Designing Strategy

Get clear on your impact goals and make organizational decisions with confidence

Grounded in Bridgespan’s experience working with hundreds of nonprofits across the globe, the Designing Strategy module is intended to help nonprofit and social enterprise leadership teams discover what they do best, which communities to prioritise, and what activities will lead to the greatest impact.

Through the course of the program, Bridgespan will support participant teams as they frame their intended impact and theory of change through coaching, toolkits, case examples, and more.

This program is for organisations located in Africa. If you are based in India, South Asia, or South-East Asia, please see our BNDP Asia program. If you are in any other geography, please explore our Leadership Accelerator program.

Program Benefits for Nonprofits and Social Enterprises

Through the program, your organisation can become more effective, efficient, and deliver additional impact, aided by:

  • Clarity on organisation strengths and capabilities
  • Alignment within the leadership team on strategic direction
  • Cross-sector peer learning

At the end of the three-month period, leadership teams are expected to develop:

  • A working document clarifying which communities you aim to work with and the impact you wish to have
  • A living document that specifies how your organisation will achieve its impact
  • A set of critical questions and next steps to further refine your drafts and use them for future decision-making

Who Should Participate?

The Designing Strategy program is meant for leadership teams of nonprofits and social enterprises. This program may be right for your organisation if you:

  • Would like to achieve more impact through a clearly thought-out strategy
  • Need to communicate your work more clearly to external stakeholders
  • Feel your current strategy needs to be updated to better reflect future ambitions
  • Have had significant leadership changes recently and aim to create a shared team vision

Please refer to the Designing Strategy curriculum for further details on the module.

Designing Strategy Cohort Members

  • Dandelion Africa Logo
  • one to one children's fund logo
  • Saide Logo
  • Santé Communauté Développement Logo
  • Shule Direct Logo
  • Wezesha Impact Logo

Countries Represented

countries where we have worked burundi kenya south africa tanzania uganda

“We are re-writing the strategy in real-time and using BNDP’s work to build the framework and input into it. We’ve asked ourselves these questions before but not in a way that’s helped us clarify our thinking like BNDP has. The process is also helping me have important conversations with peers and represent Wezesha Impact in engagements with stakeholders.”

Katumba James S., Co-founder & Managing Director, Wezesha Impact

“This process has enabled us to think about our strategic plan. We have struggled previously with articulating our deep impact model. Through this process, our team is involved in the process of cocreating where we want to go, and how to get there. This is transformational and motivating.”

Wendo Sahar, Founder & Executive Director, Dandelion Africa

What Else You Should Know

  • Our next cohorts will be offered in 2026.
  • Applications for all cohorts are open on a rolling basis. Cohorts are typically finalized three weeks prior to the program start date.
  • Contact us at [email protected] to learn more. 
  • Program fee: If you would like to discuss the program fee, please fill the form below and we will reach out to you.

How to Apply

To ensure the program is right for you, fill out this form to set up a 30-minute consultation with us. During the consultation, we’ll learn more about your organisation and leadership team, and we’ll share more about the program. If we jointly determine that the program is a good fit, we’ll share details for how to officially enroll. We look forward to meeting you!

Still have questions? Read our list of Frequently Asked Questions.