What do you do if your non-profit organization is unprepared for future challenges and opportunities?

1 Assess your current situation

The first step is to conduct a thorough and honest assessment of your non-profit's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). This will help you identify the gaps and areas of improvement in your mission, vision, values, goals, strategies, programs, services, resources, governance, staff, volunteers, partners, and beneficiaries. You can use various tools and methods to gather data and feedback, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, audits, benchmarks, and best practices.

2 Engage your stakeholders

The next step is to involve your stakeholders in the planning and decision-making process. Your stakeholders are the people who have an interest or influence in your non-profit, such as donors, funders, board members, staff, volunteers, partners, clients, and community members. You can engage them by soliciting their input, expectations, needs, preferences, and suggestions. You can also communicate your vision, values, goals, and strategies to them and seek their support, commitment, and collaboration.

3 Develop your scenarios

The third step is to create different scenarios for the future based on the trends and uncertainties that may affect your non-profit. Scenarios are plausible stories that describe how the external environment may evolve and how your non-profit may respond. You can use various techniques and frameworks to generate and analyze scenarios, such as brainstorming, mapping, testing, and prioritizing. You can also use scenarios to explore the implications, risks, and opportunities for your non-profit.

4 Update your strategic plan

The fourth step is to revise your strategic plan based on the findings and insights from the previous steps. Your strategic plan is a document that outlines your non-profit's mission, vision, values, goals, strategies, actions, indicators, and timelines. You can use your strategic plan to guide your non-profit's direction, decisions, and operations. You can also use your strategic plan to monitor and evaluate your non-profit's performance and impact.

5 Build your capacity

The fifth step is to enhance your non-profit's capacity to implement your strategic plan and adapt to the future. Capacity is the ability of your non-profit to fulfill its mission and achieve its goals. You can build your capacity by investing in your human, financial, physical, technological, and organizational resources. You can also build your capacity by developing your skills, knowledge, systems, processes, policies, and culture.

6 Learn and innovate

The sixth step is to foster a culture of learning and innovation in your non-profit. Learning and innovation are the processes of acquiring and applying new information, ideas, and solutions to improve your non-profit's effectiveness and efficiency. You can learn and innovate by collecting and analyzing data, feedback, and evidence. You can also learn and innovate by experimenting and testing new approaches, methods, and models.

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?