Strategic Planning
A well-conceived strategic plan is a map and a guide, channelling everything you do toward your desired destination.
"Without a strategic plan the fundraising plan becomes the driving vision of the organization, which means that over time an organization is driven by where it can get money rather than by what it should be doing. There are a number of these groups in the nonprofit community -- taking up space, soaking up resources, producing little that is significant. They have grown old without maturing, and have confused existing with accomplishing."
—Kim Klein, Fundraising for the Long Haul
We work with you to create a dynamic, effective, user-friendly plan or update your existing plan. A typical planning process includes four stages, each producing essential tools to guide the work of your organization.
I. The Lay of the Land - In this stage we are detectives, researchers, explorers, autobiographers, and discoverers of treasure. We spread our findings out on the table and ask, “What is this telling us?”
COMPONENTS
- Organizational history
- Analysis of organizational performance and internal dynamics
- Assessment of the external environment: trends, constraints, opportunities
- Assessment of constituent needs
II. Your Internal Compass – The next stage focuses on your organization’s mission, vision and guiding principles.
COMPONENTS
- Review of mission statement – Our purpose; why we exist
- Review of vision statement – If your organization were to fulfill its ultimate dream, what would the world look like?
- Articulation of guiding principles – i.e. core values and beliefs about how work is to be done; a code of conduct for how people within your organization interact with colleagues and clients
Kit and Leslie, members of Lane
County WAND, share their vision.
III. A Framework for Action – The third stage invites us to think specifically about what your organization will do (goals) and how you will do it (objectives) in order to fulfill your mission.
COMPONENTS
- Establishment of strategies, goals, and objectives
- Development of detailed action plans
IV. Evaluation – The final stage is ongoing. A strategic plan is a living document capable of adapting to changing circumstances.
COMPONENTS
- Development of monitoring and measuring procedures and tools
- Incorporation of the goals and objectives into annual action plans and budgets
- Quarterly evaluation of the plan
- Informal check-ins at board, staff and committee meetings
- Review of progress as part of staff and board evaluations
- Annual revisions and updates
Get started now with a strategic plan for your non-profit organization.