The Route

Your nonprofit board has stated its mission … it knows where it is headed. But does it know how it will get there? Your board is responsible not only for creating the goals, but also for creating a strategy or plan for arriving at its destinations.

What is Strategic Planning?

Simply put, strategic planning is a process by which your board creates a set of strategies or an action plan for how it will achieve its goals. The board's strategic planning process focuses on your organization's mission, and also takes into account:

• Internal organizational factors: the organization's strengths and weaknesses
• Factors that are external to the organization: the threats and opportunities in your organization's environment
• A range of creative and effective responses to these factors
• The resources (e.g. time, money, expertise, personnel) required to carry out the possible responses
• The organization's priorities.

Based on this assessment, the board should develop a written statement of its strategic goals and objectives, along with a set of detailed steps or tactics to pursue each goal. Thus, the strategic plan should simply state:

• What to do,
• Why to do it, and
• How to do it.

Working the Plan

Once you have established your mission and your strategic plan for achieving that mission, your board must act in the best interests of achieving its purpose. This means, for instance, that the board must:

• Ensure that the organization's programs are of high quality and effectively advance its mission
• Assess and manage any risks inherent in working towards its mission
• Continuously monitor its plans and evaluate its progress towards its mission, in light of changing trends and circumstances
• Change its programs, plans and/or its mission when required, in order to keep the organization and its services relevant
• Discontinue its services if the need no longer exists or if the organization cannot effectively meet the need.

To learn more about the duties of your board, investigate transparency and communication.

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