In many respects a business plan is like a program proposal or plan, and some funders use the terms interchangeably.
Driven by the strategic plan, a business plan forecasts the revenues and expenditures for each initiative cash flow from one or more programs – or funding streams…
If funding will be based on a fee-for-service arrangement (e.g., x hours of instruction to y learners over z weeks), be sure that your estimates of client volume are sound, and that client volume will be sufficient to sustain the program financially…
Thinking about pricing represents a culture change within and outside a non-profit organization. This can cause tensions – you need to respond to the community, realize where you are gaining financially and politically: some things you can give away, some things you may want to sell due to time and money invested, or an opportunity for revenue generation to support other parts of your operation.
“Working within Job Connect we are required to write a business plan every year – we complete this activity with staff and dedicate a whole day to this. It is important for us to review what we completed the previous year and look at the positives and the negatives of those
various initiatives.”
John Howard Society, Welland
The website of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) has very useful business planning tools, including a “How to” document for preparing a business plan. A business plan is a critical step in developing a successful business. Prepared for you is a presentation which can be downloaded. The presentation offers an easy look at the key elements that make up a business plan.
