Application: Benefits of Strategic Planning

Introduction to the Nonprofit Sector

As you have been learning, strategic planning can greatly benefit an organization by helping it to validate its mission, set priorities, focus resources, and measure success more accurately, among other things. Executive directors are integral participants in the strategic planning process, as are board members and key staff members. In this Application Assignment, you will reflect upon your interview with the executive director and explain how strategic planning has helped or could help his/her organization.

To prepare for this assignment:

Review The Complete Guide to Nonprofit Management, focusing on the checklist for strategic planning efforts.(Uploaded)

Review the Course Media "Strategic Planning." Pay particular attention to how an organization can benefit from strategic planning. (Link in This Outline)

Reflect on the overall goals of strategic planning.

Reflect on the organization whose executive director you interviewed in Week 6.

Consider ways in which the effectiveness of that organization has or could be improved as a result of strategic planning.

Review what you learned from your interview with the organization's executive director.

Based on your prior interview with an organization's executive director, complete the following.

Briefly describe the organization and the executive director you interviewed.

Briefly describe the strategic planning process in the organization.

Using specific examples, explain how the strategic planning process has increased the organization's effectiveness. If it has not, explain how strategic planning might be used more effectively.

If the organization does not use strategic planning, describe the type of planning that is used and its effectiveness. Then explain how the organization could benefit from strategic planning.