Strategic Fund Development: Building Profitable Relationships That Last, Third Edition

Challenges to Strategic Planning

Regular effective strategic planning by nonprofits/NGOs will produce healthier communities. Why? Because community needs assessments encourage organizations to be more responsive. Analysis of competitors, collaborators, and knowledge alliances can create integrated systems that provide better service by reducing duplication and producing areas of excellence. Examination of institutional capacity builds stronger, more stable organizations.

Yet, strategic planning is neither sufficiently regular nor adequately effective. Too often, the challenges overwhelm both process and results.

However, effective organizations anticipate and accommodate the challenges. These organizations—and their communities—benefit from strategic planning.

Committing Time

Often staff and board members are reluctant to commit sufficient time. Current demands are so overwhelming that considering the future is not possible.

This excuse reminds me of a colleague who could not attend a time management seminar—offered in our own facility at no charge—because she did not have the time. There is no response to this attitude. Either individuals and organizations eventually recognize their own folly or they do not.

Maintaining Momentum

Once embarked upon planning, some organizations cannot maintain enough momentum. Current reality interrupts so frequently that the planning process lingers, limping along beyond anyone’s interest and out of step with the changing environment.

Often this ...