Strategic Planning

At Advancement Partners, we specialize in Catholic and private schools, which makes our team especially qualified to help you visualize, plan and realize your school’s fullest potential. Our deep knowledge in the areas of school governance, administration and funding helps you quickly understand where weaknesses exist and opportunities await.

Our planning clients benefit from executive-level consulting help, professional process facilitation, and a nationwide perspective on best practices and solutions. Let us help you plan your school’s preferred future through:

1. Strategic Planning
2. Competitive Planning
3. Capital Planning
4. Operational Planning

Strategic Planning

The first step toward a successful future is articulating a shared, exciting vision of what you will become. This vision, embraced by all stakeholders, is the foundation upon which your strategic plan will be built. Advancement Partners will guide school leadership through this comprehensive, thought-provoking, and interactive process, helping you to visualize, plan, and realize your school’s fullest potential and preferred future through the creation of a long-range plan.

Utilizing professional facilitation techniques and best practices, we will help you:

• Envision a preferred future for your school;
• Create a shared vision embraced by school leadership, staff and stakeholders;
• Examine the effectiveness and vibrancy of your mission;
• Analyze your school’s competitive strengths, operational weaknesses, challenges, and strategic opportunities;
• Create a new, long-range direction based on three or four Strategic Objectives;
• Establish Goals and Action Steps to ensure success.

Planning Timeframe: 4 – 5 Months

Methodology and Deliverables:

• Three professionally facilitated board/leadership workshops;
• One-on-one interviews with key volunteers and staff;
• Comprehensive, on-line survey to gauge feelings of alumni and benefactors to more effectively assess market position;
• External “testing” of the strategic direction through interviews with 10 – 15 key external stakeholders;

Advancement Partners will clearly articulate the process required to benchmark and measure progress against goals and will publish the final plan for distribution and execution.

Competitive Planning

The business of running your school and fulfilling your mission has become increasingly complex and challenging. We believe that private, secondary schools and non-profits must adopt a competitive mindset to survive and thrive in the future. Advancement Partners will work with your school’s leadership to clarify the vision for what your school will become and to create a Competitive Plan which will drive efforts to fulfill your mission by attracting:

• more of “the right” students as defined by your mission; more highly-qualified faculty committed to your students, your school and its mission
• effective and inspiring administrative and volunteer leadership;
• the desired reputation and “brand identity” for your school;
• maximum philanthropic fundraising results.

Planning Timeframe: 2 – 3 Months

Methodology and Deliverables:

• One professionally facilitated Board/leadership workshop;
• One-on-one interviews with key staff and department heads;
• On-line marketing survey to assess school identity and market position;
• Two (2) one-half day working sessions with school president or head of school;
• Audit of Development Office operations, activities and results;

Advancement Partners will clearly articulate the process required to benchmark and measure progress against goals and will publish your new Competitive Plan for distribution and execution.

Capital Planning

As costs continue to rise, it becomes more challenging for schools to afford the resources necessary to stay competitive. Private schools fund themselves in four ways—tuition, donations, endowment income, and the sensible use of debt. Advancement Partners believes that the right balance of all four is essential to achieving your school’s preferred future. Advancement Partners will work with the financial leadership of your school to create a Capital Funding Plan that strikes the right balance between these four sources of capital.

Working closely with your school’s financial leadership, we will work to understand and clarify:

• Tuition and tuition-assistance philosophies in the context of how they support the school’s mission;
• Financial forecasting processes;
• Endowment philosophy and management strategies;
• Debt capacity and comfort level;
• Major gift giving capacity and strategies.

Planning Timeframe: 2 – 3 Months

Methodology and Deliverables:

• Four (4) one-half day working sessions with the Director of Finance, the Director of Development, the President/Head of School, the Chair of Finance Committee;
• Audit and assessment of Development Office major gift activities and results;
• Audit and assessment of existing financing arrangements;
• Audit and assessment of endowment policies, processes and investment management performance;

Advancement Partners will clearly articulate the process required to benchmark and measure progress against goals, and will publish your new Capital Funding Plan for distribution.

Operational Planning

Your school’s greatest opportunities may be hiding behind ineffective operational planning. Advancement Partners’ deep experience in operational planning can unlock your school’s true potential and help you quickly realize your preferred future. Our annual planning process is “market-driven”—derived from the insight and feedback of your school’s primary target markets. API will conduct and interpret crucial market research, then work with school leadership and each school department to facilitate the creation of the annual operational plan.

Your staff will be stretched in their thinking, encouraged to get “out-of-the-box” and determine:

• How to interpret market forces influencing their departments;
• What initiatives and programs could be implemented or improved to meet market demands and expectations;
• What departmental goals and objectives can be accomplished;
• Resources required to achieve success.

Planning Timeframe: 2 – 3 Months

Methodology and Deliverables:

• On-line marketing survey to gauge market perceptions and expectations of parents, students, prospective students, and alumni.
• Review of case studies and best practices from Advancement Partners’ nationwide network of private, secondary schools.
• Review and assessment of school’s strategic plan to ensure that departmental operational plans support the strategic objectives.
• Two (2) one-half day staff planning workshops with key administrators responsible for departmental planning.
• One-on-one consultation with appropriate school administrators to facilitate the creation of departmental operational plans for Development, Recruitment, Marketing and PR, Alumni Relations.

Advancement Partners will clearly articulate the process required to benchmark and measure progress against goals and will publish your new Operational Plan(s) for distribution and execution.