Our Approach:

We designed the day together with ACN’s leadership as true partners, balancing creativity, fun, work, and purpose. The session opened with the Board President and CEO, who named what the day was really about: deepening connection, understanding engagement, shaping what comes next, and turning that energy into action.

An interactive opener and a story-based warm-up invited Board members to reflect on who brought them to ACN, why they said yes, and what keeps them coming back, giving them language they could carry into their own communities as ambassadors for the organization. The Board already had a strong handle on its roles and responsibilities as a governing body, including its core legal duties of care, loyalty, and obedience, so we went deeper into the area their CEO felt would matter most: Board engagement.

We walked them through the Culture of Philanthropy framework to help them understand the shift from transactional fundraising to relationship-based philanthropy, and their role across the fundraising cycle, from identification and cultivation to solicitation and stewardship. We also reminded them that being an ambassador for ACN doesn’t require a formal ask; it can look as simple as a conversation with a neighbor, a colleague, or a fellow volunteer. We featured a mission-focused video and planned time with the staff experts and clinicians doing the work, which walked the board through the journey a family takes toward an autism diagnosis and put a human face on the work the Board stewards.

Worksheets and small-group discussions built around generative questions kept the room engaged throughout the day, including a working session where Board members used a start, stop, continue, and change framework to dig into a real and pressing challenge facing the organization: a multi-year decline in referrals. Intentional breaks kept the energy up, and we closed by celebrating the Board’s progress against the goals it set at its last strategy session, tangible proof of how far ACN has come.