A plan we'll actually use.
Strategy that fits on a page and survives contact with the year.
What it looks like from the inside
The strategic plan is five years old and lives in a binder. Every new opportunity gets a yes, because there's nothing to say no against. The mission statement has been edited so many times it no longer says anything. Programs get evaluated by anecdote. And the question that never gets asked out loud is whether the organization should be doing something fundamentally different, or doing it with someone else.
What it's costing you
Focus, and then everything that follows from focus. Without a plan, fundraising has no story, the board has no direction, and staff have no way to prioritize. Funders can tell. And the hardest conversations, about earned revenue, about a merger, about a program that should end, keep getting postponed until circumstances make them for you.
What fixed looks like
A plan short enough to remember and specific enough to use. A mission, vision, and values that were argued about and agreed on. A theory of change that connects what you do to what changes. Measures that tell you whether it's working. And a clear-eyed look at the strategic options, including the uncomfortable ones, made while you still have the room to choose.
How we work on it
Get a plan: a strategic planning process built for your size, that ends with a document your board approves and your staff uses. Get it built: the theory of change, the evaluation framework, the earned revenue model. Get a team: facilitation for the hard conversations, including partnership and merger exploration, with someone who has no stake in the answer.
- Strategic planning
- Mission, vision, and values workshops
- Theory of change and impact measurement
- Program evaluation frameworks
- Earned revenue and social enterprise strategy
- Merger and partnership exploration