1. Nonprofit Management &
Strategic Planning

2. Strategic
• What does it mean to be strategic?
– How an organization will go about its efforts
– Seeking to match the needs in the external
environment with the NPs internal competencies

3. **How to Do it
• SWOT Analysis
– Internal
• Strengths
– What is the organization good at—what does the org do well?
Resources and inputs of the org that help you do well.
• Weaknesses
– Where is the organization lacking
– External
• Opportunities
– Linked to strengths. Org similar to my own is going out of
business so that’s opportunity to take their clients/market share
• Threats
– Linked to weaknesses

4. Strategic Planning
• Definition:
– Formalized process by which an organization
makes a study of its vision for the future
– A set of concepts, procedures, and tools designed
to help leaders, managers, and planners think and
act strategically

5. Strategic Planning
• Purpose:
– Management tool that accounts for changes in
the environment and the organization’s place
within it
• Technology
• Markets for Services
• Funding Sources
• Competition

6. Benefits
• Proactive rather than reactive
• Addresses “real” problems and forces them to
be considered
• Builds relationships (ideally upward and
downward communication)
• Increases knowledge of organizational
activities
• Broad focus

7. Costs
• Money (opportunity costs)
• Time
• Possible conflict within org

8. Impetus
• Board
– Board members push for the process (cross-over
board members)
• Funders
– Often required for grants (want to know you have
a vision for the future so you need strategic
planning)
• Change in leadership (ppl from other orgs are
mad that things are run differently so they
want to do it another way)
• Crises within the organization

9. Developing a Strategic Plan
• What is needed
– Support
• Top members of the organization: board, execs
– Staff commitment
• Time/energy and desire
– Money
– Knowledge

10. Identifying Goals
• Working backwards from the ideal future or
vision of the organization (3 to 5 years):
– Goals for the upcoming year
– Objectives for each goal
• Specific
• Measurable
• Action-oriented
• Responsible
• Time-targeted
– Need to review plan annually to evaluate and possibly
revise objectives

11. Issues with Strategic Planning
• Best laid plans…
– Must be ready to adapt with an ever-changing
environment
• History repeating itself
– Those involved must believe that plans will be
used and not just window dressing
• Use as a learning tool
– Tendency to assign blame or hide from failure

12. Strategic Planning vs.
Strategic Thinking
• What is the difference?