engagement, and build financial sustainability, Aquatic Gardens partnered with Onward Consulting.

Onward studied best-in-class organizations like Mississippi Park Connection, Rock Creek Conservancy, Conservancy for the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and Friends of Saguaro National Park to uncover successful strategies the Aquatic Gardens could adopt:

• Visitor Engagement: Inspired by Mississippi’s programming, we recommended introducing kayak rentals to offer visitors a new way to experience the gardens.
• Volunteer Management: Learning from Rock Creek, we proposed a tiered volunteer plan targeting corporate groups and community volunteers to strengthen garden maintenance.
• Revenue Diversification: Drawing from Cuyahoga Valley’s model, we suggested fee-based services like cultural and educational programs to create sustainable revenue.
• Community Engagement: Building on Saguaro’s success, we emphasized local outreach and a membership program to foster lasting community ties.

Strategic engagements like this reveal how tailored, innovative solutions from peer organizations can be adapted to a new context. The insights we gained showed that increasing interactivity, offering structured volunteer opportunities, diversifying revenue, and fostering strong local connections are crucial for long-term impact. This work provided Aquatic Gardens with a clear path to amplify its mission while raising friends and funds for a cherished local asset.

C.A.S.E. faced a pivotal moment where their current trajectory no longer matched their ambitions. The solution lay in redefining their mission and values, upgrading their strategies, structure, and systems, and fostering a performance-driven, compassionate culture to secure a brighter future.

Over 18 Months, Onward Guided C.A.S.E.’s Transformation.  Using the organizational health assessment as a foundation, Onward Consultants collaborated with C.A.S.E. staff to address gaps and build capabilities for future growth:

1 – Refine the Mission

2 – Restructure the Staffing Model

3 – Define & Codify Core Values

4 – Integrate Values into Formal & Informal Systems

5 – Strategic Execution Software to plan, monitor, & report on progress

6 – Data-Driven Decision-Making

7 – Effective Meeting Cadence Integrated w/ Dashboards 

8 – Enhance Staff Capabilities

C.A.S.E. now operates with greater precision, supported by a clear management system and structure. Data dashboards inform decisions at every level, from quarterly strategic meetings to weekly operational discussions. The organization thrives with an integrated management model and shared values, avoiding silos. Staff skills and capabilities have been significantly enhanced, enabling C.A.S.E. to achieve its goals efficiently and effectively for the long term.

Yoga Alliance Foundation (YAF) a 501 (c)3 embarked on a transformative journey to redefine its mission, increase its impact, and secure greater independence from the Yoga Alliance Trade Association’s 501(c)6. This shift was guided by Onward.

The board of YAF aimed to:

1. Establish the Foundation’s independence from the Trade Association.
2. Enhance its impact on the community.
3. Boost its fundraising capabilities.

Onward undertook a meticulous process to understand the Foundation’s history and the perspectives of key stakeholders. This included:

• A thorough review of YAF’s materials and literature.
• 15 in-depth interviews with critical stakeholders.
• Facilitating focus group discussions to gather valuable insights.

After analyzing the collected data, Onward facilitated a dynamic board workshop to present the findings. Together, they crafted a revitalized mission, vision, and core values for YAF. This strategic alignment provided YAF with:

• A clear and compelling purpose.
• Defined values for smart decision-making.
• A strategic roadmap with prioritized goals for future planning.

The collaboration has set YAF on a new path, poised for long-term success and increased impact in the yoga world.

For over fifty years, the Washington Literacy Council (WLC) has empowered adults by teaching them to read, helping them work, raise families, and navigate the world. Despite its successes, the organization struggled to provide concrete data to quantify its impact. Under Executive Director Terry Algire’s leadership, WLC aimed to shift from anecdotal evidence to measurable outcomes.

With a mini-grant from the MARPAT Foundation, WLC collaborated with Onward Consulting to:

1 – Clarify the Audience, Approach, and Activities: Precisely define its target audience, educational strategies, and program activities.

2 – Develop a Logic Model: Align activities with specific outputs and outcomes.

3 – Create an Accountability Framework: Construct a framework to identify key demographic data and performance indicators for tracking progress.

Onward Consulting adopted a hands-on approach by:

1 – Engaging with Staff, Students, & Materials: Reviewing materials, meeting with staff and teachers, and attending classes.

2 – Developing Critical Questions: Collaborating with WLC to refine the target audience and metrics of impact.

3 – Drafting WLC’s First Logic Model: Co-creating a logic model that aligned goals, methods, and measures within an accountability framework.

The results were transformative:

• Target Audience: Successfully identified the student demographic that would benefit most from services.
• Documented Educational Gains: With a well-targeted audience, WLC documented improvements in student education levels.
• Increased Organizational Focus: The logic model helped WLC maintain focus, avoid mission creep, and use resources more effectively.

Terry Algire emphasized the impact: “The logic model keeps everyone focused and prevents mission creep. It significantly improves resource usage and effectiveness in helping our clients.”

Amid the challenges of COVID and approaching its 25th anniversary, C.A.S.E. sought a fresh strategic direction.

Onward conducted a thorough discovery, analyzing hundreds of documents across finance, HR, and operations, supplemented by over 35 interviews with staff, stakeholders, and partners. Using the McKinsey Seven-S framework, they assessed organizational health and gathered insights through a confidential all-staff survey. The findings were presented to the board, in a day-long guided strategic retreat.

Onward led a dynamic board discussion, merging extensive information, diverse ideas, and varied opinions. This rigorous exchange steered the board toward a bold new direction, transforming C.A.S.E. into a national teaching clinic for adoption-competent practice and workforce development.

Not all strategic contracts start the same. When the Campaign for Youth Justice (CFYJ) approached Onward, the initial objective was to help articulate its logic model, focusing on policy, research, advocacy, and boots-on-the-ground campaign organizing. What began as a straightforward task evolved into a transformational engagement that reset CFYJ’s strategic direction.

CFYJ, a national initiative dedicated to ending the prosecution, sentencing, and incarceration of youth under 18 in the adult criminal justice system, needed a clear logic model to distill its impact and articulate measures of effect. CFYJ hired Onward LLC to develop a logic model to clarify its programs and ensure alignment with its mission and goals.

Onward commenced with a thorough review of CFYJ’s materials, including contracts, grants, evaluation rubrics, strategic documents, and communication collateral. This was complemented by interviews with key staff across various areas, including advocacy, policy, research, and communications.

Onward facilitated staff training sessions on logic models and conducted a two-day staff retreat to draft and prioritize elements of the logic model. This process surfaced a fundamental question: Is CFYJ an actual campaign, and thus time-bound, or has it evolved into an ongoing organization?

Next, Onward facilitated an inclusive board retreat designed to answer this pivotal question. Utilizing various tools to remove power dynamics and ensure equitable voice, it was determined that CFYJ was a campaign. Onward then helped operationalize this decision into a 3-4 year plan and individual workplans, clearly defining “the CFYJ win.”

Four years after that board retreat, the campaign ended achieving much:

• A 70% reduction in youth prosecuted as adults, from 250,000 annually to 76,000.
• A decrease from 10,000 to 3,500 youth residing in adult facilities.
• Legislative changes in 40 states and DC, resulting in over 100 laws making it harder to send children to adult court.
• Raising the age of criminal responsibility to 18 in 11 states, thereby permanently closing the door to the adult system for over 100,000 children annually.
• 22 states narrowed or ended automatic transfer laws, preventing children from being treated as adults.

Onward’s thoughtful and nimble approach was instrumental in CFYJ’s success. The process of developing a logic model not only clarified CFYJ’s mission but also highlighted incongruencies that led to a board-led transformation. This engagement required Onward adapt its contract to meet the evolving needs of its client, driving impactful change and achieving significant legislative victories for youth justice.

ISTA: The Indiana State Teachers Association a 501(c)6 aimed to redefine the goals of its 501(c)3 Foundation for the Improvement of Education (IFIE), improve its operating model, and secure additional funding for educator professional development.

Onward began by evaluating the Foundation’s current state by comparing similar foundations, benchmarking state National Board-Certified Teacher (NBCT) data, and analyzing the political and educational landscape. SWOT interviews were conducted with stakeholders, including ISTA and IFIE leadership, educators, and philanthropic leaders.

Onward identified conflicts between the roles of the Foundation’s 501 (c)3 status relative to the ISTA Union’s (c)6 and suggested ways to deconflict their objectives and operations.   

The Foundation clarified its mission and operational model, deconflicting its work from the ISTA Union.  This clarification strengthened the partnership between IFIE and ISTA, enhancing their collective efforts with well-defined roles and responsibilities demonstrating the value of strategic clarity and collaborative partnerships.

Amidst the challenges of COVID-19 and approaching its 25th anniversary, The Center for Adoption Support and Education (C.A.S.E.) sought a new strategic direction.

Onward conducted a comprehensive review, analyzing documents across finance, HR, development, communication, and program outcomes. This was complemented by over 10 director interviews using the McKinsey Seven-S framework and 25 external interviews with various stakeholder groups.  A confidential all-staff survey was added to gather staff insights, and the findings were categorized to identify consensus and conflict. In collaboration with a steering committee, Onward presented an organizational health assessment to the board and facilitated strategic discussions.

The application of strategic tools, scope management, advanced data collection & visualization, and facilitated discussions among the board and staff, informed the C.A.S.E. model, promoted organizational learning, and strengthened internal capacity. This effort culminated in C.A.S.E.’s transformational decision to evolve into a national demonstration teaching clinic, dedicated to educating therapists nationwide, amplifying its impact and ensuring long-term sustainability.

Engaging a Diverse Parent Community to Co-Create a Strategic Vision for Growth and Equity

Mundo Verde, a bilingual charter school in Washington, D.C., collaborated with Onward Consulting to actively engage its multicultural parent community in shaping the school’s future. To achieve this, Onward adapted a large-scale facilitation model, originally designed for civic engagement by America Speaks, which emphasizes structured, inclusive dialogue and real-time feedback. This approach provided a platform for over 100 parents to collaboratively identify and prioritize the school’s strategic elements, ensuring their voices played a key role in the school’s growth and evolution.

With an upcoming move to a new campus and plans for expansion, Mundo Verde had a unique opportunity to involve its diverse parent body—comprising both English and Spanish speakers—in strategic planning. The goal was to ensure the school’s development reflected the community’s values and concerns, particularly regarding bilingual education, equity, and sustainability.

Onward Consulting tailored the large-scale facilitation model to suit Mundo Verde’s unique needs, focusing on bilingual engagement and real-time feedback:

• Preparation and Inclusivity:  Bilingual materials to ensure all parents, regardless of language, had equal access to information and could fully participate.
• Structured Small Group Discussions: Organized parents into language-specific tables of ten, each led by a facilitator to guide discussions on the school’s values and direction.
• Real-Time Feedback and Synthesis: Leveraged technology to collect and synthesize feedback from all groups, highlighting key themes and areas of consensus to the larger assembly for reflection.
• Iterative Prioritization and Group Voting: Groups discussed the synthesized feedback, refined their ideas, and engaged in real-time voting to ensure decisions were community-driven.
• Transparent Reporting: Compiled all input and decisions into a comprehensive report, offering a clear and actionable roadmap for school leadership that reflected the collective voice of its parent body.

By adapting the facilitation model to meet the needs of a bilingual school community, Onward successfully led a session where every parent had a voice in shaping the school’s strategic direction. This process strengthened the relationship between Mundo Verde and its parent community, promoted inclusive decision-making, and resulted in a set of clear, community-driven goals to guide the school’s future.

Not all strategic contracts start the same. When the Campaign for Youth Justice (CFYJ) approached Onward, the initial objective was to help articulate its logic model, focusing on policy, research, advocacy, and boots-on-the-ground campaign organizing. What began as a straightforward task evolved into a transformational engagement that reset CFYJ’s strategic direction.

CFYJ, a national initiative dedicated to ending the prosecution, sentencing, and incarceration of youth under 18 in the adult criminal justice system, needed a clear logic model to distill its impact and articulate measures of effect. CFYJ hired Onward LLC to develop a logic model to clarify its programs and ensure alignment with its mission and goals.

1. Meticulous Review:  CFYJ’s materials, including contracts, grants, evaluation rubrics, strategic documents, and communication collateral.
2. Stakeholder Interviews: Interviewed key staff across advocacy, policy, research, and communications.
3. Staff Training & Retreat: Led logic model training and a two-day staff retreat, which revealed a pivotal question: Is CFYJ a time-bound campaign or an ongoing organization?
4. Board Decision: Facilitated a board retreat, leading to the decision that CFYJ is a campaign.
5. Strategic Operationalization: Developed a 3-4 strategic plan with clear goals and workplans, defining the “CFYJ win.”

Four years after that board retreat, the campaign ended and CFYJ achieved their win:

• A 70% reduction in youth prosecuted as adults, from 250,000 annually to 76,000.
• A decrease from 10,000 to 3,500 youth residing in adult facilities.
• Legislative changes in 40 states and DC, resulting in over 100 laws making it harder to send children to adult court.
• Raising the age of criminal responsibility to 18 in 11 states, thereby permanently closing the door to the adult system for over 100,000 children annually.
• 22 states narrowed or ended automatic transfer laws, preventing children from being treated as adults.

Developing the logic model clarified CFYJ’s mission and exposed incongruencies. Addressing those incongruencies led to transformative legislative victories for youth justice.