Wisdom

Topic

Type

Strategic Planning 101

Strategic planning is increasingly a core business practice employed widely by nonprofits to re-examine and refresh the programs and services they provide within the context of a clear vision for the impact they wish to have as they fulfill their mission. This series of six eblasts provides a “how to” guide so you can do it yourself, or an overview of the process you might expect from a management consulting firm like Plan A.

EBLAST FUNDRAISING

All About Endowments

For nonprofit organizations and institutions, endowments can be a reliable source of unrestricted operating support or a welcome source of support for restricted purposes. This series of six articles provides a primer on endowments designed for nonprofit professionals and board members.

CASE STUDY CHANGE

Suburban Public Library

This public library, a defining institution in its well-to-do suburban community, has experienced a surge in visits and circulation despite the popularity of Amazon and e-readers. But a community-wide strategic planning process reinforced what libraries across the nation have recognized: Their primary use has shifted from transactional to social, from informational to intellectual. T this public library’s outdated facilities did not address these changing patterns of use.

EBLAST CHANGE

Doubling Down on Nonprofits

Amidst a backdrop of political uncertainty, the federal tax package will likely lead to budget cuts that affect nonprofits and reduced support from middle-income Americans. Learn how to double down this year from industry leaders in five fields.

LIBRARY FUNDRAISING

About Feasibility Studies

A campaign feasibility study is a critical part of campaign planning, helping a nonprofit to set goals with a strong degree of confidence that they are appropriate and achievable

LIBRARY PLANNING

Scaling Up

Today’s positive economic outlook but challenging economic reality make “scaling” – the process of growing a nonprofit intentionally to meet goals consistent with mission and vision – a hot topic for boards and executives looking for increased revenue and greater financial sustainability. Small can be beautiful, but stagnation can be deadly. Growth, wisely planned, can be energizing. This Plan A resource guide, which accompanied a recent webinar hosted by US Trust/Merrill Lynch, provides questions and tips to consider when preparing a scaling plan: Scaling Up: Grow by Intention and Plan

CASE STUDY GOVERNANCE

Regional Counseling Center

A regional human services agency engaged Plan A Advisors to lead a pivotal one-day board retreat. Each year, the agency helps thousands of area clients overcome psychological, social and cultural barriers as they strive to develop brighter futures, both at home and in the workplace.

LIBRARY GOVERNANCE

How to Be a Good Boss

In every workplace, supervisor/supervisee relations impose interpersonal dynamics that can make each day fulfilling or one of many other things. Nonprofits offer unique management challenges when staffing is inadequate, budgets are squeezed tight, and (sometimes) union rules pose limitations. This Plan A resource guide provides some best practices in good supervision: How to Be a Good Boss.

LIBRARY PLANNING

Why Strategic Planning Doesn’t Necessarily Translate to Sound Decisions

We agree with Richard Marker’s analysis that strong consulting practice does more than just fix a technical problem; if conducted well, high-quality consulting addresses the role that an organization’s culture plays in supporting or undermining transformative change. Read more:

Strategy is Culture

CASE STUDY PLANNING

Art and Design College

A Midwestern college of art and design hired a new president to reinvigorate its mission, which includes preparing students for successful futures in the fine and applied arts. The president’s arrival occurred while the school’s strategic planning process was already under way.

LIBRARY CHANGE

Program Evaluation: Burden or Benefit?

The Foundation Center aptly states, “More and more foundations expect to see an evaluation component in the programs they fund.” In a time of limited resources, we have also seen that individual donors increasingly view their gifts as social “investments” and expect a social “return.” However, many nonprofits believe that program evaluations must be rigorous, empirical studies conducted by outside evaluators. In fact, many nonprofits already have the tools to conduct their own evaluations, and with a little coaching can gather and analyze the data that will help them to evaluate their work, broadcast their success, and leverage more resources to achieve their strategic goals. One tool that we use, adapted from Ramapo for Children and Fiscal Management Associates, helps nonprofits to weigh the relative impact of their programs: Plan A Program Portfolio Analysis

CASE STUDY GOVERNANCE

Advocacy Organization

As it approached its 40th anniversary, this national advocacy organization continued to serve as the central clearinghouse for information and support for individuals and families affected by a debilitating genetic disorder. It also has partnered successfully with the pharmaceutical industry, had won government and private support for vital medical research and facilitated drug trials that resulted in mitigating the effects of the disease.

CASE STUDY PLANNING

Regional Jewish Federation

We have little time to waste in addressing the growing affiliation gap between Jews and Jewish communal life, thought-leaders say, especially in the wake of the 2013 Pew Research Center study on American Jews. In response to this concern, a major urban Jewish federation imagined a community-wide initiative that would target teens, while a major national foundation offered matching funds for a promising initiative.

LIBRARY GOVERNANCE

Financial Management Resources for Nonprofits

Many non-profit leaders come to the task without academic or professional training in financial management, an area of increasing importance to funders, both private and public. To help close this gap, Plan A created a primer on Budgeting for High-Performing Nonprofits. Additionally, The Wallace Foundation recently launched a website dedicated to providing free financial management resources and templates to non-profit organizations.

Resources for Nonprofit Financial Management

CASE STUDY PLANNING

Historic Park and a Museum

A large historic park and a regional history museum recognized that their combined physical property, collections, archives, and intellectual assets could be jointly leveraged to strengthen their programs and build audience in a rapidly revitalizing urban center.

CASE STUDY PLANNING

Community-Based Non Profits

Three community centers recognized that escalating costs and increased competition were beginning to impact their popular day camp programs – historically important sources of operating revenue for the agencies each year. An earlier business plan convinced the three executive directors and board leadership that a larger, merged day camp would enable all three agencies to provide a superior program while preserving affordability for families and generating more revenue for year-round programs and reserves.

CASE STUDY PLANNING

Multi-Campus Regional College

A regional college with multiple campuses has myriad strengths: a positive reversal in fiscal health; strong programs in health sciences and education; and national recognition for serving its diverse students, which include first-generation, Latino and military veteran learners. Its leadership, however, needed help implementing a recently adopted strategic plan, crafted by the board and administration.

EBLAST LIBRARY GOVERNANCE

Good Meetings

Plan A’s popular 2014 series on Good Board Meetings had content our clients found useful for non-board meetings as well. Here are best practices you can use to make any meeting one worth attending. The keys are good leadership and good agendas

LIBRARY PLANNING

Nonprofit Mergers

At a UJA-Federation event moderated by Adam Gaynor of Plan A Advisors, the executive directors of three New York-area Jewish Community Centers shared how they teamed up with Plan A to merge their separate day camps into a single regional camp. The social enterprise conference, Power Your Mission 2, offered participants tools and insights to help their organizations reach the “next level.” The slideshow used during the event can be downloaded here: Plan A – Mergers.

CASE STUDY GOVERNANCE

Museum & Cultural Destination

This major museum and cultural destination has experienced a surge in annual visitors thanks to new exhibits and a robust tourism industry. It has also built strong educational programs to serve school children, and some popular public programs to encourage local audiences to visit. New, experienced senior managers have been recruited over several years. Now the institution wants to solidify its gains and grow again, given its capacity to reach an even wider public.

CASE STUDY GOVERNANCE

Academic Association

The leadership of a major national academic association realized that it needed to take a hard look at its annual conference in terms relevance and revenue. It also wanted to consider new revenue sources. The group’s board and management hired Plan A Advisors to facilitate a one-day retreat that aimed to generate consensus around the association’s envisioned future.

LIBRARY GOVERNANCE

What Makes Good Boards Good?

Evan Kingsley of Plan A Advisors moderated a panel at the Westchester Nonprofit Leadership Summit in Tarrytown, N.Y., featuring top leaders of regional organizations and outstanding advisors to nonprofits. Below are some of the resources shared and described at the workshop: 1) Plan A: What Makes Good Boards Good?, 2) Plan A: Running a Good Board Meeting, 3) ArtsWestchester Board Eval form, 4) Adapted Board Self Evaluation

CASE STUDY PLANNING

Girls’ Boarding School

What students and alumnae love about this elite New England girls’ boarding school is also its Achilles heel: its small size. The intimacy of its campus and individualized attention to each student serve as hallmarks, while the diverse student body and range of academic offerings are comparable to larger schools. A top concern for the board and administration was how to maintain these qualities in a competitive marketplace where single-sex boarding schools face unique challenges.

CASE STUDY PLANNING

Independent K-8 School

This school reached a promising juncture: With a dynamic new head, community interest peaked and enrollment in lower grades grew along with the school’s reputation. An earlier three-year strategic plan was successfully implemented. Construction of a new science and art wing wrapped up swiftly. Yet middle-school enrollment was uncertain, with some families opting for placement at competitive, neighboring schools well in advance of high school.

LIBRARY GOVERNANCE

Growing Your Board

Too often, Nominating Committee conversation starts with: “Who do we know?” rather than: “Who do we need? The conversation should focus on the experience, skills and connectivity to build a high performing board.

CASE STUDY PLANNING

Community-Based Non Profit

After ten years running a large, successful, community-wide conference, this small start-up realized that it needed a long-term sustainability plan to continue its work. It imagined that the most viable route would be to merge with a larger, more established organization with sophisticated infrastructure.

LIBRARY CHANGE

The Case for Gender Audits

“In the same year that the Jewish press has re-exposed gross inequalities in favor of men in the Jewish professional sector, there has been a growing movement by Jewish educators to attract and retain teen boys, whom many fear are dropping out of Jewish education at a higher rate than girls. In short, despite the fact that men dominate communal decision making, we are afraid that boys are disaffected!” Read more by Plan A’s Adam Gaynor…

“Pursuing Gender Equality: A Few Concrete Steps”

CASE STUDY PLANNING FUNDRAISING

Regional Hospice and Palliative Care Provider

An agency that provides comprehensive hospice and palliative care in a metropolitan region had to prepare for its financial future against strong headwinds: surging costs for care delivery, reduced federal reimbursement, and aggressive competition. The agency’s high quality service, which allows terminally ill patients to die with dignity, was underutilized and under-recognized within its market.

CASE STUDY CHANGE

Large Jewish Community Center

Responding to the growth of the Jewish population in this racially diverse central city neighborhood, a historic Jewish community center received a sizable, multi-year grant to develop a Jewish culture track within its popular afterschool program. It needed to assess interest among families; develop a responsive program; identify the right staffing model, budget, and educational partners; and implement an evaluation regimen to measure success.

What is the Difference Between a Mission and Vision?

LIBRARY PLANNING

The Difference Between Mission and Vision

Put simply, a mission is the business of a nonprofit or company, and usually includes the approach that the organization employs. A vision describes the future position of the organization; what it hopes to achieve through its work after a specific period of time. Defining the vision is a core step in strategic and business planning. It provides a waypoint from which to work backward; defining a vision spurs an organization to develop plans, allocate resources, and evaluate success over time calibrated to well-defined benchmarks.

CASE STUDY PLANNING

Academic Library

For several decades, the design school’s main library – housed in a landmark building on a beautiful campus – had been marginalized administratively and academically. A barren plaza, gloomy entrance and dated furnishings were immediately apparent, while a smaller branch on an adjunct campus seemed disconnected. In addition, a change in library leadership during a recent institution-wide planning process left it on the sidelines. Yet inspiring collections, an eager professional staff, and generous spaces offered untapped possibilities.

CASE STUDY PLANNING

Large Regional University

This multi-campus university, respected regionally for its strong programs in the sciences, recently experienced a steep decline in its graduation rate and financial position. A complicated union structure, fractious faculty-administration relationships, and significant differences in the composition of students and faculty on its suburban and rural campuses added further complications.

LIBRARY PLANNING

What Makes a Great Strategic Plan?

Many of the strategic plans we see make great doorstops or bookends; they are fifty pages of dense text that require a doctorate to decipher! So when shopping for a consultant to facilitate your planning process, ask to see a sample plan. It should 1) be clearly stated and concise, with an aspirational but realistic vision for the next few years, 2) be easy to implement without an owner’s manual, 3) incorporate a realistic and affordable evaluation framework, 4) be directly tied to financial projections, 5) identify those responsible for implementing and reporting on specific objectives, and 6) be flexible enough to make course corrections as evaluations are completed or an organization’s financial position changes. In this way, a strategic plan becomes a tactical document, rather than a pie-in-the-sky exercise that diverts everyone’s time from the work at hand. Download our packet on “Strategic Planning 101: For Nonprofit and Voluntary Leaders”: Plan A – Strategic Planning 101