Strategy for organizations that want to last.

Frankly Inspired and Associates, LLC works with mission-driven institutions that need more than a short-term fix. Engagements are designed around the organization's context, capacity, leadership needs, and sustainability goals.

The Seven Dimensions

Every free tool, every diagnostic, and every engagement works on the same seven dimensions, so a score means the same thing everywhere.

Strategy and Positioning

Strategic priorities, risk, and a roadmap that guides real decisions.

Program and Impact Evidence

Showing what your programs achieve, in terms funders and boards trust.

Revenue and Financial Health

Diversified revenue, reserves, donor retention, grants, and fundraising strategy.

Leadership and Organizational Capacity

Bench strength, succession, alignment, and executive advising through change.

Operations and Infrastructure

Workflows, KPIs, CRM and Salesforce practice, and AI readiness.

Partnerships and Ecosystem

Cross-sector partnerships with education, workforce, government, corporate, and philanthropic partners.

Governance and Risk

Board practice, policies, filings, and the risks a funder will ask about.

How We Work Together

Every engagement starts the same way: a discovery conversation, followed by the InstitutionalOS Diagnostic scored for your organization's actual lifecycle stage. From there, the method never changes, whether the priority is formation, funding, or long term durability.

Assess. Structured scoring across the dimensions that matter at your stage, never a generic checklist.
Verify. Higher scores require evidence: a documented policy, an observed practice, a filed financial statement, not self reported optimism. A strong score means something because it had to be earned.
Decide. Every organization has one binding constraint right now, the single thing limiting progress more than any other. Naming it specifically is the job, not producing a wall of generic recommendations.
Improve. A 90 day target for closing a meaningful share of the gap, concrete enough to act on Monday morning.
Reassess. Your score is tracked over time through InstitutionalOS, so progress is measured, not just described.

This is the same method behind every free scorecard on this site. A paid diagnostic goes further: it verifies the evidence directly with you and ends in a working session, not just a number.

Engagement Options

Every paid engagement begins with the InstitutionalOS Diagnostic. It is the single entry point regardless of your organization's stage, and it is the foundation the work below builds on.

Free

Start with the Scorecard

$0no sign-up

Not ready for a diagnostic? Get a free read on all seven dimensions first, then decide.

Get Your Free Score

Step 1: The Entry Point

InstitutionalOS Diagnostic

One diagnostic, three stages. Choose yours; the stage sets the price and the emphasis, not the product.

$2,500flat fee

Grant Readiness. For organizations pursuing grants. Financial Health is scored from your actual filed IRS Form 990 data, not self-reported estimates, and ranked against your target funders.

All seven Health Index dimensions scored against your stage's benchmarks
A written memo naming your single binding constraint
A 90 day plan built on the InstitutionalOS lift formula, including the steps to your next Candid Seal of Transparency level
A live readout session, plus ongoing access to track your score

Discuss Your Diagnostic

Step 2

Advisory and Implementation Retainer

$2,500 to $3,500per month

Best fit once the diagnostic has named your binding constraint and you want ongoing support closing it. Cadence and scope are set together at the readout, from periodic strategic guidance through weekly hands on implementation.

Executive strategy sessions, periodic or weekly depending on scope
Sustainability, revenue, and operations guidance
Stakeholder strategy and document review
Roadmap and revenue pipeline implementation when weekly cadence is the right fit
Leadership alignment and expanded project support at the implementation level
Three month recommended minimum

Prefer a fixed scope? The same work can be done as a defined project, such as a revenue diversification plan or partnership strategy, priced to scope.

Start This Retainer Discuss a Project

For the leader

1:1 Executive Coaching · $350 per session

Confidential 60-minute sessions for executive directors and senior leaders: decision making, change leadership, and a space outside board and staff dynamics. Book as needed, no minimum, on its own or alongside any engagement.

Book a Coaching Session

Not sure which option fits? Start with a conversation, and I'll help you figure out the right scope.

What You Actually Receive

Illustrative example, not a real client. This shows the format of a completed diagnostic, not a claimed result.

Organization: Sample Community Youth Alliance (fictional, for illustration only)
Pathway: Sustain (Institutional Durability) Diagnostic
Candid Seal today: Silver

1. Strategy and Positioning (68/100). Written strategic plan in use; no written criteria for saying no to new opportunities.
2. Program and Impact Evidence (52/100). Outputs tracked for every program; outcomes measured for only one.
3. Revenue and Financial Health (58/100). Two years of filed financials reviewed; no reserve policy on file.
4. Leadership and Organizational Capacity (44/100). Single point of failure identified in program leadership.
5. Operations and Infrastructure (66/100). Core workflows documented; no KPI dashboard in use.
6. Partnerships and Ecosystem (63/100). Strong partners, but only two of eight formalized.
7. Governance and Risk (71/100). Bylaws and Form 990 policies current; succession plan not documented.

Constraint identified: Leadership bench strength is the binding constraint, not financial health, which is often assumed to be the problem.

90-day target: 44 to 58 (closing 25% of the gap to 100), via a documented succession plan for the top two program roles and one cross-trained backup per critical function.

Candid Seal step: Silver to Gold by uploading the latest filed Form 990 and completing the leader demographic fields, both already in hand.

What you get: the full scorecard above, a written memo explaining each score, and a 60-90 minute session walking through the plan, delivered whether the news is good or hard to hear.

Not ready for a conversation yet? Take a free assessment first, it points to where to focus.

Ask a funder to sponsor your Diagnostic

Many funders set aside capacity-building money, and philanthropy groups such as Exponent Philanthropy encourage funders to pay for consultant-led organizational assessments for the organizations they support. A Diagnostic is a concrete, bounded request: a fixed price, a clear deliverable, and results you can share with the funder.

Copy the letter below and fill in the brackets.
Send it to a program officer who knows your work.
Tell me you've asked. I can join a call with the funder if that helps.

Dear [Program Officer name],

[Organization] is committed to strengthening the systems behind our work, and we'd like to request [amount: $2,000 or $2,500] in capacity-building support for an independent organizational diagnostic.

The InstitutionalOS Diagnostic, delivered by Frankly Inspired and Associates, LLC, scores our organization on seven dimensions (strategy, program and impact evidence, revenue and financial health, leadership, operations, partnerships, and governance and risk), verifies the evidence behind each score, and names the single constraint most limiting our progress. It ends with a written memo and a 90-day plan, including the steps to our next Candid Seal of Transparency level, and our progress is re-scored over time.

We'd be glad to share the results with you, so the diagnostic informs our partnership as well as our own planning.

Thank you for considering this request.

[Your name]
[Title], [Organization]

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where does working together start?

With a free 30-minute conversation, then the InstitutionalOS Diagnostic: $2,000 for Formation, $2,500 for Grant Readiness or Institutional Durability. It's the single entry point for every paid engagement.

What do I get from the diagnostic?

All seven Health Index dimensions scored against your stage's benchmarks, a written memo naming your single binding constraint, a 90-day plan, a live readout session, and ongoing access to track your score. See a sample.

What documents will I need to share?

For Grant Readiness, financial health is scored from your public IRS Form 990 filings, so you don't need to send them. For any diagnostic, you can choose to share governance policies, board materials, financial statements, or strategic plans to support the evidence review.

How is my organization's information handled?

What you share is used only to complete your diagnostic. It's never sold or reused for another engagement without your knowledge, and you can ask for shared source materials to be deleted once the engagement ends. See the Privacy Policy.

Is there a minimum commitment?

The advisory retainer has a three-month recommended minimum. Executive coaching is $350 per 60-minute session, scheduled as needed with no minimum.

Is this legal or accounting advice?

No. Where a finding touches legal, accounting, or safeguarding matters, you'll get a recommendation to bring in the right specialist rather than a substitute opinion.

We're not ready to pay for a diagnostic. Where should we start?

Take one of the free tools. The 7-minute self-assessment covers all seven dimensions and points you to your likely constraint. Every tool you take after that adds to your Health Index, one profile you can print for your board.

How do I make the case to my board?

Print your free Health Index and bring it to your next board meeting. It shows all seven dimensions on one page, along with your likely constraint. Your board chair is welcome at the diagnostic's readout session. Some funders also offer capacity-building grants that can cover outside consulting, so ask your program officers.

How are the free tools scored?

Every tool uses the same seven dimensions and the same evidence rubric, from "not in place" to "verified." Each question and its research source is published on How Scoring Works.

Can a funder pay for the Diagnostic?

Yes. Many funders support capacity building, and the fixed price makes it an easy request. Use the sponsorship letter, and the invoice can go directly to the funder.

Not sure which option fits?

A 30-minute conversation is the fastest way to find the right scope. Or start free: score your organization first and bring your Health Index to the call.

Schedule a Strategy Conversation Score Your Organization Free