As CEO of a national membership association, I can say with certainty that developing a strategic plan is one of the best things we've done. Working with Nell through the process this past year has been eye-opening, clarifying, and fulfilling. Our staff and leadership can now move forward with confidence in our direction as an organization. All of our individual actions and activities make more sense and roll up into shared goals that we all care deeply about. Thank you, Nell!

As a start up nonprofit, one of the most critical actions we've taken was to hire Nell to help us ask difficult, introspective questions about who we are, where we are going, and our place in the market of ideas. We would not be where we are today without her advice and guidance - she's amazing. She is highly capable of addressing all the elements of how to think through truly hard questions - even when you don't know where to begin or feel like you can't get through the process.

As a new entity, we had been doing more of the day-to-day work and hadn’t taken the time to think about the bigger picture of where the Engaging News Project was headed and how to get there. Nell helped us to chart a future direction, hone our messaging, and develop a clear plan for our organization. By working with us to figure out our targets, potential collaborators, and goals, Nell helped us to systematically figure out a strong path forward. I can’t wait to see what we’ll be able to accomplish with these plans in place.

The strategic planning process opened everyone’s eyes. We now have buy-in from our most important stakeholders in the organization – the board – for change. We realized that in order to achieve growth, we have to change internally. Nell helped us to navigate the road to becoming a national organization by changing how we operate internally. Nell’s experience in nonprofit management and fundraising proved to be invaluable in our planning process. We are now beginning to implement the strategic plan are excited about this new era for the organization.

Nell’s analysis and recommendations turned on the lightbulb for me. We’re confidently using our resources more wisely for a better ROI when it comes to fundraising tools and media strategies. We have used Nell’s assessment very well to move us along and come up with our development plan for the next year. Nell’s recommendations have been so effective in putting us into high gear.

In one year of working with Nell, Forte now has a comprehensive and focused strategic plan that includes a plan for financial growth to increase both our organizational scope and reach. The process stretched our staff and board of directors, and left us with a solid, actionable plan.

Nell helped us chart a course for the future that meets the needs of our current students and allows us to expand to serve even more. She was skilled at developing a framework that allowed us to grapple with the tough questions of strategy and sustainability. We are thrilled we made this investment and look forward to the coming years with a plan firmly in place!

We faced very difficult challenges following our merger and felt overwhelmed just trying to keep up with the pace of change. Nell’s work brought much needed clarity to the nature and cause of our constraints and laid out an actionable plan for strengthening our operations and increasing our revenues. Now we feel confident and poised for continued success.

Our work with Nell has been critical to developing a viable growth strategy and plan for ACE. The process helped us clarify our core competencies, engage stakeholders, and articulate exactly how and why ACE should grow. As a result of Nell’s strategic planning and follow-up coaching, my staff and I, and our advisory board, have the tools and confidence to reach our larger vision for ACE. This was one of the best investments we have made in ACE!