Request for Proposals

Strategic Planning & Advisory Services for the Greensboro Community Trust

Issued By: The Greensboro Community Trust, Inc.

RFP Release Date: Tuesday July 21, 2026

Submission Deadline: Monday August 3, 2026, 5:00 PM EDT

Primary Contact: Chris Leary, GCT Board Director, GreensboroCommunityTrust@gmail.com

An Invitation to Support Greensboro Community Trust

The Greensboro Community Trust seeks a Vermont-based strategist to guide our organization as we proactively shape our future with our first Strategic Plan.

The Greensboro Community Trust (GCT) is approaching our first anniversary as an organization.  In our first year, we formed a strong and engaged Board, added an Advisory Circle deep in local knowledge, secured technical assistance funding, and identified several worthy Initiatives that can potentially reshape the social and economic life of our town.

The GCT’s Vision and Mission guide our Board with a high-level purpose, but we quickly evolved to where our energy and ambitions must now specifically align with our capacity and resources as an organization.  The questions before the Board next are organizationally defining: what kind of organization should the GCT become, and how should we develop capacity, wisely invest our resources, and choose what Initiatives to build and when?  A Strategic Plan will responsibly guide the GCT Board with discipline into this future.

1. GCT Overview

Greensboro is a town of just over 800 year-round residents in the southwest corner of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.  In the summer months, visitors and seasonal residents expand the town’s population.  Learn more about Greensboro at https://greensborovt.gov .

Greensboro community members have voiced an interest in community spaces, new businesses, affordable housing, new recreational resources, improvements in services, and the preservation of historical structures. 

The Greensboro Community Trust (GCT) was formed in August 2025, as a catalyst for the revitalization, creation, and stewardship of vibrant social infrastructure that provides new possibilities for connection and resilience.

GCT’s mission is to create strong social infrastructure and enhance opportunity through the acquisition, transformation, and sustained management of spaces and places within the greater Greensboro community.

GCT is part of the inaugural cohort of Village Trust Initiative participants, working to grow community capacity, preserve a sense of place, and ensure Greensboro is a dynamic place for future generations. The GCT is a registered 501(c)3, is governed by a 10-person volunteer Board of Directors, and joins a collection of Trust organizations across the state that are working to enhance local capacity in support of vital community assets and vibrant village centers.

The Trust’s initial Initiatives (projects) are already visible.  GCT catalyzed improvements at The Lamoille Valley Rail Trail trailhead in Greensboro Bend including a parking area, a community mural, pollinator gardens, and new plantings along the trail.  GCT has also entered into a purchase option, and is now conducting due diligence on the former Methodist church and parsonage on Main Street in Greensboro Bend – an Initiative that the GCT envisions as ‘The Steeple’.  Around these first two anchor Initiatives also sit a larger set of village issues involving water and wastewater capacity and the future of other neighboring residential and commercial properties.  

Learn more about the GCT Board of Directors and current GCT Initiatives at https://www.greensborocommunitytrust.org .


2. Strategic Planning Engagement: Purpose & Objective

GCT recently developed our Mission and Vision statements (see the GCT website), and we are now embarking on a Strategic Planning Engagement.

GCT requests proposals from a qualified strategist to guide our GCT leadership through a brief and initial Strategic Planning Engagement in August and September 2026.


3. Scope of Work

The selected Strategist will collaborate with identified representatives from the GCT Board.

GCT desires the following outcomes and deliverables from this Strategic Planning Engagement:

  1. GCT Community Role, Mandate, and SWOT analysis: Recommend, with a concise summary statement, what specifically GCT does that no other local entity does: (i.e. where GCT owns an initiative, where it partners, where it seeds an effort and hands it off, and where it steps back or declines). This statement distinguishes and aligns GCT from the other governmental and nonprofit entities that also impact the Greensboro community. Develop a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis for the GCT.

  2. GCT Operating Model options: Summarize, at a very high level, in a side-by-side comparison, a per-project volunteer board model vs. a staffed organizational model, each with a capacity map (i.e. how many Initiatives can GCT simultaneously carry at what scale?) comparing details such as the Board volunteer hours, the staff roles, the fundraising, and the timeline each would require.  Include examples of other similar peer organizations.

  3. GCT Initiative Selection criteria and decision framework: Draft a scored rubric that the GCT Board can use to evaluate current and potential future GCT Initiatives (i.e. weighing community benefit, feasibility, revenue potential, capital intensity, partner dependency, mission fit, sequencing, GCT capacity, and incurred risk to the GCT) and then propose a selection process that will guide the GCT Board on when to advance an Initiative, when to pause, when to partner, and when to decline.  Include a small set of explicit triggers tied to conditions such as organizational or funding capacity.

  4. Board and Advisory Circle deployment: Prepare an organizational diagram and narrative that matches the GCT Board and Advisory Circle expertise (including current and future desired capacities), relative to the operating models described above, so that GCT can right-sizes our asks, and so our Board, Advisors, and networks remain meaningfully engaged without feeling over-asked.

The selected strategist will interview each of GCT’s Board Members (virtually, i.e. by phone or Zoom) to gather each GCT Board member’s input on our Strategic Planning.

The selected strategist will then meet once or twice with a small group of GCT’s Board members and review initial findings from GCT Board Member interviews and to preview the deliverables described above.  A representative of the GCT Board will be available for any necessary conversations throughout the process. 

The selected stagiest will present the final deliverables from this initial Strategic Planning Engagement to the GCT Board.  This final presentation may be virtual or in person coinciding with a GCT Board Meeting.

4. RFP, Proposal, and Selection Timeline

GCT desires to complete this Strategic Planning Engagement in August and September of 2026. 

  • RFP Published: July 21, 2026

  • RFP Questions Due from Proposers: July 28, 2026, 5:00 PM EDT

  • Proposals Submission Deadline: August 3, 2026, 5:00 PM EDT

  • Finalist Interviews Conducted: Week of August 3-7, 2026

  • Vendor Selection & Contract Award: August 7, 2026

  • Project Kickoff Meeting: August 10, 2026

  • Final Deliverables Due: September 23, 2026

GCT acknowledges that the timeline proposed in the RFP is compressed, and we have attempted to scale our expectations proportionally to the timeline proposed.  It is GCT’s desire to develop an ongoing relationship with the selected strategist and to engage in additional consulting work in the future.

5. PROPOSAL SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Interested consultants must submit their questions and proposals via email in PDF format to greensborocommunitytrust@gmail.com with the subject line "GCT Strategic Planning RFP - [Your Firm Name]". Proposals must not exceed 10 pages and must include:

  • Executive Summary: A brief description of your firm, philosophy, and differentiating value proposition relevant to the needs of GCT.

  • Project Approach: A brief concurrence, any recommended improvements to the scope stated in this RFP and GCT’s desired outcomes from this initial Strategic Planning Engagement.

  • Consultant Profiles: Names and summary qualifications of the specific team members who will work on this Strategic Planning Engagement.

  • Fee Proposal: An all-inclusive fee proposal for your services for this Strategic Planning Engagement.

  • Client Examples and References: A brief description of (2–3) recent Strategic Planning Engagements performed for clients similar to GCT.  Include a reference contact for each example.

  • Recommendations for future work with GCT: A brief summary of how GCT could engage with your firm for future advisory services.

6. EVALUATION CRITERIA

Proposals for this Strategic Planning Engagement will be evaluated by the GCT based on:

  • 30% – Relevant experiences and client references

  • 20% – Interpretation of GCT’s desired outcomes from this Engagement

  • 20% – Interview chemistry – compatibly with and understanding of GCT

  • 20% – Fee proposal competitiveness and overall value

  • 10% – Potential for other future advisory engagements with GCT