Kelly Campbell and Betsy Haley
Mention business planning and people often think about written plans—the tangible products. The leap is natural, but it is also problematic. It short circuits the process of developing the plan, which is where many nonprofits find the greater value.
The business-planning process offers a nonprofit’s decision makers a rare opportunity to step back and look at their organization as a whole. It is a time to connect the dots between mission and programs, to specify the resources that will be required to deliver those programs, and to establish performance measures that allow everyone to understand if the desired results are being achieved. As a result, it encourages strategic thinking, not only while the plan is being created, but also thereafter, as implementation leads to new challenges and the need to make new decisions and tradeoffs.
In the article “Business Planning for Nonprofits,” we draw on client experience to illustrate the key components of the business-planning process. We share some practical tips about getting started and also describe a typical written plan.
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