RFP: IHEP’s Strategic Plan

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

Mission 

The Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit research, policy, and advocacy organization committed to promoting access and success in higher education for all students with a focus on students of color, students from low-income backgrounds, and other historically marginalized populations. IHEP develops timely research to inform policy decisions and address our nation’s most pressing education challenges. 

IHEP envisions a world in which all people, regardless of race, background, or circumstance, have the opportunity to reach their full potential by participating and succeeding in higher education. The organization identifies and proposes student-centered, data-informed, and equity-centered solutions to the obstacles facing today’s students as they work to get to – and through – college by providing research and analytic tools in four focus areas:  

• Affordability & Need-Based Aid  
• Data & Transparency  
• Access & Success 
• Barriers in Justice & Education 

IHEP History 

Established in 1993 and founded by Jamie P. Merisotis and Colleen T. O’Brien, IHEP set a groundbreaking agenda to explore access to and success in postsecondary education from an independent perspective focused on underserved populations. Nearly 30 years later, IHEP has become a respected source for policymakers and higher education leaders. Driven by its commitment to equity, IHEP’s research identifies the challenges standing between students and success and proposes innovative yet replicable research-based policy solutions that benefit students, as well as institutions, communities, and society writ large.  

Through its research and advocacy work, IHEP shapes higher education through in-depth analyses, exploration of equity-centric solutions, and targeted communication and strategies designed to influence public sentiment and higher education leader and policymaker action. IHEP has pushed the field of higher education forward on critical topics, including addressing the need for improved postsecondary data; expanding opportunities for students impacted by the justice system; investing in MSIs (minority-serving institutions), Tribal colleges and universities, and two-year colleges; maximizing the potential of distance learning; recognizing the transformative potential of degree reclamation; leveraging CBOs (community-based organizations); developing innovative approaches to national- and state-level educational attainment; and analyzing the relationship between financial aid, credit transfer, and degree completion.  

In recent years, IHEP-led initiatives have impacted policy and practice at the institutional, system, state, and federal levels. For example, Degrees When Due has refocused institutional policy and practice on adult re-engagement in postsecondary education, and the Postsecondary Value Commission pushed the field to consider how equitably institutions are providing value to students. Through its Postsecondary Data Collaborative initiative, IHEP has led the way in shining a light on the disconnected, duplicative, and incomplete nature of federal data systems, and recommending solutions like the recently adopted improvements to data collections and reporting and the bipartisan, bicameral College Transparency Act, which recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives. 

In 2018, recognizing the impact of our lobbying and advocacy efforts, IHEP added a 501(h) election to its 501(c)(3) status. This decision was part of IHEP’s strategic pivot from a research and policy organization to a research, policy, and advocacy organization, and allowed IHEP to be laser focused on the policy impacts of its work. 

In February 2021, Michella Asha Cooper, who had served as IHEP’s president since 2008, transitioned out of the organization to serve as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Higher Education Programs at the U.S. Department of Education. In December 2021, the Board of Directors selected Mamie Voight as the new President and CEO, who previously served as the Senior Vice President of Research and Policy at IHEP and has been at the organization since 2013. 

The organization last undertook organization-wide strategic planning in 2010.  In the years since, IHEP has refined its strategic efforts related to its business model, communications, and information technology, as well as taken on an advocacy agenda and refined its policy pillars.  

THE ASK

As IHEP prepares to enter its fourth decade, the organization seeks a consultant to facilitate and construct the development of a new three to five-year strategic plan that is clear and actionable and will serve as a “north star” to maximize impact in support of student-centered, data-informed, and equity-grounded solutions in higher education.  

IHEP’s strategic planning committee has identified key attributes the organization seeks in a consultant in order to develop a successful partnership. These include:   

• Prioritization of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in its own organizational structures and in its strategic planning services. 
• Expertise that includes: nonprofit governance, goal-setting, funding models, and best practices in strategic planning as well as familiarity with the higher education nonprofit landscape and design-thinking (preferred). 
• The ability to skillfully facilitate challenging conversations and push the organization to answer difficult questions. These abilities should translate across different modalities (e.g., in-person, virtual, hybrid). 
• Engagement with clients is collaborative and inclusive, and solutions presented are creative and practical. 
• Approach to strategic planning is highly organized, responsive, detail-oriented, and evidence-driven. 

 Organizational Priorities for Strategic Planning 

Goals 

The new strategic plan must center justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in internal and external goals. The plan should also have an underlying focus on reframing the higher education narrative to ensure that higher education delivers equitable value to all students, meaning that earning a degree or credential delivers the better living and better life that higher education should provide to all students regardless of race, background, or circumstance. Developing the new plan should also include clarifying organizational values and strengthening organizational culture.  

Execution of the strategic plan should solidify IHEP’s role amongst postsecondary researchers, policy thinkers, and advocates by enabling the organization to maximize policy impact, redefine its unique role in the higher education space, and enhance its role as a national thought leader.  

Finally, the plan should enable IHEP leadership to build upon the organization’s existing strong financial foundation by creating a strategy to diversify revenue sources and build financial durability and sustainability. The plan should also account for operational processes and identify opportunities to create efficiencies.  

Plan Deliverables 

Through a deliberative and collaborative process, the consultant will support IHEP in developing a strategic plan that includes new or revised versions of the following: 

 Tough Questions 

Through the strategic planning process, the team will interrogate a variety of challenging questions—some of which may not have been identified yet. Specific questions that have arisen in recent years and should be built into the discussion and planning process include: 

• How do we ensure that IHEP internal and external efforts align?  
• What is IHEP’s right balance between federal, state, and institutional efforts? Between policy and practice? 
• What is the right mix of funding streams to ensure diversity and financial sustainability for the organization? 
• How should IHEP navigate the deepening partisan divides in D.C. and across the nation?  
• How should IHEP ensure internal processes and priorities are transparent to all relevant internal stakeholders?  
• How should IHEP balance maintaining manageable timelines and workloads with funding needs and commitments to funders/projects? 
• How do we ensure equitable and meaningful growth paths for all staff given the small size of the organization?  

 How to apply 

Applicants should submit a thoughtful, clear, and well-organized proposal package of no more than 7 pages single-spaced as a PDF or Word document that includes: 

• Equity commitment (no more than 1 page): IHEP is committed to working with an equity-focused partner who has a demonstrated track record of fostering justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion internally and helping clients to work effectively to create a more racially and socioeconomically equitable society. Please describe your demonstrated commitment to equity, including specific examples of how you or your organization works to advance equity for Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and underrepresented AAPI communities and communities from low-income backgrounds and how you maintain an equitable workplace. 
• Background and qualifications (no more than 3 pages): Share relevant background information about your organization and/or yourself (for individuals), including your relevant experience developing strategic plans, facilitating collaborative and generative meetings with diverse participants, and managing productive conflict. As an appendix, please include any examples of similar projects that you have worked on, including the scope, deliverables, and for whom the project was completed. Experience with education-related and small, foundation-funded nonprofit organizations is strongly preferred. 
• Proposed project plan and detailed timeline (5 to 7 pages): Please share your organization’s approach to the planning process and what steps will be taken to collect needed information, answer our questions, and deliver the necessary components of the strategic plan to the IHEP team.  This should include how you plan to interact with the IHEP team and relevant stakeholders, key plan activities, a project timeline, success metrics, and your approach to project management.  
• References: Share the name and contact information of at least two relevant references who can speak to your work. Please also submit an example of a strategic plan developed for another organization.  
• Proposed budget and fee structure: Budget details can be included as an appendix.  
• Proposed team (no more than 2 pages): Please share information about the key team member(s) who will be working on this project, including brief bio(s) that highlight their relevant background and expertise.  
• Conflict of Interest (no more than 1 paragraph): Briefly describe any potential conflicts of interest that might exist if selected to lead the IHEP strategic planning process.  

All applications will be graded using a standard heuristic, taking into account the quality by which applications cover the above requirements.  

IHEP includes justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in its core values and welcomes proposals from businesses owned by women, by Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and AAPI people, people from the LGBTQ+ community, and members of the disability community.  

PROPOSALS ARE DUE BACK TO IHEP BY CLOSE OF BUSINESS ON FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2022. There will be “open hours” to meet with members of the search committee available on:  

• March 21st  –  11:00am to 12:00 noon EST 
• March 21st  –  2:30 to 3:30pm EST 
• March 23rd =  10:00 to 11:00am EST 
• March 24th – 1:30  to 2:30 pm EST  

For questions, to submit a proposal, or to schedule a meeting with search committee member during the timeslots listed above, please reach out to (Anita Guberovic, aguberovic@ihep.org). Allow 48 hours for emailed responses to questions or meeting requests. Please note that all information gathered during the strategic planning process should remain confidential and is considered the property of IHEP.