Services
Strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a clear goal.
Strategy, Design & Implementation
Root Cause has a long history of guiding community members and organizational leaders in strategic planning, design, and implementation processes. We help partners develop roadmaps for the future, design and launch new initiatives, strengthen existing programs and processes, and implement strategies for greater impact. Root Cause takes a hands-on approach, providing effective project management and technical assistance in operations, HR, and other functions as needed.
GUIDING QUESTIONS:
- Is your organization in need of research and analysis to make tough decisions about (or improvements in) program services, resource allocation, budgeting, and more?
- Are you looking for strategic guidance to help your organization plan for sustainable, long-term growth?
- Is your philanthropy trying to understand where to make investments to have the greatest impact and achieve intended outcomes?
REMOVING BARRIERS BASED ON RACE, CLASS, GENDER AND GEOGRAPHY.
Grantmaking Strategy For Foundations
We help foundations design, implement, and assess grantmaking programs that produce meaningful, measurable, and long-lasting impacts on people’s lives. Our approach draws upon our experience in research and organizational assessments and facilitation toward strategic decisions about how to align investments with intended impact. We provide insight and clarity in purpose, goals, and measures so that social purpose becomes social impact.
Business Planning For Nonprofits
We help high-performing nonprofit programs and organizations with evidence of impact to chart and pursue strategies that expand their reach and impact, improve their organizational and financial sustainability, and strengthen their evidence base.
Network & Coalition Strategy
We facilitate groups of organizations in the early stages of working together or at a particular moment of inflection to develop and implement their strategy. Most often, these complex and collaborative strategic planning projects include foundations, non-profit direct service organizations, non-profit intermediaries, school districts, public agencies, and other organizations that share a common purpose. Our team helps focus groups within a community or at a national level clarify and document what they want to accomplish and why, the opportunity to do so, and how they will achieve their goals.
Project Activities
In Strategy, Design, and Implementation projects, we help partners develop roadmaps for the future, design and launch new initiatives, strengthen existing programs and processes, and implement strategies for greater impact. Some activities include:
Engage people and families to learn how they experience barriers to success in their community
We conduct deep research to learn about people’s experiences and needs so that we can help partners chart opportunities that support their success. We use this knowledge to help partners identify leverage points that make a difference.
Engage staff and stakeholders in the planning process
Our team helps partners collect critical input from people who will play important roles in executing your social impact strategy. From interviews and focus groups, we help you see and articulate a vision that resonates with and inspires your key allies.
Assess programmatic and organizational readiness and capacity for growth
Strategy begins with establishing a working group and assessing organizational readiness. We help you identify the capacity and learning needed to complete and launch a successful plan that increases opportunities for people and families to achieve success.
Design, vet, and execute actionable strategies to reach more people and families
We help partners:
- Research the needs of people & families.
- Explore the conditions, policies, and systems that support or hinder their success.
- Design a theory of change for supporting people’s success.
- Plan to deliver and sustain impact that is meaningful and measurable.
- Articulate key activities, including purposeful linkages between programs and topics.
- Design a measurement plan & continuous quality improvement process.
- Chart a 12-18 month implementation timeline.
- Identify staffing & resource recommendations.
- Produce a financial model and projections for the duration of the plan.
Support implementation and refinement of grantmaking strategies
Collective Action projects start with a common sense of purpose shared by all actors: coordinate services and improve people’s lives in meaningful and measurable ways. Root Cause helps clients and partners find, focus on, and follow a North Star that leads to real and sustained impact across a population.
Design for sustainability
We help partners design and implement practical plans that achieve and maintain financial sustainability. Our process helps partners understand the market need for services, articulate unique value propositions, and chart a path forward with confidence.
Create financial models and tools
We help partners calculate the real cost associated with improving people’s lives. We create tools that enable partners to understand the financial implications of how programs and organizations are designed, operated, and grown, and make decisions that yield the greatest benefit per dollar.
Communicate impact and attract funding
Projects enable partners to effectively communicate values, results, and opportunities for investment to stakeholders.
Deliver executive coaching
Our approach is highly participatory and hands-on as our social impact advisors coach and work side-by-side with leaders and support planning and implementation. Our team-based model connects partners with the expertise and conceptual skill sets of seasoned business and non-profit leaders.
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