SERVICES
Surface what people actually need, then design solutions that work in the real world.
Strengthen the systems, culture, and relationships that make your mission sustainable.
DELIVER
DIG
DISCOVER
DESIGN & DEVELOP
LEADERSHIP SUPPORT & STRATEGIC PLANNING
Comprehensive organizational assessment with deep stakeholder engagement, followed by collaborative strategic planning that produces implementable action plans, not reports that gather dust.
You need this if:
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You need clarity on what's working, what's not, and what to prioritize.
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Your board and staff aren't aligned on direction.
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You're preparing for growth and need to ensure your infrastructure can handle it.
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You want honest assessment before making major investments.​
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What you get:
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Thorough stakeholder-engaged assessment (staff, board, community, youth, families).
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Facilitated strategic planning sessions that build consensus.
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Actionable plans with clear priorities, roles, timelines, and accountability structures.
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Tools to track progress and adapt as you go.
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Tailored leadership best practices for incremental improvement.
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What this looks like:
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6-12 week intensive engagement with your leadership team.
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Stakeholder interviews, operational assessment, collaborative planning sessions.
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A strategic roadmap your team can actually follow and execute.
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Executive coaching at regular intervals to bring out your very best as a leader.
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Ongoing partnership for implementation support.
Case Example: Led strategic planning focused on student enrichment for Notre Dame School of Milwaukee. Conducted thorough discovery including stakeholder engagement with students, alumni, parents, staff, enrichment partners, and volunteers to understand current offerings and gaps. Facilitated planning sessions with the school's leadership team to define student-centered goals, assess the current state against their defined ideal vision, and create an actionable roadmap. Developed partnership vetting criteria, responsibility charts, and adopted quality assessment tools to ensure enrichment offerings aligned with the school mission and vision for the student experience. Result: clear, implementable strategy that strengthened programming and increased institutional capacity to manage and evaluate enrichment effectively.
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Testimonial: "Dan Schiller’s work in developing an enrichment strategy for Notre Dame School of Milwaukee was excellent. He created a clear, thoughtful, and actionable framework that aligns with the school’s mission. His time and efforts not only identified the critical role enrichment plays but also translated that vision into useful tools and systems. Our final product included a planning calendar, responsibility charts, and assessments and surveys to measure quality and satisfaction.
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He has the right approach - good listener, organized, but also pushed people when needed. Our enrichment program is stronger because of his work and that means more kids benefit from an improved and more sustainable program. Dan’s work is a model of planning and execution and I highly recommend him."
-Patrick Landry, President - Notre Dame School of Milwaukee
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When organizations get clear on purpose and align around it, everything else becomes possible.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
We go beyond surveys. Through immersive observation, interactive focus groups, stakeholder interviews, and creative engagement methods, we gather insights that inform smarter decisions about programs, facilities, and services. Community Engagement helps you see your work through the eyes of those you serve, so you can make better decisions before you build, invest, or act.
You need this if:
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You're planning a major facility investment and need authentic community input.
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You're launching or redesigning programs and want to understand real user needs.
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You need to engage diverse stakeholders in ways that surface honest feedback.
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You want design recommendations grounded in evidence, not assumptions.
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What you get:
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Customized community engagement strategy and expert facilitation.
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Rich qualitative and quantitative insights from the people who matter most.
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Design recommendations grounded in real user needs and organizational capacity.
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Comprehensive reports that translate findings into actionable next steps.
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What this looks like:
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4-12 week project with clearly defined scope.
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Multiple engagement methods: focus groups, interviews, observation, interactive polling, creative expression activities.
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Engagement that's accessible and even joyful so people want to participate.
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Often leads naturally into design and implementation support.
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Case Example: Led community engagement for Betty Brinn Children's Museum master planning process. Engaged 700+ community voices through surveys, focus groups, live interviews, interactive polling, and classroom sessions. Kids drew their dreams, educators walked spaces, families voted with stickers. Delivered actionable insights that shaped exhibit design, partnership strategy, amenity planning, and facility decisions.
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Testimonial: "At a pivotal moment in our master planning process, we partnered with Future Found to lead a community engagement scope of work, including research, surveying, one-on-one stakeholder interviews, focus group creation and facilitation, and a comprehensive impact and key findings report out. The work was complex and nuanced at every corner, and Dan and his team navigated the work with grace and poise with an incredible amount of thoughtfulness.
Dan brings a unique strength in facilitation. He creates a space for honest dialogue, always navigating diverse perspectives with care- not only with external stakeholders, but with our own internal team.
Dan helped us surface blind spots, simplify where needed, and stay focused on what mattered most- our mission."
-Stacy Bartsch, VP Brand Experience - Betty Brinn Children’s Museum
​Because when people feel heard, they help you build what lasts.
ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY BUILDING
We work alongside you to build organizational capacity through embedded partnerships, whether you need help strengthening team systems and culture, executing major initiatives, or building infrastructure during critical transitions.
You need this if:
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You have a solid plan but lack internal capacity to execute it.
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You’re launching a major initiative and need experienced leadership support at the table.
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Your team is stretched thin and needs stronger systems and clearer roles.
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You’re in transition and need someone who can assess, troubleshoot, and drive implementation.
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You want outside perspective paired with hands-on partnership to get important work moving.
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What you get:
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A focused assessment of your team’s current capacity, systems, and pain points.
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A clear operational roadmap that aligns people, priorities, and resources.
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Project management and embedded leadership support to maintain momentum.
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Practical structures and tools that improve communication, accountability, and follow-through.
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A noticeable lift in clarity, confidence, and cohesion across your team.
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Sustainable systems and routines that remain long after the engagement ends.
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What this looks like:
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Retained partnerships typically 6-18 months.
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Regular onsite engagement (weekly, biweekly, or intensive project weeks as needed).
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We're at leadership meetings, in working sessions, and in the weeds of operations, not advising from the sidelines.
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Strategic troubleshooting and course-correction as challenges emerge.
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Ongoing coaching to strengthen internal leadership and ownership.
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Case Example: Served as start-up Executive Director for "I Have a Dream" Foundation–Milwaukee for 18 months. Built board infrastructure, recruited and developed a strong team, established organizational systems, cultivated partnerships, and increased annual fundraising from $300K to $800K, positioning the organization for sustainable impact and growth.​​​
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Testimonial: "Dan stepped in as our start-up Executive Director and over a year and 1/2 he built foundational infrastructure that set the organization up for stability and long-term success in serving our kids and families. He brought in great people to add capacity to the board and staff and he provided clarity in where the organization should be focused and how the team should contribute to success."
-Joanne Grunau, Board Director - “I Have a Dream” Foundation - Milwaukee
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When teams are equipped to act, plans turn into progress.
GROWING SPACES
Your physical environment and daily rhythms either support engagement and well-being or they get in the way. Growing Spaces helps you translate what you know about people into environments and operational systems that work with them, not against them.
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We start by observing how your spaces actually function, where energy, connection, and bottlenecks live, then co-design simple, sustainable solutions. Whether it's rethinking a pickup routine, improving flow in a classroom, or shaping the design of a new facility, we help you make sure every space says what you mean: you belong here.
You need this if:
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Space feels chaotic or doesn't match how people actually use it.
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Transitions burn time and create avoidable conflict.
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Staff manage behavior more than they deliver program.
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Basic needs like movement, natural light, quiet space, and time to reset go unmet.
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What you get:
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Clear assessment of how people experience spaces, schedules, and routines.
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Authentic stakeholder input from kids, families, and staff.
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Practical recommendations grounded in human development and operational reality.
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Implementation support so changes stick.
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What this looks like:
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Observe how spaces function and where bottlenecks live.
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Engage kids, families, and staff to understand real needs and barriers.
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Identify specific, practical improvements based on how people actually use space.
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Support implementation and adaptation as the changes take root.
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Case Example: Led concept-to-completion place-making project at PEAK Initiative, transforming Tiefenthaler Park from a neglected space into a vibrant community hub with a new experiential learning center and surrounding park revitalization. As Executive Director, managed the full project from design coordination through stakeholder engagement to occupancy, ensuring every design decision aligned with the organization's mission and met the needs of the young people and families who would use the space every day.
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Testimonial: "Dan catalyzed remarkable positive change at PEAK in a relatively short time. I have worked closely with Dan on a number of initiatives, everything from rebranding the organization to building a new program center. He is a visionary with an ability to balance long-term objectives with the intentional steps it takes to achieve them, and to keep the needs and opinions of kids and families centered in all projects and initiatives."
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-Demetria Smith, Former Sr. Director of Programs, PEAK Initiative
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When environments work with people instead of against them, everyone benefits.