The Welcoming Center

Organization Mission & Overview
The Welcoming Center is a Philadelphia-based nonprofit dedicated to advancing economic growth by supporting immigrants in accessing gainful employment, entrepreneurship opportunities, and pathways to civic and community leadership. Through workforce development, small business support, language access, and leadership programming, The Welcoming Center enables individuals to fully utilize their skills while meaningfully contributing to the economic and social structure of the city. The Welcoming Center partners with employers, organizations, and community stakeholders to build more equitable, responsive, and inclusive pathways to economic opportunities for immigrant communities.

Situation
As The Welcoming Center looked ahead to its next phase of growth, leadership used its FY 2025-28 strategic planning process as an opportunity to develop a clearer, more data-informed picture of where the organization was headed. While the organization had established a strong reputation and demonstrated impact across its programs, it faced several key questions, including: how to balance expanding program offerings with deepening existing services; how to better align programming with employer needs and broader economic trends; and how to scale impact while strengthening internal capacity and organizational effectiveness.

Additionally, there was a need to incorporate insights from a variety of stakeholders, including staff, partners, and program participants, into the strategic planning process.

PennPAC’s Approach
PennPAC partnered with The Welcoming Center to conduct a comprehensive stakeholder analysis and research process to inform its multi-year strategic planning. Key components of the engagement included:

• Review of 40+ internal documents to assess organizational structure, programs, and existing data
  21 stakeholder interviews, including 9 external stakeholders and 12 staff.
• A focus group with the Participant Advisory Council (PAC).
• Comparative research on peer organizations to identify strategic insights and patterns.

PennPAC synthesized these findings into a cohesive discovery report, highlighting key themes, challenges, and opportunities to support informed decision-making.

Key Findings and Recommendations

In its assessment, PennPAC found that The Welcoming Center is widely regarded as a credible and influential leader within the immigrant support ecosystem, often “punching above its weight” in shaping narrative and impact. Stakeholders were united in their enthusiasm for The Welcoming Center’s future, with rich perspectives on the organization’s programmatic and growth priorities. PennPAC also identified meaningful opportunities to deepen existing partnerships — creating potential to enhance both service delivery and funding. A more clearly defined participant pathway emerged as a high-impact lever for improving outcomes, strengthening engagement, and communicating impact more powerfully. Building on its strong foundation, The Welcoming Center was found to be well-positioned to invest in internal capacity — including HR structure, staff alignment, and operational systems — to fuel its next chapter of sustainable growth.

PennPAC’s recommendations included:

• Clarifying strategic priorities and sequence growth across programs, partnerships and geographic reach.
• Strengthening internal infrastructure to support organizational effectiveness and expansion.
• Enhancing stakeholder engagement, including defining roles and structure for the Participant Advisory Council.
• Developing a more formalized participant pathway to better track and communicate outcomes.
• Establishing a repeatable and measurable framework to guide long-term growth and strategic decision-making.

Results
PennPAC’s engagement provided The Welcoming Center with a clear, data-informed foundation for its FY25–28 strategic planning process and next phase of growth. Through stakeholder interviews, a focus group with the Participant Advisory Council, and comparative research, PennPAC’s discovery report recommended a set of actionable priorities that leadership can immediately put to work. As a result, The Welcoming Center is better positioned to clarify its strategic direction, strengthen internal infrastructure, and deepen its impact for the immigrant communities it serves.