Nonprofit Strategic Planning is the book you need if you serve on the board or hold a management position in a nonprofit.
Okay, we know-you'd love to do strategic planning but who has the time? You're running a nonprofit, working lean and mean. You're overworked and understaffed. You're busy serving your mission. Your clients come first. Your board doesn't want to get bogged down in meeting after meeting to plan for the future. We need to deal with today!
What, you say you wouldn't love to do strategic planning? You've been there, done that, and have the battle scars to prove it. You have a dandy plan that is somewhere in your office-let's see now, where was that plan again?
Oh darn, those pesky funders are asking to see our plan. Well, I guess if we have to do it, let's get it over as quickly and painlessly as possible.
Oh wait, those clients that come first-have I really thought about their future? And those board members that don't want to take time to plan-do they really understand our mission and vision? And those staff people who are so overworked-could we make their job easier and their work time more productive?
Hmm, maybe this planning idea isn't so bad after all. But-how can I do it while balancing all my other work?
We've been there and done this ourselves. This is why we, the authors, wrote the book-to let you know you can do it, too. You can develop a plan that works. You can get people in your organization not only willing, but enthused, about writing the plan, and you can implement the plan to bring abut change in your organization.
In this book the authors cover:
Chapter One: Why Strategic Planning?
Chapter Two: Planning to Plan
Chapter Three: Who Will Participate?
Chapter Four: Close Encounters with Assessments, Scans, and Audits
Chapter Five: The Planning Retreat
Chapter Six: Values, Mission, and Vision
Chapter Seven: Goals and Objectives
Chapter Eight: Strategies and Tactics (Action Steps)
Chapter Nine: Timelines, Budgets, and Areas of Responsibility
Chapter Ten: Financing the Plan
Chapter Eleven: The Product
Chapter Twelve: Ensuring Board Buy-In
Chapter Thirteen: Implementing the Plan
Chapter Fourteen: Monitoring and Evaluating the Plan
Chapter Fifteen: Planning for the Next Plan
Appendix A: Sample Plan
Appendix B: Planning Tools
Appendix C: Sample Benchmarking
Appendix D: Templates
About the In the Trenches Series