If Robert Burns Knew about Strategic Planning: What We Know Now that He Didn't Then

The famous Robert Burns quote says “the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry,” and while it’s true that rigid planning often fails to cope with the unexpected, good strategic planing can actually lead an organization successfully through the challenges of its time.

So what is strategic planning? It is an essential process in guiding organizations to achieve their mission by identifying strengths and weaknesses, strategic issues for the organization, and plans for acting on and evaluating progress on these issues. This planning helps to clarify the mission and identifies fundamental issues. If effectively implemented with the aid of organizational leaders, the process can candidly confront critical issues, and create detailed roadmaps for success (Bryson).

Most resources list ten steps to this process. It has been adapted for all kinds of environments like entrepreneurs and foundations, and the order of the steps often changes to meet the needs of the group. Here’s my version, synthesized from Bryson and United Way:

1. Align Stakeholders: Begin conversations with relevant stakeholders and agree on a strategic planning process. There are a lot of different versions; pick one that will suit your organization best.
2. Mission, Internal Assessment, External Assessment: Take stock of your current environment and goals. Start with the internal. What is the mission of your organization? How do your operations function? What are the organizational mandates you must work within? Then, think about the external environment in which your organization exists. Be careful at this stage to simply describe what is, we’re not critiquing yet!
3. (Vision: Taking into account the information you outlined in step one, identify the long-term vision for the organization. Where do you hope to be in five, ten, twenty years? If you are a brand new organization it’s often overwhelming to think about long term goals so early in the process, skip it for now and come back when you have more organizational capacity to consider the vision.)
4. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats or SWOTS: In this stage we begin to critique the information that we’ve gathered. Strengths and weaknesses assess internal pros and cons of the organization, while opportunities and threats highlight the external pressures that may require change from your organization.
5. Strategic Issues: From your SWOTS, identify issues that are urgent and are likely to have a large impact on your organization. These are strategic issues, defined as: “Internal or external development[s] which could impact the organization’s performance, to which the organization must respond in an orderly fashion and over which the organization may reasonably expect to exert some influence” (United Way p. 3). Draft statements of strategic issues that include a definition, list of factors that make it fundamental, and outcomes that would result from different scenarios involving the issue.
6. Formulate Strategies and Plans: What do you need to do and how will you do it?
7. Do it:  Development an effective implementation process and get formal approval for the plan. Then get to work.
8. Evaluate!!! The successful strategic plan requires regular reassessment of the organization’s success at addressing the strategic issues you’ve worked hard to identify.

And when that’s all done, start thinking about what will happen when the current strategic plan comes to an end (Tregoe). Strategic planning is an ongoing process that needs to be revisited frequently to keep programming relevant within its environment (Bryson). While Burns was a skeptic in 1785 when he coined a popular proverb about planning, I think he might have whistled a different tune if he knew about  the strategic planning process today. 

References:

Bryson, John M. 2010. “Strategic Planning and the Strategy Change Cycle” in The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management. Renz, David O, ed. Jossey-Bass. San Francisco, CA. 

Tregoe, Benjamin. 1983. “The Challenges of Strategic Management.” In Top Management Strategy. Benjamin B. Tregoe and John W. Zimmerman. New York: Simon and Schuster.

United Way of Dane County. No date. “Strategic Planning Process.”

Why the nonprofit sector is unique

Non-profits in America are unique in that they give voice and place to some of society's most extraordinary needs. Nonprofits complete the web of work that we as a collective do, by supporting special interests, providing relief and developing community. Did you know that nonprofits exist in Colorado whose sole purpose is to provide bear-proof trashcans to citizens?1 There is an organization called the "National Odd Shoe Exchange" that specializes in providing one shoe for those who have a particular need. 2 Or take the cat allies nonprofit near Franklin County Florida that only serves the well-being of cats and cat allies on St. George Island. 3 The sector is diverse indeed.

Over 1.5 million nonprofits exist in the United States 4 and they are very different from their public and private sector siblings. Oftentimes nonprofits are encouraged to work more like organizations in the private sector who benefit from: quantifiable results, fewer budget constraints and more centralized processes. Americans have an affinity for efficiency, and when we see it happening in one place we wonder why it can't happen everywhere. I should admit that after having worked for nonprofits for eight years I too fell in and out of this mind trap. "If only we could be better at x, y, z... if only we had more money or more agile members... why can't my boss just delegate these tasks so that there is one direct person responsible for every project!!?" Well, there are a host of reasons why, and listing all of them would overwhelm this week's blog post. Additionally, my classmates presented strong contributions on the overarching attributes of nonprofits, so instead I will aim to drill down on one specific to example to illustrate the unique nature of nonprofit organizations. 

Evaluation. It cannot be overlooked that measurement and evaluation is very different for nonprofit organizations than it is for private and public sector organizations. Timelines for change and work with human services make determining outcomes tricky business. The work that nonprofits do does not often lend itself well to neat and tidy forms of measurement (the public sector can relate to this challenge as well, though I would argue that adding the public as a vested stakeholder whose dollars are at hand might put the public sector in an even more difficult place than many nonprofits). How can you linearly track the progress of individuals when so many factors have been involved in their growth? Collaboration is a key component of non-profits and is essential for budgeting, so which organization had the most impact or which organization deserves the kudos for the outcome? In a world of numbers, will quotes, pictures and success stories have as much of an impact? These strategies frequently work for public and private sector organizations and do not transfer as easily to many nonprofits.

Its also true that answers to these questions vary by organization. Therefore, what can the nonprofit do that its stepbrothers and sisters cannot? The nonprofit can have a nimble approach to its challenges. It is not the public or private sector and it must operate differently. In other words, it gets to operate differently! Approaching the sector this way reminds us of the void it fills in our nation's infrastructure- thus divinely pairing with the public and private realms of life. 

Additional sources:Renz, David O, ed. 2010. The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management. Jossey-Bass. San Francisco, CA. 

Do We Really Need Nonprofits?

While religious organizations and charities have existed for thousands of years, nonprofits as we understand them today have only become prominent in the past few decades. Now, the world’s many nonprofit organizations operate as a coherent sector separate from (though closely linked to) government and business. Why does such a large third sector exist? Can’t society get what it needs from businesses and government alone, with the government providing social services to those in need?  The short answer: absolutely not. Today, nonprofits play a key role in bolstering society and, perhaps surprisingly, the economy. The relationship that nonprofits have with business and government is one of interdependence and synergy; a quick look at these relationships will demonstrate the importance of nonprofits to our nation and world.


Business

The for-profit sector exists, at its most basic, to make money. Business owners seek to increase their own wealth, and many believe that this is where their responsibility ends. However, the idea of “corporate social responsibility” has caused many businesses to become intricately involved with the nonprofit world.
Corporate social responsibility argues that businesses should give back to the communities in which they operate, not for necessarily philanthropic reasons but because businesses need stable societies in order to make money. When a community is broken and its residents vulnerable, those residents do not seek to spend their money on the services and goods businesses provide. With this in mind, many businesses have begun to organize charity drives, provide in-kind services to nonprofits, encourage their employees to volunteer, and more.
Government
Governments also interact with nonprofits by providing grants, allowing tax deductions for charitable contributions, and providing “tax exempt” status to nonprofits regarding investment income, property tax, and sales tax. The government arranges for these concessions because it recognizes that nonprofits address a variety of social welfare issues that the government cannot fully undertake. 

Businesses need stable government as well, for very similar reasons; the government, in turn, needs the nonprofit sector to help keep society anchored and strong. The government often “contracts out” services to nonprofits. For example, it may pay an adoption agency to help facilitate adoption and foster care services; in turn, the nonprofit must stick to regulations spelled out by the government. It is often more cost-effective for the government to contract out services versus attempting to provide those services in-house.

We need nonprofits not only for the social welfare services they provide to citizens, but because they strengthen and assist the two other major sectors of our world: business and government. These three sectors work together to keep society and the economy stable. 

Sources:

Berman, Howard J. 2002. Doing "Good" vs. Doing "Well": The Role of Nonprofits in Society. Inquiry 39: 5-11.Renz, David O, ed. 2010. The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management. Jossey-Bass. San Francisco, CA. 

4 Things You Need to Know about the Nonprofit Sector

Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.

Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Nonprofit organizations today operate in an increasingly complex and interconnected environment. In order to understand the role of nonprofit organizations today, it is helpful to look at the nonprofit sector as it relates to the public sector (government) and the private sector (business).

1. Nonprofits step in where Government and Business left off

Government offers basic services to address social needs such as the Food Share program, subsidized healthcare and public transportation. However, in a political climate of demands for tax cuts and a smaller government, the role of government in addressing social needs is shrinking. In his article, “Doing ‘Good’ vs. Doing ‘Well’: The Role of Nonprofits in Society”, Berman notes that although the role of government may decrease, the needs of society do not decrease correspondingly (Berman, 2002).

Businesses vary greatly in their social impact, but businesses simply cannot exist in the long run if they don’t make a profit. Making a positive societal impact must take the back seat to profit in a business.  Social welfare cannot be realized by the public nor private sector in these circumstances. There is a real and pressing need for nonprofit work. 

2. Nonprofits Make a Profit

Nonprofit organizations are not legally prevented from making a profit. The key difference is what they are legally permitted to do with that profit. Nonprofit organizations, unlike government and business, are subject to the doctrine of private inurement. Basically, this ensures nonprofits are operated for the benefit of those they serve, by preventing nonprofits from passing their profits on to employees and the board.

This makes nonprofits unique. Successful businesses make a profit and pass it on those with an interest in the business such as shareholders/owners and employees (though not usually in equal proportion). Moreover, we’ve surely all heard by now condemnation of the government deficit. The government ought to make a profit, too, though it is not always distributed in the same manner as in businesses (Renz, 2010).

3. Businesses have stockholders, Nonprofits have stakeholders

Businesses are ultimately accountable to their owners. The government is (supposed to be) ultimately accountable to its citizens. The nonprofit accountability arrangement varies greatly. Nonprofits based on membership (such as the American Association of University Women or the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) are accountable to their members. Organizations that provide a service are accountable to those they serve, although this may be ineffective. Policy advocacy networks such as the Sierra Club and Amnesty International have some accountability to their members, who pay dues, and their volunteers. Other nonprofits seem to only be accountable to whichever members of society they claim as their stakeholders. The relationship is much less defined (Renz, 2010).

4. There’s no such thing as “one size fits all” in the Nonprofit Sector 

There is an incredible amount of nonprofit organizations today. These include charitable, educational, religious, scientific, social and political organizations, among many others. (Did you know the NFL is a nonprofit?) Moreover, there are many nonprofits that resemble businesses (such as microfinance organizations, like KIVA) and nonprofits that maintain a close relationship with government. Keep in mind, when considering the nonprofit sector, that nonprofit interests, goals and activities constitute a very wide range (Renz, 2010).

References:

Berman, Howard J. 2002. Doing "Good" vs. Doing "Well": The Role of Nonprofits in Society. Inquiry 39: 5-11.

Renz, David O, ed. 2010. The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management. Jossey-Bass. San Francisco, CA. 

Nobody Puts Non-Profits in a Corner: Dispelling the Myth of Isolation Between the Three Sectors

As busy people, we like to look at things as black and white, divided carefully and completely into separate categories. This thing goes in that box. Check. Done. The goals and roles of various institutions are no different. When we think about the work of government, we try to categorize it into a few main boxes: collecting taxes, managing the military, doling out Social Security checks. For-profits (i.e. corporations) exist, we might believe, solely to make money by selling us something or performing some task for us. Check. Non-profits are tasked with handing out charity. Done.

In the minds of many, these three sectors stay in their own lanes. The reality of it, however, is that there is a much deeper interplay between them. Certainly, all three sectors are likely to have some different roles in our lives and our communities, but they ought not to be so rigidly categorized.

David O. Renz traces the history of this interplay from the founding of the United States, when voluntary associations, the precursor to modern non-profits, were distrusted as tools of the wealthy to increase their standing, to the dramatic rise of foundations and charitable giving in the 19^th century, then embraced by Americans as they sought to enact social reforms. Over the last 100 years, as government has increased dramatically in both scope and in scale, the number of issues that have direct impacts on society, and have attracted dedicated supporters and detractors, has likewise skyrocketed. Non-profits have arisen as a powerful tool to enable citizens to influence government policy, in many cases serving as advocacy organizations rather than providing direct services to the needy.

As Howard Berman points out in The McNerny Forum, in today’s political climate, where the idea of government spending is often frowned upon by a majority of the electorate, non-profits are there to fill a void. Tight governmental budgets mean tough fights, and often even tougher losses, for program funding. Advocacy organizations, or non-operating organizations, fulfill their charitable role by working to bring about knowledge of the issues and the impacts of cuts to funding or inaction. Their work is to influence government, to humanize the political process and its ramifications. And when cuts are made, or when government simply cannot meet the social welfare needs of its citizens, operating non-profits yet again step in to fill this gap. In turn, government often recognizes the important role of non-profits, both as advocates for causes and groups who might otherwise go unnoticed and as providers of direct aid, through various funding structures that enable non-profits to exist. Each sector is deeply influenced by the other.

Similarly, the public and private sectors interact in ways that are not always readily apparent. Whereas most think of corporations as profit-seeking organizations, many for-profits employ the concept of corporate social responsibility – or, as Berman puts it, doing “good” instead of just doing “well.” Corporations have learned that a healthy, stable community is good for business, but typically not within the expertise of the corporation itself to undertake. Here again, non-profits fill a void. Their role as on-the-ground actors enables businesses that seek to do “good” in their communities to find the right ways to have a real effect on individuals.

These three sectors each function with their own roles within society. They do not, however, function within a vacuum. Instead, there is a delicate but omnipresent interplay between them. Where government may fall short, non-profits may step in to provide services. Where non-profits need institutionalized support, government may provide this in the form of funding. And where business seeks to expand its impact beyond profit for shareholders, non-profits may enable them to do so efficiently and for the greatest good.

Sources:

Renz, David O, ed. 2010. The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management. Jossey-Bass. San Francisco, CA. 

Berman, Howard J. 2002. Doing "Good" vs. Doing "Well": The Role of Nonprofits in Society. Inquiry 39: 5-11.