Many nonprofits engage in Strategic Planning reluctantly, and may see it as an unnecessary distraction from the day-to-day activities and decisions of running the organization.
However, done correctly, Strategic Planning is a great opportunity to take the organization to the next level. Nonprofit leaders can use this process to drive big change and answer some of the big questions stakeholders have been talking about for a long time.
Here are a few useful tips to use your Strategic Planning process to drive change and improve impact:
1. Focus the whole Strategic Planning Process on Change
Right from the beginning of the process, orient your teams to think about growth and how things could be improved. Use language that challenges them with big questions:
How could you double your impact?
What that does that mean: Serving more beneficiaries or serving existing ones better?
Should you launch new programs or expand into new areas?
How could your better align your programs with the changing needs of the communities you serve?
If your nonprofit is in a precarious financial situation, the stretch goal might be to stabilize finances and achieve modest growth
"Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will not themselves be realized." Daniel Burnham, Architect & Urban Designer for Chicago and other cities
Most nonprofits have no shortage of options for growth. Employees, Board Directors, financial sponsors, and partners have probably been discussing what could be done differently for years. Use the Strategic Planning process to answer some of these big questions and make big decisions.
A good Strategic Planning process must: 1. Surface competing decision alternatives using exploratory research, e.g., interviews, focus groups, surveys, etc., and, 2. Determine which options are the best alternatives by analyzing decision factors such as alignment with mission, scale of need and impact, associated costs, funding sources, internal and external capabilities, etc. Focus Strategy Advisors specializes in running structured projects to help nonprofits build alignment around the answers to these types of questions
Take the time to update your mission, goals, theory of change, and key metrics accordingly.
2. Focus on Defining the Future State: What do you want to be next?
After answering the big questions in general terms, it's time to get specific and quantitative: design the future of the organization.
Start with the target impact metrics and work out from there:
What programs are needed to achieve those metrics and at what scale?
Inevitably, some existing programs will be scaled and others will be trimmed. Some might be added or sunset.
What is required to deliver those programs at scale?
How many people, in which roles?
What new and/or enhanced tools and systems are needed?
Partnerships?
How will the organization be funded? With greater scale, new funding models may be required
Similar to your Program organization, you'll need to scale-up your Development organization:
How must the fundraising strategy and emphasis change?
How many people, in which roles?
What new and/or enhanced tools and systems are needed?
What additional skills are needed from your Board of Directors? e.g., greater fundraising capacity, subject matter expertise, connections and affiliations, etc.
Scaling an organization inherently means disrupting the existing balance Spend time rebalancing, iterating, and validating the future state. In all engagements, Focus Strategy Advisors conducts extensive operational and financial modeling within different scenarios to ensure sustainable decisions are made.
The end result of this exercise will be your target operating model.
3. Focus the Strategic Plan on the set of projects to get to the future state
Without a plan, nothing gets done. The crux of a good Strategic Plan is a set of initiatives that will get the organization from its current to future state.
First, identify the capability gaps that need to be closed to get to the future state: people, processes, tools, systems, partnerships, mergers, etc.
Then develop discrete projects to close these gaps for each part of the organization: program, development, administration, etc. Balance the pace of hiring and investment with the scaling of fundraising capacity. These projects should have specific objectives, owners, contributors, milestones, and target completion dates.
Finally, when communicating the Strategic Plan to stakeholders, focus on the future state and how the organization will get there. Be ready to defend the rationale of why some directions were chosen over others, but internal team members should be able to clearly see their place as change leaders.
"Executing a Strategic Plan" is really program managing these initiatives Develop a structure and cadence of managing each project. Stay focused on the metrics, to verify that the changes are driving the intended impact. Lastly, be ready to pivot as the situation changes - but make these decisions in a structured way. Focus Strategy Advisors can provide Strategic Plan implementation program management, to make sure your nonprofit realizes your vision to get to the next level
By focusing on change from Day 1, intentionally designing a high-impact future state, and building a plan to get there, nonprofits can leverage their Strategic Planning process to drive change and take the whole organization to the next level.
To learn more about how you can drive growth within your nonprofit, contact Focus Strategy Advisors at info@FocusStrategyAdvisors.com
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