Strategic Planning and Financial Vibrancy

In essence, strategic planning involves maximizing your agency’s various strengths and capacities toward an agreed-upon goal by articulating the steps and timelines it will take to reach that goal.  It is a means of maximizing the return on your agency’s human, financial and other resources.

Strategic planning is a way of integrating all of the other paths to financial vibrancy in a way that is unique to your agency:  this builds synergy.

In contrast to the ongoing and program-focused nature of day-to-day agency management, strategic planning is a “big picture” process that reflects on the future direction of the agency as a whole and DRIVES – as well as integrates - efforts in all other paths (e.g., financial management).

Success Stories | Lessons Learned

Food For Thought

Often agencies become too reliant on a strategic plan.  It is important to set clear intentions and to have an idea of where you want to go, but don’t get too tied to the results.  There are too many things that we have no control over.  Only try to control what you can control and do that well.

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Notes from the Field

“Our strategic plan is on a placemat, which we have available at staff, senior management and board meetings, particularly as we are working through challenging situations.  It helps us to evaluate activities/decisions within the context of our plan.”

Lutherwood, Waterloo

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Recommended Resources

From the Free Management Library, an on-line service which provides free and easy-to-access resources regarding the leadership and management for the non-profit sector.  This document is a well-written guide to strategic planning for non-profits that has a very detailed section on SWOT analysis.

visit Free Management Library
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