Who owns each relationship?
When responsibility is informal, the work can depend on who happens to know whom.
FRACTIONAL PARTNERSHIPS OFFICE · K–12 DISTRICTS
A partnerships office.
Without building one
from scratch.
The strategy, systems and implementation capacity to connect school needs, community resources and measurable decisions.
Built around your district. Designed for district ownership.
STRATEGY INTO EVERYDAY PRACTICE
Visible portfolios / Clear ownership / Needs-led resources / Measurable decisions
A FAMILIAR LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE
Good relationships.
An incomplete picture.
Partnerships can be active across a district while the answers leadership needs remain scattered.
Which needs remain unmet?
A long partner list does not show whether support reaches the schools that need it.
What should we do next?
Activity counts alone cannot guide decisions about what to renew, improve or expand.
THE PARTNERSHIP HEALTH CHECK
A clearer picture.
A useful next move.
See the practices behind your partnership portfolio—from visibility and ownership to coverage and impact.
- Eight dimensions of partnership practice
- Clear next steps, with uncertainty kept visible
- A starting point for leadership discussion
Your results come first
Take the Health Check 24 questions · no contact details needed to see results.The sample uses illustrative data. Take the 24-question Health Check to receive your own profile and three starting priorities, before any optional contact request.
PARTNERSHIP HEALTHILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE
50 / 100
Developing
24 of 24practice ratings provided
Some foundations are in place. Visibility, infrastructure and measurement are starting points to investigate.
01 / A PRACTICAL FIRST STEPBring the portfolio into one view.
Self-reported practices are not a validated district rating. Missing information must never become a failing score.Start with a current list of partners, owners, schools served and commitments. Validate it with school leads.
Explore the Clarity MapYOUR FRACTIONAL PARTNERSHIPS OFFICE
More capacity.
A system you can own.
Stratus helps establish or strengthen the partnership function, working with your team to turn strategy into usable infrastructure.
See the whole portfolio.
A shared view of partners, schools served, commitments and relationship owners.
Partnership portfolio
Connect resources to need.
A school-needs framework to guide partner fit, recruitment and resource coverage.
Needs & coverage map
Make ownership clear.
Decision rights, agreement processes and repeatable workflows that people can follow.
Governance & playbooks
Turn evidence into decisions.
A reporting cadence that helps leaders renew, improve and prioritize partnerships.
Executive scorecard
Your district stays in charge.
Explore school district partnership consulting You retain strategic decisions and approval authority. Responsibilities, deliverables and support are defined together.
A CLEAR WAY FORWARD
Start with the decision.
Build the right capability.
Find the right
starting point.
A focused four-week executive diagnostic: capacity, needs, workflows, risks and the operating model required to move forward.
Decision brief + 90-day plan$5,000 fixed fee
Full credit toward the pilot when signed within 60 days.Put the system
to work.
A scoped six-month pilot connects governance, portfolio management, workflows, partner matching and executive reviews.
Working infrastructure + launchView published pilot scope
- Up to 20 schools: $30,000
- 21–50 schools: $40,000
- 51–100 schools: $50,000
- 101–175 schools: $60,000
Assess in months 1–2; build in months 2–4; launch and transition in months 4–6.
Strengthen what
comes next.
Equip district staff with playbooks and an intentional handoff, or scope continued fractional support as needs evolve.
District capability + continuityOngoing support is scoped separately.PRIOR DISTRICT OPERATING EXPERIENCE
Built from inside
complex district systems.
Before founding this Stratus offer, Damon Willis designed and implemented partnership workflows, needs-assessment tools, CRM infrastructure, governance processes and reporting systems in an executive role within one of the nation’s 20 largest school districts.
This is prior district leadership experience, not a Stratus client engagement.
TOOLS & RESOURCES
Something useful.
Before we ever meet.
SEE
Partnership Portfolio Clarity Map
Find the gaps in visibility, ownership and evidence.
20–30 MIN · OPEN FRAMEWORK PREVIEWPLAN
90-Day Partnership Action Planner
Turn one verified priority into owned actions and review dates.
45–60 MIN · OPEN FRAMEWORK PREVIEWMEASURE
Partnership ROI & Impact Calculator
Build an auditable value story with clear attribution limits.
30–60 MIN · OPEN FRAMEWORK PREVIEWFramework previews are open. Downloadable resources use the existing name-and-email access flow; worksheet entries remain in your files.
EXPERIENCE IN SERVICE OF THE DISTRICT
Led by Damon Willis.
A Broad Residency Fellow with expertise in strategic partnerships, performance systems and large-scale transformation. Stratus combines practical district experience with disciplined research to build capability districts can own.
Start a conversationA FEW DIRECT ANSWERS
Before you
take the next step.
What is a Fractional Partnerships Office?
A scoped partnership operating function for your district: strategy, governance, portfolio management, workflows and implementation support. Stratus helps establish or strengthen the function, with an intentional path to district ownership.
What if we already have a partnerships team?
The work can strengthen your existing team. The diagnostic identifies where visibility, processes or operating capacity need support, then defines a bounded scope with district leadership.
Is this a CRM implementation?
Technology supports the operating model. The work begins with school needs, ownership, decision rights and evidence; CRM requirements follow those decisions.
Who retains authority and ownership?
Your district retains strategic decisions and approval authority. The engagement builds district-owned systems, documentation and capability; specific responsibilities are agreed in the scope.
RESEARCH & INNOVATION
Can partnership records become trustworthy, decision-ready evidence?
ImpactIQ AI is a proposed research and development initiative exploring source-grounded partnership intelligence for K–12 leaders.
Explore the research programIMPACTIQ AI · R&D STAGE
Source-grounded AI.
Human-reviewed decisions.
The work focuses on evidence quality, transparent governance signals, usability, trust and reporting burden—without claiming causal student impact.
Discuss a research collaborationYOUR NEXT DECISION
What would a stronger
partnership system make possible?
Let’s explore your priorities, the capacity you have and the capability you need.
Request a strategy session A short request starts the conversation. A meeting time is agreed separately.