Strategic Planning Services

Strategic Planning Services Custom, Actionable Strategy for Social Impact Organizations

High-Stakes Strategy, Tailored to Your Organization

Whether you’re focused on designing a strategy for a unique student population, expanding educational opportunity across a region, or strengthening the collective impact of philanthropic and public sector investments, we help you define where you’re going—and how to get there.

At ADGN, we work with social impact organizations, foundations, schools, and public agencies to create custom strategic plans that drive measurable impact. Unlike firms that offer off-the-shelf strategy packages, everything we do is tailored to your unique mission, resources, and opportunities. Our approach is collaborative and capacity-building to the extent that’s valuable to you—we can lead the work or build internal capacity, depending on your needs.

Our Approach: Strategy that Works in the Real World

We believe strategy is a focused hypothesis—a set of working decisions about how to allocate resources and efforts to achieve your biggest goals. A great strategy is clear, actionable, and flexible. Our approach is built on:

Deep understanding of your organization and context.
Rigorous data and analysis—quantitative and qualitative.
Making the most of what you already know—we inventory existing data, research, and stakeholder insights before launching new efforts.
Inclusive engagement with critical stakeholders—board, funders, staff, partners, beneficiaries (such as students, families, or other end users), peer organizations, and field experts.
Measurable goals, clear strategies, and practical steps to move forward.

Our Process: Five Stages, Fully Customizable

1. Define Vision and Success

Clarify your organization’s unique role in solving critical problems. Define the outcomes you seek, what success looks like, and the values that will guide decisions.

2. Landscape and Stakeholder Analysis

Gather insights from key stakeholders, existing research, and data. We start by inventorying what you already know—recent research, surveys, grantee or program feedback, evaluations—and then identify gaps.

3. Set Strategic Goals and Theory of Change

Identify 1-4 clear, ambitious, and measurable goals and the strategies to achieve them. Build a theory of change connecting your actions to desired outcomes, and define indicators to assess progress and adjust along the way.

4. Clarify Resources, Partnerships, and Governance Needed

Identify and clearly articulate the resources, partnerships, and governance structures needed to deliver on the strategy. (Detailed organizational design, staffing plans, detailed budgeting, and/or contractual arrangements would be separately scoped if needed.)

5. (Optional) Implementation and Performance Management

Support in launching and refining the strategy, including implementation roadmaps and performance management systems that ensure accountability and learning.

What You Get: Concrete, Actionable Deliverables

A summary of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats specific to your organization and its context.
A written strategic plan with 1-4 big goals for 3-5 years, aligned with the organization’s mission, vision, and values.
A theory of change linking strategies to outcomes.
A set of measurable indicators to track progress and adjust as needed.
A clear articulation of the resources, governance, and partnerships needed to deliver on the plan.
(Optional) An implementation roadmap.
(Optional) A performance management plan to guide ongoing execution and evidence-based adjustments.

Why Work with ADGN Education’s Lead Consultant, Rob Jentsch?

Leadership at Scale – As Chief Program and Strategy Officer at Mass Insight Education & Research, Rob Jentsch built and led teams that tripled in size, expanded impact, and managed multimillion-dollar budgets. He’s partnered with executives across government, nonprofits, and philanthropy to drive impact.
Practical, Strategic Coaching – Rob has coached superintendents, CEOs, executive directors, and leadership teams, helping them navigate high-stakes decisions, align teams around priorities, and tackle real-world challenges.
Strengths-Based Approach – We start with what’s already working, then refine and build new skills. Whether leading a high-growth team, managing board dynamics, or strengthening authority, we focus on driving the biggest impact.
Extensive International & Cross-Sector Experience – Rob has advised education and social impact leaders across the U.S. and Latin America. He understands different operating environments and adapts coaching accordingly.
References Available Upon Request – Past partners describe Rob’s coaching as “transformational” and “a force multiplier.” We are happy to put you in touch with references.

Big dreams? Us, too. Let’s talk.