Underlying the strategic plan was a thorough assessment of the evolving global health environment, lessons learned from the Council’s work and the internal capacities and functions of the Council. This assessment, based on interviews with key informants and an environmental scan, informed the Council’s decisions on overall directions and about how to most effectively achieve our Five Year Plan. The findings from the assessment revolve around four issues: policy advocacy, improving practice, the global nature of the Council’s work, and strengthening key organizational systems. In each of these areas, we were told that our key role is as convener, facilitator, synthesizer, and mobilizer with and on behalf of our members and partners. The Council’s strengths (listed in order of frequency): ability to convene diverse groups of people and organizations interested in global health (overwhelming majority mentioned this); advocacy—the Council has become a respected and credible voice and resource to policy makers in Washington, DC; successful efforts to raise visibility of global health; membership base; Nils Daulaire’s leadership; legislative updates and briefings; educating policy makers; information sharing; exceptional staff and Board. How the Council adds value in global health Respondents primarily saw the Council’s value to the field in its ability to convene diverse groups of people and get groups working together (e.g., Global AIDS Roundtable, Malaria Roundtable, establishment of the US Coalition for Child Survival, International AIDS Candlelight Memorial Program, roundtables). Members greatly value the legislative updates and would like to see them disseminated more regularly. Several respondents value the policy briefings on the Hill with their focus on global health (not a specific disease, or a broader agenda of foreign assistance, etc.) and the fact that the Council can advocate on behalf of members and the field in ways that many of its individual members cannot or choose not to do.