The San Antonio Botanical Garden enriches lives through plants and nature. Our partnership with the Garden began in the Fall of 2018. Our first project with the Garden was to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the Garden’s fund development department. This assessment identified strengths and areas of growth for their development department, along with a roadmap for developing an organization-wide culture of philanthropy. The assessment included an appropriate, long-term staffing structure to support that culture.
Our work during the spring and summer of 2018 also included creating and implementing a timeline for hiring a Vice President of Development. That successful hiring resulted in a position to oversee a comprehensive fundraising strategy for the Garden, and the growth of a talented Development team working to advance the Garden’s mission. The Vice President of Development that we managed the hiring for has since been promoted to President & CEO, and in the midst of that transition, Cielo Strategy Group was brought on to offer fractional development support along with managing the entire hiring process for a new Vice President of Development who started in September of 2024. Our transitional support during this time also included project managing their largest fundraising event, Splendor in the Garden, in addition to overseeing all aspects of the Development team.
From the spring of 2021 to winter 2022, the Cielo Strategy team offered copywriting, editing, and project management (with the support of a graphic designer) for publishing the Garden’s digital member magazine, Vibrante. The Garden has since grown in its marketing and graphic design staff, and they now manage their member magazine in-house. We are always thrilled when the organizations we work with grow in their capacity!
We also worked with the San Antonio Botanical Garden’s Executive Director and Board of Directors to revisit a 2012 strategic plan. We created a strategic playbook to guide the Garden through the next 18-24 months. Together, with the board and staff we crafted organizational values. We also reviewed and tweaked operational goal areas. We worked with the senior leadership team to develop strategies and annual benchmarks, along with developing a “scorecard” for each goal area.
Most recently, in the Fall of 2025, the Garden brought Cielo Strategy Group back on to offer transitional marketing team support as they experienced a leadership transition from a key staff member during an extremely busy season for the marketing department. We were asked to conduct a comprehensive marketing department assessment that would inform what the team needed in their next Senior Director of Marketing hire. In addition to the departmental assessmentm Cielo Strategy Group project managed and offered copywriting and editing services for their member magazine, Vibrante. We supported the marketing team in key tasks as they were planning a completely new brand rollout for January 2026, and simultaneously, we managed the hiring process for their new Senior Director of Marketing & Communications, who started in February of 2026.
The Garden has been our longest and most frequent returning client, as we have worked with them in some capacity since 2018. It is an honor to have built such a strong relationship based on trust, and we consider them family!
