Your Nonprofit Organization Needs A Strategic Plan
I set out to write a list of reasons why a nonprofit organization should have a strategic plan, and compare it with a list of reasons why they shouldn’t have a strategic plan. Guess what? The second category had no content - and the list for the first category is almost endless. So, instead, I’ll just provide some highlights.
To start with though, let’s define the term “Strategic Plan” and address some frequently asked questions. Harvard Business School defines strategic planning as “the ongoing organizational process of using available knowledge to document a business’s intended process. This process is used to prioritize efforts, effectively allocate resources, align shareholders and employees on the organization’s goals, and ensure those goals are backed by data and sound reasoning.” That’s it! Prioritizing and aligning, for better performance.
Some of the most frequently asked questions we receive about the strategic planning process are captured below:
Q: How are the goals determined? A: Most importantly, by using data. Research studies, evaluation data, focus groups, and community surveys, are important sources of information that should be used to identify current needs in the community. Community needs change over time, sometimes rapidly, which is why planning should be a frequent activity. This is why we begin strategic planning projects for clients with a thorough discovery phase. In a strategic planning process, Board and Staff are responsible for using data as part of their goal identification process.
Q: Who makes the decisions? A: Ultimately, it is the Board’s responsibility to set the strategic direction of the organization, but it is invariably the staff who have the most expertise and knowledge about the organization. This is why we engage both groups in the planning process, sometimes together, and in other phases of the work, individually.
Q: How long does it take? A: This depends on many factors, including the size of the organization, budget, the current state of the organization, and the availability of the board and staff to participate in the process. That being said, most processes take between 3 - 6 months. We discourage ‘strategic planning in a day’ simply because there are so many factors to consider and reflect on. Time allows that to happen.
So, onto the list. The top five reasons a nonprofit organization needs a strategic plan are:
To focus the resources of the organization on current and emerging community needs
To identify Core Organizational Values that define the nonprofit’s approach to human interactions
To strengthen teamwork, with the Board and staff working on their respective goals and responsibilities to achieve a common vision
To strengthen the evaluation progress and measure success
To strengthen fundraising
To create a blueprint or roadmap for guiding the direction of the organization
A good starting point for an organization that is considering engaging in a strategic planning process is to conduct an organizational assessment. This is a surprisingly time-efficient process, which yields very useful information about what is going well and where there are opportunities for growth.
Please feel free to book a no-cost consultation session with us to find out more. We’d be pleased to share an organizational assessment tool with you that we believe you will find to be very helpful.
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