Common Ground Consulting Launches AI-Enhanced Strategy Practice for U.S. Nonprofits

Common Ground Consulting unveils AI-powered strategic planning for U.S. nonprofits, blending 35 years of human-centered transformation expertise.

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, October 22, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Common Ground Consulting, a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm with 35 years of experience in organizational transformation, today announced an expanded domestic practice focused on helping U.S. nonprofits and associations build adaptive strategies using AI-enhanced methodologies that accelerate planning while keeping human insight and mission integrity at the core.

The expansion comes as nonprofits face unprecedented volatility—from funding disruptions and leadership turnover to rapid technological change—forcing many organizations to rethink how they plan, adapt, and sustain impact. Common Ground’s expanded practice introduces adaptive planning approaches designed for uncertainty, not stability.

“Traditional five-year strategic plans assume a predictability that no longer exists,” said Craig Bowman, President of Common Ground Consulting. “We’re helping organizations build strategies that are both ambitious and adaptable, using proven frameworks that work when the ground shifts beneath you.”

A Proven Record of Transformation

For more than three decades, Common Ground has worked in 35 countries with international NGOs, foundations, governments, and civil-society organizations on issues ranging from youth development and justice reform to public health and sustainability. The firm has earned a reputation for helping leaders navigate complexity with clarity and compassion, earning more than 90% of its work through repeat business or referrals.

That global experience now informs a renewed focus on the U.S. social-sector landscape, where similar challenges are unfolding: increased polarization, tighter funding, and heightened expectations for transparency and results.

“The problems our partners face at home today—resource volatility, technology disruption, and leadership fatigue—look a lot like what we’ve seen globally for decades,” Bowman noted. “Our goal is to bring those hard-won lessons back to strengthen the organizations working closest to home.”

Service Offerings Designed for Volatility

Common Ground’s enhanced service portfolio reflects the realities of operating in an age of constant change:

• Adaptive Planning: Three-year horizons with built-in pivot points and scenario planning to adjust as conditions evolve.
• AI-Accelerated Research & Analysis: Advanced tools that cut background work from weeks to days, freeing time for in-depth discussions and decision-making.
• Organizational Resilience Assessment: Identifying structural, financial, and leadership vulnerabilities before they become crises.
• Leadership Transition Support: Sustaining continuity and culture through executive change.
• Ethical Technology Integration: Helping nonprofits adopt AI tools responsibly—without compromising equity, privacy, or mission values.

A Firm That Has Lived Its Own Transformation

Common Ground brings unusual credibility to transformation work, having successfully navigated two major pivots in five years—first in 2020 when COVID-19 halted international travel, requiring a complete shift to virtual service delivery, and again in 2025 when federal restructuring eliminated major foreign aid contracts overnight.

Rather than scaling back, Common Ground rebuilt. The firm has developed an AI-enhanced consulting model that leverages technology to analyze data, synthesize insights, and facilitate more inclusive planning—all while keeping people at the center.

“We don’t just advise on transformation—we’ve lived it,” Bowman said. “Twice in five years, we had to pivot and reimagine our business model under pressure. Those experiences gave us something most consultants don’t have: firsthand insight into what actually works when everything changes at once.”

Accelerated Impact, Human ConnectionTM

Common Ground’s approach to artificial intelligence is grounded in transparency, equity, and ethics. Its AI Compact discloses exactly how and where AI is used in client engagements, while its AI fluency efforts help teams become AI drivers rather than passengers—maintaining human control and accountability at every step.

Bowman, who has written extensively on AI ethics and equity in the nonprofit sector, describes AI as “a mirror that reflects the systems, biases, and dynamics already at work in nonprofit organizations.” In his recent Nonprofit AI Equity series, he argues that when used well, “AI can amplify fairness, expand access, and help you reach the people who are often left out. Used carelessly, it can automate exclusion at scale.”

“The real risk isn’t that AI will replace us,” Bowman said. “It’s that it will replicate us—exactly as we are. The challenge is to make sure what it reflects is worth scaling.”

Supporting a Sector in Transition

Recent engagements include strategic planning for associations adapting their member-driven models, organizational development for nonprofits navigating executive turnover, and AI-readiness assessments for organizations exploring responsible AI.

About Common Ground Consulting

Common Ground Consulting has helped mission-driven organizations strengthen strategy, leadership, and impact for 35 years. The firm combines global experience with a deep understanding of the U.S. nonprofit ecosystem. The firm's new AI-enhanced approach accelerates strategic planning, builds organizational resilience, and demonstrates what a responsible human + AI partnership can achieve.

Learn more at https://commongroundconsulting.ai/

Craig A. Bowman
Common Ground Consulting LLC
+1 202-744-2567
craig@commongroundconsulting.org
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