Context:
Open Answer was created in Colorado as a community engagement arm for political campaigns and nonprofits. Services like canvassing, phone banks, and grassroots organizing have been used for purposes ranging from ballot initiatives to nonprofit program outreach.
Challenge:
While successful in Colorado, Open Answer faced challenges sustaining work between election cycles and expanding services into new states. With leadership moving out-of-state, they needed to determine if national expansion was viable and, if so, build an intentional growth plan. As a 501(c)4 organization, Open Answer had difficulty tapping into funding sources outside of election cycles.
This required assessing Open Answer's value proposition for foundations and nonprofits nationally, gathering candid feedback on the concept from leaders, and ultimately producing an actionable expansion plan.
Solution:
Platform Civic Strategies partnered with Open Answer on a phased project:
Facilitated visioning sessions to craft a bold vision statement for national reach
Developed case studies showing potential value of community engagement for nonprofits
Interviewed 6 philanthropic leaders and summarized findings on appetite for services
Hosted "Go/No Go" session with Open Answer's leadership team to review feedback
Facilitated creation of a 2-year expansion plan including mission, model, services, goals and timeline
The resulting plan provided Open Answer a roadmap for growing its services nationally by tapping into philanthropic interest in community-driven solutions. With clear goals rooted in market insights, Open Answer is positioned for sustainable expansion to new clients and geographies.