Developing Social Impact Strategies for a Large, Nonprofit Membership Organization

A major US-based membership organization wanted to increase its impact in three vital areas: employment & workplace equity; transportation & personal mobility; and housing. The organization engaged GivingWorks to support the development of its10 year social impact roadmap. Each of the target areas required a careful articulation of how the organization’s advocacy, programming and community engagement approaches could be designed to promote critical long-term shifts in public policy, private investments, as well as changes in community and consumer behaviors. GivingWorks developed the conceptual frameworks, met with key advocacy actors, designed and facilitated workshops with relevant staff, and authored the final report.

Reviewing and Redesigning UNICEF's Global Strategy

In 2006, UNICEF selected GivingWorks through a world-wide competition to design and lead a broad-based strategic review and to highlight opportunities to more effectively deliver results for children. We conducted a thorough assessment of UNICEF's program, management effectiveness, and spoke with staff at all levels of the organization as well as with external partners and client and donor governments. The year-long assessment and analysis produced a set of actionable recommendations designed to enhance the organization's strategic coherence, position it to drive systemic change for children, and build readiness to capitalize on external trends and opportunities. The proposals highlighted substantial partnership opportunities; created an organizational design that combined cohesive structures, efficient systems and processes, a platform for programmatic innovations, and concrete proposals on how to build a robust internal capacity to deliver on the bold vision of UNICEF. In January 2009, UNICEF management presented a paper updating its Executive Board on the sustained effort underway to implement the long-term shifts recommended by the review. (The UNICEF Organizational Review was co-funded by UNICEF and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.)

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Creating a Strategic Roadmap for the National Commission on Energy Policy

The National Commission on Energy Policy (NCEP) is a bipartisan group of the nation’s preeminent energy experts and stakeholders representing the highest ranks of industry, government, academia, labor, consumer and environmental protection. Following the 2008 election cycle and deepening economic crisis, NCEP needed to reevaluate its strategic focus and ramp up its efforts to meet the changing political and economic context. Having successfully developed strategic frameworks and refined the organizational structure for NCEP’s umbrella organization, the Bipartisan Policy Center, GivingWorks was engaged to help NCEP purposefully chart the next phase of the Commission during this critical moment, including thinking through a new agenda and a revitalized role for its Commissioners. GivingWorks conducted a series of substantive interviews with NCEP’s Commissioners and staff and conducted additional independent research on the new political and economic landscape for energy issues. We distilled these insights and systematically compared the value and fit for NCEP to engage on a range of the nation’s most salient energy policy questions. We also recommended structure and practices that would make optimal use of the complementary strengths and resources of the Commissioners and the NCEP staff. GivingWorks’ findings and presentations served as key inputs to the Commission as it reset its priorities and expectations.

Institute of Museum & Library Services

IMLS is the single largest grantmaker for museums and libraries in the US. To discuss and define the unique role of African American museums in the 21st century, the Institute convened 30 museum leaders and visionaries from across the country, including the founding director of the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture. GivingWorks helped these talented experts tackle the implications and opportunities of shifting demographics and technologies, increasing competition, constrained funding, and growing professionalism in the field. GivingWorks played three distinct roles in this endeavor. First, we helped launch and frame the discussion by presenting a strategic overview of the evolution of African American museums as expressions of resistance and identity. Second, we designed and facilitated a lively discussion to help IMLS and its stakeholders to debate and prioritize what needed to be done to protect and strengthen these institutions – in fundraising, marketing and outreach, curatorial excellence, museum operations, governance, partnerships, and access to field resources. Finally, the synthesis report authored by GivingWorks was well-received by the museum community and used by IMLS “to guide our agency in the development of a new initiative designed to serve museums nationally.”

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Scenario Planning for the United States Postal Service

After 9/11, the USPS Office of Strategic Planning asked GivingWorks founder Nazir Ahmad to reflect on the emerging challenges, discontinuities and opportunities in the wake of terrorism, private sector competitors and online communications. This led to a white paper on the historical evolution and the strategic crossroads before the Postal Service. Subsequently, GivingWorks led a scenario planning exercise to develop and test alternative business and regulatory drivers and uncertainties. A user-friendly quantitative model was also developed to analyze industry and societal dynamics. Our thought piece was commended by the Co-Chair of the President’s Commission on the Postal Service, who shared it with his peers to help inform their collective thinking. Read the white paper.

Revisioning the World Bank’s Development Marketplace

The World Bank’s Development Marketplace (DM) competition aims to create a marketplace of ideas, talent, and resources that address poverty and development challenges. Established in 1998, DM is a “venture capital fair” for social entrepreneurs with big ideas, little capital, and the drive to demonstrate new approaches to global problems. In 2004, the DM team sought to review and update its strategy. GivingWorks was engaged to help assess DM’s performance and retool its strategy, including developing a set of strategic options along with value and trade-offs associated with each. To gather evidence, GivingWorks consulted with a range of stakeholders, including contestants, development experts, and social entrepreneurs. GivingWorks’ analysis and recommendations helped DM sharpen its focus, taking into account the changing landscape of social entrepreneurs.