There’s a fine line between under-involvement of nonprofit boards in the strategic planning process, and over-involvement. At Prosper Strategies, we believe that one of the primary responsibilities of a board is to oversee the strategic direction of their organization. But that doesn’t mean we believe the board should be involved in every detail of strategic planning, nor should board priorities be the only ones that determine the focus of a strategic plan.
Other experts in board governance agree. For example, here’s what Boardsource says on the matter:
“Working side-by-side with staff leadership, your board should play an active and substantive role in developing, approving, and supporting your organization’s strategic planning…The most important planning tool a nonprofit has is the strategic planning process, and this should reflect a shared board and staff vision of the organization’s role, values, and priorities. It should also include a clear focus on the purpose of your organization and the community it serves. Nonprofits need to ensure that those most impacted by the plans have a voice in the planning.”
So how should your board be involved in strategic planning?
As the adage goes, “noses in, fingers out.” Meaning your board should play a role in shaping the strategic direction of your nonprofit and taking ownership of the organization’s future. However, when it comes to how your nonprofit will execute and deliver on its strategies, nonprofit leadership and staff, who have insights, expertise and on-the-ground knowledge of the day-to-day realities of the organization, should determine the steps that need to be taken.
A good strategic planning process ensures board members are part of key strategic conversations, but that they leave operational planning to the nonprofit’s staff. So let’s review how you don’t want your board to engage in the strategic planning process, and then walk through how to achieve the right level of board guidance and input.
Board over-involvement in strategic planning
Many executive directors think it’s smart to include board members (or a subset of them) in the entire strategic planning process. For a working board, this might be okay, but I generally don’t think it’s the best idea to have board members involved in every strategic planning session. Involving board members in the “how” tends to take them too far into the weeds and can actually undermine the executive director’s and staff’s important operational role.
It’s best to have the board provide feedback or even assist in the creation of your strategic plan pillars (the three to five biggest priorities of your organization) and potentially the objectives that go along with them, but then to allow staff to put shape to how your plan will be executed. To put this into context, board members might determine, along with staff, that, strategically, your organization needs to transition away from an over-reliance on government funds. So one of your strategic plan pillars might be to diversify funding and revenue streams, and the board might help you begin to identify objectives to move this pillar forward. Then, it should be up to staff to build key results and action plans on top of those pillars and objectives, and to determine the specific grants, earned revenue channels, individual giving strategies, etc. that the organization will pursue to achieve the agreed upon objectives.
Board under-involvement in strategic planning
In cases of under-involvement, nonprofit leadership and staff often work together to create their strategic plan, and only share it with the board when it is ready to be adopted. This approach overlooks the board as a key set of stakeholders and can lead to problems when the team has worked hard to develop the plan and then board members come in with major feedback too late in the process. It also leads to very limited board ownership of the overall organizational strategy (which is one of their most important roles and responsibilities).
The ideal board involvement in nonprofit strategic planning
There are more generative ways to involve your board in strategic planning that focus them on high-level, big picture thinking while also creating buy-in for the future direction of your nonprofit.
The first approach we like to recommend centers around the development of a special board strategic planning committee, which tends to be a good option for organizations with large boards. This committee is made up of a smaller group of board representatives. While they are still not involved in the entire planning process, they can play a role in important planning conversations regarding your nonprofit’s vision, mission and strategic priorities, providing ideas, input and feedback before these important elements are shared with the full board. By operating this way, you’re managing the feedback stream, positioning these members of your board as your strategic plan champions, and ultimately fostering more board buy-in.
The second approach we recommend involves including a set of board surveys, interviews and listening sessions in your strategic planning process to capture insights on key parts of your plan at various points in the planning process. This will help you avoid any unforeseen, last-minute feedback and ensure the board is included, where necessary, throughout the strategic planning process. For example, you’d host a board listening session to get feedback on a new vision and mission before finalizing those elements. Then you’d host a board listening session to get feedback on your strategic plan pillars before finalizing. This way, when you bring the final plan up for board vote, everyone is already familiar with it and has discussed key elements of your plan previously. Ideally, your nonprofit has both a board strategic planning committee made up of a smaller group of board members, and also hosts board listening sessions with the full board.
Board and stakeholder involvement in strategic planning is complex. However, bringing in the right perspectives at the right times is critical, not only to develop your strategy, but also for creating alignment about your organization’s future.
