January 17, 2025 CFWM News

Invitation for Letters of Interest

Issued by the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts on January 17, 2025 

Please submit letters of inquiry to wmass@communityfoundation.org on or before Friday, February 21, 2025, via email. Include “Strategic Planning Consultant (Your Name)” in the email subject line. Please see application instructions below. 

Project Overview:  CFWM Strategic Planning 

The Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts (CFWM) is seeking to partner with a consultant(s) or consulting firm who can work with us to develop and execute a comprehensive, community-informed strategic planning process designed to strengthen our current community foundation model for the next decade and beyond. Strong facilitation skills, extensive knowledge of trends in philanthropy, experience working with community foundations, nonprofits and donors, and a demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion are all key criteria for selection. The Foundation’s CEO will be the primary contact to the consultant and a joint Board and staff task force will provide input and guidance. 

CFWM is open to considering collaborative applications from consultants who might share responsibility for achieving project outputs. We also welcome applications from consultants who may be well suited to one portion of the project description and are open to working with others. 

Background 

The Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts (CFWM) is at an inflection point in its development. After 33 years, we have developed a trusted reputation and extensive networks, accumulated a significant asset base with demonstrated, sustainable growth, and made some initial steps to begin measuring the impact of our grantmaking and other community engagement tools. In 2020, CFWM launched a concerted effort to advance diversity, equity and inclusion throughout all of our work, making significant changes to our internal structures and systems and the way CFWM engages with and supports our community. This work, to which we remain committed, has led to significant changes in our Board membership and governance and staffing and in the way we incorporate community perspectives in our work. In 2023, following a thoughtful transition from CFWM’s long time leader, CFWM hired its fifth president. Having done and continuing to do intentional work to center equity and accountability to community in our systems and structures, we are in a solid position to reassess how best to serve as a regional leader into the future.  

Our most recent strategic plan was adopted in June of 2020. Through this planning process we adopted our current strategic vision, committing to increasing equity and opportunity so that all who live in our three counties have access to a satisfying quality of life. This strategic plan has been effective in establishing CFWM’s ability to develop greater expertise and leadership in strategic areas while still allowing it to be responsive to community needs, a balance that continues to be critical but was especially important during the COVID epidemic. While the plan intentionally lacked a detailed timeframe, it was designed to serve CFWM for the next decade. Priorities selected in 2020 built on areas of work where CFWM already had a proven track record and/or partnerships with institutional funding partners.  Given the degree of change in our community since adoption, including among staff and Trustees, there is a strong recognition that while the overall strategic vision likely remains relevant as a long-term ‘north star’, the specific priorities or approaches identified to advance those ideals warrant a fresh look. In addition, while the 2019-20 planning process benefited from input from a range of stakeholders, the timing of the launch prevented CFWM from capitalizing on the engagement opportunity that the launch of a new strategic plan can provide. Finally, efforts to develop a framework to measure progress towards our current strategic priorities, and thus our overarching strategic vision, remain in their infancy.  

Project Goals 

The process must be designed to answer two questions:   

1. How can CFWM better define and measure its impact to advance its strategic vision to achieve greater equity and opportunity for residents of our region over the next decade and beyond? and  

2. What does the Foundation need to do to achieve that vision? 

Through our strategic planning process, we seek to achieve the following outcome: 

CFWM is positioned to be a regional leader that reflects the perspective of diverse communities and adds value in addressing community needs and leveraging opportunities that benefit residents. 

The two expected outputs to achieve that stated outcome are: 

1. Creation of an actionable strategic plan to make progress over the next 5+ years towards our strategic vision; and 

2. Creation of a framework to measure impact in advancing that plan. 

Scope of Work 

We expect the project will begin in early April of 2025 and conclude within 12-14 months. (more detailed timeline included below).  We anticipate the project to include: 

• Project management  

• Design and facilitation of a strategic planning process that includes and is informed by data and input from stakeholders across the community 

• Creation of an actionable strategic plan with implementation recommendations and a framework to measure progress towards plan priorities 

• Alignment with, and potentially co-creation of, a communications strategy to share our plan with our community 

Some of the activities and tasks would include: 

• Gather and analyze collected data on community needs and stakeholder perception, including, but not limited to surveys, focus groups, and interviews 

• Benchmark the CFWM with other similar-sized community foundations, local funders and other non-profits  

• Analyze data gathered and summarize key strengths and gaps (for example, through a SWOT analysis) 

• Facilitate meetings with key stakeholder groups to share data, gather input, and create consensus regarding strategic plan objectives 

• Create plan with clearly articulated strategic objectives, impact measurement framework and recommendations for staffing to achieve the plan 

• Presentation to Trustees, staff and other key stakeholders 

Application Instructions: Letter of Interest Content 

Please submit responses to wmass@communityfoundation.org on or before Friday, February 21, 2025, via email. Include “Strategic Planning Consultant (Your Name)” in the email subject line. You may also direct questions about this project to this email. We will respond as promptly as possible. 

Please provide responses to items 1-4 in a letter that is no longer than three (3) pages, single-spaced, and include Appendices A, B, and C (items 5-7) as noted below. Please organize letters to address the items listed below in the following order:  

1. Consultant(s) organization’s name, business address, and web address(es) (if available), and a primary contact’s name and title, phone number(s), and email address.  

2. Summary of relevant professional, educational and lived experience for all consultants, including qualifications for this project and relevant expertise or past work related to developing strategic plans with community foundations, including plans that include frameworks for measuring impact. 

 3. Please indicate if you are applying to do the full scope of work, or if you are applying to complete a portion of the work.  If you are applying to do a portion, please describe that portion. 

4. Please describe how the consultant will center equity, particularly racial/ethnic equity, in your approach to the work.   

5. Please provide an estimated project budget including hourly rates for the personnel assigned, estimated hours to be assigned and an estimated total cost for the project (Appendix A). Our anticipated budget for this project is $80,000. Larger budgets may be considered if a strong rationale is provided.  

6. Please provide resumes or CVs of all personnel assigned to the project (Appendix B).  

7. Please provide a previous work sample from a similar or related project (Appendix C). 

Community Foundation of Western MA representatives will review the letters and select consultants for finalist interviews in order to select the partner for this project (interviews anticipated to be for one to one and half hours). We view the interview phase as a conversation where the Foundation and prospective partners can explore motivation for and intended use of the project deliverables, potential designs or approaches, commitment to equity and underlying values, and timeline, cost, or logistical considerations. Following interviews, finalists will be requested to provide references from similar or related projects. 

A detailed scope of work for the project will be co-created with the Foundation and the selected consultant(s) as part of the contracting process. We expect that it would be based on the following proposed framework: 

• Data collection and stakeholder engagement April—October 2025 

• Identifying Strategic Priorities w/ key stakeholders November 2025 —January 2026 

• Plan Drafting February —April 2026 

Budget for Strategic Planning Consultants 

Up to $80,000. Note, if you are applying to contribute to a portion of this proposal, please consider how your component might fit into an overall budget of $80,000. 

Anticipated Timeline 2025-2026 
 

Please review the Community Foundation website for materials such as:  CFWM Mission, strategic vision, values; recent annual report; DEI Commitment Statement