Strategy Development

Successful programs require visionary yet actionable strategies grounded in the work of leading organizations. Navigating complex, interrelated systems, organizations, and communities, OMG works with our clients' leadership and their staff to collect and interpret trend and capacity data needed, and use it to develop clear, practical strategies.

With deep content knowledge, as well as hands-on experiences, we roll up our sleeves to create aspirational and achievable strategies and tactics.

Program Development and Learning Strategy for Ascend
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Ascend, a program of the Aspen Institute, is a hub for breakthrough ideas that uses two-generation interventions in education, economics, and family engagement to move families out of poverty. Ascend’s three core strategies focus on elevating best practices, convening thought leaders around new ideas, and providing fellowships in various communities. Ascend engaged OMG early in its development as a thought partner and adviser to help develop its strategy and embed learning and evaluation systems throughout all aspects of its work.
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Management Evaluation of the Completion by Design Initiative
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OMG, with DVP-Praxis, is conducting a real-time technical assistance and investment strategy assessment of the Completion by Design Initiative, a large-scale effort across 21 colleges in four states to completely redesign institutional structures, policies, and practices to increase student academic momentum and completion. The evaluation relies primarily on interview and observation data to assess the uptake, understanding, and clarity of the work across a multi-level national assistance team, the foundation, and the funded colleges. Rapid feedback memos and facilitated discussions with the management team help test and fine-tune the design of the initiative and improve the alignment and functioning of the management and technical assistance teams to better support the work of the colleges.
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Theory of Change Development for SkillUp Washington’s Community College Completion Initiatives
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SkillUp Washington’s Skill Link initiative is a partnership-building effort linking community college campuses, local workforce boards, and community-based organizations to increase college completion and employment rates for high-needs students. SkillUp engaged OMG to work with its key partners -- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, and the Washington Workforce Board -- to build consensus and align divergent perspectives and expectations through a Theory of Change process. The series of retreats and resulting frameworks have given the partners a shared vision for the work, a common tool for communication and a guide for shared accountability and decision-making. OMG is also conducting workshops with Skill Link grantees to help develop grantee-specific Theories of Change within the initiative framework and to identify specific outcomes to measure impact.
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Strategic Roadmap for a Community Foundation
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To identify key issue areas in which the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving could potentially have greater impact through new investments, OMG conducted a strategic review of community foundation best practices and a local trend analysis. OMG then assessed internal foundation strengths and challenges. Through data synthesis and a facilitated process, the board determined future directions for the next five years. Detailed programmatic and organizational alignment goals, objectives, and activities then were mapped to help assure success.
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New Regional Strategy for Capacity-Building
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OMG conducted a strategic review of The Philadelphia Foundation's (TPF) grantmaking program. The work led to a new regional strategy for nonprofit capacity-building. The OMG team helped TPF implement the strategy with new grantees, and with the development of an application and evaluation framework. One of the hallmarks of the strategy was to provide operating grants to nonprofits. This new model for community foundation investing filled a much-needed gap in nonprofit organization funding cycles.
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Market Demand Studies and Business Planning
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OMG conducted a market demand study and business plan for the Surdna National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP). SNAAP is a visually engaging online survey system to collect, track, and disseminate national data about the artistic contributions of alumni who have trained at arts high schools, arts and design colleges, and conservatories whether or not they have chosen artistic career pathways. With overwhelming evidence of the need for this data, the business plan effectively identified a lead management team and successfully launched the new survey entity.
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Creation of a Civic Design Portfolio for The Heinz Endowments
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OMG worked with The Heinz Endowments’ Civic Design Taskforce to create the Downtown Revitalization Strategy. The work integrated key lessons learned by the taskforce from early civic design grantmaking and other types of civic design work in the region, and informed The Heinz Endowments core city strategy for Pittsburgh’s downtown development.
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Grantmaking Strategy and Implementation to Restore a Watershed
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To develop a grantmaking portfolio to restore the Schuylkill River watershed, OMG conducted research for the William Penn foundation that involved interviewing representatives of local nonprofit and governmental organizations, regional and national watershed and environmental organizations, and philanthropists to determine needs and gaps. Building upon this research, OMG developed a social ecology of the watershed, a theory of change for the grantmaking cluster, and four model choices that could be used for the project’s structure. The OMG team later assisted the foundation with several grantmaking cycles.
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Strategic Planning to Increase Adaptability and Sustainability
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OMG conducted a strategic planning process with the Philadelphia-based Mural Arts Program as it geared up to enter its eleventh year of operations. Working closely with a board and staff strategic planning advisory committee, OMG did an internal and external trend analysis, and facilitated a retreat to inform the organization’s future strategy. OMG developed a set of strategic program and organizational priorities and an action plan to increase program integration and build organizational systems for adaptability and sustainability for its next five years of development.
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