All twelve investment partners have completed business planning and substantially increased the clarity of their mission and goals among all organizational stakeholders. One of the twelve made exceptional improvement in this area as it cleared up confusion around mission that was keeping the organization from moving forward.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington (BGCGW) exemplifies how extensive the process of simply setting goals, particularly for a large organization, can be. The organization radically changed its focus when it decided to improve and deepen its programs at its 24 clubs and outreach sites, rather than expand programs. This change in focus affects all levels of the organization-the senior management team, the governance structure and process, and individual programs at the clubs.

"What the planning process did is stretch me to think about the kind of growth that Mary's Center could really achieve. In the past we'd grown phenomenally but with little planning. Going through the process and analyzing why do we do this, whom do we do this with, and what we are doing has been reaffirming. I knew it instinctively but now it's on paper. We now have a guide to help us achieve our goals and to remind us above all to hold on to our core values."

— Maria Gomez, Executive Director, Mary's Center for Maternal and Child Care