Since 1981, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has worked to defend press freedom and the rights of journalists around the world. CPJ experienced significant organizational growth in recent years, increasing its annual budget, which allowed the organization to expand programmatically. However, this expansion put a strain on the internal operations that support these programs particularly because they had remote staff working on five continents.

In 2012, the Board of Directors approved a three-year strategic plan, but recognized a need to analyze the organization’s current capacity and how it needed to develop to fully implement the strategic plan. The strategic plan identified targets for operational improvements to help achieve their three-year objectives, including augmenting strategic advocacy and campaigning, increasing fundraising to support its strategic goals, and strengthening management and governance to better administer the increasingly complex and far-reaching organization.

Impact Catalysts (through its predecessor firm, Root Cause) worked with CPJ to evaluate the organization’s Communications, Fundraising & Development, and Finance & Administration areas and recommend improvements to enhance CPJ’s ability to successfully implement the 2012-2015 strategic plan. This involved assessing the current structures and procedures in place for the three departments under review and identifying how implementation of the strategic plan could be further strengthened by adapting the staffing and resources available to each of the departments.

The final recommendations included specific ways that CPJ could improve its staff structure by adding or restructuring positions, build systems for better communication and CPJ culture-sharing among remote staff, increase efficiency in administrative processes, and use a core-periphery structure to enhance flexibility in the face of financial uncertainty