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4 Essential Tips for Nonprofit Strategic Planning

Yesterday, I led a strategic planning retreat for the Upper Valley Business & Education Partnership, a small Hanover, NH-based education nonprofit.

The work that the Executive Director Kathi and I have been doing in performance measurement in the last 9 months (6 months for me) have all been leading up to this culmination of our efforts.

We had started to make some headway into performance measurement, got ambushed when we tried to define metrics, made some startling discoveries about our model for social change, and then finally dedicated a retreat to creating robust statements for intended impact and theory of change. 

This has been just the beginning of our journey to measuring outcomes, but we finally crossed an important threshold yesterday by hammering out practical models and statements that would help guide us in making strategic trade-offs and defining metrics. Before, we didn’t know where our end point was, let alone what the path we wanted to walk on looks like. Now, we have a better idea of where our end point is and know that our path is not going to lead us into a dark forest of beasts and danger.

In another post, at another time, I’ll list some of the resources I applied to the retreat that I think would be beneficial for any nonprofit or social enterprise to use.

In this post, I want to share the 4 lessons I learned (sometimes the hard way) about strategic planning so that anyone in the nonprofit sector can do it the right way. Here they are:

 

Less is more

This is by far the most important takeaway. Seriously. Focus on just 1 big ticket item at the retreat, 2 at most if really you have to, but never anything more. Get 1 big ticket item done and execute it phenomenally well rather than put 5 of them on the agenda to see them flop at the retreat.

The main reason is because during strategic planning, discussions and exercises often take longer and require greater energy than planned. Board members and staff rarely sit down together in the same room (and for a good reason), so their social dynamics might be awkward. They might need some time to adjust and get comfortable. Time in the beginning must be spent on getting everyone on the same page. 

In strategic planning, there is just not enough time.

So if it is your first time facilitating strategic planning, remember that everything you are planning will likely take twice as much time in order to finish.

It is embarrassing to say this, but I first thought I could fit 4 big ticket items onto the agenda for our 4-hour strategic planning retreat. I was naive and unrealistic about what we could produce by the end of the retreat. 

Kathi eventually talked some sense into me and I cut the agenda down into 2 big ticket items and even then, there were some points during the retreat where I was concerned if we could complete our agenda on time. 

Be bold and provocative about the content you include in the agenda, but absolutely be realistic about the time constraints you deal with in order to deliver the best strategic planning outcomes you can.

 

Preparation is (almost) everything

I cannot stress this point enough. 90% of the fight when it comes to strategic planning is what work you put into it beforehand. Strategic planning itself should feel like autopilot compared to the weeks leading up to it. 

In our case, we provided summaries of 2 relevant readings which were all 3 pages or shorter and a graphic to board members and staff (total of less than 10 minutes reading). Board members and staff are usually family people and have busy lives, so distilling the information they need to know for them helps maximize their time spent reading.

Afterwards, we sent out a survey that asked them to each answer 8 or so open-ended questions about intended impact and theory of change. We asked more questions about intended impact than theory of change because we knew we had to complete an intended impact statement before we could discuss theory of change at the retreat. These questions were tough but inviting.

Then, the morning of the retreat, I compiled the survey answers and analyzed the answers to come up with preliminary suggestions for how to think about intended impact. By using the answers to the survey, we were able to finish a lot of the work we intended to get done before the retreat even started. Without the survey, I firmly do not believe we would have finished both intended impact and theory of change statements at the retreat.

Leverage your preparation to maximize your retreat outcomes.

 

Get everyone on the same page

Your board members and staff come from all different backgrounds and levels of experience. Some are younger, and some are older. Some have spent more time in the workplace than others. Many of the times, everyone will come from different industries, which is great for maintaining a strong and healthy board, but makes it difficult to get everyone on the same page during strategic planning.

In order to make sure everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute to the discussion, invite them to voice their opinions before the retreat itself. We did this through a survey with open-ended questions that asked participants to lend their opinions.

Another way we got everyone on the same page was to do introductions and a review of the survey at the retreat. 

Then, following a parliamentary procedure skill, keep tabs on who has spoke and who has not. For people who have not spoke, ask them for their opinion. Get them talking even if other board are more knowledgeable about the readings.

 

Ask, don’t tell

It was Dale Carnegie who said in How to Win Friends and Influence People that said that it is important to let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers. From working at UVBEP prior to the retreat, I learned that in communication, asking the right questions is almost always better than giving the right answers. 

And in a facilitator role in strategic planning, it is downright essential to stay impartial and not give your opinion. That is not your job. Your job is to get everyone else’s opinions, distill them down to key points, and help them string together the key points to form coherent answers to the tough questions you are asking.

Ask questions that are challenging but open to get participants to think deeply about the answers. Invite participants to share their opinion. Ask the Executive Director you are working with to help you get the ball rolling. 

Whatever you do, help facilitate discussion — not lead it. 

 

And that concludes my list of tips for future and current nonprofit leaders. I wish you the best of luck in your strategic planning endeavors!

Winning Big Grants

On December 8th, the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation awarded the Upper Valley Business & Education Partnership (UVBEP) a $10,000 grant to pursue our performance measurement project! I am ecstatic about the grant because it gives us more flexibility to dedicate staff time to the project and perhaps attend strategic planning institutes. This date also marks an important milestone for me because it was the first time I have helped a nonprofit score a grant with a 5-digit value.

Since March, I have been working on building a performance measurement system for UVBEP as a Class of 1982 Social Entrepreneurship Fellow. Kathi, the executive director, approached me about a Community Impact grant in August when we were preparing for the details of my full-time term to take place from January to March. Originally, we sought out a $20,000 grant for the pproject. She asked me to write a couple of sections in the grant proposal that were the most closely related to my work on the project. I was excited that I had been given the opportunity to directly contribute to my project and UVBEP fundraising, so I wrote the sections quickly. I ended up writing the sections on the strategic need of the grant, the work plan, and the evaluation.

The fantastic thing about working for a small nonprofit is that it is a very hands-on experience. You are given plenty of responsibilities and opportunities to effect organization-wide change. Grantwriting and fundraising is one of those responsibilities. If you are working in a small nonprofit, chances are that everyone works together on grant proposals and fundraising campaigns. There might be a staff lead, but generally everyone gets involved in some capacity, even if it is just spelling & grammar checking. Hence, fundraising taught me how collaborative small nonprofit teams are in order to accomplish project tasks.

I also found fundraising to be a very educational experience because it forces you to look at organization through the eyes of the donor. Why would a donor want to fund your project? How much money would he/she need to contribute to your project for it to have a meaningful social impact? These are questions that you should be asking yourself whether you are writing a grant proposal or talking with a donor face-to-face in order to develop a better sales pitch.

In the end, we did not get the full $20,000 grant we sought out (yet). However, we still have time to find a matching $10,000 grant through other funding sources to achieve a $20,000 combined sum to support the project or we can readjust our project budget for $10,000. We have decided to search and find other funding sources to try and match our $10,000 grant. I hope we find a matching grantmaker.

Small nonprofits are scrappy. They are like startups in the sense that if you really want something, then you just have to go out and get it.

Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship Intro Part 2

Why did I want to become a Class of 1982 Social Entrepreneurship Fellow?

One of my favorite mentor figures, Gregg Fairbrothers, the founding director of the Dartmouth Entrepreneurship Network and a professor at the Tuck School of Business, speaks frequently about the first things and second things principle. He explicitly highlights this principle in his new book on how to start a start-up, From Idea to Success: The Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network Guide for Start-Ups. I would highly recommend any entrepreneurially-minded individual to read this book, but if you are strapped on cash, then check out this excerpt from an article where Gregg Fairbrothers succintly explains what he means by first things and second things:

Remember, success really isn’t a good end goal. Success is a “second thing,” and you can’t get second things by putting them first. You can only get second things by putting first things first.

(Off-topic: He also shares a lot of his advice on topics such as what it means be an entrepreneur vs. being entrepreneurial, nature vs. nurture, and how learning is 5% hearing, 10% seeing, and 85% doing. All really good nuggets for the aspiring start-up founder.)

My first thing has always been to change the world for the better. To make life better and easier for the people that I care about. I am truly passionate about this and feel happy and alive when working towards a better world. 

My second thing is to be entrepreneurial in the social sector. I want to build and grow a social enterprise that positively impacts the lives of millions of human individuals through technology and/or education. This is a lofty goal, I admit. But I believe in order to achieve big things, you have to think big, so this is where things start for me.

As you can see, my first thing is the why for my second thing and my second thing is the what for my first thing.

The Class of 1982 Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship is a second thing. It is one of the steps that I want to take to become more entrepreneurial in the social sector and thus make the world a better place for the people I care about. 

From a past internship at Root Cause and volunteering with numerous nonprofits that spanned across education, mentorship, social services all throughout high school and college, I learned a lot about the challenges nonprofits face in trying to serve their beneficiaries under chronic resource shortages. I saw things like poorly maintained facilities, programs that didn’t fit into the nonprofits mission, and lack of systems in place to make continual program improvements. At the heart of the widely-discussed issue of why nonprofits fail, I saw well-intentioned leaders who were passionate about conquering some serious social problems but did not have the support and skillset to make their visions a reality. 

One of my mentors, Bill Nisen, who is a seasoned entrepreneur and nonprofit board member in the Upper Valley mentioned that from his experience, he saw that many nonprofit founders start their organizations with seemingly infinite passion, energy and hustle, but as they start to hit the walls that most nonprofits come up against at some point – no funding, mission drift, poor program management, etc. – they lose steam. Then, managing the nonprofit stops being fun and becomes a day-to-day grind. The light at the end of the tunnel starts getting dimmer and dimmer for the nonprofit…

To wrap up, these experiences and conversations have made me sincerely intrigued by the following questions:

  • What makes some nonprofits and social enterprises (a whole new beast) better at achieving their mission than others?
  • How do you help nonprofits and social enterprises maximize their social impact?
  • What are ways that nonprofits and social enterprises can become more innovative?

I am going to start searching for some answers. The Class of 1982 Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship is a good place to start. 

Contact me if you think you could help!

Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship Intro Part 1

Beginning in January, I will be working full-time at a Hanover, NH-based nonprofit organization called the Upper Valley Business Education Partnership (UVBEP). I have been working on a performance measurement project for them since I received the Class of 1982 Upper Valley Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship from the Tucker Foundation in March.

What is the Class of 1982 Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship?

From the Tucker Foundation website:

The Class of 1982 Upper Valley Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship was created and launched on the occasion of the 25th Reunion of the Class of 1982. The fellowship honors the Upper Valley community for its contributions making Dartmouth the special place that it is. By directing their resources to the non-profit organizations and the people of this community, the Class of 1982 took this opportunity to give something back and to ensure that Dartmouth students continue to enjoy and benefit from this unique environment today and in the future.

The Fellowship is awarded annually to one Dartmouth undergraduate and will support the establishment of new ongoing initiatives which expand economic and social opportunities for low-income people in the Upper Valley region on a sustainable basis. Projects should emphasize program entrepreneurship, revenue-generation, or cost recovery or community outreach and engagement. The grant covers one full-time leave term of immersion at the fellowship site and several terms of part-time involvement. Fellows must collaborate with a local non-profit organization or school. As the Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship program develops, we will develop learning ties with the Tuck School of Business and with the Upper Valley Non-Profit Exchange.

The fellowship lasts one year, and as the description above mentions, supports one full-time leave term of immersion and three part-time support terms. My fellowship period is from March 2011 – June 2012, a little longer than a year because I am currently studying abroad and not available to fulfill a part-time support role. 

What was the application process like?

The application process was rigorous. It started in January where I requested information about the program from the Tucker Foundation and set up an initial meeting with the fellowship advisor. I gave a description of my interests and was given suggestions for Upper Valley organizations to contact.

For the next two weeks, I contacted about 5 community service organizations in the Upper Valley that could potentially support a project that fit my interests at the time: financial literacy, strategic planning, and revenue generation. I believe 4 contacted me back. We e-mailed back and forth and spoke over the phone to see if we could propose a project to the Tucker Foundation that fit both the organization’s interests and my interests.

One organization in particular was a natural fit for what I was looking for. They had recently brought their board members and staff together for a strategic planning retreat and walked away with a document listing 4 priority objectives they had for capacity building. They were looking to pick one of these priority objectives and roll with it for the next year. They were even looking to bring in a Darmouth College student to help them work on the priority objective! Thus, the stars aligned, and I contacted them at a perfect time in their project trajectory. 

This organization was the Upper Valley Business and Education Partnership (UVBEP). 

I had several phone conversations with Kathi Terami, executive director of UVBEP, and in the next two weeks, we agreed upon a broad project scope and drafted and finalized a project proposal together which we submitted to the Tucker Foundation. We knew that we would likely have to pivot with the project once we got started, but it was still helpful for ourselves to come up with concrete project parameters, objectives, and deliverables.

Then, I had to solicit two recommendation letters from a professor and previous employer, fill out a lengthy application, and bam! I was set by the beginning of February to turn in all this material and after an engaging 1 hour interview, the application process was over. All that was left to do was sit close to a computer at all times checking my e-mail constantly over the next week (half-kidding). After a few days, Tucker sent me an e-mail congratulating me on selecting me for the fellowship. And then it was up to me to take action and truly make a difference in my community!