National CASA/GAL Association for Children Orr Group is partnering with staff and board leadership to identify and operationalize priorities through the organization’s next strategic plan.
Situation The National CASA/GAL Association for Children (NCASA), together with state and local member programs, supports and promotes court-appointed volunteer advocacy so every child who has experienced abuse or neglect can be safe, have a permanent home, and the opportunity to thrive. NCASA’s extensive national network of CASA/GAL programs is comprised of 900+ state and local member programs, operating in 49 states. Recently, NCASA set out to develop a new Strategic Plan for 2023-2030. NCASA’s primary goals are to scale its programs to serve more eligible children and families with family-centered outcomes and to cultivate a culture of diversity and inclusiveness to foster innovation, engagement, retention and better outcomes.
Solution As part of this process, NCASA engaged with Orr Group to aid in the creation of its strategic plan and framework. To accomplish this, Orr Group worked in partnership with NCASA staff and board leadership to identify the organization’s strategic goals and enabling focus areas through multiple facilitated sessions as a board and as specific working groups. Following the creation of a draft strategic framework, Orr Group undertook an intensive vetting process to gather feedback on the elements of the plan from key organizational stakeholders, including NCASA’s network of more than 900 organizations, volunteer leadership, judicial leadership, and national staff. The feedback process was a critical component meant to ensure alignment among the network, recalibrate the final plan, and to set the stage for the change to be expected throughout the plan’s execution. With approval from NCASA’s leadership and Board, the plan was finalized at the end of 2022, inclusive of a new organizational vision, mission, values, and implementation plans for the first three years of the plan. Orr Group is now prioritizing aiding NCASA in the development of a growth and market penetration plan that will ensure the capacity for the network to serve all eligible children by 2030.