Many non-profit organization leaders find it difficult to engage in strategic planning, particularly in this period of uncertainty and disruption. You may feel that you can’t take your foot off the gas pedal to engage in a thought exercise when you are concerned about delivering services...
Yet it is critically important to be strategic during times of crisis and change. Strategic planning can be dynamic, continuous, and flexible. It creates agency for the organization, new opportunities for impact, new partnerships, #strategy key pivots. A visual tool for non-profit strategic planning is the Mission Model Canvas
(Osterwalder and Blank) There has been some skepticism about applying business strategies and models to mission-driven non-profits because of the focus on margin. In this process, there is a good balance between mission and margin. Attention is focused on mission fulfillment by considering the value proposition your organization creates with its beneficiaries. The Value Proposition Canvas focuses on product/market fit, how a product or service is positioned around what the customer values and needs. Strategic planning also needs to be coupled with more agile design techniques that point your organization to the future.