How do you change your nonprofit strategy to meet new needs?

1 Assess your current situation

Before you make any changes to your nonprofit strategy, you need to have a clear understanding of your current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. A SWOT analysis can help you identify the internal and external factors that affect your nonprofit's performance and goals. You can also use surveys, interviews, focus groups, or other methods to gather feedback from your stakeholders, such as staff, board, volunteers, partners, and beneficiaries.

2 Define your desired outcomes

Once you have a clear picture of your current situation, you need to define what you want to achieve with your strategic change. What are the specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) objectives that you want to pursue? How do they align with your mission, vision, and values? How do they address the needs and expectations of your stakeholders? How do they differentiate your nonprofit from others in your field?

3 Develop your action plan

After you have defined your desired outcomes, you need to develop a detailed action plan that outlines how you will achieve them. Your action plan should include the strategies, tactics, resources, responsibilities, timelines, and indicators that you will use to implement your strategic change. You should also identify the potential risks, challenges, and assumptions that may affect your plan and how you will mitigate or overcome them.

4 Communicate your change

One of the most important aspects of strategic change is communication. You need to communicate your change clearly, consistently, and transparently to your stakeholders, both internally and externally. You need to explain the rationale, benefits, and implications of your change, as well as the expectations and roles of your stakeholders. You need to use various channels and methods to reach and engage your audience, such as emails, newsletters, social media, webinars, meetings, or events.

5 Monitor and evaluate your progress

Another key aspect of strategic change is monitoring and evaluation. You need to track and measure your progress towards your desired outcomes, using the indicators and methods that you defined in your action plan. You need to collect and analyze data and feedback regularly and objectively, and use them to inform your decision-making and learning. You need to report and share your results and achievements with your stakeholders, as well as the challenges and lessons learned.

6 Adjust and improve your strategy

Finally, strategic change is not a one-time event, but a continuous process. You need to be flexible and adaptable to the changing needs and realities of your nonprofit and your environment. You need to review and update your strategy periodically, based on your monitoring and evaluation findings and feedback. You need to celebrate your successes and acknowledge your failures, and use them to improve your strategy and performance.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?