Strategic planning is critical to the future direction and survival of a nonprofit organization. As such, it is important to understand what strategic planning is and why it is so important. This article provides a definition of strategic planning and why it is important to nonprofits.
Wikipedia defines strategic planning as “the process of an organization to define its strategy or direction, and to make decisions about the allocation of its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people.” Strategic planning is the formal consideration of the future course of an organization. All strategic planning addresses at least one of three key questions:
1. The first key question is “What do we do?” This relates to the vision and mission of the organization. An organization’s vision is broad … it is the ultimate goal that the organization aspires to achieve. The organization’s mission is a statement that describes how the organization is going to fulfill its vision. For example, an organization’s vision might be to employ all people with disabilities. Your mission could be “Through the provision of vocational counseling, job search skills training, and job development and placement, to help people with disabilities obtain or retain meaningful employment.”
2. The second key question is “Who do we do it for?” The organization must be clear about who its customers are in order to develop or modify programs and services to meet their needs.
3. The third key question is “How do we excel?” This question relates to how well the organization is performing and what it could be doing better to better meet the needs of its customers. It also reminds the organization to assess its competition and develop a strategy to be the lead agency in its field.
While these three questions should always be kept in mind when developing, modifying, or removing programs and services, it is also important that they are addressed before and during the strategic planning process. The answers to these questions will help your organization determine your direction, exactly where you are, where you want to go, and how you will get there. The resulting document is called a “strategic plan.”
Strategic planning is a process that organizations must engage in on an ongoing basis, regardless of the length of the plan. Some organizations participate in tactical planning, which is essentially a one-year strategic plan. Tactical plans are developed when an organization is new or develops a new program or service that was not included in the original strategic plan. Generally, however, most strategic plans are 3-5 years. Although some plans may be longer, it is difficult to predict opportunities, threats, and trends in the field beyond three years. Whether the duration of the plan is one year or more, the important thing to consider is to develop a plan that strategically moves the organization in the right direction.
Without strategic planning and a resulting action plan, the organization will not have a clear idea of what it is doing, why it is doing it, and where it is going. If there are no established goals and objectives to address stakeholder issues / concerns, improve programs / services, or grow the organization, you may not be able to continue to meet the needs of the same people you are supposed to serve. . Additionally, the lack of a plan could compromise public trust, result in a loss of funds, or prevent the organization from seeking new funding opportunities and partnerships. Without planning, an organization stagnates.
Copyright 2010 © Sharon L. Mikrut, All rights reserved.