essays – Nonprofits

Winning Plans

How do you set yourself up for a winning plan?

Goals and planning often come up as trending topics this time of year, especially for nonprofits.

They frequently tell me “this is the year for strategic planning.”

When I hear this, I have four big suggestions:

1. Don’t begin without buy-in.

Make sure you have everyone’s support before you even begin the planning process. You don’t want to invest in a great deal of planning that will ultimately be rejected.

Involve those who will need to be a part of drafting your plan and those who will help accomplish your goals.

Designate a “plan champion” up front who will keep the group on track and motivated and will oversee the reporting process as you move forward with your plans.

2. Use feedback to get a baseline.

Surveys and focus groups can help you understand where your organization stands. Use these tools to discover how your organization is perceived by internal and external audiences, how it has achieved past goals (or failed in its efforts) and how it communicates its message.

3. Don’t try to microwave it.

A strong plan can’t be completed in one day or even one weekend. I cannot stress this enough.

Build an action plan that is both manageable and achievable. Break it into logical sections like fundraising, programs and marketing, and allow enough time to really figure out the best ways to accomplish your goals for each one.

4. Designate the who, what and how.

Specify roles and responsibilities for each part of the plan — who will be responsible for each task and who has ultimate accountability for each goal or strategy.

Make sure they have the resources they need, and that they participate in setting the success measures and timelines.

I often add a fifth suggestion of “Don’t do this on your own. Bring in outside help.” There’s a lot of reasons for this, most of which are NOT because I offer this service as a consultant. That’s a subject for another post, though.

What suggestions would you add for those wanting to dive into planning in the coming year?