Nonprofit strategic planning is one of the most important things your organization can do to position itself for success. Your plan outlines your big picture priorities for the next 3-5 years, along with the steps you will take to achieve them.
Planning for strategic planning is also crucial. Most organizations begin the process six months to a year before their previous strategic plan expires. The extended timeline allows for your nonprofit to engage all of its various stakeholders and constituents — the people your organization exists to serve — in the process. Not only is this approach more equitable and inclusive, it also positions your organization to more effectively execute on your strategic plan.
In this post, we’ll cover the typical strategic planning cycle, how (and why) to engage your stakeholders in the process and other important elements to consider when planning your process.
Understand the Strategic Planning Cycle
Most nonprofits engage in 3-5 year strategic planning cycles because this timeframe strikes a balance between strategic foresight and practical execution. Here’s why:
Allows for Long-Term Vision While Staying Flexible
A 3-5 year period gives your nonprofit enough time to pursue long-term goals while still maintaining flexibility. If your plan is too short, your team may not have enough time to achieve substantial outcomes. On the other hand, if the plan spans too long (e.g., 10 years), external factors, such as changing regulations, funding landscapes and community needs may render it outdated. A nonprofit plan with a 3-5 year time frame provides a window to implement strategic initiatives while allowing adjustments to unforeseen changes.
Aligns with Funding and Grant Cycles
Many funding organizations, including foundations and government agencies, also operate on similar 3-5 year cycles. Aligning your nonprofit’s strategic plan with these cycles helps you stay in sync with grant opportunities and long-term fundraising plans. A clear strategic plan shows funders how their investment will contribute to specific, measurable objectives over time.
Measurable and Manageable Objectives
Setting goals for a 3-5 year period allows your nonprofit to break down long-term ambitions into actionable, short-term steps. This timeframe offers enough time to implement major initiatives while ensuring that progress can be measured along the way. We recommend using a flexible system, such as objectives and key results so that your organization can consistently evaluate and update your progress throughout the plan’s lifecycle.
Sufficient Time for Program Development
Launching or scaling new programs and services often takes several years to plan, fund, implement and evaluate. A 3-5 year cycle allows your nonprofit to develop programs thoughtfully, ensuring you have time to secure necessary resources, roll out initiatives and assess impact.
When You Should Develop a Strategic Plan
If you’re nearing the final year of your current nonprofit strategic plan, it’s time to start preparing for the next one. This ensures a smooth transition and continuity. Key factors to consider when timing your planning include:
- Your fiscal year start and end dates
- Major initiatives, events or milestones
- Grant funding cycles
We’ll share more below, but you also want to ensure you have enough time to dedicate to the process.
When You Should NOT Develop a Strategic Plan
All of this being said, there are certain times when nonprofit strategic planning is not advisable. This includes when there is a lack of stability or resources at your nonprofit, when you’re experiencing an organizational identity crisis, or when there are external factors dominating the landscape that make it difficult or impossible to plan.
Check out some of our other resources about the importance of strategic planning
Why Strategic Planning Is Essential for Nonprofits
The Three Step Strategic Planning Process Every Nonprofit Needs
Create a Process to Involve Stakeholders in Nonprofit Strategic Planning
At Prosper Strategies, our Shared Power PhilosophyTM is core to our nonprofit strategic planning process. The Philosophy says that nonprofits must redistribute the power to shape their organizations to their stakeholders, especially the people and communities they serve, if they want to be not just equitable and inclusive, but also truly effective.
As your nonprofit is approaching strategic planning, you need to determine who your stakeholders and constituents are and how to involve them at the right place and in the right ways throughout the strategic planning process. Then you need to build your approach and timeline around their involvement. There are many reasons why building a process to include the many people who impact and are impacted by your organization is so important. Here are a few:
Inclusive Decision-Making
Nonprofits serve diverse communities with varying needs, and sharing power during strategic planning ensures that decisions are made with input from a broad range of voices. By including constituents, staff, board members, volunteers, beneficiaries and community partners in strategic planning, your nonprofit can ensure that your strategic plan is informed by the experiences and insights of those most impacted by the organization’s work, leading to more comprehensive and equitable outcomes.
Adapting to Community Needs
Involving stakeholders and constituents during the strategic planning process ensures that the plan reflects real, evolving community needs. Community-driven input leads to more relevant programs, services, and solutions, helping your nonprofit stay aligned with its mission and responsive to its constituency.
Building Buy-In and Ownership
When your nonprofit includes multiple stakeholders in the strategic planning process, they develop a sense of ownership over the resulting plan. This buy-in leads to greater commitment to implementing the strategy, as people are more likely to support a plan they helped shape. Sharing power ensures that the strategic plan isn’t just a top-down directive from leadership but a collective roadmap that reflects the needs and aspirations of the entire organization.
Leveraging Diverse Expertise
Engaging a wide variety of individuals in various ways through strategic planning allows your nonprofit to tap into the diverse skills and expertise of different stakeholders. For example, frontline staff may have insights into operational challenges, while board members can provide strategic oversight and community partners can highlight emerging needs or opportunities. By distributing decision-making power, you can leverage the collective intelligence of the group, resulting in a more informed and effective strategy.
Promoting Equity and Justice
Putting important decisions about your nonprofit and its future in the hands of a few reinforces hierarchical structures and minimizes the important input of traditionally underrepresented groups, namely the individuals and communities your nonprofit exists to serve. By involving constituents in your strategic planning process, it flips the power dynamics, ensuring these individuals have a say in shaping the organization’s future.
Improving Accountability
When power is shared, it creates a system of mutual accountability. If strategic planning is done solely by leadership, there may be a disconnect between decision-makers and those who execute the strategy. Engaging a broad range of stakeholders in the planning process helps ensure that everyone is accountable for the outcomes, as they have a vested interest in seeing the plan succeed.
Strengthening Trust and Relationships
Sharing power in strategic planning fosters trust and strengthens relationships within the organization and with external partners. When stakeholders feel their input is valued and their voices are heard, they are more likely to trust the organization’s leadership and direction. This trust leads to stronger partnerships, increased collaboration, and a more cohesive organizational culture.
Check out some of our other resources about who should be involved in your nonprofit’s strategic planning process
The Importance of Representation in Strategic Planning
What Should Your Board’s Role Be in Strategic Planning?
5 Essential Roles in the Nonprofit Strategic Planning Process
Decide if you Need a Strategic Planning Consultant
Whether you need to hire a consultant for strategic planning depends on your organization’s capacity, expertise, and goals. There are some specific situations where you may consider hiring a nonprofit consultant.
Multiple Stakeholder Groups Need to be Engaged
A nonprofit consultant can help you structure your strategic planning process so you’re including the voices and insights of everyone who needs to be engaged. The consultant should have expertise on how to involve your nonprofit’s leadership team, board, donors, funders and of course your constituents. Each of these groups should be involved in the right times and the right ways through the use of trauma-informed facilitation.
Need for an External Perspective
Sometimes, organizations are too close to their challenges to see them clearly. Engaging a consultant in your strategic planning process brings a fresh, unbiased perspective and can help you identify blind spots, opportunities, and areas for improvement that you may have missed.
Facilitation and Mediation
If there are differing opinions among staff, board members, or stakeholders about the direction of the nonprofit, a consultant can act as a neutral facilitator to guide strategic planning discussions and mediate disagreements.
Specialized Expertise
If your nonprofit is entering a new phase, such as expanding services, pursuing a merger, or navigating a complex regulatory environment, a consultant with specialized knowledge in these areas can help craft a more informed and effective strategic plan.
Accountability
Consultants provide structure and ensure that the strategic planning process stays on track, with clear timelines and deliverables. Their involvement often creates accountability, keeping the team focused and organized.
Check out some of our other resources about nonprofit consultants
The Best Nonprofit Consultants and How to Choose the One That’s Right for Your Organization
Nonprofit Consultants: Does Sector Expertise Matter for Your Organization?
When Not to Hire a Consultant for Your Nonprofit
Why Won’t Respond to Your Nonprofit’s Strategic Planning RFP
Ensure you have ample time to dedicate to strategic planning
The nonprofit strategic planning process typically takes anywhere from four months to a year, depending on the size and complexity of your nonprofit. Set a realistic timeline that outlines the key milestones and deadlines for each phase of the process. Break the process into manageable chunks, such as:
Months 1 and 2:
- People: Who needs to be involved in your strategic planning process
- Research: What research is needed to inform the strategic planning team
Months 3 and 4
- Strategy: Workshops and retreats: When can the team come together for creative exercises, brainstorming, and prioritization
Months 5 and 6
- Progress: How will you develop accountability measures to ensure your plan shapes the work of your nonprofit every single day
Need some inspiration? Check out our resource:
