I have been working on some research recently to gather quantitative data on the preparedness of nonprofit organizations. Stay tuned for the comprehensive report, but in the meantime, I wanted to share some early observations. I have been shocked at how many nonprofit organizations do NOT have a current strategic plan in place. More surprisingly, a majority of these same organizations have NEVER had a strategic plan!
Strategic planning is an important part of running a successful business-- and make no mistake, a nonprofit is a business. Strategic planning allows organizations to identify their strengths and weaknesses, set goals, and come up with effective strategies to achieve those goals. Think of a strategic plan as a 'blueprint' or 'roadmap' for your organization. I'm still working on understanding why so many nonprofit organizations are reluctant to undertake this critical operation, but I suspect it has to do with a fear of not knowing how to begin or where to start. In this article, we’ll take a look at the basics of strategic planning for nonprofits and discuss how stakeholder feedback and a SWOT analysis can help you develop an effective strategy.
Step 1: Stakeholder Feedback
There are two main stakeholder groups for any nonprofit organization: its donors, and its benefactors. Sometimes, these two groups overlap. The sustainability and financial health of your organization relies heavily on individuals and businesses in order to carry out your mission. It is therefore essential for your organization to gather stakeholder feedback consistently in order to assess the relevenacy of your mission, improve donor relations, and increase the likelihood of future donations. This is precisely why gathering stakeholder feedback is the first, and arguably, most important step in the strategic planning process.
Step 2: SWOT Analysis
The next step in the strategic planning process for your nonprofit is to conduct a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is an acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. It’s used to gain insight into the current situation and identify potential areas of improvement. Once you have identified the strengths and weaknesses within your organization, you can use them as the foundation for developing your strategy.
When conducting a SWOT analysis, it’s important to remember that there are two main types of factors that should be considered: internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) and external factors (opportunities and threats). Internal factors are things that you have direct control over such as organizational structure or personnel; while external factors are things like competition or economic conditions that you don’t have direct control over but must still consider when making decisions.
Step 3: Developing a Long-Term Goals
Once you’ve gathered stakeholder feedback, and identified your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats through your SWOT analysis, you can begin to develop your strategic plan. This involves setting long-term goals for your organization based on the information gathered your stakeholders and the SWOT analysis. The final step is coming up with strategies for how to reach those goals. For example, if one of your strengths is having strong relationships with local businesses in your area then one of your strategies may be to leverage those relationships in order to generate more donations from corporate sponsorships or fundraising events.
Step 4: Measuring your Progress
Congratulations! You have created a strategic plan. Now what? Identifying your goals is only the beginning. The hard part comes in holding your organization accountable to those goals. Nonprofits can hold themselves accountable to their strategic plan by regularly measuring their progress against the goals they set. This can be done through a variety of methods, such as surveys, interviews, or focus groups with stakeholders. Additionally, financial reports and performance audits can also help assess how well an organization is performing relative to its objectives. By tracking progress in this way, nonprofits can course correct when necessary and make sure they are on track to achieve their desired outcomes.
No matter what type of nonprofit organization you run or what sector it operates in, strategic planning is key to success. By taking time to set long-term goals and developing strategies on how best to reach those goals will help ensure that all stakeholders involved are on board with the vision set forth by the organization's leadership team. Ultimately this will result in stronger partnerships with existing stakeholders while generating more enthusiasm among new ones which will ultimately lead to greater success for everyone involved!
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