Respond in one of the following ways:

• Share additional insights as to why strategic planning is relevant to the organizations that your colleagues described.
• Identify additional critical components of strategic planning for the organizations that your colleagues described.

Reminder: Be sure to support your posting and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources and/or current literature. Use APA formatting to cite references in your posting and responses.

The non-profit organization that I have selected for this assignment is 5 Star Youth Alliance, Inc. Founded in 2010, 5 Star Youth Alliance is a small impact 501 (c) 3 public charity located in Atlanta, Georgia whose goal is to provide youth with positive activities and environments that will enhance and motivate them toward becoming better individuals.

The Mission of 5 Star Youth Alliance, Inc. is to promote academic, social, and leadership development within its youth. 5 Star Youth Alliance also hopes to equip each child with the necessary tools to break the chains of poverty, drugs, violence, and social under-achievement.

5 Star's vision is to help reduce the chances of our youth becoming involved in nonproductive activities and self-destructive behaviors by providing its youth with events, programs, projects, mentoring, and other activities which will positively impact their lives

Explain why strategic planning is relevant to this organization.

One mechanism for meeting consumer demands and achieving organizational improvement is strategic planning (McHatton, Bradshaw, Gallagher, & Reeves 2011) 5 Star Youth Alliance's sole purpose is to meet the needs of the youth it serves. They want to be a cutting edge youth organization that is actively engaging its youth and challenging their minds to keep them focused versus being just another after school program kids get involved with just to have something to do.

To do this, the organization must have a plan in place to obtain this goal. McHatton et, al (2011) says that non-profit organizations use the strategic planning process to look at foreseen challenges, redirect mission statement and obtain responses from data collection that helps to shape the purpose to meeting the goals of the organization in both short and long term systematically.

Therefore, a strategic planning process would ensure that the organization has members who are dedicated to advancing the mission and vision of the organization as well as sustaining the organization financially. Given the fact that the 100% of the operating budget of 5 Star Youth Alliance derives via grants and donations it is vital that the organization continue to produce verifiable results to it stakeholder so they will continue to be motivated about the direction of the organization.

Identify critical components of the organization's strategic planning process

The ABCs of Strategic Planning are, where you are, where you want to be, and how to get there (Bryson 2001) p.11. The critical components of 5 Star's strategic planning process that would address each of these concepts are

a) the Mission,
b) the Vision,
c) A SWOT Analysis, and
d) Short-term goals and initiatives

Explain why they are critical

McHatton (2011) states a "benefit of strategic planning is improved decision making. Improved decision making is crucial since recent studies have indicated that at least half of all strategic decisions fail as a result of poor decision-making processes."

A good Mission Statement and Vision for an organization make it easy for potential supporters and participates understand what the organization is all about. Especially when it comes to funding. The mission is an all-encompassing, everlasting manifestation of an organization's purpose and objective, a good mission will address what the organization wishes to accomplish as well as the manner in which it will attempt to accomplish it. It's a statement of why you exist.

A great Mission Statement enhanced by a clear and concise vision will answer all questions about how the organization will look years down the road.

The SWOT analysis that addresses the organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.Is critical because it provides the organizations positives wit can build on to sustain the current flow of the organization as well and provide a realistic view of areas of improvement 5 Star needs to address to maintain its growth and satisfy its stakeholders.

Finally, I believe the Short-term goals and initiatives are critical as they provide 5 Star with consistent benchmarks along the way. With each goal complete it can give reassurance to it stakeholders that the company is moving in the right directions which will ultimately keep it revenue stream flowing. However, at the same time if goals and objectives are not met it allows the company a chance to reevaluate itself. Find the problem and adjust before the problem gets too far out of control and irreparable.

References

Bryson, J. M. (2011). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

McHatton, P. A., Bradshaw, W., Gallagher, P. A., & Reeves, R. (2011). Results from a strategic planning process: Benefits for a nonprofit organization. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 22(2), 233-249.