Disclaimer: This post is republished with permission from Camp Fire.
Strategic plans often focus on the what: goals, metrics, timelines. But we began our most recent strategic planning process with a different framework: Howshould it be created in a way that honors each element of our ecosystem–from National Headquarters, to local affiliates of all sizes, to frontline program leaders, to back office staff? And Why does it matter?
Our lives are built on relationships and connection, so we wanted to center them in this business process. We didn’t want our planning process to be about the end product, nor did we want it to feel like something solely created by national headquarters.
We accomplished what we set out to do (and more!). We’re strengthening and expanding an ecosystem where:
- Young people flourish through safe, affirming programs.
- Affiliates flourish with strengthened capacity.
- Staff flourish with professional development.
- Partnerships flourish through authentic collaboration.
- Our entire network flourishes together.
The result is Flourish, Camp Fire’s five-year strategic plan, and it outlines ambitious yet attainable goals. But the story behind it matters just as much as the plan itself:
A Plan Rooted in Listening
Our strategic planning effort aligned intentionally with a CEO transition in January of 2025. When Shawna Rosenzweig stepped into her role as CEO of National Headquarters, she collaborated with the National Board of Trustees to come up with her first priority: talk to every affiliate within the first 90 days.
That task set the tone for the entire process.
Together with Nav Deol-Johnson, Chief Strategy and Operations Officer, the early months were spent listening. We checked in with each affiliate to understand what was working, where the pain points were, and what challenges they were navigating. Just as importantly, affiliates were asked about their hopes and dreams, both for their local communities and for the Camp Fire network as a whole.
If we think in terms of nature, this was a time of wintering: strengthening roots, fortifying systems, and tending relationships so future growth could take hold. Flourish names what comes after that season of preparation.
The early conversations laid the groundwork for an inclusive, values-led vision and made it clear that our plan needed to reflect the lived realities of the network, rather than assumptions made from afar.
Framing Strategy as Partnership
To support the process, Camp Fire partnered with Ruth Obel-Jorgensen, a consultant with Thrive Paradigm. Rather than leading a traditional, consultant-driven planning effort, Ruth helped to design and facilitate a collaborative process rooted in trust, shared power, and relationship-building.
One of Ruth’s questions became a constant touchstone for us throughout the year:
Whose plan is this?
That question challenged existing assumptions about ownership and power. Instead of a top-down or transactional model where national headquarters defines strategy and affiliates react, the conversation shifted toward standing side by side and asking: What can we co-design together?
Slowing Down to Strengthen the Ecosystem
Originally scoped as a six-month planning process, the strategic plan ultimately unfolded over a full year. This gave us space to slow down with intention and purpose.
That extra time mattered. It allowed space for culture change alongside strategy development. It gave us time to bring everyone together, literally in the same room multiple times over the course of the year: affiliates, national staff, and the National Board of Trustees.
Over time, a noticeable tone shift emerged: more openness, more trust, and more willingness to name what wasn’t working, and what was.
The entire experience was as much a change process as it was a planning process. We had a recalibration of how affiliates see the national headquarters, how national headquarters see affiliates, and how the National Board of Trustees understands and interacts with national staff and affiliates as part of its role.
Along the way, we identified and named the “ghost roles” that were still showing up in the work we do. Ghost roles are those past dynamics that still show up to shape current thinking. Naming those roles helped us separate who we are and who we want to become from who we used to be.
Flourishing as a Strategic Theme
Through this collaborative process, a unifying concept began to take shape. One of the central themes to emerge from the process was flourishing. As we began viewing the Camp Fire network as an ecosystem, the theme took on a deeper meaning.
For any ecosystem to flourish, every single part matters: large and small affiliates, local and national leadership, middle managers, emerging professionals, partners, young people…everyone. The idea isn’t to have power over one aspect of the ecosystem; rather, it’s about having power with one another.
This framing resonated deeply across the network, especially given Camp Fire’s 115-year history of adapting to support young people through a world where growing up has never been easy.
Even amid a complex external environment, our plan asked a hopeful, practical question:
What can we realistically and courageously accomplish in the next five years, and how do we do it together?
More Than a Document
By the time the draft plan took shape, more than 100 people across the network had contributed to shaping Flourish. Affiliates, staff, and the National Board of Trustees could see themselves in the priorities, the language, and even the evolution of ideas.
This philosophy of shared flourishing translated into concrete, measurable commitments. Here are our three high level goals within the plan. By 2030:
- We will reach 250,000 young people across all 50 states.
- 85% of Camp Fire youth will show growth in the skills and confidence to thrive and transform their communities.
- 90% of affiliates will have strengthened their infrastructure to increase capacity to serve their communities.
This growth will be rooted firmly in collaboration: strengthening connections across the network, building reciprocal partnerships with Native communities, connecting with corporate sponsors and funders, and above all, ensuring Camp Fire is a place where every young person truly belongs.
We will achieve these goals through three interconnected pillars:
- Contribution: Maximize impact and opportunities for young people
- Collaboration: Strengthen connections and partnerships
- Capacity: Build internal strength and sustainability
Each pillar reinforces the others as vital parts of a living ecosystem, guiding how we move forward together.
Why? Because growing up is hard. And we know how to make it better.
Flourish is not just our strategic plan, it’s a shared commitment to how we show up for one another, for our communities, and for young people. When our partnership flourishes, young people do too, and that’s the work that has always mattered most.