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What is nonprofit strategic planning? Nonprofit strategic planning is a step-by-step process that helps you set priorities for your organization for the medium term – generally 3-5 years. You gather insight from your stakeholders, identify the common themes, explore possible futures and make decisions about where you want to focus your organization’s future in service of your mission. As part of the process you will clarify your why, what and how. What your nonprofit can expect from strategic planningStrategic planning is not about predicting or controlling the future. It is about creating greater alignment across your team, board, volunteers and all those who support the mission of your organization – creating a shared understanding and agreement about where you are headed. And at each stage, consider how equity factors into who you are including, whose voices are being heard and how decisions are being made. With this shared agreement on direction, you will be better prepared to make informed decisions about where to focus your energy and what your priorities are. A strategic plan is a process, not just a documentIt is also not just about the document – the strategic plan itself. That is a product of the process certainly. Yet it is really about the conversations that stakeholders have over the course of the process. Those conversations are what build the alignment and that shared understanding and ultimately the buy in that can be so elusive. It would be much easier and faster to decide one afternoon to “write” your organization’s strategic plan. Efficient for sure. Perhaps even satisfying for you as you are writing it. But ultimately that plan will fall short because it only represents your vision for the nonprofit organization. Nonprofit organizations are a collective effort. Typically tackling some of society’s biggest challenges. Getting closer to your organization’s mission effectively takes everyone pulling in the same direction and not working at cross purposes. Does my organization need a strategic planning retreat?It is also not just a retreat. Oftentimes, people will reach out and ask whether I can come facilitate their strategic planning retreat. But without the preliminary and fundamental step of discovery – or the listening tour – you do not have the grounding you need for a truly comprehensive and deep strategic planning process. Our 5-Step Nonprofit Strategic Planning Process for intentional, insightful, inclusive goal setting1. Your Strategic Plan kick-off onboardingHow you start the strategic planning project really makes all the difference. Getting clear about your goals for the project itself, who needs to be involved, the time frame you are planning for, as well as the strategic questions you are grappling with as an organization will set you up for success. Orienting the system to the processConsider holding a few kickoff events with your stakeholders to ensure that everyone is clear about how you are approaching the strategic planning process. Often this include sessions for staff, board, and other volunteers. These events typically include an overview of the project and process, who will be involved including any consultants you have hired to support and guide the process, as well as a conversation about what people are hoping for in the process and what their concerns are. After the event, it is very helpful to send a written document to everyone that reiterates the same information so that everyone has something to refer back to as the project progresses. Assembling your teamOne of the first tasks is to pull together a group of staff and board that will form your strategic planning committee or task force. The job of this group is to steward the process and advise on key decision points along the way. It is NOT their job to make all the decisions about the final three-five goals that will make up the main elements of your actual strategic plan. Who should be on the strategic planning task force? Board, leadership, staff?The task force should include people empowered with the organization to make decisions. This typically means the executive director, the board chair and ideally the incoming board chair as well as staff and other volunteers who will be influential about your organization’s future. A smaller group will find it easier to make decisions (up to five people). With a larger group (up to nine people) you will be able to better represent different elements of the organization and your stakeholders, yet you may need to have a smaller group designated to have the final say on decisions. What is the role of the strategic planning task force?Some of the task force’s tasks at the beginning of the process include identifying the stakeholders who are vital to your organization's future, how input from them will be gathered and what questions you will be asking them. Who is important to shaping your organization’s future? Often stakeholders include staff, board, volunteers, community partners and allied organizations, as well as those your organization serves and funders. Have you fully considered power dynamics as you prioritize stakeholders? How do you plan to gather input from those stakeholders who are part of historically marginalized communities? What supports may they need to fully participate in the process How a nonprofit strategic planning consultant can helpWhen you are working with a consultant, they will help you sketch this out as well as support you in making decisions about how the information will be gathered. You will need to decide whether it is with one-on-one interviews, focus groups and/or surveys. Deciding what mix of approaches makes sense in your organization’s situation is one of the key tasks for the group during the kickoff phase. Once those decisions have been made, the discovery phase or listening tour can start. 2. Discover: Listen to your key stakeholders before you start making decisions!This step in the process you are going on a listening tour to discover what is the organization’s current state, what are its strengths, challenges, what is its history and what are the collective hopes and aspirations for the organization’s future. One of the benefits of working with a consultant is that they can take on the time-intensive work of talking one-on-one with people, facilitating focus groups and developing, launching and analyzing surveys. In addition, consultants will often have a bank of questions that they will use as a spring board to customize for your situation. If you choose to conduct the input process yourself, be sure to orient your volunteers to how to conduct interviews and be clear about the process for capturing notes so that the results can be analyzed into themes. How are you making participation in your accessible for community members?Another consideration when you are conducting your listening tour is to think through the systemic barriers that may prevent those you serve and support from participating in your listening opportunities. How will you make it possible and accessible for people you serve to participate? Will you offer stipends, feed people, provide or reimburse transportation and child care? If your input sessions are being held virtually, do people have the digital access needed to participate? 3. Explore your stakeholder insights, wider trends and your potential futuresOnce you have a solid picture of where you are as an organization, your strengths and challenges, what some of the aspirations are that people have for the organization, you will need to share these findings with your planning group so that they can make meaning of them. The planning group should include your board and staff. This is the group that you will gather at a strategic planning retreat or over a series of strategic planning sessions. What can you expect during a strategic planning retreat or strategy planning sessions?A strategic planning retreat will typically start with an overview of the findings from the listening tour and then time for small group and large group discussion of what meaning the group makes of the findings. Other agenda items will likely be an exploration of wider trends, envisioning the organization's future, identifying major goals, action steps and success indicators, identifying key criteria for future decision making as well as a review of your organization's mission, vision, values to update them as necessary. The retreat itself will be a mixture of small and large group conversations and activities. Multiple ways of knowing and communicating should be included, such as drawing, skits and other ways to tap into everyone's imagination. There should also be time for individual reflection and group dialogue to be inclusive of varying thinking and communicating styles. A series of online strategy sessions will typically range from 90 minutes to three hours at a time and use a combination of a video conference platform such as Zoom with work being done digitally through a google doc or Mural board or other online white board tool. Why its important to explore the wider environment and trendsWith the foundation of what the current state of the organization is, the group should also look wider and identify the wider trends impacting your organization. Your organization does not exist in a vacuum. It exists in a wider ecosystem of the community you are in, the field you are in, as well as the wider society and world. What trends does the group see politically, economically, socially, environmentally, and technologically? Of those trends, which ones will most likely have an impact on your organization furthering its mission. Imaging the future of your nonprofit organization With this wider perspective in mind, lead the group in a variety of exercises to help them imagine a new future for the organization. Think about how you can integrate different ways of knowing into your exploration process. Get beyond just words and integrate opportunities to bring in different senses and modalities such as drawing, skits, and songs. This is the part of the exploration process when you can let the imagination fly freeing and think audaciously. All these possibly wild ideas and aspirations will likely not make it into the final plan yet they help uncover new options that the group might not otherwise consider. 4. Decide your nonprofit priorities, based on mission, vision & valuesYou now have fun and inspiring pictures of potential futures for the organization. Unfortunately too often this is where people often stop. And then they wonder why they feel overwhelmed by a ‘plan’ that looks more like a wish list. Setting priorities for your nonprofit organizationYou then need to lead the group through a series of exercises to set priorities and make decisions about which of these options you will put your energy behind. You cannot do everything. This is another element of the process that is especially helpful to have the support of strategic planning consultants. They have no agenda about what ultimately gets decided and prioritized – instead they have expertise in helping groups have effective conversations about options and actually make decisions. As you are making those decisions, consider whose voice is being prioritized and how each decision might impact different groups you serve. Update your mission and visionYou may have noticed that I did not start the process with a mission and vision exercise. This is where many other strategic planning consultants start. I recommend instead that groups refine their mission and vision statements at the end of the process. You then benefit from all the conversations that the group has had over the course of the process, and it is more a matter of confirmation. Does your current mission statement accurately reflect where the organization is going? Does your vision statement accurately describe the change you are trying to make in the world? What needs to be updated or refined? 5. Plan & Act: Turn your strategies into action steps not a wishlistSuccess indicatorsOnce you have decided on three and up to no more than five big goals, lead the group through conversations to identify what action steps will move those goals forward. Provide ways for feedback to be gathered. You may need to go through several iterations. For each action step, also define what success will look like. How will you know you have made progress? The strategic planning task force will take the rough draft created by the larger planning group, clean up the language and do the final refinement so that it is clear. Check one last time for shared agreement with the larger group. Operationalizing your nonprofit strategic planUsually your board will vote on the final version of the plan and approve it. Having been closely involved in each step of the process, and provided multiple opportunities for input and feedback, this approval ideally is a straightforward process. Staff then need to operationalize the plan and decide who is going to do what, by when, in Year one. The process of creating an annual implementation plan will include what are you focusing on in year one – what needs to happen first? And what are more specific tasks that need to happen to move your action steps forward? Keeping the plan freshYou now have a strategic plan and a year one implementation plan that captures the shared agreement among your stakeholders about where you are going to put your energy to move your mission forward more effectively. Yet the world does not stand still – new opportunities and challenges will emerge. Before you are finished with your process, work with your strategic planning task force to agree on how you keep track of the plan. How will you integrate it into regular planning practices? Board meetings, staff meetings? Keep track of progress? Evaluate when you need to make adjustments and updates? Get clear and come to agreement about what your practice is for keeping the plan relevant and front of mind. You will be continuously learning and adapting. Goals that truly help an organization forward are dynamic and require ongoing effort, reflection, and adaptation to changing circumstances and new understandings. Reconnecting with your external stakeholder groups You also need to think about how you will share the summary of the input gathered to your wider stakeholders who may not be part of the planning sessions themselves. You asked for their input – help them understand how you are going to use their information. Your goal in gathering input from them is not only to gain their perspective but also to engage them in the future of your organization. Do not undermine the trust you have built by asking them for input and then not closing the loop and sharing some version of the findings summary. Building buy in through engagementStrategic planning is an opportunity to do a deep engagement with your stakeholders to get them excited about and shape the future of your organization. Using the five-step process – kick off, discover, explore, plan and act, plus deciding on a process for keeping the plan fresh will create the level of buy in you need to have your plan be relevant and usable for guiding your organization’s future.
In episode 89 of Mission: Impact, Carol Hamilton and Miguel Guadalupe discuss issues of generational engagement in leadership, highlighting the frequent oversight of Generation X and stressing the unique adaptability and valuable perspective that this generation brings to the table. Miguel emphasizes the necessity for Generation X to advocate for recognition in leadership roles, reflecting on a LinkedIn post that sparked a broader conversation about the career stagnation felt by many in his generation. Episode highlights: Don’t Forget GenX: underrepresentation and unique contributions of Generation X in leadership and decision-making processes. Adapting to change: how Generation X's experience with the evolution of technology equips and other big changes over their career equips them with adaptability, a valuable skill set for leadership. Perpetual Utility player: Many of the Gen Xers who commented on Miguel’s LinkedIn post shared the feeling of being overlooked in their professional lives. Visibility and Advocacy: Miguel suggests that Generation X should take a lesson from Millenials and Gen Z and take a more assertive stance in advocating for their visibility and leadership opportunities. Guest Bio:
Miguel Guadalupe is Vice President of Donor and Community Relations at The Bowery Residents' Committee, or BRC in NYC. BRC helps over 10,000 individuals a year suffering from homelessness, mental illness, and addiction with the dignity and compassion they deserve. Miguel manages donor engagement, fundraising, and event planning, as well on service as BRC liaison to local elected officials, community organizations and businesses wherever a BRC program is located. He is also Vice Chair of the National Puerto Rican Day Parade, and helps to produce America's largest cultural celebration, in NYC, while helping to raise and distribute over $200K annually to students attending higher education. Important Links and Resources: Miguel’s viral LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7036817928465350656?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7036817928465350656%29 Miguel Guadalupe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miguelguadalupe/ The Bowery Residents' Committee https://www.brc.org/ Click "Read More" for Transcript In episode 85 of Mission: Impact, Carol Hamilton and Mala Nagarajan discuss organizational development, compensation structures, and critical discussions within nonprofit organizations. They explore the limitations of market-based compensation, the concept of a thriving wage, and the importance of aligning organizational values with employee compensation. Mala emphasizes the need for transparent and comprehensive approaches to compensation, touching on various factors such as areas of responsibility, risk assessment, and the significance of understanding one's relationship with money. In addition they explore how to integrate compensating for the emotional labor required in a role. They discuss the complexities of legal considerations and highlight the need for organizations to reevaluate traditional practices to foster a more equitable and holistic work environment. Highlights:
02:27: Creating equitable compensation models for organizations 04:50: Principles underpinning the work 08:16: The importance of interdependence 13:08- Transparency in compensation 16:21 Emotional labor and compensation 26:00 - Recognizing individual strengths and aligning them with organizational roles beyond just financial incentives 32:00 - Biases and values embedded in market-based compensation structures 37:00 - Implementing a thriving wage, distinct from a living wage 45:00 - The "conditions for readiness" necessary for successful implementation 53:00 - Assessing risk tolerance Guest Bio: Mala Nagarajan is a senior HR consultant who works with nonprofit organizations rooted in racial and social justice values. She is driven by a vision of strong organizations working collaboratively toward a common purpose and approaches her HR work with a values-aligned, people-centered, and movement-oriented lens. Mala is a consultant with RoadMap, a national network of consultants who work with social justice organizations. She helped organize RoadMap’s HR/RJ (racial justice) working group. Mala has developed an innovative Compensation Equity Process and Calculator™ that reverse-engineers supremacy out and re-engineers equity in. It’s an evolving approach accompanied with a custom tool that organizations can use to shift from a market-based to an anti-racist compensation model that centers those living at the intersections of multiple marginalized communities. Important Links and Resources: Mala Nagarajan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/malanagarajan/ Vega Mala Consulting | www.vegamala.com Marilyn Waring TED talk on what the GDP misses -- https://www.tedxchristchurch.com/marilyn-waring Polarities: https://www.polaritypartnerships.com/ The MIT Living Wage Calculator: https://livingwage.mit.edu/ Hidden Brain episodes on budgets: https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/money-2-0-why-we-bust-our-budgets/ Learn more about Mala’s compensation work here: Fund the People: Compensation Philosophy, NPQ-Compensation Equity: A Values-Based Framework & Implementation Guide, Top Tips to Stop Widening the Wealth Gap, Why Radical Human Resources is Critical for Movement Organizations, Equitable Compensation is a Risk Worth Taking, Brave Questions: Recalculating Pay Equity, Don't Put Metal in the Microwave and other Compensation Myths, Transforming the Workplace: HR Innovations, Pay Scale Equity Process and Calculator. HR resources: RoadMap Consulting: Human Resources and Justice: Addressing Racism and Sexism in the Workplace. Washington Nonprofits: Workers in Nonprofits. The Management Center: Making Compensation More Equitable. Click "Read More" for transcript Identifying the skills your team needs to bring your strategic plan to life with Heather Burright10/30/2023
In episode 84 of Mission: Impact, Carol Hamilton and Heather Burright discuss: how strategic planning, implementation and staff and volunteer skills development all fit together. We delve into the critical aspects of strategic planning and its effective implementation. I highlight the importance of aligning the implementation plan with the organization's regular processes and cycles, emphasizing the need for a shorter time frame for implementation, typically six months to a year. I also talk about the significance of continuous evaluation, tracking progress, and making necessary adjustments to ensure the successful execution of the plan. The conversation underscores the pivotal role of understanding and addressing the skills gap within the organization. Heather discusses how to identify the skill gaps that will undermine the success of your strategic plan and then the essential elements of creating a training program, focusing on relevance, meaningfulness, and a touch of fun to engage employees effectively. She emphasizes the importance of custom competency models and the value of building cross-functional relationships and trust within the organization to facilitate successful change management. Episode outline:
(00:07:07) Strategies for Successful Strategic Planning Implementation Planning (00:11:09) Integrating implementation into your regular practices (00:12:36) Why training is a key piece to strategic plan implementation (00:16:11) Maximizing Impact Through Whole Organization Involvement (00:24:29) Listening to People: Key to Change Management Guest Bio: Leveraging 15 years of experience, Heather Burright, founder and CEO of Skill Masters Market, specializes in creating dynamic, people-centric solutions that drive business goals. With her comes expertise in strategies for diversity, equity, and inclusion; instructional design; and change management. She’s dedicated to identifying core competencies that are needed to see real results and to creating the learning strategies and solutions needed to develop those competencies. Important Links and Resources: Heather Burright: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-burright/ Skills Masters Market: https://www.skillmastersmarket.com/ Learning for Good podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/learning-for-good-podcast-learning-and-development/id1621971310 Standards for Excellence Institute: https://standardsforexcellence.org/ In episode 82 of Mission: Impact, Danielle Marshall and Carol Hamilton have another ‘learning out loud’ conversation where we delve into the evolving landscape of nonprofit work, focusing on key themes: 🔥 Burnout and Beyond: We kickstart the discussion by addressing the prevalent issue of burnout, which has long haunted the sector. Discover how it has been exacerbated by recent events and how individuals and organizations are tackling it head-on. 🌟 Redefining Success: We dive deep into the changing definitions of success. It's no longer just about productivity and traditional measures. Learn how individuals are crafting new narratives and aligning their actions with their values. 💡 Deepening Impact: Explore the shift from relentless scaling to strategic deepening. We uncover innovative approaches to maximize impact, even with limited resources. 💼 Resource Reallocation: Get insights into how nonprofits are rethinking resource allocation. It's not just about budgets but also about investing time, human resources, and energy more intentionally. 🎯 Mission Focus: Discover the power of niche specialization. What are you doing to hone your focus to prevent mission drift and build confidence in your abilities? Do you have time built into your day or week for intentional and quiet reflection and strategic thinking? 🤝 Collaboration and Partnerships: We explore the art of collaboration and how nonprofits are building meaningful partnerships, passing tasks, and referrals, all while fostering trust and growth. 🌈 Well-Being and Productivity: Learn about the importance of individual and team well-being. How are you incorporating joy and playfulness into your life – inside and outside of work? Timestamped Outline:
(00:03:47) Reevaluating values and redefining success during the pandemic (00:07:37) Fostering Internal Cohesion for Organizational Success (00:10:09) Redefining success through thoughtful resource allocation (00:14:19) Narrowing focus for increased impact and success (00:22:33) Creative thought organization with mind mapping (00:36:59) Redefining emergencies and prioritizing strategic thinking Guest Bio: Danielle is an inclusive leader focused on strengthening collaboration among teams, leaders, and stakeholders to foster problem-solving, create solutions, and improve culture. She finds her inspiration in leading systemic change work that promotes equity and inclusion. Danielle founded Culture Principles in response to a persistent need to operationalize Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion metrics, centering REDI goals and creating accountability systems. She supports clients through her Mapping Equity Framework focused on Unearthing Knowledge, Elevating Strategy, and Transforming Sustainability. She centers her work around organizational assessment, racial equity learning intensives, and the development of racial equity action plans. Understanding that each organization arrives at this work from different perspectives, she utilizes assessment in building a customized strategy for each unique partner. Previously Danielle served as a non-profit leader for 20+ years and today works on strategy development that enables nonprofits to achieve equitable mission-driven results. Danielle holds a Master's degree in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Louisiana Tech University and draws on her background as an I/O psychologist in applying a racial equity lens to organizational policies, practices, and programs. She is a Certified Diversity Professional (CDP)/ Executive Coach (ACC). During her playtime, you can find Danielle traveling, knitting, and kayaking in all 50 states. Episode Links:
● https://www.linkedin.com/in/danimarshall/ Click "Read More" for Transcript |
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Grace Social Sector Consulting, LLC, owns the copyright in and to all content in, including transcripts and audio of the Mission: Impact podcast and all content on this website, with all rights reserved, including right of publicity.
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