A major complaint about strategic planning is that it is not worthwhile because no one can predict the future – so why try to set a five year strategy? People who think this way don’t understand strategy correctly. A strategy should not attempt to tell you specifically what you will “do” during the second week of the tenth month of the third year of the strategy time … [Read more...] about The 6th Deadly Sin of Nonprofit Strategy: “No Annual Review”
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The 5th Deadly Sin of Nonprofit Strategy: “Lots of Plans, No Strategy” aka “What is Strategy Anyway?”
When I ask for a copy of a strategy or a strategic plan, I usually get a lot of paper with plans and lists and budgets and – sometimes – a few vague goals. But rarely do I see a “strategy.” So what is a strategy anyway? Keeping it simple, a strategy is a general explanation of how you are going to guide your organization’s performance into the future – from here to … [Read more...] about The 5th Deadly Sin of Nonprofit Strategy: “Lots of Plans, No Strategy” aka “What is Strategy Anyway?”
The 3rd Deadly Sin of Nonprofit Strategy: Over-Emphasis on Fundraising
Like so many sins, this one starts out innocently enough. An organization has financial challenges and decides it needs a big new fundraising campaign – maybe even a capital campaign. Then someone remembers that a big fundraising effort will need to be explained as being part of a strategic plan. So they hasten to throw together a strategic plan that justifies the … [Read more...] about The 3rd Deadly Sin of Nonprofit Strategy: Over-Emphasis on Fundraising
The Classic SWOT Analysis: Better Backwards
The classic use of SWOT Analysis (a review of an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) has been around for a long time in the field of strategic planning, but it can be used in a far more helpful way if it is done backwards. In the classic approach to strategy, the first step of the strategy development process is SWOT Analysis. The purpose … [Read more...] about The Classic SWOT Analysis: Better Backwards