Strategic Planning and Execution of Priorities

• Organizational Assessment & Environmental Scan
• Strategic Planning
• 3-Year Business Plans
• Balanced Scorecard & Dashboard Reports

Downloads
Overview of the Strategic Management Process
Emerging Nonprofits Self-Assessment Survey

Over the past 15 years Sam has facilitated strategic planning and business planning processes for more than 25 nonprofits ranging from emerging nonprofits to large, complex organizations needing to maintain vitality and growth. These processes begin with objective assessments of the organization’s current situation and engage both board and staff in developing detailed plans that can be implemented with measurable outcomes.

Case Studies

• Assessment, Triage and Capacity Building

We assisted the new Executive Director and Board of a nonprofit in assessing the organization’s capabilities and in identifying critical weaknesses before establishing a new, more expansive vision for future growth.  We helped restructure the Board and engaged skilled volunteers to enhance the organization’s resources and capabilities.  By improving its financial management processes and strengthening its fundraising, the organization was able, with our help, to increase its operating budget and reach new audiences through an expansion of its most effective programs.  We left the organization with a 3-Year Strategic Business Plan aimed at enhancing growth, with key strategies to be implemented, and with measurable outcomes tied to revenue and expense projections.

• Strategic Planning Leads to Critical Changes in Direction

Our nonprofit client had planned a capital campaign to renovate its headquarters and to expand its programs to additional locations in the region. As part of the internal assessment we found that the organization had been able to fund their operating budget only by shifting funds reserved for capital expenditures to cover shortfalls in operating revenues. Our environmental scan suggested that changes were likely in the availability of government funds normally available as third-party reimbursements for services provided to clients. This suggested that the organization was likely to face additional pressures on its operating budget in future years. With this information, the board of the nonprofit pursued retrenchment strategies designed to hold down operating costs for the next three years. Thus, our client’s strategic plan focused on preventing a fall-off in annual giving during the capital campaign and curtailed expansions of any programs during the same period. Today, that nonprofit is financially sound and delivers high quality programs in a newly renovated building in which operations more efficient.