Volunteers of America (VOA) Southeast

VOA East: Bringing Strategy to the Front Lines of Service

Volunteers of America Southeast (VOA Southeast) supports people in need across Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. Their work spans housing, healthcare, mental health support, and human services, delivered by a team of over 600 staff. 

Faith is central to the work of VOA Southeast. Their shared mission—what they call their “ministry of service”—is rooted in a deep commitment to serving others with dignity and care.

To execute their latest strategic plan and improve visibility into organizational performance, VOA Southeast turned to Envisio. The goal: build a framework that would support clear reporting, accountability across teams, and more confident decision-making, without overwhelming staff already stretched across essential programs.

Strategy as Communication

VOA Southeast had worked with strategic plans in the past, but they weren’t designed to guide day-to-day decision-making. These earlier plans didn’t reflect the complexity of their work, nor did they provide a system for measuring progress. 

When Laura Chandler, the current Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer for VOA Southeast was first brought in as a consultant, she helped facilitate the development of a new plan using a balanced scorecard framework.

“Once you’re inside the organization, you begin to see things from a totally different angle,” she said. “It was eye-opening. We had to refresh the plan in the first year because I began to understand the intricacies of how things actually worked.”

After joining the organization full-time, she quickly recognized how different the work looks from the inside, and how much more intentional the planning process needed to be to drive results.

From the start, she emphasized the need to not only execute the plan, but also use it to communicate more clearly, both internally and externally. Many of VOA Southeast’s strategic objectives were intentionally written like mission statements, doubling as messaging points that staff and partners could easily understand and repeat. After leading the creation of a new plan using a balanced scorecard framework, Laura joined the organization full-time and began laying the groundwork for implementation.

From the beginning, Laura knew that the VOA Southeast team would need a tool to turn strategy into operational routines. That’s when she brought in Envisio.

“We weren’t interested in just writing a plan. We needed to build the structure to act on it, and report on our progress with credibility.”

Starting with What They Had: Data First, Then Strategy

VOA Southeast didn’t wait for perfection before moving forward. Before the new strategic plan even launched, the team began using Envisio to digitize and visualize more than 20 years’ worth of performance data from what they called their “global dashboard” for their board. 

That data had long been maintained in a sprawling spreadsheet and used in quarterly board meetings, but of course, it wasn’t actionable or easily shared across teams.

“We probably did things a little backwards! We started with the data because it was something we already had,” said Laura. “And we knew we wanted to stop spending hours manually building reports.”

The result was a new, dynamic dashboard delivered to the board at the end of FY24. With real-time data and visuals, the tool offered a clearer picture of performance than the static reports they had relied on for years.

Department Engagement and Steady Rollout

Laura emphasized that this early use of Envisio helped build buy-in. Her team approached the first year as a baseline period—focused on learning the tool and establishing routines, not enforcing targets. Training was rolled out in manageable phases, starting with those who owned data sources and expanding to goal and project owners. After each group session, Laura followed up individually with element owners to reinforce skills and help them succeed.

“I wanted to do the setup myself so I could learn the tool inside and out,” she said. “You can’t just hand someone software and say, ‘Go do it.’ You have to walk with them through it.”

“The entire team at Envisio was phenomenal.”

That hands-on approach—from both internal leadership and Envisio’s implementation team—set the tone for adoption. “The entire team at Envisio was phenomenal. Shiraz was phenomenal,” Laura added. “Every meeting, we got further, because we put in the work.”

Rollout was intentional and paced. The internal implementation was led directly by the strategy office.

“Doing the work ourselves helped us understand the tool deeply, and gave us the ability to support others.”

This model worked. Most team members picked it up quickly; others benefited from more direct support. Either way, the structure was in place to ensure no one was left behind.

Clear Alignment and Consistent Reporting

Their five  strategic goals—deliver superior, person-centered services; promote housing stability; build a culture of innovation; and cultivate and inspire passionate employees, and maintain financial sustainability—are now fully embedded within their Envisio framework.

VOA Southeast tracks 22 supporting objectives tied directly to these goals. From housing assistance for veterans to supported employment for individuals with disabilities, every objective is aligned to meaningful data—reporting not just outputs, but also long-term outcomes and quality-of-life indicators.

This structure replaced the previous population-based reporting model, allowing for a more complete and mission-driven view of organizational performance. It also reflects VOA Southeast’s core values, including a commitment to innovation, dignity, and continuous improvement.

Department-level strategies are now being built out in Envisio as well. Over 30 active projects are tracked across the system, many focused on expanding services, improving housing conditions, and delivering personalized care.

“We’re tracking how well we’re serving people with some of the greatest needs in our communities—and using that data to improve. Envisio helps us align every update with our mission.”

Planning for Growth and Future Use

Looking ahead, VOA Southeast will expand their use of Envisio in several key ways:

• Implement strategic goal-based collaboratives that bring together cross-functional teams aligned to each strategic goal. These collaboratives will serve as the primary structure for advancing shared priorities, coordinating initiatives that span departments, monitoring progress against agreed-upon measures, and surfacing insights, risks, and opportunities for leadership.
• Using Envisio’s project management tools to manage housing initiatives and other large-scale work
• Creating internal dashboards tailored to department needs
• Exploring options for a public dashboard after internal systems are fully matured

Key to Successful Adoption

The strategy team points to two key decisions that helped adoption go so smoothly:

1. Pacing the rollout: Quarterly training, followed by one-on-one coaching, helped to avoid “new tool fatigue” and created opportunities for ongoing feedback.
2. De-centering performance pressure: The baseline year was about establishing habits, not hitting targets. That mindset helped staff build confidence and curiosity about their own performance data.

“We wanted people to feel comfortable saying, ‘This isn’t trending the way I want, but here’s why.’ It created a space to talk about how to improve, rather than defend frustrating or poor results.”

The Secret for Successful Implementation

VOA Southeast recommends starting with internal board engagement long before strategy software implementation.

“Don’t write your plan in isolation. Build it with your teams. The more people feel involved early, the more likely they are to participate in implementation.”

The team also emphasizes managing expectations and staying focused on the long term.

“The big takeaway is that strategic planning isn’t a checklist. It’s about relationships and learning to use strategy as a shared framework. We wanted a living document. The more people understand the ‘why,’ the more they’ll invest in making it work.”

VOA Southeast’s implementation of Envisio has created clarity and alignment across a complex, multi-state nonprofit organization. Their success comes not from rushing, but from staying consistent, building trust, and using strategy to support the work already happening on the ground.

They’ve built an internal infrastructure that reflects their mission, and supports their people in serving more, and serving better.