DoSomething.org Orr Group partnered with DoSomething.org to facilitate a strategic planning process that would set a bold new course for the organization as it entered its third decade. Once established, Orr Group developed an actionable fundraising plan to sustain the organization long-term.
Situation Founded in 1993, DoSomething.org (DS) was established with the vision of making volunteering as cool as sports. Today, DS is the largest nonprofit exclusively for young people and social change, with its millions of members representing every U.S. area code and 131 countries. Through its digital platform, DS members (young people ages 13 – 25) tackle campaigns that impact every cause, from poverty to violence to the environment to literally everything else.
Challenge Following the completion of their 2017-2020 strategic vision coupled with external challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the growing movement towards racial justice, and internal challenges like several staffing transitions, including new executive leadership, a budget deficit and key points of organizational misalignment, positioned DoSomething to reflect on its history and reset its vision for the future. To adjust for this shift in focus and to ensure long-term sustainability, DoSomething engaged Orr Group to facilitate a strategic planning process that would set a bold new course for the organization as it entered its third decade. As part of our work, we facilitated a multi-phased approach that began with a comprehensive discovery phase, inclusive of a robust document review, a landscape assessment, peer organization research, stakeholder interviews and several staff and volunteer member surveys. Based on our findings, we developed a new, three (3)-year strategic plan that established a new mission and vision and set strategic priorities around helping young people best use their power to effect change. With newly established organizational priorities, Orr Group facilitated the process of mapping activities and workflows to achieve success in a cross-departmental and collaborative manner tied to measurable outcomes.
Solution With this new outlook established and alignment achieved between the staff and the board, DoSomething tasked Orr Group with creating an actionable fundraising plan that would lead to a sustainable organization positioned for long term impact. Following both qualitative and quantitative analysis, Orr Group identified various short- and long-term areas of opportunity that, if leveraged, will lead to increased and diversified revenue.