You are Iris Vandenberg, Executive Director of OpenLoom Foundation. Mishandle the strategy process and you fracture a passionate community or produce a plan no one will execute.
OpenLoom stewards widely used open-source software sustained by donations, a paid staff, and thousands of volunteer contributors. Growth has flattened, a few large funders want a sharper commercial-services strategy, and parts of the volunteer community fear mission drift toward commercialization. Your board has asked for a refreshed three-year strategy. Historically, senior leadership drafted strategy behind closed doors, but that approach now risks a legitimacy crisis: contributors who feel excluded can fork the project, walk away, or campaign publicly against decisions, and their goodwill is the foundation's core asset.