STRATEGIC PLANNING

Five-Phase Process:

  • The Discovery Phase establishes a strong foundation on which to build plan. It is an opportunity to engage your key stakeholders through a variety of research activities including interviews, surveys, focus groups, and landscape analysis or market research.

    This phase culminates in a facilitated research review with a polished summary of outputs and you will gain valuable insight into the current state of your organization and areas for growth.

  • Bloom supports leadership in creating a well-articulated, time-based vision for impact and set of key priorities and corresponding goals to shape the plan.

  • Bloom designs and facilitates a series of planning meetings that dives deeply into each planning priority area, and supports your team in building out strategic initiatives, SMART objectives, milestones, metrics, and detailed action plans for your first year of implementation.

  • In this critical phase, Bloom guides leadership through a series of activities that will ensure the necessary structures are in place to support implementation.

    Activities include articulating initiative ownership, planning a rollout and communication approach, engaging in a risk assessment, and developing prioritized metrics & measures.

  • Your final plan will be polished and presented in both document and slide deck formats.

    The plan is also accompanied by an interactive implementation tool that will help keep your plan on track and ensure key stakeholders, including board members, stay informed and invested as your plan becomes a reality.

“This was the best strategic planning experience I have ever had. The timing, facilitation, resources and tools and outputs were all excellent.”

- Executive Director, First Up

Customizations:

  • In addition to a final presentation of the polished plan to your board, Bloom can also plan and facilitate a reflective session that presents recommendations for board self-management and direction to inform the board’s support of leadership in implementing the strategic plan.

    As an additional support, Bloom can also administer a board self-assessment survey that asks reflective questions related to governance best practices and articulates the skillsets and gaps that the current board possesses. Through a guided reflection of these results, Bloom supports the board with setting its own strategic priorities and goals for the next 1-3 years.

  • Bloom will lead leadership through a series of structured sessions designed to articulate clear decision-making processes across your organization and board.

    It will result in the creation of a user-friendly reference tool to establish clear ownership and clarity around where decision rights live across your leadership roles.

  • Bloom can offer multiple avenues for engaging members of your organization’s broader community including open houses, surveys, focus groups, workshops, and forums. Bloom will design and facilitate an inclusive and accessible approach to ensure your plan invests the necessary people and invites their voice into the process.

  • Organizations often use strategic planning as an opportunity to also consider their organization’s identity elements including mission, vision, theory of change, values, or theory of action. Bloom can facilitate the necessary conversations to develop or refresh these critical elements.

  • Bloom will work with your finance lead to build and populate a multi-year financial modeling tool to support organizational leadership in forecasting to inform program, staff, and fundraising decision-making.

  • The completion of a strategic plan is only the beginning. Bloom can serve as a powerful accountability “buddy” to keep your plan on track.

Our Approach to Strategic Planning

We approach strategic planning as your partners in the work. You are the expert on your organization and the people you serve, and we bring our expertise in project management, process facilitation, and the best practices and tools that will ensure your strategic plan becomes a living plan that drives your organization forward towards meeting your long-term goals.

We specialize in a comprehensive strategic planning process that supports your development of a long-term vision for your organization, informed by stakeholder input, and brought to life through an actionable 3-year implementation plan.

Our five-phase strategic planning model has been fine-tuned over decades of experience working with a wide variety of nonprofits and schools.

Whether your organization is a large school district, or a small nonprofit, we can adapt our process to fit your needs.

Snapshot of Our Implementation Tool Dashboard

Get in touch.

Whether you’re ready to start planning tomorrow or next year, now is the time to reach out! We’ll connect with you to understand your needs and provide you with a customized proposal outlining the scope of work, projected timing, expectations for leadership and stakeholder involvement, and a budget-by-phase so you can make an informed decision.

Strategic Planning Project Spotlights

Client names have been withheld to respect confidentiality, but client references are always available upon request.

“I would enthusiastically recommend Bloom to any company /group/ school district that is considering engaging in this important and comprehensive work.”

-Assistant Superintendent, Wallingford-Swarthmore School District

Strategic Roadmap

Experienced Nonprofit

A 50-year-old nonprofit in the Early Childhood Education sector sought a three-year roadmap for the successful expansion and sustainability of the organization’s programming and initiatives, and to leverage potential funding opportunities.

With Bloom’s assistance, the nonprofit’s planning team analyzed research, reviewed stakeholder feedback, and set future priorities with a clear focus on ensuring all early childhood educators, families, and providers are positioned to advance the future of the children in their care.

Building on the nonprofit’s strong foundation, this strategic planning process strengthened and refined the organization’s capacity to expand its advocacy and continue supporting educators, families, and programs in providing the highest level of education for our youngest learners.

Growth Planning

Expanding Charter Network

A single site, project-based learning charter school in Hawai’i partnered with Bloom to conduct a feasibility study and strategic planning process to make informed decisions about the future of the school, including the possibility of multisite growth.

Over 10 months Bloom gathered input from over 430 staff members, families, alumni, and community members through both in-person interviews and focus groups, and online surveys. Bloom worked closely with the charter’s governing board and foundation board to articulate a five-year vision for impact and growth and a detailed plan for the first three years of implementation. Furthermore, this plan included a multi-year, multi-scenario financial model and implementation tool to track progress across planning areas.

New Leader’s Vision

School District

A School District serving over 3800 students and supported by over 500 faculty and staff members was starting its second year with its new superintendent.

To articulate a clear vision for the district, leadership chose to partner with Bloom Planning to embark on a strategic planning process heavily focused on increasing equity across their district’s schools.

Through the combination of internal audits, interviews, surveys, focus groups, and Bloom-facilitated planning meetings, the district was able to refine their focus areas and produce a strategic plan with high levels of staff and community engagement and buy-in.

The final plan included a polished executive summary, presentation deck, and interactive implementation tool.

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