The Foraker Group

Focus is maintained through good strategic planning and ongoing evaluation. Good planning and evaluation start with a written plan developed through a thoughtful planning process that involves the entire board and key staff. This written plan then becomes a tool to ensure that the organization knows why it was founded and where it is going. A written plan moves the organization in a unified direction and is firmly rooted in focus.

Research supports the notion that strategic planning is one of the most important jobs for an organization’s board of directors. A strategic plan not only helps board members articulate a clear understanding of their organization’s purpose and values, it describes where the organization is headed. We have found that helping nonprofit boards develop a strategic plan has become the service they most value. Strategic planning maps the way forward.

The planning model Foraker developed was adapted from the work of James Collins and Jerry I. Porras. In their book Built to Last and subsequent article in the Harvard Business Review, “Building Your Company’s Vision,” they describe how important it is for successful organizations to understand their core purpose and values.

Please share with our readers your experiences in developing your organization’s strategic plan and how your core purpose and values drove the process. Did focusing on those values and purpose provide a blueprint for the rest of the plan? Give us some examples of how you use your strategic plan to keep your board members focused on leading the organization forward.

–Dennis

Dennis McMillian is President of The Foraker Group, a nonprofit capacity building organization based in Alaska, and the author of Focus on Sustainability: A Nonprofit’s Journey.