Ronald McDonald House Charities® (RMHC®) (A): Crafting a Strategic Growth Vision for the Future

This case focuses on the efforts of a nonprofit's leadership team to evolve its strategy so it can deliver on its mission in a broader, more comprehensive way, reflecting the new realities of its beneficiaries and stakeholders.

In late 2022, the COO of Ronald McDonald House Charities Global's (RMHC), Rodney Jordan, leads the crafting of a new strategy as the organization approaches its 50th year of operation. RMHC has hundreds of chapters offering programs--most prominently, Ronald McDonald Houses and Family Rooms--for families of seriously ill children across more than 60 countries and regions. Jordan is joined in the effort by RMHC's board and a newly minted CEO, along with other members of the growing RMHC Global leadership and staff.

Among key considerations for the new strategy is evidence that children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases now live much longer on average and are much more likely to survive than in the past, which means they now have more frequent and lengthy hospital stays and will need continued care upon their return home. Relatedly, research shows their families have multiple
unmet needs before, during, and after treatment. Students will take the perspective of Jordan and other leaders to develop a strategy to address this reality, as well as other social determinants of health, such as housing and food insecurity, while continuing to offer and expand RMHC chapters' core programs.

Students will have to consider the needs and expectations of stakeholders such as family beneficiaries, the RMHC global board, chapter staff and volunteers, chapter boards, hospital partners, and the McDonald's Corporation and franchisees--at the same time ensuring that the new strategy preserves and builds on RMHC's well-established legacy and brand.