Advising, Planning, and Strategy Development
Bellwether collaborates with leaders and organizations to address their most pressing issues. Our deep experience in the education sector minimizes our learning curve and maximizes our understanding of the issues clients face.
We focus on helping our clients — including schools, organizations, public agencies, foundations and mission-driven nonprofits and companies — achieve their strategic, operational, and equity goals.
Strategy and Growth
A clear, strong strategy enables an organization to maximize its impact within the constraints of limited resources. We partner with clients to make choices and build plans that leave a lasting and positive impact on systemically marginalized young people through:
- Theory of action formulation, goal setting, and strategic planning.
- Stakeholder engagement.
- Market assessment.
- Multi-regional growth strategy development.
- Organizational redesign, staffing and financial modeling.
- Project management, decision-making support, facilitation and implementation planning.
Academic and Program Strategy
Our team members have firsthand knowledge of what it takes to run great school districts and school networks as well as how to sustain thriving school communities through ongoing operations and planning. Specific offerings include:
- New school planning and school redesign.
- Network expansion, replication, and impact.
- Leadership development and coaching.
- School improvement.
- Cohort facilitation.
- Action planning to expand and scale impact.
Education Nonprofit and Charter School Governance
Bellwether offers integrated support to help executive leaders and boards lead more effectively in service of their mission. This work includes:
- Advising and training board members and executive leaders on effective governance
- Recruiting and matching board members to boards
- Sharing data, insights, and tools on effective governance with the field
Learn more about our nonprofit and charter school governance work.
Policy Advising
Education is highly politicized and highly regulated, so shifting policy conditions can significantly impact education organizations. As clients pursue their organizational and strategic goals amid complex policy cycles, we help them understand, navigate, and inform the policy and politics of education to achieve their mission.
Bellwether provides a range of hands-on, customized advising services that support clients’ navigation of existing and emerging challenges, including:
- Evaluating context and conditions affecting a client’s work and developing response strategies.
- Educational short- and long-term program evaluation that provides guidance on measuring impact and supporting implementation through data-driven decision-making.
- Implementation strategy for public policies that advance equitable outcomes for systemically marginalized young people.
- Philanthropic advising for foundations on investment portfolios, strategy development, staff and trustee education, and research.
Partner With Us
We've partnered with a diverse array of equity-focused clients — from large-scale foundations to school districts to nonprofits to mission-driven companies. Let's work together to transform education.
