Service
Organizational Strength & Growth
Build the capacity, staffing, roles, systems, and decisions needed for responsible growth.
Who this helps
Leaders responsible for a consequential organizational decision.
- Nature centers, land trusts, and conservation organizations
- Health and human services nonprofits and community-based providers
- Membership-based mission organizations
- Boards and executive committees seeking an independent read
What we will accomplish
Strengthen capacity, staffing, roles, operating systems, and decision practices so the organization can grow and change without losing effectiveness. Organizational assessment remains available when a broader evidence-based review is useful.
- A shared, evidence-based understanding of organizational strengths and constraints
- A short list — usually two or three — of the constraints most relevant to the question you brought
- A realistic view of revenue concentration, staffing capacity, and operating demands
- A clear record of where evidence is strong, where it is limited, and where views differ
- Board and staff alignment on priorities before money and time are committed
- A sequenced roadmap that distinguishes urgent repairs from longer-term investments
How we work
Understand. Reveal. Choose. Build. Learn.
The same plain, five-stage method guides every service. The depth of evidence and participation is sized to your assignment.
- 01
Understand
Gather the evidence and perspectives needed to see the situation accurately.
- 02
Reveal
Make strengths, constraints, differing perspectives, and underlying causes clear.
- 03
Choose
Frame the real options, tradeoffs, priorities, and decisions.
- 04
Build
Create the substantial working document or roadmap, with responsibilities, resources, measures, and first actions.
- 05
Learn
Review implementation, test assumptions, and adjust while staying grounded in the mission.
These stages describe how we think, not a sequence of paid phases. Each engagement uses them at the depth its scope allows; Focused Strategic Counsel does not include ongoing support.
Depending on your priorities, your engagement may include
The written proposal specifies the exact deliverables, timing, participation, and fixed fee for your assignment.
- Confidential interviews with board members, staff, and selected external stakeholders
- Document and data review sized to the assignment: budgets, bylaws, policies, program and participant data, membership and donor trends
- Where relevant to the assignment, a site, facility, or land walkthrough with an operations and participant-experience lens
- Written assessment report with findings, the evidence behind them, stated limitations, and prioritized recommendations
- A growth roadmap with phasing, owners, and indicators of progress
- Board and staff presentation of findings, with facilitated discussion
Focused Strategic Counsel example
Organizational Priorities Review — One recurring operating concern, likely contributing factors, and what needs further investigation.
Timing and your participation
Focused Strategic Counsel usually takes 2–3 weeks. Strategic Sprints run 4–8 weeks; a Mission360 Organizational Review runs 8–12 weeks. See How We Work for the full schedule and what each engagement includes.
Participation is agreed at the outset. It may include the executive director, board chair, senior staff, trustees, and selected stakeholders whose perspective can materially improve the work.
Organizations often reach out when
- We are growing and changing, and parts of our organization have not kept pace
- A new executive director or board chair is taking office
- Revenue has plateaued or become concentrated in too few sources
- The organization is considering a capital project, campaign, or major expansion
- Staff turnover, burnout, or role confusion is affecting delivery
Investment and payment
$2,500
Focused Strategic Counsel — fixed fee
Organizational Priorities Review: One recurring operating concern, likely contributing factors, and what needs further investigation.
Every competency can begin with Focused Strategic Counsel at $2,500 — a defined question, a short advisory brief, and a clear next step. When the priority requires deeper work, a Strategic Sprint (typically $7,500–$12,500) or a Mission360 Organizational Review (typically $20,000–$30,000+) may be more appropriate. Research-rich strategic marketing, communications, or PR planning is typically $12,000–$15,000. Optional Implementation & Advisory Counsel is $2,500–$4,500 per month.
Focused Strategic Counsel: Payment before work begins.
Remote delivery is the default. Travel, specialist work, campaign execution, vendors, paid media, and PR execution are separate unless the written proposal expressly includes them.
New questions, added participants, or additional deliverables require a written scope and fee adjustment. Discovering another concern does not automatically expand the assignment.
Implementation projects are separately scoped. There are no blanket implementation hours or required ongoing contracts. Writing a plan, managing a search, running a campaign, or taking responsibility for project delivery is different from advising the person responsible for that work.
Questions
Before you decide
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Join Ed Sirianno for practical perspectives on leadership, boards, strategy, and the work of moving a mission forward.
Start a conversation
Bring the decision in front of you.
A complimentary 30-minute conversation helps establish the situation, fit, and a sensible next step. Detailed analysis and written recommendations begin with a paid engagement. Every engagement is principal-led; appropriate collaborators are added when the scope calls for specialist expertise.
A complimentary 30-minute conversation. No obligation.
Related: Strategic Direction & Implementation, Board Governance & Leadership Alignment, Sustainable Revenue & Campaign Readiness
Back to the competency map