Strategic Planning Crash Course: 10 Steps To Skyrocket Your Nonprofit or Freelance Biz

Are you ready to make all your 2020 goals happen during the next six months?

Or are you still trying to figure out how to survive during the pandemic?

If you are either a nonprofit leader, staff, or volunteer and are trying to move the needle forward on your nonprofit OR if you are an aspiring freelance consultant and are stuck in overwhelm then this podcast/article is for you!

Just imagine how much more accomplished you will feel having the steps to create a plan that will work.

These 10 steps can be down internally in your nonprofit or business OR if you are a freelance grant writer or nonprofit consultant can be learned services you can offer!

So if you want to make a huge difference in ending the cycle of stressing out about not having enough time, not securing the funding you need, and having real burnout and instead you want to feel in control of your life, have a higher quality of life, and have a plan that brings in real financial results, then this is for you.

If you want to go WAY more into depth, get downloadables and checklists, and MORE, then get the Nonprofit Strategic Planning Master Course.

As a grant writer, you know that all nonprofits are not able to go for grants all the time or that they could improve their projects.

Thus, this article will give you skills to do each of these 10 steps as a stand-alone service for nonprofits or you can do them all as an overall package. In any case, this is another way to multiply your streams of income.

So, let’s get started!

Step #1 Know Your Values

We covered this step in-depth during last week’s episode #125. Here is a quick summary: You must know what your values are because that is how you will operate your freelance business or how executive directors operate nonprofits.

First, list your values and then prioritize them. This is key because you may have conflicting values (yes, us humans are complex beings).

But everything you do in your business or in a nonprofit is based upon values. If you don’t understand what these values are, or where your values are placed on a hierarchy, then you will have a hard time making decisions and leading your business or nonprofit.

Step #2 Conduct a SWOT Analysis

A SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. If your values are the core principle on how you operate, then the SWOT is a way to measure your resources.

To do a SWOT, first, you need to separate the strengths and weaknesses from the opportunities and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are the internal markers in your business or nonprofit and opportunities and threats are the external markers.

Overall, the following is true:

• Strengths: What you rock at! These can also be internal resources or elements that you have at your disposal, i.e. a donated office or great morale!
• Weaknesses: You know you could do better. These are those nagging monsters in your business or nonprofit.
• Opportunities: Yay! Those great ideas, potential partnerships, or possible resources! The things that get your excited and some solutions to your challenges.
• Threats: You have no control over these external factors. What’s the biggest one you can think of? Well, last year someone said “Trump” and this year they said, “COVID-19, and still, Trump”. But you do have an opportunity on how you will respond to these threats. Yes, you might not be able to control them from happening, but by doing this activity you will be in a way better position.

For example, here is the SWOT for my company, Grant Writing & Funding:

You can see how doing this exercise will help me develop a very good strategy for the rest of the year. Instead of it feeling like a lot of overwhelming steps or being self-defeating about my weaknesses I now have very clear action steps on what opportunities to mitigate the weaknesses and threats and to leverage my strengths.

Now your turn, go ahead and do a quick SWOT!

Step #3 Articulate Boss Mission and Vision Statements

In very simple terms, you need a fantastic mission and vision statements!

Tips for both:

• No more than 20 words
• Simple and easy to remember
• Everyone should have these memorized!

So exactly what are mission and vision statements?

• A mission statement is what you do today.
• A vision statement is an outcome for the future.

Why are these so important? Well, for one thing, you need to have them when you file for tax-exempt status. The other reasons are equally important. These include:

• They provide a guide for decision-making, such as ‘we will only apply to grants that meet our mission’
• They clarify your purpose, activities, and mission
• They create camaraderie for a common goal amongst board members, staff, and volunteers
• They communicate your culture to your community

A Mission Statement describes what a nonprofit wants to do now

• What do you want your nonprofit to do in the upcoming year or two?
• For whom do you do it?
• What is the benefit?

Go ahead and fill in the blanks to this formula:

NAME OF NONPROFIT does ____________ for ________________ to provide ___________.

My example is:

To create effective systems for grant writers that simplify the nonprofit process, grow capacity & increase funding.

A Vision Statement outlines what a nonprofit wants to be in the

future.

• What do we want to do going forward?
• When do we want to do it?
• How do we want to do it?

Go ahead and fill in the blanks to this formula:

Our Vision is to _____________ for __________.

My example is:

A tribe of grant writers drive positive change while having an abundant lifestyle.

Step #4 Find Your Target Demographic

Find your target demographic, i.e. whom you serve. This is very important as it might seem like this is a no-brainer, but you wouldn’t believe how many start-up nonprofit leaders come to me asking for help getting their nonprofit idea started and I tell them that there are already several nonprofits that serve that specific demographic with that same great idea of a project.

So, it is important to really identify whom you will serve. It is not enough to say that you will serve homeless individuals as that is a huge demographic and there are so many services that they need. But if you are going to serve homeless families in your geographic area, that may make more sense because then you can develop specific projects, such as:

• Transportation to school
• School uniforms and books
• Housing units with multiple rooms
• Parenting classes
• Financial literacy for families

This goes the same for nonprofit consultants.

• Are you serving every single nonprofit?
• Who is your ideal client? Large nonprofits that are well-established? Small, start-ups? Or maybe a specific sector, such as education nonprofits.

Don’t be afraid to go too narrow as it really will help you be specific on connecting to your target demographic.

Step #5 Establish Resource Mapping

Resource mapping is one of my favorite items! This is where you are going to list ALL the resources that you have and plan on having.

You are going to list both, the Monetary Resources, and In-kind Resources that your nonprofit or business has. This includes all the products, services, grants, fundraising, donations, and people.

If you are a nonprofit, your monetary resources may include:

• Thrift store sales
• $50,000 annual grant from Foundation X
• $25,000 in annual giving from individuals
• $10,000 in annual corporate giving

If you a freelancer, then your monetary resources might include

• $25,000 annual retainers for writing grants
• $15,000 one-off grants
• $10,000 grant research
• $20,000 in grant writing and nonprofit workshops

If you have been working with nonprofits long enough you know that monetary resources are not the be all end all. In-kind resources are necessary as this includes items that may be donated so it decreases your overall expenses.

If you are a nonprofit, examples of in-kind resources could be:

• IT services donated at the annual value of $2,000
• An office room lease donation at the annual value of $12,000
• Volunteers at the annual value of $50,000

If you are a freelancer, examples of in-kind resources could be:

• Affiliate partners that help sell your services
• LinkedIn groups for leads
• Anything you donate to your business

In any case, it is vital to delineate all these sources and then track what brings in the most money or mitigates spending money. In this way, you might even consider... Click here to Keep Reading the Article or to Listen to the Podcast.

?? Visit www.grantwritingandfunding.com to get the proven G.R.A.N.T.S. formula to write winning grants ??

Warmly,

Holly

World-renowned grant writing expert and Amazon bestselling author Holly Rustick loves to coach others to enhance their grant writing and business skills. She teaches thousands of people every week through her top-ranking podcast, Grant Writing & Funding, how to take actionable bite-sized steps skills in grant writing and business.

Having secured millions of dollars for nonprofit organizations around the world throughout the past 15+ years, Holly has a mission to train other grant writers to create a multiplier effect in raising an exponential amount of money for nonprofits all over the world.