2025-2028 Strategic Plan

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Message from Our President & CEO

The last four years brought global uncertainty, yet our strategic plan kept us focused on our mission and led to remarkable progress in driving next-generation treatments, expanding access to care, and being the trusted source for the IBD community. This reflects the strong collaboration among our volunteers, staff, community partners, and supporters, and we are deeply grateful to all who have helped us achieve those successes. Find highlights from our 2021-2024 strategic plan here.

Looking ahead, our mission objectives will drive our new strategic plan so they sit at its core, with six supporting objectives fueling those mission advancements. Remaining resolutely focused on finding cures and improving quality of life for those with IBD, we aligned our plan with our Challenges in IBD research roadmap, bringing attention to evolving areas of research, such as disease prevention and disease progression, and our Education, Support & Advocacy Framework to guide development of principal programs and resources. We also aim to tackle barriers that continue to impact access to care, and drive utilization of new technologies – including AI – to propel breakthroughs. We cannot achieve these core objectives without raising critical dollars, collaborating strategically with our volunteers and partners, reaching new audiences, building awareness for the Foundation, and activating our staff to spur momentum.

Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion remains essential to our success, which you can learn more about here. We will continue to put patients first, involving them in all that we do to ensure their voices are heard. Our progress will be tracked through rigorous metrics and evaluation, with transparent reporting of results. We are also debuting several critical milestones that we aim to achieve over the coming 10 years, which serve as our guiding North Star.

I am energized by our plan forward. At the Foundation, impatience is a virtue, and we can’t wait to share more about our progress toward a world free from IBD.

Michael Osso

President & CEO

Strategic Plan Introduction

The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation is guided by a strategic plan that we develop every four years with significant input from our stakeholders: our staff, volunteers, donors, partners, healthcare providers, researchers, patients, and caregivers. We view the strategic planning process as a critical responsibility, ensuring that our resources, expertise, and leadership role within the IBD community are strategically focused on our diverse community's most urgent needs.

The 2025-2028 strategic plan builds on the previous plan, which guided the Foundation from 2021-2024. The objectives and strategies will drive our decisions over the next four years as we allocate resources toward our most important priorities and areas with the greatest opportunities for significant positive impact on our community. Importantly, this strategic plan is also driven by our mission, our core values, our vision, and some very important guiding principles, all of which are discussed below. If any phrases are unclear, please check out our Foundation glossary for clarification.

Our Vision and 10-Year Horizon

Our vision is for a future free of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. While we work tirelessly to reach this vision, we believe that critical milestones are within reach over coming 10 years. To that end, through the Foundation’s existing and future efforts, by 2035 we expect:

Advances in preventing, treating, and curing IBD

Early phase clinical trials are testing treatments as cures
Multiple new drug classes and treatment strategies (e.g., microbiome-based treatment, dietary interventions) are approved, and all IBD treatments are accessible to better match patients to the right treatments at the right time
Screening for those at higher risk for IBD, and anyone with intestinal symptoms, is standard practice in the primary care setting as we drive toward disease prevention
In-home monitoring of gut inflammatory activity is widely accessible to patients with IBD to proactively identify disease progression earlier
Healthcare professionals in gastroenterology feel increased confidence in caring for and using all available treatments for IBD patients

Improvement in quality of life

There is no longer a prominent stigma around having or caring for someone with IBD, and mental health is addressed as part of IBD care
Insurance coverage is based on informed clinician-patient decisions, not cost alone
Nearly all patients and caregivers are accessing Foundation resources early and throughout their journey, and their engagement has led to improved quality of life and ability to manage their or their loved one’s disease
Support and education programs meet the unique needs of all IBD patients, respecting every aspect of their identities, such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, and cultural preferences

Guiding Principles

The following overarching concepts are woven throughout our objectives and strategies, providing a strong foundation for all that we do:

Put Patients First: We involve a diverse group of patients in all aspects of our work, including those historically underrepresented, to ensure all voices are heard and our programs and initiatives are inclusive of all IBD patient experiences. We value diversity and actively engage each community we serve—patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, researchers, and others.
Unleash Our Potential: We are intentional about building momentum and accelerating our activities by raising awareness, engaging constituents, increasing donations, and investing more in our mission.
Make Data-Powered Decisions: We utilize data from our programs to consistently refine our approach, and drive increased effectiveness and results.
Drive Impact and Transparency: We track key metrics and critical milestones for each of our initiatives, clearly assessing, demonstrating, and communicating the progress and accomplishments of our mission activities to the IBD community.
Activate Partnerships: We are central to the IBD community, thanks to our trusted relationships with patients, donors, volunteers, healthcare professionals, researchers, and partners. We are actively growing our volunteer base and building collaborations with outside partners to involve them more deeply in our work.

Core Objectives

Foster Groundbreaking Innovations Towards Cures

Support new and innovative tools, technologies, and research to enhance patient quality of life, aiming to propel breakthroughs that will accelerate cures for IBD patients.

Strategies

Leverage new technologies, including artificial intelligence, to enhance and expedite research efforts and optimize education and emotional support programs.
Focus investments in emerging, and understudied, topics in IBD, such as dietary triggers, stress, chronic pain, and fibrosis.
Identify and support life science companies through our venture philanthropy initiative (IBD Ventures) to expedite new therapies, devices, and diagnostics for established disease.
Enhance representation of diverse patient populations in IBD Plexus® to provide more robust data for research.
Convene external partners to co-develop new methods for designing clinical trials, enrolling participants, and getting products approved.
Evolve the Foundation’s research awards program to create new mechanisms to accelerate progress and address unmet needs in IBD research.

Accelerate Understanding of IBD Prevention and Progression

While actively pursuing cures, advance emerging research on how to prevent IBD and help patients today attain a flare-free life.

Strategies

Push research field to achieve breakthroughs in the newly evolving science of disease prevention, based on identified key gaps in Challenges in IBD.
Advance and accelerate drug discovery, treatment strategies, and monitoring techniques to ultimately stop progression of disease symptoms and complications.
Inform patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals on the latest evidence for key risk factors for disease progression and approaches to alleviate symptoms to improve patient health.
Advocate to regulators, legislators, and insurers for better access to earlier diagnosis and disease-modifying treatments and interventions.

Enable Access to Patient Care

Identify obstacles in care and access to preferred treatment, and strengthen research, education, and advocacy efforts to remove these obstacles and empower the IBD community to take action.

Strategies

Support research to match the right treatment at the right time for every patient (i.e., precision medicine).
Utilize IBD Plexus® data to inform when expediting treatment access for patients is most critical.
Initiate quality improvement efforts that advance the standard of care across the country and provide data to support advocacy for better access through insurance providers and the government.
Expand Foundation-led advocacy efforts at the community, state, and federal levels to reduce patient barriers, such as financial constraints and insurance delays.
Identify and tackle regulatory and policy barriers impacting access to care, such as patent reform and utilization management.

Serve as the Principal IBD Resource

Strive to always be an early and primary destination for the IBD community for trusted and comprehensive education, compassionate support, and cutting-edge research data and insights.

Strategies

Improve the accessibility of the Foundation’s education and support resources to broaden availability of credible information, thereby reducing misinformation.
Leverage learnings from Foundation pilot mission programs to scale and expand the Foundation’s activities to broader audiences.
Foster conversation and activate participation in clinical trials among patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals, emphasizing historically underrepresented communities.
Increase the utilization of data and samples from the Foundation’s patient registries (IBD Plexus®) among researchers to accelerate the discovery of new treatments and cures.

Supporting Objectives

Amplify Awareness of IBD and the Foundation

Increase awareness and understanding of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis and the Foundation’s broad range of offerings, aiming to reduce stigma and increase engagement.

Strategies

Communicate more openly and boldly about symptoms, early diagnosis, and living with IBD.
Promote the research and resources offered by the Foundation that can benefit patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, and researchers.
Increase understanding of IBD in the medical and research community to spark focus in IBD.

Expand Our Reach

Grow the total number of people connected with the Foundation community to drive greater volunteerism, support, and engagement among patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals.

Strategies

Increase engagement with the Foundation’s mission programs among patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, and researchers to help improve care and quality of life.
Create a formal referral program to encourage healthcare professionals to direct their patients and caregivers to the Foundation for support and resources.
Design and promote structured volunteer engagement programs that offer meaningful opportunities for people to contribute their time, skills, and expertise to the organization's mission.
Develop a detailed outreach plan to attract more donors and fundraisers, ensuring diverse and lasting support.

Deepen Supporter Engagement

Enrich our existing volunteer and donor experiences, inspiring greater participation in and support of our fundraising and mission-related programs.

Strategies

Optimize data analytics to understand what is important to volunteers and donors, how well we are meeting their needs, and how to foster deeper engagement.
Apply data insights to personalize content according to supporters’ interests.
Develop a plan to recognize supporters with acknowledgments, events, and ongoing efforts to build lasting relationships.

Drive New Revenue by Maximizing our Unique Assets

Leverage the Foundation’s unique assets, such as intellectual property, databases, mission programs, and expertise, to enhance and create new revenue opportunities that can fund or expand mission-related initiatives.

Strategies

Take inventory of all the Foundation’s current assets and identify opportunities for developing new assets.
Evaluate the value, current use, and potential of our assets to find opportunities to drive additional support for mission programs.
Develop detailed plans to leverage key assets to create new revenue sources.

Grow High-Revenue Opportunities

Build on successful revenue sources that have strong potential for future growth to drive support for Foundation mission efforts.

Strategies

Perform return-on-investment analyses of our fundraising efforts to assess their effectiveness and impact, ensuring resources are used strategically and value is maximized.
Support the growth of prioritized revenue sources with skilled staff, enhanced processes, best practices, and trainings.
Forge strategic collaborations with nonprofit organizations, businesses, healthcare professionals, and community groups to generate new revenue and accelerate progress toward our shared vision.

Activate a Thriving Foundation Staff Team

Attract and cultivate a diverse group of dedicated employees who are innovative, patient-focused, and committed to advancing the Foundation’s mission.

Strategies

Hire talented, purpose-driven individuals who can offer unique experiences to elevate our work and relate to the lived experiences of our patient and caregiver community.
Enhance our learning and development infrastructure and performance management approach to develop and reward strategic, enterprise-wide thinking.
Expand employee growth opportunities by implementing updated career development initiatives.
Retain highly skilled employees by building trust, acknowledging achievements, providing effective workplace tools, and offering advancement opportunities.

Reporting Progress

We believe that assessing, demonstrating, and communicating the progress of our strategic plan to the IBD community is vital. As such, we plan to report semi-annually on several key metrics that span our core and supporting objectives over the coming 4-year plan. These will include established metrics related to:

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