Strategy Consultant

FAS•Washington, DC

3d•$100,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) is seeking a lead strategic consultant or firm to guide its five-year strategic planning process. FAS is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) with approximately 60 FTEs, a network of Senior Fellows and consultants, and significant philanthropic support. The central driver for this plan is sustainability, with growth serving as a tool for building a durable foundation rather than an end in itself. The process aims to define organizational sustainability for the next 10-20 years, determining what FAS does, at what scale, and with what resources, while also delivering a policy-entrepreneurship-aligned operating model. The plan must reflect six core commitments: Sustainability, Mission impact and integrity, Evidence-based decisions, Focus and discipline, Care for people, and Decide and move (wide inputs, narrow authorship).

Requirements

Ability to lead Discovery, structure Analysis and Synthesis, and co-author a 5-year strategic plan.
Experience in developing data-backed answers to core strategic questions.
Expertise in defining organizational sustainability and strategic growth.
Ability to structure, pressure-test, and sharpen strategic logic.
Proficiency in conducting external scans (PESTLE/SWOT) and internal diagnostics (financial modeling, workforce analysis, operating models).
Experience in facilitating stakeholder engagement (surveys, interviews, listening sessions).
Skills in synthesizing findings into strategic options and scenarios.
Experience in developing revenue scenarios and identifying capability investments/sunset activities.
Ability to ensure recommendations reflect an organization's unique model.
Experience in co-authoring strategic plans with executive leadership.
Ability to support plan presentation for Board approval.
Experience in providing input on internal rollout and communication framing.
Demonstrated understanding of nonprofit or policy-organization strategy.
Experience in financial sustainability and operating model development.
Experience in people strategy development.
Ability to work in an embedded model alongside internal leads.
Capacity to provide candor and challenge when evidence points in a direction leadership may hesitate to go.
Proposals must detail how they will deliver Discovery in approximately nine weeks.
Bidders must detail what can be delivered within the $100,000 budget or suggest scope trade-offs.
Proposals must include a fixed fee by phase, hours, and rates.

Nice To Haves

Experience with policy-entrepreneurship models.
Familiarity with the 2029 presidential election as a strategic hinge point.

Responsibilities

Lead Discovery, structure Analysis and Synthesis, and co-author a time-bound, 5-year strategic plan for FY28+ alongside executive leadership.
Provide clear data-backed answers to six core questions: What do we do? How do we do it? Who does it? How do we pay for it? What do we stop doing? What do we invest in next to reach the next level of organizational sophistication?
Define sustainability in concrete terms, including conditions for growth, holding, or reduction.
Treat the 2029 presidential election as a defined hinge point.
Structure, pressure-test, and sharpen FAS's strategic logic, working collaboratively with internal leads.
Conduct an External Scan assessing the political landscape, peer positioning, funder trends, and future risks/opportunities (PESTLE/SWOT).
Conduct Internal Diagnostics including revenue diversification modeling, indirect cost recovery analysis, workforce capacity reviews, and operating model assessments.
Refine and co-facilitate stakeholder engagement instruments (surveys, listening sessions, 1-on-1 interviews) with staff, board members, funders, partners, and alumni.
Synthesize Discovery findings into strategic options and scenarios.
Develop strategic options, revenue scenarios, and an interim list of capability investments and sunset activities.
Share emerging themes with staff and facilitate leadership alignment sessions.
Conduct an explicit “institutional-specificity” check to ensure recommendations reflect FAS’s unique model.
Co-author the full FY28+ strategic plan with FAS executive leads, incorporating board and staff feedback.
Support the CEO and Project team in presenting the final plan for Board approval.
Provide input on internal rollout and communication framing.