7 Reasons Why Charities Need a Strategy to Survive…

The National Centre on Charitable Statistics (NCCS) in the USA highlighted that 12% of all new charities are no longer registered within 5 years and almost 20% are no longer active within 10. The major causes for these failures are reported to be a lack of clear focus, overlapping missions and a lack of long term strategic planning. Developing a ‘strategic plan’ or ‘strategy’ can sometimes be seen as both overwhelming and by some charities, an excessive use of both time and resources. The problem is further exasperated by the fact that most of the knowledge and experience in the area is geared towards for-profit organisations of a certain size and scale and thus out of reach of most charities, or is at least perceived to be.

There is no guarantee of success that your charity will achieve the heights of success by having a strategic plan in place, but apart from being part of Good Governance and an essential part of a trustee’s role, strategic planning has a number of other benefits;

·      A strategy clarifies the vision and future desired state of the organisation; this in itself provides focus, motivation and a means to prioritise your work.

·      It enables more informed decision making that will contribute to your long term goals and reach your intended vision faster.

·      A good strategy will identify and leverage your core competencies and competitive advantage to increase your chances of success.

·      Having a plan will mitigate risks and plan for key trends that may impact the organisation.

·      It will align your resources, teams and their activities to common goals and thus increasing their efficiency and productivity.

·      Will support the development and practice of your organisational culture and values that keep your team united and motivated.

·      Will increase the trust of stakeholders and donors as it will show increased transparency and accountability of your charities actions.

There is ample evidence to show that the discussions, meetings and debates you will have as part of the strategic planning process will be transformative in and of themselves, my experience has shown that these are often more valuable than any document produced as a result.

Every charity should and could benefit from having a strategic plan and they owe it to those they have been setup to serve and the donors that support them, not just for fundraising or compliance. Starting the conversations with your teams can be done at anytime, anywhere with a little support. If you don’t know where to start, get in touch.