Macfarlane Strategic Plan Template Non Profits Charities and Volunteer Organizations v2 1
Macfarlane Strategic Plan Template Non Profits Charities and Volunteer Organizations v2 1
com) 1
The Do-Good Strategic Plan Template for: Non Profits, Charities, and Volunteer
Organizations
Developed by:
Website: http://www.rebeccamacfarlane.com
Phone: 615-389-0207
Rebecca Macfarlane – Wizard of Good (rebeccamacfarlane.com) 2
The Do-Good Strategic Plan Template for: Non Profits, Charities, and Volunteer
Organizations
Contents
Background..................................................................................................................................................4
Vision...........................................................................................................................................................4
Mission........................................................................................................................................................5
Values..........................................................................................................................................................5
Championing the Cause...............................................................................................................................6
MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION PLAN.............................................................................................6
Objectives and Priorities This Year..............................................................................................................7
People Development Plan...........................................................................................................................8
Operating Budget........................................................................................................................................8
Estimated Operating Budget Worksheet.................................................................................................9
Risks and Opportunities.............................................................................................................................10
SWOT Analysis.......................................................................................................................................10
Risk Register..........................................................................................................................................11
Success Measures......................................................................................................................................11
Management Plan.....................................................................................................................................12
The Action Plan..........................................................................................................................................13
Note: To update the table of contents above, just right-click on it and select “update entire table.” This
will update all the headings and page numbers automatically!
Rebecca Macfarlane – Wizard of Good (rebeccamacfarlane.com) 4
The Do-Good Strategic Plan Template for: Non Profits, Charities, and Volunteer
Organizations
Background
Guidance: This section might be the longest in your plan. It should be up to a page or
so outline all the key facts of your organization and the field within which you are
working. Here are some questions to try and cover for this section.
1. How long has the organization been in business? What is the legal status of the
organization?
2. What is the staffing profile and structure of the organization (including unpaid
staff)?
3. What need does the organization serve? Why is this important to the world right
now?
4. Is the need for the organization growing or shrinking? (Do a bit of research!)
5. What kind of geographic boundaries does the organization have? What is your
reach and what is the potential for your business in terms of numbers?
6. What is the profile of your most likely service users? Is it men, women, children?
What are their ages? What do you know about this group of people? How does
the organization address their needs?
7. What successes did the organization have last year?
8. What challenges do you anticipate next year that will need to be addressed?
Vision
Guidance: This is the place to really dream big! Imagine the organization was wildly
successful, with unlimited resources, and no barriers whatsoever. What would be
different about the world? How would the lives of your service users and the community
you serve change?
A good vision is inspiring, focuses on serving the world, and is very ambitious. It is
often the ideal result, and is bigger than just what you (or your business) can deliver
alone. It should be developed in consultation with your Board and Executive
Management Team.
Try and develop a Vision of the world if your organization could serve every single
person who needs your services. Capture what the world would be like if you could do
this in 3-5 sentences.
Is it clear?
Is it about what you can give? (not about what you’ll get)
Mission
Guidance: People often confuse the Vision and Mission, but they serve two distinct
functions. The Vision captures how you want the world to change. The Mission is
about the organization’s purpose. For example:
Vision – A world where every person is living and working to their full potential.
(The result of your good works and possibly those of other like-minded organizations.)
Mission – Helping people discover their career potential and supporting them in
making changes to bring this potential into the world. (Your role in delivering the
vision. What you’ll do to help bring about this change in the world.)
Capture here how you serve people, and what your role in delivering the Vision will be.
This again is usually a sentence or two, and should be developed with your Board and
Executive Management Team.
Values
Guidance: Organizational Values are critical for a do-good business! They will guide
decisions and tell the world how you will interact with those you serve. Below is a list of
values that are common in business. Choose up to ten (or add your own) and compose
a sentence or two for each telling the world how this value will guide your business and
help you achieve you Vision and Mission. Again, this is an activity that should involve
your Board and Executive Management Team.
Success
Fairness Responsibility Consistency Empowerment
Fun Risk-taking Efficiency Balance
Loyalty Optimism Reliable Inspiring
This is the place to capture how best to communicate how you’ll help your service users
and the role you’ll play in the community. Use the template below to structure this
thinking and develop a plan to take your message into the world!
Your Board is your mouthpiece and will have a key role in Championing the Cause.
Make sure that they are invested in delivering these activities and that their strengths
and skills are taken into account when you design the methods of communicating.
S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Achievable
R – Realistic
T – Timebound
To develop two or three packages of services and materials to support single mothers in
attaining well-paid work, and launch these online by August 2012.
This is specific in that it tells you what you want to do and who it will serve. You can
measure the number of packages and services, and it has a deadline.
Only you will know if this is realistic or achievable – there are too many variables there
for me to guess! Use your own judgment and weigh these up against one another once
you have 3-5 objectives to determine if they are achievable. For example, is it realistic
to have this completed over the summer if you have key staff members taking vacations
or going on holiday? Don’t be too ambitious, but do try and make these challenging!
Cost of this
Area of development
Development (Both in terms of
Needed What will be done When time and money)
Example: Website Attend a course, By the end of July 2 days time; $125
design, leadership read a book, talk to
skills, accounting, someone and get
grant writing tips
Next, (and this is important!) summarize how this personal development will help your
people to deliver your services better. How will investing this time, energy and resource
help you and your staff deliver the organization’s objectives and mission this year?
Operating Budget
Guidance: Use the worksheet below to help you determine if the activities and plans
you want to undertake are achievable with the financial resources you have available to
you this year. You can keep this fairly high level, and supplement it with detailed
balance sheets, cash flow statements, etc. in an appendix if these are needed.
Likewise, it’s a good time to think about any opportunities that we haven’t thought about
yet so that we don’t miss any good ideas along the way.
Use the tool below to think about all the things that could go wrong, and to plan how
you’ll deal with these things. (This is called a SWOT Analysis.) Think too about what
could go really, really right in terms of new opportunities for your business. How will you
react to these things? This is a very good tool to use with your Board and/or Executive
Management Team as part of your planning processes.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths Weaknesses
(List here anything you can think of that makes (What isn’t quite the way it should be yet? What is
your organization amazing! What can you rely on missing?)
to deliver your services?)
Opportunities Threats
(List here any potential opportunities to really push (List here anything that might get in your way of
your organization forward that you have not yet achieving your goals – such as funding you aren’t
taken advantage of.) sure of yet, relationships that might break down,
etc.)
Rebecca Macfarlane – Wizard of Good (rebeccamacfarlane.com) 11
The Do-Good Strategic Plan Template for: Non Profits, Charities, and Volunteer
Organizations
Risk Register
Use the table below to capture any risks that are identified during your SWOT analysis,
and any others you are aware of that might come up over the next year. (You may want
to expand on this as part of your organizational governance activities and review them
at Board meetings at least quarterly.)
Success Measures
Guidance: All these actions and activities will be worthless if you don’t know how to
measure the good you’re doing by undertaking them. In this section, capture how you
will manage programs and monitor your success. Focus these on what you’ll look for
THIS YEAR. You may want to have up to 10 of these, or you can simply find one for
each of your objectives/goals/priorities. For example:
Measures:
Interview prep classes launched by 1 Aug 2012.
10 trainees enrolled each month between August and December.
Good feedback from trainees on how useful the class was in helping them
prepare for an interview.
Number of trainees who get a job by 1 Jan 2013.
Management Plan
GUIDANCE: Capture how often you’ll review this Plan and how decisions about
priorities and changes will be made. It is essential that you don’t do all this great work
and the let it gather dust on a shelf somewhere. Your Plan will be “LIVE” and will need
to be reviewed and updated at least every quarter by your Board and your Executive
Management Team.
Rebecca Macfarlane – Wizard of Good (rebeccamacfarlane.com) 13
The Do-Good Strategic Plan Template for: Non Profits, Charities, and Volunteer Organizations
Guidance: This is the most flexible part of your Plan. It is the part that you will use to help stay focused, keep you from
being overwhelmed, and make sure that you stay on track with your goals. Use the template below to help break down
your objectives and goals into manageable chunks so that you can get started on putting this plan into action NOW!
There may be some things you don’t know yet. That’s okay! Just capture when you WILL know and what you’ll do to find
out. Plan to “replan.” Once you know more, you can plan more. Come back to this action plan at least every few months
to check in on your progress.
Quarter 1 (Dates: )
Start Resources
Action to take Related Objective Date End Date Cost, time, people
Quarter 2 (Dates: )
Start Resources
Action to take Related Objective Date End Date Cost, time, people
Rebecca Macfarlane – Wizard of Good (rebeccamacfarlane.com) 14
The Do-Good Strategic Plan Template for: Non Profits, Charities, and Volunteer Organizations
Quarter 3 (Dates: )
Start Resources
Action to take Related Objective Date End Date Cost, time, people
Quarter 4 (Dates: )
Start Resources
Action to take Related Objective Date End Date Cost, time, people
Rebecca Macfarlane – Wizard of Good (rebeccamacfarlane.com) 15
The Do-Good Strategic Plan Template for: Non Profits, Charities, and Volunteer
Organizations
Rebecca is an active blogger, and enjoys connecting online with like-minded Do-
Gooders. You can connect with Rebecca on Facebook, Skype, Twitter, or LinkedIn
by visiting her website at: http://www.rebeccamacfarlane.com
Rebecca has lived all over the world, but now calls Nashville, TN her home, where
she lives with her Scottish husband and three very American cats. She has big
plans for the world!
Legal Stuff
Copyright:
The Do-Good Business Plan Template – Non-Profits, Charities, and Volunteer Organizations