PlanPerfect and the National Recreation Foundation

PlanPerfect is a valuable new tool that foundations can use to support their grantee partners. One of the first cohorts to complete strategic plans using PlanPerfect is being underwritten by the National Recreation Foundation (NRF). NRF supports charitable organizations that foster positive youth development and increase access for young people to play, explore, learn, and grow outdoors. Founded to support recreation for U.S. military personnel on the home front during World War I, NRF has grown into a foundation with assets exceeding $50 million. Since its founding, NRF has centered its enduring belief that access to recreation is essential to the health, well-being, and opportunity of every young person in America. Over the past decade, the National Recreation Foundation has distributed more than $19 million to over 270 grantees across the country.

Beginning in November 2025, NRF offered a group of grantees preparing to embark on strategic planning the opportunity to build their strategic plans using PlanPerfect. Adventure Crew, Beyond the Ball, Chill Foundation, Families in Nature, and the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance raised their hands to participate.

"[PlanPerfect] is a way to make [strategic planning] more manageable and effective, and it's really interesting to hear how you all are using it... It's exciting to see what's happening," shared Sophie Twichell, President and CEO of the National Recreation Foundation, during a cohort meeting on May 21, 2026.

Through monthly cohort meetings, participants develop practical strategic planning skills, learn to use PlanPerfect's software, and build community with fellow nonprofit leaders. Together they have gathered stakeholder feedback through surveys, interviews, and focus groups and are now using those insights to develop the first drafts of their strategic plans.

This cohort model can also be adapted by consultants working with multiple nonprofit clients.

The Discovery Process

"This software took so much work out of it, and it removed any potential founder syndrome from our plan. It got away from my voice being important above the other voices, and that was helpful." — Heather Kuhlken, Founder and Executive Director, Families in Nature

The PlanPerfect Discovery Phase consists of collecting feedback from relevant stakeholders, including board members, staff, and program participants, through surveys and interviews. At the six-month mark, cohort members had gathered stakeholder feedback through AI-assisted surveys, automatically generated SWOT analyses, interviews, and uploaded transcripts. Those insights are now informing the first drafts of their strategic plans.

"It's such a win. It's not just that it's going to save us some time and some money. It's going to lead to a much better outcome for us, and this just makes it a no-brainer. We're going to ask people what they think and get all this input in." — Ben Clark, CEO, Chill Foundation

Building Their Plans

"I was struggling really hard with writing the goals for the strategic plan. Then I learned you can use this software to create the goals and then also create the objectives, and so that was life-changing. This is the best ever." — Heather Kuhlken

Now the organizations are building their strategic plans using insights gathered during the Discovery process, PlanPerfect's expert-trained AI tools, and guidance from their fellow cohort participants.

"The output is going to be incredible. I can't wait." — Ben Clark

The Cohort Experience

"It's great to know how strategic planning is going for everybody and the process you're following, what's hard, and all that stuff. These meetings, where we're sharing where we are and what's going on, are helpful and really cool." — Ben Clark

One of the greatest benefits of the cohort is the opportunity to learn alongside other nonprofit leaders working through the same strategic planning process. Regular meetings create a supportive environment for shared learning, practical problem-solving, and the exchange of ideas among peers.

"The cohort experience has been great. It's been awesome working with the other nonprofit leaders. Being able to go in there and talk freely and give each other ideas, or maybe someone has dealt with a problem that we're facing now, and they share their experience on how to overcome it. It's been really collaborative and super beneficial." — Sergio Vasquez, Managing Director, Beyond the Ball

"I'm very excited. It's really an extraordinary opportunity... not just for the ease and saving money, but we're going to have a much better product." — Libby Hunter, Executive Director, Adventure Crew

About the Organizations: 

Adventure Crew

Adventure Crew connects city teens in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky to nature and each other through engaging outdoor adventures. Founded by a public school teacher in 2012, Adventure Crew has served nearly 1,000 students by providing monthly adventures at no cost. Adventure Crew believes everyone deserves access to the outdoors and helps city teens develop the courage to step outside their comfort zones and discover new worlds—outside in nature and within themselves.

Beyond the Ball

Beyond the Ball uses the power of sport to change lives, inspire hope, reclaim community spaces, and create opportunities for youth and families. Founded in 2000 to serve the Little Village and North Lawndale neighborhoods of Chicago, Beyond the Ball develops young people through programs that replace negative neighborhood norms with a positive culture of opportunity. It also creates opportunities for residents to build community through projects that reflect the personal and social responsibility learned in its programs, growing future community leaders while making an immediate impact on the neighborhood.

The Chill Foundation 

The Chill Foundation inspires young people through boardsports while building a more equitable outdoor community. Founded in 1995, Chill has served more than 30,000 young people and now works with more than 2,000 youth each year. It partners with social service organizations, mental health agencies, juvenile justice programs, and schools to engage young people in communities across the country. Chill's programs teach new skills, build confidence, and inspire a lifelong love of boardsports, with a vision of a world where every young person belongs and thrives in the outdoors.

Families in Nature

Families in Nature connects children and their families to nature and to each other through learning, playing, and volunteering outdoors. It strives to develop confident, capable, curious, and connected children and families through hands-on experiences in ecology and conservation while spending quality time together outdoors. Families in Nature's goal is to help children and families build lasting connections to the natural world while fostering environmental stewardship.

The West Atlanta Watershed Alliance (WAWA)

The West Atlanta Watershed Alliance (WAWA) is improving the quality of life within the West Atlanta Watershed by protecting, preserving, and restoring its community's natural resources. WAWA represents African American neighborhoods in northwest and southwest Atlanta that experience some of the greatest environmental burdens while being among the least represented in environmental decision-making. WAWA's programming is structured around the 3Es: Environmental Justice, Environmental Education, and Environmental Stewardship. WAWA maintains more than 21 acres of urban forest, trails, a community garden, and a historic baseball field with the help of community volunteers, hosts numerous educational programs, and advocates for climate justice.