― STRATEGIC PLANNING

Your organization's next chapter begins with the right plan.

We work with leading nonprofits, independent schools, arts and cultural organizations, healthcare institutions, and other mission-driven organizations across the country to build strategic plans that earn buy-in, reflect reality, and are practical enough to fund and carry out.

250+

YEARS OF COMBINED EXPERIENCE

Inclusive

ENOUGH TO EARN BUY-IN AND INVESTMENT

Objective

ENOUGH TO REFLECT REALITY AND CAPACITY

Practical

ENOUGH TO FUND AND IMPLEMENT

WHY OUR CLIENTS CHOOSE US

Strategic planning through a fundraising lens.

Most strategic planning consultants come from an organizational management background. They’re skilled facilitators, but fundraising and donor engagement aren’t part of their practice. Without that lens, even a well-crafted plan can miss what matters most to the people who will ultimately fund it. The result is a document that gets handed to staff leadership and filed away within a year.

At the Winkler Group, strategic planning is one part of a fuller picture.

Behind every engagement is a team with deep roots in nonprofit leadership, fundraising, and donor relations—professionals who understand what’s fundable, what donors respond to, and how to align your priorities with the resources needed to achieve them.

That experience changes the outcome. By engaging staff, key stakeholders, and donors throughout the process, they cross the finish line excited about what comes next.

What gets built together, gets done.

We work exclusively with mission-driven organizations—nonprofits, independent schools, higher education, healthcare, arts and culture, and faith-based organizations.

TRUSTED BY

OUR APPROACH

A strategic plan that works—for your organization, your team, and your stakeholders.

Every strategic plan the Winkler Group facilitates is built to three standards:

01 Designed to inspire investment.

Stakeholder and donor engagement is built into the process from the start. Through structured constituent interviews, focus groups, and inclusive facilitation, your key stakeholders help shape the plan’s priorities and arrive at implementation ready to champion what they helped create.

02 A bridge between vision and action.

We help you identify your highest-priority objectives and build practical 90-day implementation cycles that keep your team accountable, your progress measurable, and your momentum intact.

03 Built with you, not for you.

Your staff leadership drives the process from day one—not as participants, but as architects. Through facilitated working sessions, the strategy takes shape in your team’s hands. The result is a plan your organization built, understands, and is ready to lead.

WHAT'S POSSIBLE

Strategic plans that move organizations forward.

The Taft Museum of Art

New executive leadership gave this beloved Cincinnati institution new life after the pandemic, and a clear need for a plan its people had actually helped build.

OUTCOME

A comprehensive stakeholder-driven planning process produced four focused goals and a 90-day implementation framework. In the years since, the Taft has hit or exceeded every major benchmark—including surpassing its FY2025 exhibition fundraising goal by more than 350 percent.

SUNY Schenectady Foundation

After the largest campaign in its history, the Foundation was ready to think longer term—investing in the students and workforce that strengthen the whole region.

OUTCOME

A focused strategic plan expanded the scholarship framework, grew flexible funding, and deepened board engagement. Today, the Foundation awards more than $300,000 in scholarships annually—giving students the opportunity to learn and build careers right where they live.

Park Management Company

With a new CEO in place, the nonprofit steward of Oklahoma City’s Myriad Botanical Gardens and Scissortail Park needed a strategic plan to guide two beloved spaces into a unified future.

OUTCOME

More than 1,000 stakeholders shaped a living plan now driving the unification of Myriad and Scissortail under one governance structure, with cross-park teams advancing shared milestones—positioning both parks for long-term financial sustainability while honoring what makes each space distinct.

GET IN TOUCH

Let's start a conversation about what's next.

Every engagement begins the same way—we listen first. Tell us where your organization is and what’s prompting you to think about strategic planning. A member of our team will be in touch within one business day.

Prefer to reach us directly?

(843) 849-6256
info@winklergroup.com

We respond to all inquiries within one business day.

1036 eWall St, Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464
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