By Courtney Kennedy
Nonprofit organizations require strategic plans to make sure that they reach the goals they have set.
According to Richard Mittenthal's article Ten keys to successful strategic planning for nonprofit and foundation leaders, there are 10 steps to strategic planning for nonprofit organizations. Knowing how to plan for a nonprofit organization will have a large impact on the outcome of the organization and how it affects the lives of those it is helping. Following is a summary of Mittenthal's recommendations.
1. Understand your external opportunities and challenges
Since the world keeps growing with new inventions, organizations have to learn to embrace this fact and work with it. There is no way to stop the changes that are happening, so organizations have to work with them and lean on others to deal with the changes.
2. Know the organization's strengths and weaknesses
Every organization has things that help them become great and other things that make them back down. Knowing the positive and negative sides helps the organization improve where they are lacking strengths but focus on what is keeping them going.
3. Have an across-the-board advance
Views from all of the leaders can be incorporated into one mission. Every leader has their own ideas and beliefs. Taking from each leader will give the organization the wide diversity that it needs. If every leader gives something to the organization, then it will be able to reach every type of person that comes into contact with them.
4. Have a planning committee ready to work and focus
The leaders who are on the committee have to have the proper min set before they even start working for the organization. It takes every team member for the organization to reach its full potential. If a team member is not ready for what is in store and refuses to pick up their slack, then the committee is not going to be able to be as successful as they hoped.
5. Have veteran leaders work hand in hand with new leaders
Those who have been with the organization are key components to organization committee. If the older leaders have been through the thick and thin, they are able to help the new leaders not go through it again.
6. Expect every member of the team to give the same level of input
Every leader has to pick up their slack when working as a team. That is why committees are not just one person, but rather a group of people. Every member has something to give to them organization and they have to put forth the effort to make it the best that it can be.
7. Set a mission for the individual organization, drawing from the past
Looking into the past is one of the best ways to make sure that mistakes are not repeated. If the new leaders do not look at what happened in the past, they are likely to repeat past mistakes. If the committee knows what the organization has already gone through they can change the way things are planned and prevent future mistakes.
8. Decide what the priorities of the organization are and how to implement them
Every organization has a list of priorities that they want to make sure and check off. If the committee determines which priorities are the most important, they can tackle the list and make sure that everything will be given the attention that it requires determined by the priority list.
9. Have patience
Change takes time for the organization itself and the leaders to get used to. No one likes change and you cannot get used to it in a matter of days. Change takes a lot of time, so patience is critical when making a new mission. Organizations do not become great within the first week that it was established, they take months if not years to become great!
10. Build leader commitment to the new plan
If some of leaders are not willing to put forth the effort that the organization requires, then it will go nowhere. Leaders have to dedicate themselves and their lives to the purpose of the organization. If all of the leaders are dedicated, follow the mission statement and give the organization their all, then the nonprofit organization is going to impact the lives of many people!
Strategic planning is critical when establishing a new nonprofit organization or when changing the purpose of an older one. Having the change in order will help make the transition easier for the organization and for all involved. Change starts with the first step and the dedication of the workers.
Here are a few links that go into further detail about strategic planning:
http://docushare.usc.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-8775/
http://managementhelp.org/strategicplanning/index.htm
http://www.tccgrp.com/pdfs/per_brief_tenkeys.pdf4
http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/tsn/tsn.jhtml?id=60800001
Hi Courtney,
ReplyDeleteGood use of the 10 steps. I especially like the emphasis on patience. It seems to me that this is one of the best qualities one can have to be successful in this world.
Holly,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your response! I completely agree that patience is a wonderful quality to have! So many people do not have patience anymore, but it is needed especially in the work place.
Hello Courtney, I really enjoyed reading your blog. What really piqued my interest was step 3, entitled. "Have an across-the-board advance". I agree with you, that many leaders have different ideas but they can all coalesce under one mission. I think that it is important that nonprofits move as a cohesive unit in regard to moving forward with the mission. In addition, thank you for the further reading links on strategic planning, I found the article titled, Strategic Planning: Five Steps to a More Secure Future by Carl Richardson very informative.
ReplyDeleteDamon,
DeleteI think sometimes having a wide variety of board members might make it a little harder to decide on an answer for decisions that have to be made, but it also helps. You need the variety of ideas to come up with something that will benefit the organization the best. That might not always be your idea, but if your heart is dedicated to the organization you will be ok with it.
Great post, Courtney!
ReplyDeleteThese list of recommendations for strategic planning is helpful. Which item do you think would pose the greatest challenge to most non-profits? How can non-profits prepare for these activities?
Jessica,
DeleteI think having patience could be very difficult. We live in such a fast paced world, that we do not like to wait for anything. We expect it right after we asking for it. When dealing with non-profit organizations the results will not happen over night. They might take days, weeks, months, even years to get to where the board wants them to be. You cannot get discouraged if they do not happen immediately. We lose motivation when things do not go our way, so patience will have to be used when waiting on results.