• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Social Velocity

Creating more strategic, financially savvy, and confident nonprofit leaders and organizations.

  • Consulting
    • Financial Model Assessment
    • Strategic Advising
    • Strategic Planning
  • Book
  • Clients
  • Speaking
  • Blog
  • About
    • Nell Edington’s Bio
    • Media
  • Connect
  • Tools
Home » Board of Directors » Strategic and Sustainable Nonprofit Growth: A Case Study

December 15, 2015 By Nell Edgington Leave a Comment

Strategic and Sustainable Nonprofit Growth: A Case Study

FacebookTweetLinkedIn

 

I talk a lot about the many challenges of leading a nonprofit. But sometimes even success itself can be a challenge for a nonprofit. This was particularly true for one of my clients, Breakthrough Austin.

Breakthrough is a very successful nonprofit that identifies cohorts of 6th grade students who want to be the first in their families to graduate from college. The nonprofit then supports those students over the next 12 years so that they reach that goal. Over their 10+ year history, Breakthrough has achieved impressive student outcomes and the support of a deep donor base.

In fact, Breakthrough has been so successful that other schools and school districts have asked to add the Breakthrough program. But that’s not always a good thing, especially when a nonprofit doesn’t know where they can grow most sustainably and with the greatest results.

In the Spring of 2015, Breakthrough board and staff wanted to grow to reach more students, but they didn’t know how to determine when and where. They needed a strategic plan that could help them chart a growth trajectory to reach more students in a sustainable way. And baked into that strategic plan they needed strategic growth filters that helped them assess how to know if new locations were a good fit with their model and their long-term plans.

Breakthrough hired Social Velocity to lead their strategic planning effort. With my guidance, Breakthrough created an advisory committee of board, staff and key external stakeholders. I led the group to analyze the external environment in which Breakthrough operates, develop Breakthrough’s theory of change, refine their vision and mission statements, and articulate the goals and objectives and corresponding financial projections of the next 3 years for the organization.

Together we created the various elements of their strategic plan:

  • A Marketplace Map, to understand how their core competencies fit with a set of community needs, apart from their competitors and collaborators
  • A Theory of Change, to articulate the value they hope to create
  • Strategic Growth Filters, to analyze where they should grow
  • Revised Vision and Mission Statements
  • 3-Year Strategic Plan and Budget
  • Year 1 Operational Plan, to execute on the strategic plan
  • System for Monitoring the Plan, to make sure it is coming to fruition

Over the course of the 6-month planning period, Breakthrough board and staff became increasingly excited about their new strategic plan and the clarity it gives them about how and when to grow. They are already putting the pieces in place for expansion and are beginning to build the additional capacity necessary to get there.

Creating a strategic plan helped Breakthrough become crystal clear about how to grow strategically and sustainably, as Michael Griffith, Breakthrough Executive Director put it:

“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!”

If you want to learn more about the strategic planning process I take clients through, check out the Strategic Planning page, or if you want to read more client case studies, check out the Clients page.

Photo Credit: Breakthrough Austin

Related Posts:

  • Will There Be a #MeToo Moment for the Nonprofit Sector?
    Will There Be a #MeToo Moment for the Nonprofit Sector?
  • The Nonprofit Sky May Not Be Falling
    The Nonprofit Sky May Not Be Falling
  • Nonprofit Scarcity Thinking Will Get You Nowhere
    Nonprofit Scarcity Thinking Will Get You Nowhere
  • GEO Guest Post: From Uncomfortable Truths to Courageous Action
    GEO Guest Post: From Uncomfortable Truths to…
FacebookTweetLinkedIn

Filed Under: Board of Directors, Capacity Building, Financing, Fundraising, Leadership, Nonprofits, Philanthropy, Social Change, Strategy Tagged With: Breakthrough, nonprofit, nonprofit strategy, Philanthropy, strategic plan, theory of change

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Consulting Services

If you want your nonprofit or foundation to do and be more, Social Velocity can help you get there

Ready to Learn More About Working with Social Velocity?

Apply for a Consultation
Reinventing Social Change Book

Download Chapter 1 of “Reinventing Social Change”

and keep up on webinars, training and events when you sign up for the Social Velocity e-list

Featured Blog Post Topics

  • Social Changemaker Interviews

  • Smart Strategic Planning

  • Effective Philanthropy

  • Networks for Social Change

  • The New Nonprofit Leader

  • A Groundbreaking Board

  • Reinventing the Nonprofit Sector

  • From Fundraising to Financing

Recent Posts

InReach Solutions Interview with Nell Edgington of Social Velocity

Talking About the Road to Nonprofit Abundance

red and white lifebuoy

How To Ask For (and Receive) The Help Your Nonprofit Needs

Join Me to Learn How to Start Attracting Abundance

Reinventing Social Change Book Available Now!

Order Your Copy of Reinventing Social Change

A little change image from Matt Artz

Move From Nonprofit Fundraising to Social Change Financing

Categories

  • Abundance
  • Advocacy
  • Board of Directors
  • Capacity Building
  • Capacity Capital
  • Financing
  • Fundraising
  • Individual Donors
  • Leadership
  • Marketing
  • Networks
  • Nonprofits
  • Philanthropy
  • Roadblocks
  • Social Change
  • Social Movements
  • Strategy

Footer

Reinventing Social Change Book

Download Chapter 1 of “Reinventing Social Change”

and keep up on webinars, training and events when you sign up for the Social Velocity e-list

InReach Solutions Interview with Nell Edgington of Social Velocity

Talking About the Road to Nonprofit Abundance

February 26, 2021

red and white lifebuoy

How To Ask For (and Receive) The Help Your Nonprofit Needs

February 10, 2021

Join Me to Learn How to Start Attracting Abundance

January 28, 2021

Reinventing Social Change Book Available Now!

Order Your Copy of Reinventing Social Change

January 21, 2021

A little change image from Matt Artz

Move From Nonprofit Fundraising to Social Change Financing

January 14, 2021

Recent Tweets

Tweets by nedgington
  • Consulting
  • Book
  • Clients
  • Speaking
  • Blog
  • About
  • Connect
  • Tools

© 2020 Social Velocity · Privacy Policy