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Create a Strategic Plan for Your Nonprofit

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Identify Strategies

With your goals, objectives, and activities identified and your current resources assessed, you're ready to do some true strategic thinking. In the realm of strategic planning, "strategies" are practical ideas about how to make the best use of your resources to achieve your goals.

A common approach to strategic thinking is called a "SWOT" analysis -- an acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are positive and negative elements within the organization; opportunities and threats are positive and negative elements outside the organization. A SWOT analysis is sometimes called a "situational assessment" or an "environmental analysis," but they all use the same basic approach.

Examples of SWOT Elements
• Strengths are positive assets within your organization. Examples might include a highly respected board member, a talented group of volunteers, or ownership of valuable intellectual property, such as a book or software.

• Weaknesses are negative aspects within your organization. Examples might include a shortage of volunteers or outdated technology.

• Opportunities are positive elements outside your organization.
Examples might include a high demand for your services or availability of a grant in your topic area.

• Threats are negative elements outside your organization.
Examples might include a competing nonprofit or the demise of a major funder.

The key to doing a SWOT analysis is to think about ways to maximize the positive and minimize the negative elements. Brainstorm about ways to use your strengths to take advantage of existing opportunities and to overcome threats you've identified. Also focus on how you will minimize your weaknesses to make your group less vulnerable to threats.

Edit and Finalize Your Plan

Once you've completed all the essential elements of your initial strategic plan, let your plan sit for a day or two before beginning a final review. This allows the planners to clear their brains and look at it with fresh perspectives. It's a good idea to establish a firm deadline for incorporating any final edits, to keep everyone in "wrap-up" mode and prevent endless rounds of tinkering with the work you've already done.

Once your final edits have been incorporated, you may be finished. Or, if you plan to submit the strategic plan to potential funders, you may want to spiff it up and produce a professional document, perhaps using of desktop publishing software. Package the information as necessary for your intended purposes -- an internal working document can be much less formal than a package you send to potential major donors.

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