Spectrum Nonprofit Services partnered with Menomonee Valley Partners to deepen their impact into areas aligned with its intended impact while reinforcing the organization’s commitment to proven effective programs and its catalytic role in the valley’s revitalization.
The Mission
Menomonee Valley Partners, Inc. (MVP) is a nonprofit organization that has been at the forefront of an extraordinary urban revitalization effort since its founding in 1999. MVP’s mission is to breathe life into Milwaukee’s Menomonee River Valley, transforming what was once Wisconsin’s most glaring eyesore – hundreds of acres of abandoned buildings and contaminated land – into a thriving urban district that advances economic, ecological, and social equity for the greater Milwaukee community.
From its inception, MVP has served as the lead coordinator for this ambitious public-private collaboration. The organization has played an instrumental role in convening diverse stakeholders, articulating a bold vision for the Valley’s future, leveraging critical funding sources, and aligning partners around shared goals for sustainable redevelopment. Through its stewardship, MVP has sparked the Valley’s revitalization into a model of innovative economic development.
The Ask
In initial discussions, several key questions emerged for MVP’s leadership: With the remarkable success of the organization’s land redevelopment, what are the ongoing and evolving needs within the communities it serves? How can MVP build upon its early achievements to expand its positive impact into the future? And critically, how can the intended impact be sustained within MVP’s infrastructure?
These questions signaled an organizational inflection point. While celebrating its catalytic role in the Valley’s transformation, MVP recognized the importance of evaluating its strategic direction to ensure continued relevance and positive impact for years to come.
The Approach
To respond to MVP’s strategic questions, Spectrum Nonprofit Services and P3 Development partnered on a comprehensive process rooted in the intersection of the organization’s intended impact, the community’s relationship with the organization, and MVP’s operational model and capacities. This included:
- Articulating MVP’s intended impact to sharpen its strategic focus and priorities moving forward.
- Conceptualizing MVP’s theory for impact, using the impact strategy framework, to identify the intermediate outcomes and methods for impact that are critical to achieving its intended impact.
- In-depth analysis of relevant community needs through stakeholder interviews, surveys, and data review.
- Setting organizational priorities and strategies by synthesizing insights from the previous phases, to establish MVP’s strategic direction.
The Results
The resulting strategic direction thoughtfully balanced the opportunity to deepen MVP’s impact into areas aligned with its intended impact, while reinforcing the organization’s commitment to proven effective programs and its catalytic role in the Valley’s revitalization.
The plan emphasizes investment in MVP’s long-term organizational capacities and sustainability as a core strategic imperative. This ensures MVP can adapt and remain responsive to the community’s continually evolving needs over time. It provides a stable foundation for MVP to realize its intended impact through consistent high-quality programming, outstanding partnerships, and careful stewardship of resources.
And while the roadmap lays out goals for the future, the process also produced a clear language about MVP’s work that directly enables staff and board to understand their roles in meeting community needs and provides a framework for filtering and prioritizing new opportunities.
Ultimately, the strategic direction re-affirmed MVP’s impact, dedication to excellence, and its relationship with its community. It equipped the organization to uphold the highest standards of impactful programming, sustainable growth, and constructive community leadership within the Menomonee Valley and surrounding neighborhoods it serves so well.