Strategic Planning

Relevance for the Not-for-Profit Sector

The resources of the non-profit organizations are primarily provided by individual donors, the institution or the government. Being the recipient of public funds, there is a social and moral pressure on the organization to demonstrate outputs and change. Measurement of changes in the life of the poor and disadvantaged sections of the society due to interventions of the organization has always been a challenge. Therefore, the public nature of the grants provided to non-profit organizations demands greater accountability and the most effective use of the resources. Strategic planning becomes an important exercise to be effective in attainment of impact along with efficient utilization of resources.

Dimensions of Strategic Planning

The strategic planning involves initial agreement of a governing board. (Non-profit organizations are registered under various acts as per the laws of the land. The governing structure is defined differently in different countries or by different organizations). In other words, the apex decision-making system of the organization initiates the process. It begins by identifying a steering group or team within the organization. Most likely, the chief executive of the organization leads the process. The governing board provides the team a mandate for the strategic planning. The principles of participation of the primary stakeholders and the scope of the strategic planning are defined by the board to determine the time frame and required resources. The board or the senior management may decide to engage an external facilitator to ask relevant questions and help the team work out strategic choices. The process of strategic planning involves the following:

• Revisiting the vision and mission of the organization and building a shared understanding is the first step after undertaking an organizational assessment through internal reflection or by an external evaluation. The vision is a larger world view of the society which provides values for the organization. The mission statement draws a line as to what the organization will do effectively and what it will not do or should not undertake.
• The SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity and threat) analysis provides a realistic assessment to [Page 732]determine how far the organization can stretch to expand and where it should focus for quality impact within the current opportunities and threats in the environment. There are various other methods of identifying the organizational capacities and scanning the environment, for example, PEST (political, economic, social and technological) analysis and the Appreciative Inquiry method.
• The strategic options for the organization become easier with a detailed and appropriate SWOT analysis. The strategic choices are identified in areas such as geographical expansion versus consolidation, thematic diversification versus deepening engagement in existing thematic areas, different forms of team organization and so on. Each of the options has certain advantages and disadvantages. The organization has to weigh the best option to make choices. Making well-thought-out choices is critical in strategic planning. Therefore, it becomes different from regular activity or programme planning. The strategic choices are followed by detailed resource planning. It means that the required financial resources and human resources for attaining the outcomes are undertaken after the strategies and broad activities are determined as part of the strategic plan.
• The strategic plan needs to be endorsed by the governing board, and it should be widely shared with the stakeholders so that they know about the shifts and change in the goalpost, if any, for attaining different sets of results. The plan should be regularly reviewed and monitored so that the set goals and mission are achieved with efficient use of the organizational resources.

Knowledge Generation and Action Research

The success of the strategic plan depends on the level of engagement of various stakeholders in the process of preparation. The governing board needs to be involved to revisit the existing vision and mission. The board may decide to revise the vision or mission of the organization in the light of the changing environment. A participatory evaluation of the organization or any specific programmes can be a starting point for the involvement of data generation in the performance of the organization and the programme. Knowledge generation by the primary stakeholders of the organization, in other words, communities and staff, along with other stakeholders such as donors, government officials and other interested persons or agencies initiates the process of self-reflection within the organization. Participatory research leads to the understanding of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats from the lens of the constituencies the organization serves. A workshop of the primary stakeholders leads to determining actions and strategies. The board members provide an oversight function to dispassionately advise the most effective possible choices. The team concerned with attaining a specific result will detail out strategies for attaining the outcomes. Such organizations build a culture of participatory knowledge generation, where the constituencies served and the ‘not powerful’ staff within the organization are invited for reflection. Their participation and contributions are respected. The data generated is used in the process of strategic planning and action. Such organizations become learning organizations and remain relevant in a dynamic and changing external environment.

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