With COVID (kind of) behind us, here’s how NFPs are refocusing on their longer term strategy and impact
We’ve felt the tide shifting in the back end of 2021 and even more so now we are officially live in 2022. What we’ve observed is a shift in the health and social services sector back projects with a medium to long term focus.
We’re seeing a number of organisations approach us for advice around organisational strategic planning - a good sign that many NFPs are starting to open conversations with community members, staff, external stakeholders and board members about their organisational direction in a post-COVID world.
Additionally, a common-thread running through a number of our current projects and conversations with NFP colleagues is the development of organisational impact frameworks. Picking up on a trend we observed pre-COVID, organisations are again starting to think about the long term and lasting impact that their organisation can achieve.
Read on to find out more about some of our most recent projects and thoughts relating to NFPs in the strategic planning and organisational impact space.
Projects:
1. Organisational Impact Framework: Roses in the Ocean
Roses in the Ocean engaged us to support the development of an organisational impact framework to demonstrate how the work of the organisation translates to lasting impact across communities, sectors and systems.
2. Development of an Organisational Strategic Plan for Whitsunday Counselling and Support
The purpose of the project is to deliver an insightful strategic planning process that results in the development of a purposeful and meaningful organisational strategic plan for Whitsunday Counselling and Support
3. Strategic planning support: Footprints Community
In early 2021, Footprints engaged Beacon Strategies to provide external support with their latest strategic planning process to guide the organisation’s growth and development over the next few years and support with strategy execution.
4. Organisational Impact Framework: Act for Kids
In early 2021, Act for Kids undertook a project to redefine its organisational purpose. A recommendation arising from the project was for Act for Kids to ‘develop an organisational impact measurement and reporting framework that cascades from Act for Kids’ Annual Report down to individual service-level planning, design and evaluation’.
Blogs:
1. How to develop a strategic plan if you work in the not-for-profit sector
So, how should you tackle your next strategic planning process? Whether you engage a consultant or not, whether you go deep or light touch - there are a number of key steps that can set your strategic planning process up to be meaningful and insightful.
By considering each of the mentioned domains and accompanying tips, you can ensure that leaders have the information and insights they need to feed into the development of an effective strategic planning process.
2. Is there such a thing as the perfect strategic plan for not-for-profit organisations?
Here are some reflections that may have relevance for leaders in NFPs. While some NFPs may already be doing this, for others it may mean refreshing their approach next time the strategic planning cycle rolls around.
Rather than worrying too much about how the document that gets produced at the end of the process looks and feels, we’ve identified a few of the factors that we think sets an organisation up to deliver on its strategy.
As always, please reach out if you’re curious to find out more. We are very happy to share process learnings to support your next project.
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