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“Are you trying to put yourselves out of business?”
That was the very first question we got after launching the Nonprofit Strategic Planning Toolbox, and it’s a fair one. After 12 years of high-touch strategic planning consulting, why would Prosper Strategies release a DIY system that lets a nonprofit run its own process?
The short answer: no. We’re not. The longer answer is what this whole episode of Changemaker Conversations is about.
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Strategic planning shouldn’t be a luxury good.
For 12 years at Prosper Strategies, we’ve helped nonprofits build the kind of stakeholder-driven strategic plans that actually move missions forward. Plans rooted in our Shared Power Strategy™ philosophy. Plans that engage staff, board, funders and partners. Most importantly, plans that engage the people and communities the organization serves.
That work is meaningful. It’s also expensive. A typical Prosper engagement runs $70,000 to $150,000 for a three-to-five-year plan. For larger nonprofits, that’s a worthwhile investment. For the small-to-mid-sized organizations that make up the majority of the sector, it’s out of reach. Especially in 2026, with funding under more strain than we’ve seen in our entire history of doing this work.
Meanwhile, those smaller-budget organizations need effective strategic plans more than ever. The need for nonprofit services is rising. Funding is more uncertain. The temptation to Google a template, cobble something together and call it a plan is everywhere. And the result is too often a document that sits on a shelf and never transforms anything.
So we built something to close that gap. In this episode I answer the questions we’ve been getting since launch: why we built it, what’s inside, who it’s for and how it’s different from the dozens of free templates already out there.
Why We Built the Nonprofit Strategic Planning Toolbox (and No, We’re Not Trying to Put Ourselves Out of Business)
The honest answer: we built it because we believe every nonprofit deserves a strategic plan rooted in stakeholder voice, not just the ones who can afford a near six-figure consulting engagement.
The Toolbox is a deliberate attempt to democratize what we do. Not a watered-down version. Not a content-marketing freebie. The same proven Shared Power Strategy™ process we use with our largest clients, packaged so that an executive director, senior staff leader or board chair can lead it themselves with confidence.
We’re not trying to put ourselves out of business. We’ll keep doing high-touch facilitation for organizations that want it. But the field needs another path forward, and this is ours.
What’s Actually Inside the Toolbox
The Guidebook
A 70+ page nonprofit strategic planning Guidebook that Lindsay and I wrote together. It walks you step-by-step through our Shared Power Strategy™ process, the same process we use with consulting clients, broken down into manageable steps a small organization can execute in-house.
17 Tools, 8 Modules
Inside, you get 17 tools organized into eight modules: planning timelines, leadership-team and board questionnaires, stakeholder survey and interview templates, a research report template, retreat slides and an agenda, an OKR workshop deck and OKR dashboard, listening-session and progress-meeting templates and both internal and external strategic plan templates.
These are the same tools we use in our own engagements, not generic versions of them.
Strately™ AI (Pro only)
A custom GPT we built and trained on our philosophy, our tools and our 12 years of nonprofit strategic planning experience. Think of Strately™ as a coach you can ask questions during the process: how to summarize stakeholder input, how to draft plan language, how to build an OKR dashboard from a list of objectives. It speeds up the busy work without making the strategic decisions for you. (Same caveat as any GPT: be thoughtful about sharing sensitive information.)
The Toolbox comes in two versions. Core includes the Guidebook and the essential tools. Pro adds the full 17-tool suite, retreat agendas, the external strategic plan template, progress meeting agendas and Strately™ AI.
How Shared Power Strategy™ Is Different
Most traditional strategic planning is top-down. A small group of senior leaders and a few board members do the thinking. The plan gets shared out. Stakeholders are informed, not involved.
Shared Power Strategy™ is the opposite. Voices from across, and from outside, the organization shape the plan from the start, with the highest priority placed on hearing from the people and communities the organization serves. Staff, board, partners, funders and beneficiaries all have meaningful input. The result is a plan with stronger buy-in, more diverse perspectives and a much higher likelihood of actually being used.
A few terms worth knowing as you listen:
- Stakeholder engagement: the deliberate practice of involving the people affected by your organization’s work (community members, staff, board, funders, partners) in shaping its direction. Done right, it’s not a survey at the end; it’s woven through the entire process.
- Shared Power Strategy™: Prosper Strategies’ proprietary philosophy for nonprofit strategic planning that centers the people and communities you serve in every phase of the process.
- OKRs (Objectives and Key Results): a goal-setting framework that pairs aspirational objectives with measurable key results, so progress is visible and trackable across teams.
- Nonprofit Strategy System: the broader Prosper Strategies framework that connects mission, strategy and culture across an organization.
Who the Toolbox Is For (and Who It Isn’t)
The Toolbox is built for nonprofit leaders ready to lead their own strategic planning process. That’s usually an executive director, CEO, senior staff leader or board/planning-committee chair at a small-to-mid-sized organization. You don’t need prior strategic planning experience. You do need to be willing to facilitate conversations, make hard calls and bring stakeholders in transparently.
It’s also drawing real interest from other nonprofit consultants. If you’re a consultant who believes in Shared Power™ planning and wants to use the Toolbox with your own clients, get in touch and we’ll set you up with a per-client license.
What it’s not: a shortcut. It’s a real strategic planning process. If you’re looking to skim a template and call it a plan, this isn’t that.
Real Results From Shared Power Strategic Planning
A few outcomes the Shared Power Strategy™ process has produced for organizations we’ve worked with:
- Reversed a $2.5 million budget deficit in a single year
- Secured $1 million in funding for a capital investment project
- Increased participation in a key program by 75% over three years
- Successfully launched a new program serving a previously underserved community
The specific outcomes for any organization vary based on the priorities the planning process surfaces. But clarity, alignment and measurable progress are consistent across every plan we’ve helped build.
How Long the Process Takes
Three to six months is the typical range, just as it is in our consulting work. The variability depends on how often your team meets, how many stakeholders you involve and how deep you go on research. The Toolbox is flexible enough to dial up or down. The organizations that get the most out of it are the ones that treat it like a real strategic planning process, not a side project.
Quick Summary
The Nonprofit Strategic Planning Toolbox from Prosper Strategies is a DIY strategic planning system built on the same Shared Power Strategy™ philosophy used in near six-figure consulting engagements. It’s designed for small-to-mid-sized nonprofits that need an effective, stakeholder-driven plan but don’t have the budget for full consulting.
What you get:
- A 70+ page Guidebook that walks you through eight modules: Prepare, Engage, Research, Retreat, Set OKRs, Test, Launch, Implement.
- 17 tools and templates: the same ones Prosper uses with consulting clients, including stakeholder survey templates, interview guides, OKR dashboards, retreat slides and internal and external strategic plan templates.
- Strately™ AI (Pro only): a custom GPT trained on Prosper’s process, tools and 12 years of experience.
- A Shared Power Strategy™ approach: stakeholder voice at the center, not bolted on at the end.
Best for: executive directors, senior staff leaders and board or planning-committee chairs at small-to-mid-sized nonprofits who are ready to lead their own process.
Find it at the Nonprofit Strategic Planning Toolbox. Listeners save $125 with code CHANGEMAKERCONVERSATIONS.
Why This Matters
The nonprofit sector is running on tighter margins than at any point in our 12-year history. Demand for services is rising. Federal funding is volatile. Donor confidence is shaky. And the small-to-mid-sized nonprofits that need solid strategic plans most are the ones least likely to be able to afford traditional consulting. The Toolbox exists to close that gap so that a healthy strategic planning process is no longer a function of budget size.
From the Podcast
This post was inspired by Changemaker Conversations, our podcast for nonprofit leaders navigating change, uncertainty and strategy.
Listen to the full episode:
About the Authors
Alyssa Conrardy
Alyssa is the Co-Founder of Prosper Strategies and a national expert in nonprofit strategy, stakeholder engagement, and the Shared Power Strategy™ approach. She leads nonprofits through complex strategic planning and crisis response efforts with a focus on alignment, equity and impact.
Connect with Alyssa: linkedin.com/in/alyssaconrardy
Lindsay Mullen
Lindsay is the Co-Founder of Prosper Strategies and a seasoned advisor to nonprofits navigating change, culture, and strategic decision-making. She brings deep expertise in board engagement, communications, and the Nonprofit Strategy System.
Connect with Lindsay: linkedin.com/in/lindsaymmullen
About Prosper Strategies
Alyssa Conrardy and Lindsay Mullen are the co-founders of Prosper Strategies, a strategic consulting firm that helps nonprofits align mission, strategy and culture through the Nonprofit Strategy System and Shared Power Strategy™ philosophy.
About Changemaker Conversations
Changemaker Conversations is a podcast for nonprofit leaders who are ready to build smarter, more strategic organizations with less friction and more joy.
Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and visit ChangemakerConversations.com for show notes and additional resources.
