Non Profit Planning |
Non Profit Planning FoundationsGetting Started With PlanningBoard & Staff Roles
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The most frequently asked questions from non profit organizations who are seeking to build a strategic plan are: Where do they start and Who do they include in the planning process. My answer, "It depends." It depends on why you are looking into strengthening your non profit strategic plan now. What has sparked the interest in seeking advice on a strategic plan for your non profit organization? To recommend that you follow a certain model in a lock step fashion would ignore your individuality. Therefore the question you need to ask yourself is what is the most important issue your non profit organization needs to solve at this moment. Who do you need to satisfy in the next 12 months? Consider this model in the perfect world of strategic plans of non profit organizations. Essential Foundations:
Built upon the foundations:
At some point you will need to build the essential foundations. The goals, objectives or strategies reflect the efforts which will take place to fulfill these foundations during the next 12 months. Where to get started? Ask yourself where is the biggest demand and how long do you have to meet this demand. For some non profit organizations this will mean time spent on revisiting their mission and filling in their vision and values. For others it will mean building their plan for the next 12 months then building their mission, vision and values. There is no right answer. The only right answer is the one that addresses your immediate need, then builds all the components for your successful non profit organization strategic plan. Who to involve? Simply put, involve the people who are interested and will provide you valuable information. Don't worry about involving everyone. After you build the plan, then you will sell it to all of your "customers". Having them involved in building the plan is different from them being committed to the plan. Our rule of thumb is to involve as many people as you need to get good information and not so many as to muddle the planning process.
Fred Bayley is an award winning leader, speaker, author and facilitator. |