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Nonprofit Strategic Planning
Planning is a Process
Strategic planning requires time, effort, and continual reassessment. Given the proper attention, it can set your nonprofit on the right track. Most people think of strategy as an event, but that’s not the way the world works. When we run into unanticipated opportunities and threats, we have to respond. Sometimes we respond successfully; sometimes we don’t. More often than not, the strategy that leads to success emerges through a process that’s at work 24/7 in almost every area of focus.
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You Deserve a Strategic Plan That…
- ​Aligns Board, staff, and donors around your mission and objectives
- Guides and nurtures program growth
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​Offers a roadmap for governance
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Supports the chief executive in management decisions
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Serves as a fundraising tool
Nonprofits that develop a robust strategic plan build more effective programs, experience more fundraising success, and encounter fewer operational issues. The opposite is also true: charities that fail to plan typically struggle with programs, fundraising, and operations. For this reason, the strategic planning consultant you choose will have a significant impact on your organization for years to come.
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Our Strategic Planning Process
After years of facilitating strategic planning projects across the U.S., we have developed a process that enables our strategic planning partners to develop an effective plan they can actually implement. This process and the final strategic plan have propelled many organizations to greater levels of success. Over a six month period, we help with every step outlined in the planning process:
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Our Secret Ingredient​
Raiser Sharp Consulting has a standard of quality that sets us apart from the vast majority of other consultants.
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Rather than simply present a strategic plan to you and wish you well, we stay with you through the full year of our engagement and offer 5 virtual one-hour training and coaching sessions to help you begin to implement the plan effectively.
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We typically concentrate on those weaknesses found during the SWOT analysis, but these sessions could include things like:
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Exploring the the issues behind building a strong team
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Personality trait assessment and communications styles. Each member receives a written description of their own styles. This is to develop trust and creating a safe space for discussions.
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Common difficulties during a board’s strategy, vision and delivery conversations.
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Learning how to disagree, resolve differences and conflicts.
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Recapping the lessons learned, the outstanding differences remaining and clarifying how the members will proceed with implementing the strategic plan.
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Two Most Common Strategic Planning Questions​
Almost every nonprofit executive and Board member ask the same two questions:
(1) What is your role as a strategic planning consultant?
The role your consultant plays in strategic planning will ultimately determine how much they charge for a quality strategic plan. Your consultant can play one of two roles:
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Role 1: Consultant as Facilitator
As a facilitator, the consultant merely facilitates your strategic planning process, providing a general structure, templates and tools, facilitation, and project management. Your own team (work group) is fully responsible for the environmental scan and writing the final plan. This is often the least expensive option because the heavy lifting is done by the work group.
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Role 2: Consultant as Facilitator and Planner
This is the most common role for a strategic planning consultant in the nonprofit sector, and the role your Raiser Sharp consultant will play in your strategic planning process. A consultant in this role not only provides tools, project management, etc. But they also take on the heavy lift of conducting your environmental scan and drafting your plan.
(2) What do you charge for a strategic planning project?
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We give you the option to pay monthly for up to one year, dividing your costs into 12 easy payments.
Costs do not include travel expenses (transportation & lodging).
