The reality of operating a nonprofit is that it takes a lot of time, energy and effort to not only run your organization smoothly but also make a lasting impact that betters your community. Collaboration is the key to tackling complex issues and making well-informed decisions for your organization.
Each nonprofit stakeholder in your network brings something different to the table and offers a unique perspective on various areas of your organization. For example, volunteers may directly interact with beneficiaries and have keen insights into their needs, whereas board members may have a better understanding of your organization’s overarching history and how you should move forward with that context in mind.
Therefore, it’s only natural to involve a variety of stakeholders in developing your strategic plan and shaping the direction of your nonprofit. Explore these tips to fully ingrain stakeholders into the strategic planning process and create the best possible plan for your organization.
1. Conduct Stakeholder Interviews
Before you can develop your strategic plan, you’ll need to engage in some pre-planning activities. Start by analyzing the unique aspects of your organization, such as its history, infrastructure, mission, culture and core programs.
While you can do this internally, involving external stakeholders gives you a more comprehensive, well-rounded view of your nonprofit. For instance, you may interview these stakeholders to gain their diverse perspectives on your organization:
Current and past board members
Current major donors
Influential community leaders
Volunteers and staff
Beneficiaries
Corporate partners
Of course, you’ll want to hear from your top supporters about what you’re doing well, how your work positively affects their lives and how they envision the future of your nonprofit. However, don’t shy away from gathering feedback from stakeholders who may be more unsure about the current state of your organization. Seek various perspectives to receive truthful, constructive criticism that will help you improve your operations.
2. Send Surveys
Some stakeholders may not have the time for a full individual interview, but they may be willing to fill out a short survey on their own time to offer their perspectives. Plus, online surveys allow you to easily import the responses to your constituent relationship management platform (CRM) for future reference.
In these surveys, ask your stakeholders open-ended questions that give them space to elaborate, such as:
What are your top reasons for supporting our nonprofit?
What is your perception of our leaders and their capabilities?
Do you think our mission aligns with the current needs of our community? Why or why not?
What do you think are our organization’s greatest strengths?
What do you think are our organization’s most prominent opportunities for improvement?
What goals or outcomes do you think our organization should focus on?
Do you have any suggestions for how we could expand our impact?
How can we improve our efforts to communicate our mission, impact and needs to the community?
What is your vision for the future of our organization?
Surveying supporters about their experience with your nonprofit also serves as an effective way to steward donors and volunteers, show them you value their input and build stronger relationships with them. Use their responses to improve your strategic planning approach and note their individual preferences and opinions so you can better understand each supporter’s interests and investment in your organization.
3. Host a Strategic Planning Retreat
After you’ve worked with your stakeholders to assess the current state of your organization, it’s time to start prioritizing your focus areas and creating goals accordingly. At this stage in the strategic planning process, Aly Sterling Philanthropy recommends hosting a retreat that “encourages organizational leaders to consolidate and discuss their thoughts in a dedicated, action-oriented forum.”
At the retreat, introduce the issues different stakeholders have raised throughout the pre-planning process, and invite your board and staff members to reflect on which they think are most important. For example, if many people mentioned that community members they’ve spoken to are unaware of exactly what your organization does, you might want to align on how you can make your mission statement and marketing materials more straightforward.
Coming out of your retreat, you should have a firm grasp of your priorities and a strong foundation for your plan. To steer you in the right direction, consider working with a nonprofit consultant to facilitate the retreat. Their outside, objective perspective and experience working with similar organizations can help you reach a consensus and organize your team’s thoughts so you can easily move forward with the planning process.
4. Collect Feedback on Drafts
Next, assemble a first draft of your strategic plan. Gathering all of the feedback and insights you’ve obtained together, focus on strategies relating to these main pillars:
Your mission. Does your mission statement still reflect your work, or do you need to revamp it? Alternatively, are there ways you should tweak your mission to better address your community’s current needs? For example, a major hurricane may prompt a homeless shelter to start focusing on housing those who lost their homes in the storm.
Marketing and public relations (PR). How do you want to portray your mission to current and potential supporters? Are there any specific stories about your mission and its beneficiaries that you could highlight in your marketing materials?
Financial sustainability. Which fundraising strategies should you leverage to maximize revenue? How can you best allocate your resources to fuel your mission? Do you have reserve funds to help your organization weather unforeseen challenges?
Community engagement. How can you raise awareness of your cause within your community? How can you garner the support of volunteers, local businesses, community organizations and other relevant groups?
Infrastructure and process. What are your board and staff members’ roles in executing this plan? Are there any new resources you need to acquire to make this plan possible? How will you measure the impact of your new strategies?
Share your completed draft with your board and staff members to get their input. While you should create the plan with their perspectives in mind, some elements may fall through the cracks or get lost in translation. Giving stakeholders a peak at your strategic plan before finalizing it allows you to ensure that it reflects their thoughts. Consider presenting the plan in a slideshow format so they can easily digest each element and pinpoint any gaps.
5. Assess Plan Outcomes
After you implement your strategic plan, sit down with your closest stakeholders—your board and staff members—to assess the outcomes together. That way, you can build trust with them and show you’re committed to achieving the goals you’ve set together.
For example, let’s say one of your goals was to create marketing materials that more clearly reflect your cause and inspire people to get involved. Double the Donation’s nonprofit data collection guide recommends analyzing marketing metrics like website traffic, social media engagement, email open and click rates and advertising data to assess your progress.
You likely also have goals more directly related to program outcomes. Present relevant program metrics to your stakeholders so you can analyze them as a team, celebrate your successes and identify any room for improvement.
What makes your nonprofit’s community strong are the multiple individuals who offer their support and guidance to your organization. Show your stakeholders that you value their opinions and fortify your strategic plan by involving them in the process. Along the way, you’ll likely unlock insights about your operations that you would’ve never discovered otherwise and can use this information to better serve your beneficiaries and fulfill your mission.
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