In this series, I have talked about strategic planning as your organization’s roadmap, and board engagement as making sure the car is actually ready for the trip. In Article 1, we looked at why nonprofits need a clear, flexible roadmap in an unpredictable political and funding climate. In Article 2, we talked about how a board engagement snapshot helps you check readiness before you invest in planning. In this final article, I want to share how I bring those pieces together in practice. This...

In my last article, I talked about strategic planning as a kind of Google Maps for your nonprofit, a roadmap with a clear destination, a default route, and alternate paths you can use when conditions change. There is one more thing Google Maps assumes before it gives you directions: that your car is actually ready to make the trip. The same is true for your board. Before you commit time, money, and energy to a strategic planning process, it is worth asking: Is our board really ready to lead...

I love Google Maps. One of the reasons it’s such a useful tool for me is that I can see when a road I’m planning to take is blocked with slow or stopped traffic. When that happens, I have a choice: I can sit in congestion and hope it clears, or I can look at alternate routes that still get me where I’m trying to go, just in a different way. Nonprofits face the same challenge right now. The “route” you thought you could take to achieve your goals - steady funding, predictable policy, stable...