The collective good

The Challenge

During a period of growth — new leadership, redefined purpose, and virtual work — Scratch Foundation turned to The Collective Good to refine their growth strategy. Our team quickly realized that as Scratch grew, from a university project into an independent nonprofit of over 80 people, its start-up culture was not holding. Scratch leadership knew that achieving their ambitious goals required an investment in internal capacity and organizational health alongside the work on the strategy.

Future Caucus has an audacious mission to activate young leaders, bridge the partisan divide, and transform American politics. Entering the pandemic, they welcomed a new leader and new team members. With this in mind and the increasing polarization of policymaking, Future Caucus had an opportunity to engage and grow its membership.

The Approach

TCG's partnership with Scratch intentionally connected culture, strategy, and day-to-day work by building three core elements of organizational health: clarity of purpose, alignment of priorities, and skill development to not only manage but to lead. We designed and facilitated a series of workshops that took place during quarterly all-staff retreats, inviting every team member to contribute to the strategy and to identify opportunities for organizational improvement. The jewel of the project was the creation of an executive coaching program, a bold commitment by Scratch leadership in its senior and rising managers. Led by nine TCG coaches, this initiative supported over 25 team members over nearly two years.

‍We often say that a strategy is no more than good ideas on paper without the people and processes to bring it to life. This blended approach strengthened the capacity of the team as new strategic priorities, a new organizational design, and revamped decision-making processes were crafted and rolled out.

Co-creating a strategy that centered the voices and needs of the Future Caucus community of young legislators. Our analysis provided an understanding of:

Future Caucus’ North Star to remove the barriers young legislators face in order to build a more inclusive and effective democracy
Systemic challenges that legislators face including minimal leadership training, absence of mentors, insufficient time and opportunity to focus on innovative policy solutions, and difficulty connecting with the voters who’d most likely be energized by collaborative, productive leadership
Future Caucus’ unique positioning in the space to tailor support and position young policymakers to engage across the aisle

From this process, Future Caucus gained a clearer focus on building a constituency for inclusive governing and amplifying new narratives.

The Results

Our work together leveraged existing strengths and was laser-focused on the most pressing needs of the organization. If Scratch was going to succeed in growing into its next chapter of impact, the team had to be prepared to execute on its strategic plan while addressing the common challenges of organizational transition. Both of which required an investment in leadership, which paid off with the following outcomes:

Proactive About People

Gaps in institutional knowledge and norms were bridged, supporting new and tenured staff to work more effectively as a unit
DEI commitments were fully embedded into the strategic plan, aligning team member-developed core values and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts with programmatic goals

Embraced Leadership Coaching

Confidential coaching supported new and experienced leaders as they navigated rapid growth and shifting responsibilities
Managers developed leadership skills in strategic thinking, decision making, delegation, and communication

Centering the Mission and Strategy

Leaders effectively connected culture with strategy, strengthening the Scratch Foundation's mission to expand access to coding technology for all kids

Our Partnership:

Renewed Future Caucus’ vision of restored public trust in democracy, improved public leadership, and more representative public policy
Crafted an ambitious 5-year strategy with key performance indicators to ensure accountability and track progress
Strengthened collaboration between staff and the Board around key strategies, including:
- Amplifying models of bipartisan public service
- Activating and connecting their network
- Building a high-performing organization that exudes their values and ethos

From this process, Future Caucus gained a clearer focus on building a constituency for inclusive governing and amplifying new narratives.

Investing in leaders for a more creative future

The Challenge

The Approach

The Results

Could you see your story here? Let's do it!