About the client

Council for Relationships has served the Greater Philadelphia region since 1932. Its mission is to strengthen interpersonal connections through accessible, specialized, and expert individual, relationship and family therapy, clinical training, and research. CFR is committed to serving marginalized populations who face barriers to accessing these services through its sliding fee scale and targeted programming.

• Offers 40+ therapeutic specialties to clients, both in person at 8 PA/NJ offices and virtually
• Serves ~5000 individuals per year, and at least 25% qualify for low-fee therapy services
• Houses 80+ clinical interns who provide the highest quality therapy and psychiatry
• Offers post-graduate training; certified by Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education

The Challenge

Amidst a rising mental health need CFR hoped to broaden its impact by 1) expanding the reach of its therapy, psychiatric, and training services, and 2) bolstering its existing infrastructure of clients, student therapists, and staff. As such, CFR was looking for a new, innovative funding strategy to increase access to its low- and no-fee services, while still providing competitive compensation to staff therapists.

The Solution

With the support of Compass Pro Bono’s On Track consulting framework, the volunteer team got to work. Through weekly meetings over eight months, the volunteers worked to deliver a customized set of funding recommendations and tools.

First, the team sought to understand CFR’s financial situation by conducting a cost analysis and benchmarking against peer organizations. Additionally, the team interviewed and surveyed staff, board members, donors, and alumni to understand stakeholder sentiments and finalize a list of potential earned income projects – including new strategic partnerships, alternative payors, and membership or subscription servicing of its professional development programs. The team then created an evaluation framework to assess these potential projects against CFR’s mission, overall feasibility, and projected impact.

Utilizing this framework, the team identified various recommendations including: partnerships with companies that prioritize corporate social responsibility; piloting alternative payor options; and building out a membership model. The final deliverables presented to CFR leadership included:

• Competitive cost analyses with peer organizations
• Detailed scorecard comparisons of alternative payor platforms and office sites
• Phase-by-phase implementation plans and initial investment projections
• Results and analyses from surveys of clinicians and alumni
• An idea evaluation framework and “heat maps” to assess how proposed initiatives align with CFR’s strategic goals

Impact

By supporting CFR’s funding strategy, the team’s recommendations have the potential to shore up organizational infrastructure as well as sustainably maintain and elevate the reach of its services. In Compass Pro Bono’s post-project survey, CFR stated: