I recently wrote about why nonprofit strategic plans fail. But that also begs the question: what makes the best ones succeed?
I’ve been part of a lot of planning processes, and when they really stick, they have the same handful of things in common. None of them are about the document, they are about how the plan was built and who was involved.
What makes a nonprofit strategic plan successful? The people who implement it help build it. That means a shared set of facts, a tight timeline, a board that was in the room, one owner and staff who write the work plan.
Of course, the best plans also center the people you serve, which is the heart of our Shared Power™ approach. Here, I’m focused on the internal process.
Here’s what I see every time a plan is successful:
- Your team works from the same facts, and acts on them
- You give yourself a tight timeline and protect your momentum
- Your board is in the room
- One person owns the process from the start
- The people doing the work write the plan for how to do it
I’ll take each one and show you what it looks like in practice.
Your team works from the same facts, and acts on them
A planning process throws a lot at you. You’ll hear from staff, board members, community partners and the people your nonprofit serves. You’ll look at your finances, your fundraising, your structure, where you’re strong and where you’re not. You’ll also benchmark your organization against others in your ecosystem. It’s a ton of information, but the best processes cut through the noise, elevating the top-line insights that are going to be foundational to the rest of the planning. Everyone on the planning team starts from the same set of facts, so they can agree on where your nonprofit stands today and where it’s headed next.
Then comes the harder part: acting on those insights and what you learned, even when it’s hard. Some of what you hear will sting. Feedback about your culture, your leadership, a program everyone loves that isn’t working. Facing that head-on and asking what needs to change is how your nonprofit creates meaningful change. Explaining it away is how your plan ends up on a shelf.
You’ll also hear ideas you can’t pursue. Stakeholder feedback can pull you toward mission creep or work you don’t have the funding for. You don’t have to take every suggestion.
What you do need is a feedback loop. When you go back to stakeholders for listening sessions or focus groups, tell them what you incorporated and what you didn’t, and why. People understand that not everything is possible when they can see the reasoning. Choices made in the open build trust.
Your timeline builds momentum
Most nonprofits need roughly three to six months. Give yourself a tight timeline and protect your momentum. Some nonprofits give themselves a year or longer to plan. Unless you’re a complex national or international federated organization with multiple layers of stakeholders, that’s too much time.
Here’s the rhythm I’d give yourself:
- About 6-8 weeks for research
- 2-4 weeks to distill that research into key insights
- 1 week for your retreat
- 2-3 weeks to listen to stakeholders again and refine
- 2 to 3 weeks to set your objectives and key results
You may lean more toward six months if you’re building around stakeholder availability or board meetings.
Why so tight? Because when there’s a break in the action, people forget earlier conversations, lose track of where they are in the process, and the urgency you need for significant change fades. Momentum keeps everyone aligned, and people who stay aligned through the process buy into the plan.
I always say once you get on the train, you don’t get off until you’re at the station. Be intentional, but don’t let intentional turn into analysis paralysis.
Your board is in the room
I can tell you more about how this goes wrong than how it goes right, so I’ll start there.
I’ve walked into retreats expecting three or four board members, and only one showed up. Or none. Then your team puts deliberate time and effort into a sound plan and takes it to a board that wasn’t in the room. They have a lot of questions, usually want to go back to square one, and send your team into a tailspin. (I wrote about this in my post on why plans fail.)
Now here’s what it looks like when it works. A statewide civil legal aid organization brought its executive leadership team, several active board members (including the board chair), and a group of community members deeply tied to the organization into the retreat. When the plan went to the full board, those people were in the room to represent it, and it passed at first presentation.
In the best scenarios, three to four board members are invested in the process. They don’t attend every meeting, but they attend the important ones. They understand the research, they attend the retreat, and they become the champions who carry the plan to their peers.
They aren’t there to mold the plan. They bring outside perspective while the leadership team makes the calls. Listen to our podcast for more on the board’s role in strategic planning.
One person owns the process from the start
Every plan that works has a champion. Usually it’s the CEO or executive director, a COO, or someone in a strategy role.
This is the person who keeps things moving between our calls (or between calls with whoever is facilitating for you). They make sure the right information is gathered and the right people are in the meetings. They have the offline conversations that keep the process on track.
Once the plan is in place, they oversee the plan dashboard and the accountability mechanisms, and they report back to the board. They hold everyone accountable to what you set out to accomplish together.
The people doing the work write the plan for how to do it
Your board and executive leadership team should shape the overarching themes of the plan. But the staff who will carry it out should write the objectives, key results and activity plans. That’s where the rubber meets the road.
Here’s how I’d frame it to your team: “We heard this feedback. These were the key insights, and from them a planning group of the executive leadership team and three board members developed the overarching themes. Now we need your expertise to decide how all of us will work together to make this happen. No one knows this work better than you.”
Hand staff a set of objectives instead and you get no excitement, no buy-in, and often questions, resentment and hurt feelings that they weren’t included. This is core to our Shared Power™ approach: the people who carry a strategy forward help build it.
Sometimes that means building in extra time and meetings for buy-in. That might be one-on-one conversations with certain board members who need more information before a presentation.
It might be a step back with staff who aren’t part of the leadership team and feel they should have been consulted: “We hear you. You’re an integral part of this. Let’s make sure we aren’t missing something you’re seeing.” Give people who need more time and attention that time and attention. Apprehensive people often become excited advocates.
I’ve delayed timelines for this reason. One client had a new CEO and a new leadership team, and our research pointed to a disconnect between what staff thought and what the board thought. It surfaced fully as staff started asking questions about the plan. We paused, held multiple town halls and feedback sessions, and folded what we heard into the final pillars and objectives.
Pushing a plan through because you want it done isn’t in service of anyone.
A plan succeeds when the people who live inside it helped build it
Look back over the five things above. Each one puts the right people in the room and keeps them there.
That’s very doable for your nonprofit. You don’t need a bigger budget or a longer runway. You need a clear timeline, a champion, a few invested board members and a team that’s ready to listen and decide.
If you want to see what finished plans look like, browse our nonprofit strategic plan examples. And if you’d rather run the process yourselves, the Strategic Planning Toolbox has the templates and retreat tools.
What has made a plan stick at your nonprofit? I’d love to hear it.
And if you’re heading into a planning process and want a second set of eyes first, Prosper Strategies would love to talk it through with you.
Frequently asked questions
How long does nonprofit strategic planning take?
Most nonprofits need roughly three to six months. That’s 6 to 8 weeks of research, 2 to 4 weeks to distill key insights, a week for the retreat, 2 to 3 weeks of stakeholder feedback and refinement, and 2 to 3 weeks to set objectives and key results. You’ll likely build in extra time for scheduling stakeholder inputs or planning around board meetings, which is why some plans lean toward six months. A year or longer usually costs you momentum.
Who should be involved in a nonprofit strategic plan?
Your executive leadership team, three or four invested board members and the staff who will carry out the work. You’ll also want input from the people you serve and your other stakeholders throughout the process.
Who should own a nonprofit strategic plan?
One champion, usually the CEO or executive director, a COO or someone in a strategy role. That person keeps the process moving, oversees the plan dashboard and reports back to the board.
Who should write the objectives and key results?
The staff who will carry out the work. Your board and executive leadership team shape the overarching themes, and staff develop the objectives, key results and activity plans.
