When You're The Leader Of An Organization, You're Pulled In A Million Directions
We help you maximize your impact by helping you leverage your time, staff, board, volunteers so that you achieve your mission.
What Is Strategic Planning?
A strategic plan is a set of actions that are laid out to advance the mission of an organization.
This is different than an operational plan because it doesn't drill down into all the details of how things actually get done. A strategic plan looks at the direction and goals of your organization, including how they will be accomplished.
Additionally, the plan also includes markers for measuring success.
An effective strategic plan will typically take three to five years to accomplish.
What Are The Benefits Of Strategic Planning?
While taking the time to work through a strategic plan takes both time and resources, the process has a number of benefits to your organization.
1. Vision
People need a vision they can work towards. A plan creates a vision that is clearly defined.
Because everyone knows where the organization is going, people can get excited and make sacrifices toward a preferred future.
2. Unity
The staff can rally around a common cause, creating unity on your team.
3. Budgeting
Because you have determined what is most important. You can now distribute your resources more effectively. Waste is limited because all funds go toward moving the mission forward.
4. Take Inventory Of Who You Are
Strategic planning identifies core capabilities the organization needs to build in order to strengthen its resilience in a changing environment.
5. Fundraising
With a plan, you can create a clear fundraising document that donors will appreciate. You can highlight all your needs and opportunities for people to give.
Why Strategic Planning Is So Critical For Your Organization
Many decision-makers and other leaders can put off strategic planning because they fear it will take up too much time, create conflict or resort to just another binder on the shelf that collects dust.
An effective strategic plan for a nonprofit need not take an enormous amount of time. In fact, we think it shouldn't take more than six months from beginning to end.
It shouldn't result in conflict but unity. Yes, there may be some tough conversations that need to happen along the way - we think those conversations need to happen anyway. By putting them off, it is not helping you but hurting the health of your team.
Your team will be aligned and clear on what is expected to get where you know you need to go. When implemented properly, the document will not just sit on a shelf but will be used to help guide decisions, meetings and annual reviews.
