Beyond the Retreat: Why Nonprofit Strategic Planning is More Than Just a Retreat

​Too often I get calls from potential clients with the question – can you come facilitate our strategic planning retreat next month. Unfortunately the answer is usually no. Why? Because it does not allow time for a full process that builds success. Strategic planning is not just about getting together at a retreat – the retreat or series of planning sessions are an important part of the process – but not the whole process itself. 

What is strategic planning?

​Nonprofit strategic planning is the process to take stock, gather input from your stakeholders, evaluate your organization’s strengths and challenges and set strategic goals for a specific time period. A well conducted process will help ensure that everyone is aligned and working on the things that matter most to moving your mission forward. It helps your organization step back and consider where you are now and where you want to go. It provides you with the opportunity to get reconnected with your stakeholders and understand how they see your organization, its strengths and areas for growth. 

​Why is strategic planning important for nonprofits?

Ultimately strategic planning is about building excitement and alignment throughout your organization for your vision, as well as the key goals that emerge as part of the process. It helps you shift from your focus on the day to day to think about your organization from a wider lens and longer perspective. When done well, it engages and aligns all the people important to your organization’s future behind a shared vision and set of goals. Learn more about the five step process of strategic planning.

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​Should the strategic planning process include a retreat? Does it need one?

​Yes a retreat or a series of planning meetings are part of the process. You will need to set aside time to bring your board and staff together to talk through where you are currently, vision where you want to be and then prioritize the steps to getting from here to there. 

​But the retreat or series of planning meetings are just part of the process - they are not the process themselves. 

What does the process look like beyond the retreat?

​Strategic planning is a more comprehensive process that takes work ahead of the retreat to be prepared to use the time together well as well as time after the retreat to shift from vision to action. Deciding what the key areas of strategic inquiry is an important step. With that understanding, gathering input from your stakeholders is a foundational step in the process. You are essentially going on a listening tour. This can be a piece of the process where it is particularly helpful to work with an outside consultant. The data gathering phase can be time intensive and challenging for staff or volunteers to complete in addition to their regular workload. In addition, those you want to gather feedback from are more likely to be fully candid with someone outside the organization.

​Considerations for planning your retreat or planning sessions

You will need to decide who to invite, how long will you set aside, will the retreat or planning sessions be in person or online and who will lead the retreat/sessions. Typically a strategic planning task force made up of both staff and board members will help inform the answers to these questions. I recommend inviting both board members and staff. They each bring a unique perspective to the process. Whether you are able to meet for a day, a day and a half or a series of shorter sessions will determine how much of the agenda items below you can cover. If coming together for a full day, day and a half or two days will not work for your group, consider doing a series of shorter planning sessions online.

​What should the strategic planning retreat focus on?

ith the foundational steps completed – especially the gathering of input from stakeholders – you are then well positioned to hold your retreat or series of shorter planning sessions. While every organization’s needs will be different, typically a retreat agenda will include:
·    a review of the findings from the stakeholder input process and a discussion of their implications;
·    a scan of the wider trends impacting your organization;
·    envisioning your organization’s future
·    identifying key initiatives that will help you get from where you are to that envisioned future
·    drafting action steps and success indicators for each of your key initiatives, and
·    a review of your mission, vision and values, including how those values are demonstrated in behavior.
This can occur over a day or two or through a series of shorter focused planning sessions for each agenda items. When conducting strategic planning online, opting for the shorter focused planning sessions is a better alternative. A day long retreat will NOT be able to cover all these agenda items, so be realistic.

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What are the benefits of a nonprofit strategic planning retreat?

​Taking the time to bring your staff and board together has many benefits. These include building relationships, each individual gaining a more wholistic understanding of the organization as well as time away from the crush of the daily to do list to think more expansively.

What are the pitfalls of a nonprofit strategic planning retreat?

Unfortunately, when retreats are held in absence of a more comprehensive process, they can lack grounding in the current state of the organization. This can result in goals that are not fully connected to the current capacity of the organization or do not address the most pressing issues. They can also result in wish lists of good ideas without a true plan or process for how to implement these and integrate them into the day-to-day operations of the organization.

What happens after the strategic planning retreat?

​At the end of the retreat, you should have a draft of your plan. A smaller group – often a strategic planning task force or committee – will then finalize the plan. Another important task for this group at this stage is to agree on how the plan will be reviewed and updated – how often, by whom. Will this process happen during its own special meeting or will it be integrated into standing board and staff meetings?

​How do you operationalize the bigger strategic goals?

To make sure that your strategic planning process is worth the time invested in it, you need to create not just the overall three-five year strategic plan. You also need to create an implementation plan. You start by choosing a shorter time frame – it could be a quarter, six months or a year – however you already do your planning. Then choose what of the overall plan you will focus on during that time frame. Only then go to the level of detail of who will do what by when. Too much can change over longer time frames to bother trying to nail down all those specifics in the overall plan.

Ensure that your team and division leaders understand how their work relates and supports the broader strategic direction and plan so that they can help their direct reports see their part in the organization’s strategy.

​How do we keep the strategic plan relevant?

​Ensuring you have processes to monitor and evaluate the plan on a period basis will be key to keeping the plan relevant. Having defined success indicators, you will be able to measure progress and outcomes. Checking in on progress, as well as where you have hit unexpected road blocks, what adjustments need to be made and what may not be as relevant given new realities that it may have seemed when you originally created the plan will all be important to ensure the plan doesn’t just sit on the shelf. Agree on who will be champion tracking progress on the plan.

​Be flexible and adaptable and not overly attached to the details of the plan as no plan can anticipate all the changes in circumstances that the future will bring.

Why is a comprehensive strategic planning process important?

​Strategic planning for nonprofits is a dynamic and vital process that extends well beyond the confines of just a retreat. It involves thorough preparation, active engagement from all stakeholders, and the integration of feedback into a viable strategic plan. The true power of strategic planning lies not just in the retreat itself but in the continuous, concerted efforts to align the organization's daily operations with its long-term vision. 
Remember that strategic planning is an ongoing journey of adaptation and refinement, ensuring that your nonprofit remains responsive to changes and capable of achieving its mission. Embracing the full scope of this process will increase the likelihood of success as you work toward building your organization's impact and sustainability.