San Antonio Botanical Garden
A Partnership That Keeps Growing
The Challenge:
The San Antonio Botanical Garden enriches lives through plants and nature. Since fall 2018, it’s also been Cielo Strategy Group’s longest and most frequent returning partner. Our work together has never followed a single project plan. Instead, it’s followed a relationship: whenever the Garden has reached a pivotal or transitional moment, we were the team they called to help move their mission forward. Over the years, that’s meant a departmental assessment, two executive hiring searches, a member magazine, a strategic playbook, transitional leadership support, and most recently, a marketing department assessment. It’s an honor to have built this kind of trust. We consider the Garden family. In fall 2018, the Garden was growing, and growing fast. Leadership knew that the pace of change required a strategic approach, starting with the Development department. Without a clear staffing structure or an organization-wide culture of philanthropy, the team risked outgrowing its own foundation. That pattern repeated itself over the following years, each time in a new form. When the Vice President of Development that Cielo had helped hire was promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the Garden needed steady support through the transition, including a new VP of Development search and continuity for its largest fundraising event, Splendor in the Garden, while that role sat open. Most recently, in fall 2025, the marketing department lost a key staff member during one of its busiest seasons, right as the Garden was planning a full brand rollout for January 2026. Each moment looked different, but the need underneath was the same: a trusted partner who could steady the team while the Garden kept building toward what was next.
Our Approach:
We started where we always start: listening. The 2018 Development assessment included an in-depth review of materials, interviews with leadership and staff, and deep listening to understand what the department needed to support a strong, lasting culture of philanthropy, not just a quick fix. We’re solutions-oriented at heart. When we spot a gap, we don’t just name it in a report, we roll up our sleeves and help build what’s needed to close it. That’s shown up differently in each chapter of this partnership: building and running a hiring timeline for a Vice President of Development in 2018, then doing it again in 2024 to fill that same role when its former leader moved into the CEO seat; stepping in with fractional development support and hands-on event management during the transition; and picking up copywriting, editing, and project management for the Garden’s member magazine, Vibrante, not once but twice, in 2021 and again in 2025. We also work to leave organizations stronger than we found them, not dependent on us. After we managed Vibrante for a season, the Garden grew its own marketing and graphic design staff and brought the magazine fully in-house. That’s the outcome we’re always building toward: capacity that lasts long after our engagement ends.
From Our Partner:
“As the Garden has grown and evolved, Cielo consultants have proven their ability to meet us exactly where we are in the moment. They are flexible, responsive, and creative in developing solutions that fit our unique needs. Cielo understands the delicate balance required when working with both staff and volunteer-driven initiatives. Their ‘listening first’ approach is refreshing. Time and again, Cielo has proven they don’t just provide cookie-cutter consulting—they take the time to understand our mission, our community, and our specific challenges, then craft solutions that are both practical and innovative. You won’t find a better strategic partner.” – KATHERINE TRUMBLE, PERSIDENT & CEO, SAN ANTONIO BOTANICAL GARDEN
The Outcome:
The 2018 Development department assessment delivered a long-term staffing structure and a roadmap for organization-wide philanthropy, and a direct outcome was the hiring of a Vice President of Development, a role that grew into a comprehensive fundraising strategy and a talented Development team. When that VP was promoted to President and CEO, we returned to provide fractional development support, manage the full hiring process for a new Vice President of Development who started in September 2024, project-managed their largest annual gala, “Splendor in the Garden”, and oversaw the Development team until the new hire was onboarded. From spring 2021 to winter 2022, we handled copywriting, editing, and project management for Vibrante, the Garden’s digital member magazine, working alongside a graphic designer to bring each issue to life. Working with the Executive Director and Board of Directors, we revisited the Garden’s 2012 strategic plan and built a strategic playbook to guide the next 18-24 months. Together with the Board and staff, we crafted organizational values, refined the Garden’s operational goal areas, and developed strategies, annual benchmarks, and a scorecard for each goal. In fall 2025, we returned to provide transitional marketing team support following a staff departure, plus a comprehensive marketing department assessment to guide the Garden’s next hire for the Senior Director of Marketing role. We also resumed project management, copywriting, and editing for Vibrante, and supported the marketing team as they planned a completely new brand rollout for January 2026. Eight years, seven engagements, one relationship. That’s what a partnership rooted in trust looks like.