The Organization:
Formerly known as Frontier College, United for Literacy is a 125- year old, $14 million national charity, with offices in Toronto.
The Assignment:
With their current strategic plan expiring, Lynn was engaged to revisit their Vision, Mission and Values, and develop a new Strategic Plan, built on an intended impact statement and Theory of Change, with KPIs and targets to assess their progress.
Overall Outcomes:
Like so many of Lynn’s consulting engagements, with her guidance, the team gained a deeper understanding of the issue they aimed to address and the barriers to success. They committed to delivering a specific, measurable, stretch-goal social impact and developed the stakeholder-validated plan necessary to direct and communicate their work. Overall, they gained impact-focused strategic clarity and alignment to make a meaningful difference.
Outcome #1:
Focusing on their impact, the leadership team had deep discussions about the difference they were currently making. They knew their work was important. They had expanded their measurement and evaluation work and knew the number of people they were serving, through various programs. They knew the impact some of those programs were having, in shifting literacy levels. They also knew that some of their programs were more about reach and engagement. The group recognized that it was their work in shifting literacy levels that was most impactful, and that more of their resources should be focused on having that kind of impact, with resources on engagement focused on engaging the populations they most aimed to help, and/or expanding engagement activities in key areas into more impactful, multi-session, relationship building opportunities that could shift literacy levels.
Outcome #2
Who an organization serves always sounds obvious, but the question often surfaces different understandings of the target population. Through this work, the team was able to call out some important characteristics of those they serve, including underserved communities with limited resources, and a focus on populations historically facing systemic barriers, such as Black, Indigenous and other racialized groups, newcomers, and low-income earners. Being explicit about this has ensured board, staff, and organizational alignment, and will inform the communities and individuals new programs are designed to serve.
Outcome #3
Nonprofits and charities face ever increasing pressure to serve more people and increase their impact. This work led the team to see the importance of partnering with others to expand the delivery of their proven programs and build greater literacy skills in more people. They also identified an opportunity to incorporate more literacy programming into a variety of services being offered to their target population, which would have some impact on the literacy skills of more people, and may create a pathway for them to participate in more significant literacy programming with United for Literacy.
Find Out More:
Stay tuned! We’ll link to the final plan when it’s published. In the meantime, check out United for Literacy’s site.
Testimonial:
“Working with Lynn Fergusson has been an exceptional experience. As a national literacy organization committed to deepening our impact while continuing to increase our reach, we needed a consultant who could help us navigate the complexity of working with diverse stakeholders, in a multitude of contexts. Lynn has been an outstanding listener and advisor, bringing excellent project management skills and a strong ability to analyze and translate our (too) many ideas into clear, actionable strategies. Her approach kept everyone engaged and aligned throughout our strategic planning process. Lynn’s expertise has been invaluable in helping us shape a strategic plan that reflects our mission to empower individuals and communities through literacy. Thank you Lynn, for helping us to clearly express what we truly mean when we say that Literacy Changes. Everything.”
Mélanie Valcin, President and CEO, United for Literacy/Littératie Ensemble