The Strategic Planning Process

Ready to start planning. Here's how you do it.

Here is an overview of the strategic planning process. MyStrategicPlan helps you develop Steps Two through Five, assists Step Six with the Reports and with monthly StrategyChecks, emailed plan status reports, you achieve Step Seven.

1. Getting Ready: Identify specific issues and choices the process should address, clarify roles, create a planning committee, develop an organization profile and identify the information which must be collected to help make sound decisions.
2. Articulate mission and vision: Reach consensus on why the organization exists, determine it’s primary business, identify it’s values and create an image of what success would look like.
3. Assess the environment: Gather up to date information on internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats to develop an understanding of critical issues. Use the SWOT Tool to organize your information.
4. Agree on priorities: Identify the broad approaches (strategies) for addressing critical issues and the results to be sought (long-term and short-term) goals and objectives.
5. Write the plan: Put the pieces together into one coherent document with MyStrategicPlan.
6. Implement the plan: Align the plan with day-to-day work including operational or program-specific plans, fiscal and budget cycles, etc.
7. Make strategy a habit: Regularly evaluate progress and assess decisions made during the process. See below...

**Adapted from Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations, A Practical Guide and Workbook, by Michael Allison and Judy Kaye, Support Center for Nonprofit Management.

Make Strategy a Habit