PLANNING & STRATEGY
Combined we have assisted over 200 nonprofits with some form of planning including Strategic Plans, Business Plans, Sustainability Plans or Operational/Action Plans. We have also helped to create Board Development, Leadership Development and Succession Plans for many different sizes and types of organizations.
All of the plans we create share a common approach in that they involve some type of up-front assessment that gathers data and perspectives from many different stakeholders. We work with our nonprofit clients to ensure that all plans we produce are realistic, prioritized and measurable. Our planning philosophy, process, and the tools we use are based on years of experience working with nonprofits and as organizational leaders. Although every organization has unique objectives in planning, our approach can be successfully adapted to your organization’s needs and current situation.
We strongly believe these are the key principles to effective planning and what differentiates us from other firms:
All of the plans we create share a common approach in that they involve some type of up-front assessment that gathers data and perspectives from many different stakeholders. We work with our nonprofit clients to ensure that all plans we produce are realistic, prioritized and measurable. Our planning philosophy, process, and the tools we use are based on years of experience working with nonprofits and as organizational leaders. Although every organization has unique objectives in planning, our approach can be successfully adapted to your organization’s needs and current situation.
We strongly believe these are the key principles to effective planning and what differentiates us from other firms:
A STAKEHOLDER-CENTERED APPROACH IMPROVES EXECUTION OF THE PLAN
One of the reasons that many plans are shelved shortly after creation is that certain groups of stakeholders (i.e. board, staff, funders, clients, partners) have not bought into the goals and objectives that were established. Buy-in vastly increases effective execution of the plan. A keystone activity of our approach is to give a voice to as stakeholders as possible during the diagnostic and fact-gathering phase.
PLANNING SHOULD PROVIDE AN EDUCATIONAL PROCESS & USEFUL PRODUCT
The point of a planning effort is not simply delivering a carefully crafted document to pull from the shelf from time to time. The final deliverable should be the byproduct of a rigorous thinking process that also educates board and staff about the organization’s big picture, mission, programs, and current reality. An effective plan is a living document that is constantly being adapted to a changing environment. We help clients assume ownership of a process for continued strategic thinking and action after a front-end planning effort is completed. Moreover, we believe that the end documents produced (organizational snapshot, strategic plan and action plans) should be simple and graphical in nature so that they serve as a ready and constant reference for Board and Staff.
OUR ORGANIZATIONAL DATA SNAPSHOT IS A VISUALIZATION OF YOUR MOST IMPORTANT DATA
This infographic presentation is a comprehensive and visually striking overview of the organization’s current realities, historical trends, business model and key metrics (financial, programmatic staffing, consumer demographics, etc.). We work with staff to create this overview which is presented by the CEO at the beginning of the planning retreat. Combined with the Report of Findings from the stakeholder feedback and research, the Organization Data Snapshot ensures a shared understanding of the organization’s realities and opportunities, and level sets the group to make decisions about the strategic priorities
REALISTIC, MEASURABLE & PRIORITIZED GOALS
Planning ultimately comes down to an organization’s ability to execute goals to have the desired impact on mission and vision. Research has consistently shown that fewer goals done well have far more impact than many goals done in a mediocre way. We employ a disciplined and fact-based approach in sorting through and prioritizing ideas and options. As consultants, we constantly seek to pose provocative questions, facilitate candid discussion/debate, and force a rigorous look at the facts discovered during the diagnostic phase. To help the organization’s leaders assure the execution of the plan we also challenge the number of and/or the realistic chances of reaching the goals set.
OUR PLANNING PROCESS & DELIVERABLES
Check out our article on HOW TO CREATE AN EXECUTABLE NONPROFIT STRATEGIC PLAN