Council for Relationships, Inc.

1. Identify financial / business model options that generate revenue to support sufficient investment in organizational infrastructure and sustainability.
2. Diversify revenue to mitigate the loss of some portion of TJU Master’s Program revenue.
3. Create a pay structure that enables equal client access to highly trained therapists, regardless of ability to pay, and that provides competitive compensation to staff therapists and compensation for student therapists.
4. Develop leadership for DEIB at the board level.
5. Build the organizational structure to support DEIB work
6. Cultivate psychological safety within CFR to support DEIB work, specifically around race, for the organization to be able to discuss, process, and learn from difficult or problematic encounters/issues both within treatment and in interpersonal relationships in the organization.
7. Ensure appropriate DEIB training for staff and equip clinicians to provide culturally relevant and appropriate care.
8. Increase accessibility of high-quality, specialized, and culturally appropriate services for BIPOC, disabled clients, those with limited English, and LGBTQIA individuals.
9. Develop a theory of change and outcome measures across CFR’s programs and services.
10. Establish IT systems that automate internal workflows/ processes and support data collection and analysis needs across the organization.
11. Create a robust HR function.
12. Invest in marketing and outreach to increase awareness of CFR’s services in various communities.

Strategic Priority 1: Re-envision the business model with an eye toward increasing access to services and ensuring equitable, efficient, and effective use of resources.

Over the past few years, changes in the external landscape have increased demand for services and strained the workforce, in terms of both available providers and provider wellness. As an organization, CFR is committed to ensuring accessible and equitable services to historically marginalized and underserved communities. To do that, CFR must better understand potential sustainable revenue models that provide an economy of scale, examine, prepare for and mitigate the possible loss of revenue (ie. TJU), and build alignment between its business practices, workforce needs, and DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging) strategies.

Strategy Priority 2: Transform CFR into an organization that is diverse, equitable, inclusive, and where all can belong and thrive.

Council for Relationships (CFR) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the mission of serving individuals and families in and around Philadelphia to improve their relationships. We believe that every person is sacred and uniquely contributes to the constellation of relationships that form a flourishing community and therefore, aim to create a culture where everyone feels that they belong and can equitably participate in the work of CFR.  CFR is striving to become the type of organization that is financially accessible to and culturally relevant in the communities we serve.  Scholarly evidence demonstrates that we achieve better therapeutic outcomes when we are able to provide culturally appropriate and informed mental health care including having a diversity of therapists that align with clients on key aspects of their identity and experience (e.g. race, disability, sexual orientation, gender).  We aim to re-create the CFR culture and internal processes to better reflect our commitment to this core mission.

Strategic Priority 3: Build infrastructure to understand and meet organizational and community needs.

Nonprofit organizations that invest in their infrastructure and people are more resilient, stronger, and impactful, yet CFR’s current investment in this area is low. As the demand for services continues to increase and the organization evolves, CFR must ensure its internal management systems, strategies, and processes are sufficient to support effective programs and people. The development of transparent and equitable policies, work processes, payment models, and leadership is vital to the organization’s ability to recruit and retain a diverse and talented workforce. The organization needs to right-size the financial, clinical, technological, data collection, and evaluation systems to ensure that CFR grows in ways that align with the needs of various communities and constituents and is accountable to them.

CFR's mix of clinical services, educational programs and research on complex trauma provides a wide range of opportunities for professionals to engage deeply in the work of relationship therapy on multiple levels, including direct service, clinical supervision, and as educator and researcher. In addition, CFR serves a diverse client population, allowing its therapists to work with a range of clients and issues. This dynamic environment attracts top experts, including PhD psychologists, licensed master's level clinicians, and MD psychiatrists. The diversity of professionals attracted to CFR creates a robust professional community of excellence, with an impressive retention rate of approximately 90%.

CFR’s business model is predicated on market rate services that help to support sliding scale fee, low fee and no fee therapeutic services to clients who would otherwise be unable to afford mental health services. CFR generates 90% of its operating budget through earned revenue, received from clients paying market and sliding scale fees for counseling services and from clinical education tuition. The organization must raise the remaining 10% of its operating budget from individual and corporate donations and foundation grants. Contributed revenue supports mental health services for those who cannot afford market rate fees, as well as supporting the organization’s CPI and educational work.

CFR continues to invest in its graduate and professional educational programs; recruiting, training, and retaining a diverse workforce that best represents the organization’s growing client base. In this way, CFR will develop a pipeline of highly prepared therapists who can support clients presenting complex mental health issues. Equipped with enough therapists and psychiatrists, CFR can then scale-up its operations, effectively meeting the acute need for more practitioners in the field.