Successful nonprofits often wonder whether to grow and, if so, how. In 2006, the Massachusetts-based MY TURN began an in-depth self-assessment as part of a strategizing process that may be instructive for other organizations.Nonprofit organizations - Massachusetts

Barbara Christiansen

Margaret Boasberg

English

Research Papers in Economics

Communities & Banking    15
A Nonprofit 
Chooses a Path 
to Expansion
by Margaret Boasberg and 
Barbara Christiansen
The Bridgespan Group
When  nonprofit  leaders 
ask    themselves,  “Should  we   
grow?”  they  open  the  flood-
gates  to  a  host  of  questions 
with no easy answers: “Should 
we  add  programs,  sites,  or 
both?”  “What  would  growth 
entail  for  our  staff,  systems, 
and existing structure?” “How 
much  new  funding  would  it 
take to grow, and how could 
we acquire the funds?” 
In  2006,  the  leadership  team 
at  Brockton,  Massachusetts-
based MY TURN was grappling 
with questions like those. The 
approach  the  team  took  in 
choosing  a  route  to  increase 
the organization’s impact may 
be instructive. 
iStockphoto16    Spring 2009
     Founded in 1984 to help non-college-
bound Brockton High School students make 
the transition to employment, MY TURN 
started out in a high school office. Helping 
seniors learn interview skills and search for 
jobs were three full-time career specialists 
and	one	part-time	executive	director.
The organization’s early success fueled 
growth. MY TURN opened new locations 
in  other  small,  urban  communities  with 
high poverty and high unemployment rates, 
poor educational outcomes, and numerous 
youth	who	lacked	work	experience	and	were	
either not in school or struggling in school. 
By 2003, the nonprofit was serving more 
than 1,100 youth annually, ages 14 to 21, 
in eight small Massachusetts cities, through 
three program areas. (See “MY TURN Pro-
grams at a Glance.”)
Repeated successes earned the attention 
of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, 
which focuses on advancing opportunities 
for low-income youth (ages 9 to 24) in the 
United States. In late 2003, EMCF began to 
work with MY TURN on strategic planning 
that resulted in a three-year growth plan and 
a long-term vision. The growth plan called 
for	expanding	into	six	new	communities	by	
2007. It called for new management capac-
ity, set new performance metrics, mapped 
out ways to improve program quality and 
assess  program  effectiveness,  and  identi-
fied the necessary investments. To fund the 
expansion,	MY	TURN	received	$3.1	mil-
lion (from EMCF, other area foundations, 
and  government)  and  doubled  its  annual 
operating budget to $2.6 million.
By 2006, the organization had achieved 
all the growth objectives the team had laid 
out	in	2003.	It	was	time	to	chart	the	next	
growth  phase.  As  co-founder  and  then-
executive	director	Barb	Duffy	has	said,	“We	
needed to reflect on how we had grown, 
whether anything was lost in that growth, 
and  how  we  wanted  to  invest  our  time, 
energies, and resources going forward.”
Envisioning the Next 
Stage of Growth
The long-term vision called for MY TURN 
to  be  serving  2,500  youth  annually  by 
2010  and  thousands  more  by  2018.  But 
how would it get there? Should it focus on 
existing	locations?	Should	it	expand	within	
Massachusetts or look at neighboring states? 
Could it pursue several growth trajectories 
at once? A new planning team worked to 
understand  the  effect  each  choice  would 
have on MY TURN’s ability to attract fund-
ing,	leverage	existing	assets	and	stakeholder	
relationships, advocate for beneficiaries, and 
recruit managerial talent.
Assessing Where to Grow
Growing locally seemed best. If MY TURN 
chose a local growth path, it could increase 
access to local funding. It also could strength-
en	existing	relationships	with	vendors	and	
schools	 and	 reduce	 costs.	 For	 example,	
costs associated with launching new sites—
such as finding space, recruiting staff, and 
attracting youth—would be lower. It would 
also	be	easier	to	leverage	certain	fixed	costs	
by, say, sharing instructors across sites. 
There  was  one  important  caveat.  In 
2006 more than half of MY TURN’s fund-
ing  came  from  site  contracts  with Work-
force  Investment  Boards  (WIBs),  which 
grant  Workforce  Investment  Act  dollars. 
Each WIB covers one primary city along 
with  several  nearby  communities.  When 
MY	TURN	grows	to	the	extent	that	it	has	
approximately	three	case	managers	in	any	
given WIB  area,  the WIB  often  will  not 
grant  additional  funding—even  if  only  a 
small fraction of the community has been 
helped.	Expanding	locally	would	probably	
mean  not  getting  funding  for  more  than 
three case managers in any WIB area, so the 
idea felt limiting. 
Statewide growth was another option. 
WIB directors within states communicate 
regularly. If MY TURN had a strong rep-
utation in multiple WIB areas across Mas-
sachusetts,	then	expanding	statewide	might	
lead to increased funding from other WIBs. 
It  also  might  boost  MY  TURN’s  ability 
to attract talent and to be an advocate for 
impoverished and unemployed youth on a 
state government level. 
After weighing the risks and benefits, 
the organization decided to focus mainly on 
Massachusetts. Between 2007 and 2009 it 
would a) grow in communities where pro-
grams	existed,	b)	then	expand	to	full	scale	in	
the	six	regions	where	it	was	already	operat-
ing, and c) move into one new region. 
Assessing How to Grow
The	first	step	in	executing	a	statewide	strat-
egy	was	to	identify	existing	sites/locales	that	
could accommodate an additional case man-
ager without going over the WIB limit. 
Next,	 MY	 TURN	 leaders	 selected	
potential  target  communities  in  regions 
where the organization already had a pres-
ence, and it evaluated them for demographic 
fit, potential for geographic clustering, and 
availability of funding. They also assessed 
communities’ interest in MY TURN and 
the presence of potential partners—career 
centers, educational and employment out-
lets, and day-care providers.
Finally,  the  team  considered  which 
model  for  replication  would  be  best.  Up 
until 2006, the organization had grown by 
branching—opening new sites on its own. 
That had worked well, enabling the leader-
ship to keep control and to collect perfor-
mance data. But now the team wondered 
whether to entrust site opening to others to 
speed up growth.
Besides the branching model of replica-
tion, the team considered the licensing and affil-
iate models. The first of those would involve 
identifying	 pre-existing	 501(c)(3)s	 to	 act	 as	
MY TURN Programs at a Glance  
•	 	 Reconnecting	Out-of-School	Youth	is	a	program	targeting	young	high-school	
dropouts, helping them complete their education or find a job through job 
readiness training, workplace learning, occupational training, or school.
•	 	 Connecting	to	Work	focuses	on	career-bound	high	school	students,	helping	
them build professional and interpersonal skills and providing them with op-
portunities to explore different careers through partnerships with employers in 
industries including food service and retail.
•	 	 Connecting	to	College	serves	in-school	students	and	provides,	among	other	
benefits, SAT test preparation, college tours, and workshops on financial aid.
Up until 2006, the  
organization had 
grown by branching—
opening new sites  
on its own. 
iStockphotoCommunities & Banking    17
partners and run all or part of a MY TURN-
designed program. The second, replication 
through  affiliating,  would  mean  identify-
ing individuals or organizations that would 
open new sites under the group’s brand but 
would operate under separate 501(c)(3) sta-
tus. Ultimately, the team decided that open-
ing branches was still the most compatible 
model. This approach, the team members 
believed, would afford rapid-enough growth 
while allowing MY TURN to control pro-
gram quality. 
Implementation Decisions
Next	 came	 implementation.	 What	 would	
be	a	reasonable	expectation	for	growth	over	
the	 next	 three	 years?	The	 team	 answered	
such questions iteratively, first determining   
ideal growth goals in terms of number of 
new  case  managers,  programs,  commu-
nities,	and	regions;	next	using	a	financial	  
model to cost out the goals; and finally mak-
ing revisions on the basis of the cost infor-
mation	and	expected	revenues.	They	settled	
on increasing the number of case managers 
from 22 in fiscal year 2006 to 36 in fiscal 
year 2009.
They  also  considered  the  need  for   
additional  senior  talent  to  support  the 
growth  goals.  Additionally,  they  creat-
ed  a  deputy  director  position  and  decid-
ed	to	hire	an	expansion	manager	and	two	  
development  personnel.  And  because  the 
growth goals would require the people in 
charge of regions to take on more responsi-
bility, the team chose to develop a program 
to boost these coordinators’ management, 
communication, and leadership skills.
The	cost	of	expansion	was	also	impor-
tant.	Approximately	$12.7	million	would	be	
needed	over	the	next	three	years	(the	total	
cost of running the organization, including 
the	planned	expansion).	Workforce	Invest-
ment Act dollars plus previously committed 
funding	were	expected	to	cover	$6.6	mil-
lion. How would MY TURN fill the $6.1 
million gap? Given its focus on communi-
ties, it decided to work on bringing in addi-
tional local and regional funds rather than 
emphasize national foundation money. 
 
Progress Report
Within the first year, MY TURN was again 
ahead of schedule. It had received signifi-
cant new grants from a variety of sources. It 
also had opened up offices in Rhode Island 
through a Greater Rhode Island Workforce 
Partnership grant. 
By summer 2008, Barb Duffy, who had 
led MY TURN through the 2003 and 2006 
planning efforts, retired, and Stephen Pratt 
had	been	named	the	executive	director.	
Reflecting  on  past  growth  and  look-
ing ahead, Pratt says, “We are focusing on 
learning	from	the	first	stage	of	growth	expe-
riences to determine what a sustainable eco-
nomic model looks like before continuing 
to	expand.	We	have	consolidated	regional	
operations into four districts, each headed 
by	 a	 regional	 executive	 director	 who	 will	
be primarily responsible for raising funds 
from private foundations and individuals as   
well  as  building  regional  boards.  We’re   
confident	that	in	the	next	year	to	18	months,	
we will have refined this operating model   
to  a  point  where  we  can  consider  new 
growth opportunities.”
Margaret Boasberg is a partner at Boston-
based  Bridgespan  Group  where  Barbara 
Christiansen is a consultant. Bridgespan is a 
nonprofit organization helping nonprofits and 
philanthropy reach their goals.
In addition to the 
branching model  
of replication, the 
team considered  
the licensing and  
affiliate models. 
Young people gather for MY TURN’s Annual Youth College and Career Development Conference. Photograph: MY TURN
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A nonprofit chooses a path to expansion

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A nonprofit chooses a path to expansion

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