Leading a National Partnership From Strategy to Launch
Selected Work • Strategic Initiative Leadership
A partnership between a national nonprofit and a national sports organization created an opportunity to expand a community-based literacy program. How could the nonprofit align multiple partners, locations, materials, and deadlines while building a model it could use again?
Organization Growth-Stage Nonprofit
Focus Strategy Initiative Leadership
Role Partnership Strategy, systems design, and launch leadership
What Was Happening
A nonprofit’s partnership introduced a new level of complexity
Multiple organizations needed to work toward one shared launch.
Responsibilities across partner communication, barber recruitment, training, materials, events, and media needed clearer ownership.
The original budget did not fully reflect the capacity required to deliver the program across ten locations.
Decisions and updates had to move consistently between the nonprofit, a national sports organization, an event-planning company, and community partners.
What We Learned
The partnership’s value would be realized through coordination. Each organization’s contribution needed to connect to clear ownership, shared information, timely decisions, and consistent follow-through.
We translated the partnership into a shared plan, clarified ownership, and kept the work moving across organizations.
How We Worked Together
Expand the Plan
We revised the budget and program plan to reflect the initiative’s actual scale, securing additional support and bringing a local library system into the work as a community partner.
Clarify Ownership
We developed a RACI-informed project plan covering barber selection, training, materials, events, communications, and follow-through so everyone understood where they led or contributed.
Drive Implementation
Working across the national sports organization, event partner, nonprofit leadership, and community partners, we coordinated ten barbershop locations, material distribution, press opportunities, and the launch event.
What Changed
Broader Reach
The initiative expanded the nonprofit’s reach into a new market, bringing books and literacy programming to multiple community locations with the capacity to reach thousands of children each year.
Clearer Ownership
The nonprofit team had a shared framework for decisions, responsibilities, communication, materials, and follow-through, making it easier to manage its role within the larger partnership.
Repeatable Model
The organization gained a documented approach it could apply to future city launches and other national partnerships, strengthening its credibility and supporting new funding and partnership inquiries.
The Broader Lesson
A nonprofit’s ability to grow through major partnerships depends on the internal clarity, ownership, and systems supporting the work.