The Justice Project: Using Strategic Planning to Increase the Impact of Advocacy

Successful organizations have an ability to mobilize quickly when events open a promising window for social change. However, as organizations become more successful, the agendas they pursue broaden and it becomes more challenging to keep track of all the possible options for action, let alone to prioritize them.

The Justice Project (TJP) found itself in this situation in the fall of 2006. After a number of significant successes, including the passage of the federal Innocence Protection Act, TJP had far more opportunities for changing the criminal justice system than it could possibly take on. In an environment where tactics may change overnight because of a high-profile media story, or where a Supreme Court ruling can provoke a sudden switch to legislative- rather than litigation-focused action, it was not clear how the organization's leaders could establish strategic priorities months, or even years, in advance.

To clarify which options to accept, TJP's executive team engaged in the organization's first formal strategic-planning process. The team's goal was to strike the right balance, clarifying the organization's direction and priorities without stifling the flexibility that was central to its success.

Bridgespan Consultants, hired to spearhead TJP's strategic-planning initiative, had to take an indefinite leave of absence. In the interim, you have been hired as a graduate student consultant to evaluate Bridgespan's planning process.

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Tasks

To complete this assignment, address the following in a comprehensive essay format, utilizing additional literature to assist with your knowledge and understanding of course concepts and using additional scholarly sources for citation within your paper:

• Upon engaging in the strategic-planning process, Bridgespan developed a set of primary questions that guided the planning process. List and describe any additional questions that you may add to this list.

• After a careful review of the four-month-long planning process, which additional planning activities can you offer and why?

• Include a minimum of four sources, including your course textbook.