The Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) found itself in the aftermath of a failed merger and was struggling financially. The merger forced senior leadership to inherit several poor strategic decisions. LCRF needed to become aligned internally before it could drive strategy and engage volunteers. The organization wanted to undertake a strategic planning process that would ensure buy-in for needed culture change on behalf of the staff and the board.

Enter DJ Hampton (imagine silhouette of a figure on a large rock, hands on hips, cape blowing in wind). Per DJ, “We embarked on a five-month collaboration with staff, board, and community volunteers. The goal was to establish organizational vision, gain buy-in from the board, and develop a three-year strategic plan with each department workplan developed against it.”

During the engagement, the scope of the work grew as the strategic planning process exposed an organizational challenge that prevented the research program from growing. The grant process was an RFP designed to fund the best research submitted within the applicant pool. LCRF lacked a proactive, forward-looking research strategy against which investments were made. After the board adopted the strategic plan, Turnkey was engaged to:

·       explore what other high performing research programs were doing,

·       create a vision for the research program with staff, researchers, and the lung cancer community, 

·       and deliver a five-year research roadmap.

The research roadmap was used to attract funding, guide the research allocations program, and increase engagement from donors, patient groups, foundations, and pharma to contribute added investments into LCRF research priorities.

According to CEO Dennis P. Chillemi, it was a success. He said, “LCRF has been delivering against an intelligently designed strategic plan, has hired a Chief Scientific Officer, and has added millions in new investments in our research program due to the strategic vision.”