Too many priorities are competing.
Everything seems urgent, and the team needs help deciding what matters most right now.
Onyx Strategies Group
Clarity.
Alignment.
Momentum.
We help organizations clarify priorities, strengthen decision-making, and align stakeholders to move complex work forward.
Thoughtful strategy and practical support for organizations navigating complexity, transition, and change.
About Onyx Strategies Group
We help organizations get clear, aligned and build momentum for action.
Onyx Strategies Group helps mission-driven organizations gain clarity, alignment, and momentum around priorities, decision-making, and stakeholder relationships so they can move important work forward.
The name Onyx reflects steadiness, substance, and strength under pressure. That fits how we work: helping leaders stay grounded, make thoughtful decisions, and move through complexity with greater clarity and confidence.
OSG works with nonprofit, philanthropic, public-sector, and cross-sector leaders navigating transition, shifting priorities, partnership complexity, implementation challenges, or a general sense that important work has stalled.
Why Organizations Call Us
Your work has stalled and we help you figure out why.
Leadership bandwidth is stretched.
An important initiative needs senior-level attention, but no one has the capacity to do it.
Partners are not fully aligned.
People care about the work, but roles, decisions, expectations or lack of trust get in the way.
The plan no longer fits the moment.
Conditions have changed and you need to determine what is important now.
What We Do
Support for strategy, leadership, and collaboration.
OSG supports organizations through strategy development, executive thought partnership, fractional and interim leadership support, collaboration design, facilitation, and implementation planning.
01 Strategic Leadership & Thought Partnership Trusted counsel when the path forward is not yet clear.
For leaders navigating complexity, internal dynamics, external pressure, new opportunities, or consequential decisions, OSG helps clarify the real challenge, test assumptions, surface risks, identify opportunities, and determine practical next steps through:
- Executive thought partnership and confidential counsel
- Scenario-based thinking and decision support
- Stakeholder and organizational-readiness assessment
- Board and senior-team preparation
02 Fractional & Interim Executive Support Experienced leadership capacity for a defined period of time.
For organizations navigating leadership transition, funding uncertainty, organizational change, partnership complexity, or implementation challenges. OSG can help with:
- Fractional strategy, impact, or partnership leadership
- Strategic implementation oversight
- Program, partnership, or coalition stabilization
- Special-initiative and transition leadership
03 Strategy Development & Implementation Capacity-aware strategy built for real-world conditions.
OSG helps organizations move from broad ideas to clear goals, priorities, decision criteria, implementation roadmaps, and action. Where appropriate, OSG partners with StratSimple to support stakeholder input, implementation tracking, and ongoing plan management. We do:
- Strategic planning and strategic recalibration
- Landscape scans and stakeholder engagement
- Board and staff planning sessions
- Implementation roadmaps and action tracking
04 Partnerships, Alliances & Communities of Practice Structure and alignment for work that spans organizations.
OSG helps organizations design, strengthen, and support collaborative efforts that need shared purpose, clear roles, practical decision-making, trust, and adaptability. We offer:
- Partnership and coalition readiness
- Shared purpose, roles, expectations, and governance
- Cross-sector stakeholder engagement
- Learning communities, convenings, and collaborative workplans
05 Facilitation & Strategic Convenings Meetings designed to move from discussion to decision.
OSG designs and facilitates strategic conversations, retreats, coalition meetings, stakeholder convenings, and planning sessions that strengthen alignment and produce clear next steps. This includes:
- Executive and board retreats
- Strategic planning sessions
- Coalition and partnership meetings
- Decision-making and action-planning sessions
Clients
Onyx Strategies Group Clients
Public Lands Alliance
Windward Fund
Joshua Tree National Park Association
Rock Creek Conservancy
Gettysburg Foundation
Justice Outside
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Friends of Anacostia Park
Potrero Group
Conservation Legacy
National Parks Conservation Association
Historic Pullman Foundation
Institute for Sustainable Communities
The Nature Conservancy
What Clients Say
Trusted for thoughtful strategy, clear guidance, and work that moves organizations forward.
Strategic Planning
“Very high quality”
Wayne praised OSG’s ability to navigate a complex environment with multiple client inputs and recommended the firm for strategic planning and thought partnership.
Wayne Motts
Gettysburg Foundation
Strategic Planning
“Structured and adaptable”
Robert highlighted OSG’s understanding of the organization’s mission, challenges, and opportunities, along with a planning framework tailored to its needs.
Robert Montgomery
Historic Pullman Foundation
Strategic Planning
“High quality work quickly”
Andrea credited OSG with developing a flexible strategic planning tool designed for the realities of the conservation sector rather than an off-the-shelf solution.
Andrea Keller Helsel
Windward Fund’s Conservation Capacity Project
Partnerships & Alliances
“Grateful for their partnership”
Alan described OSG’s counsel as helping NPCA see the potential of an alliance of civil rights preservationists and think differently about its design.
Alan Spears
National Parks Conservation Association
Collaboration
“Moving forward”
Holly said OSG helped make sense of competing organizational priorities and perspectives and supported productive strategic discussion across NASEM stakeholders.
Holly Rhodes
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Thought Partnership
“Fresh perspectives”
Jeanne pointed to Chrystal’s ability to spot emerging trends and offer practical ideas and examples when assessing a new alliance and its potential impact.
Jeanne Braha
Rock Creek Conservancy
Thought Partnership
“Great thought partner”
AnnMarie highlighted Chrystal’s clear communication, follow-through, and collaborative approach.
AnnMarie Tinsler
The Nature Conservancy
Facilitation
“Facilitation was excellent”
Sonia credited OSG with bringing structure to a newly formed collaborative and helping the group clarify purpose, values, decision-making, and governance.
Sonia Joshi
Institute for Sustainable Communities
Chrystal Morris Murphy
Founder & Managing Director
About the Founder
Executive strategy, partnership leadership, and practical guidance for complex work.
Chrystal Morris Murphy is an executive strategist, partnership leader, and facilitator with more than 15 years of experience helping organizations navigate complexity, align stakeholders, strengthen execution, and move important work forward.
She founded Onyx Strategies Group after a career leading high-impact work across nonprofit and cross-sector environments. Her leadership experience includes serving as Senior Vice President of Community Partnerships at the National Park Foundation and Vice President of Engagement at America’s Promise Alliance, where she helped guide large-scale initiatives, national networks, stakeholder engagement efforts, and collaborative strategies.
Her work has included strategic planning, executive advising, coalition and alliance design, leadership support, partnership development, communities of practice, facilitation, and implementation planning. She is known for helping leaders make sense of complex situations, identify what matters most, and build the alignment needed to move from discussion to action.
Chrystal’s work is especially well suited to organizations operating in conditions of uncertainty, transition, or shared leadership, where success depends not only on a good plan, but also on clear relationships, sound judgment, and the ability to adapt.
Outside of work, Chrystal is happiest outdoors and enjoys hiking, kayaking, and fishing.
OSG Insights
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Featured Insight
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Request this article →Start a Conversation
Let’s talk about what is getting in the way.
Whether your organization is trying to reset priorities, strengthen execution, support a partnership, navigate transition, or secure temporary leadership capacity, OSG can help clarify the issues and determine a practical path forward.
Onyx Strategies Group
6710 Oxon Hill Road, Suite 210
National Harbor, MD 20745
info@onyxstrategiesgroup.com
202-681-1828