• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Social Velocity

Creating more strategic, financially savvy, and confident nonprofit leaders and organizations.

  • Consulting
    • Financial Model Assessment
    • Strategic Advising
    • Strategic Planning
  • Book
  • Clients
  • Speaking
  • Blog
  • About
    • Nell Edington’s Bio
    • Media
  • Connect
  • Tools
Home » Strategy » What Are The Key Strategic Questions Facing Your Nonprofit?

April 4, 2018 By Nell Edgington Leave a Comment

What Are The Key Strategic Questions Facing Your Nonprofit?

FacebookTweetLinkedIn

At the beginning of any strategic planning process I lead, this is the question I pose to the nonprofit’s leadership: “What are the key strategic questions facing your nonprofit?”

Nonprofit leaders who want to plan for the future must first articulate what it is they need to decide about that future. A strategic question is a big picture, two roads diverged in the woods kind of question. Shall we go this way, or shall we go that way? They are not the tactical “How do we get this done?” questions, but rather the “What should we be doing?” kinds of questions.

So my first step in strategic planning is to lead the board and staff to create a laundry list of the big picture questions they want to be able to answer by the end of the strategic planning process.

These are questions like:

What people or groups are we seeking to benefit or influence?
It is absolutely essential that your nonprofit get crystal clear about who your target population is in order to better create change for those targets, more effectively encourage funders to invest in what you are doing, put your limited resources to their highest and best use, and, most importantly, to really understand how best to create social change. Your target populations are those people who you are uniquely positioned to benefit or influence and in doing so will move you closer to achieving your nonprofit’s long-term vision for change. When you get clear about who you are best positioned to benefit or influence, you will be better able to direct your precious resources (staff, board, money, volunteers) toward achieving that ultimate goal. The clearer and more specific you can get about exactly who your target population(s) are, the more effective you will be at creating change for them.

Which programs or activities should we cut?
Often nonprofit leaders are so big hearted that over the years they take on more and more programs and services, regardless of whether those additional programs make strategic sense or fit with the core competencies of their organization. So if you run a nonprofit with a long list of programs that don’t necessarily align with each other or with what you do best, you may want (during your strategic planning process) to ask which programs should stay and which should go.

What social issues are we working to address?
Sometimes a nonprofit’s board and staff are at odds about (or at least have never really decided) the exact list of social problems their nonprofit wants to address. A nonprofit is typically created because its founder recognizes some injustice or disparity and she wants to address that problem. But over time, a nonprofit’s leadership might take on additional issues, or the issues they were formed to address might change or grow, or other competing groups might launch to address similar issues.  So to chart a future direction, board and staff together must become crystal clear about exactly which social problems they believe are in their nonprofit’s purview.

Given what others working on the same issues are doing, where should we be focusing our efforts?
You cannot create a long-term strategy in a vacuum. Therefore you must get outside your walls and understand what other people and groups working on similar social issues are doing. And then you may need to determine what impact those efforts have on your nonprofit’s future direction and where can you have the most effective results.

What changed conditions should result from our work?
This is the ultimate strategic question because it forces everyone to articulate why your nonprofit exists. The changed social conditions that you desire (in other words, your desired outcomes) help you articulate what you ultimately hope your nonprofit will accomplish. And by articulating that, you can then work backwards to determine how you will operate, what programs you will run, who you will work with, how you will be funded, etc. Your desired outcomes serve as your nonprofit’s guiding light. And they hold your nonprofit accountable both internally and externally.

What is the most sustainable financial model for the outcomes we want to achieve?
All money is not equal and in order to create sustainable social change you have to figure out how to attract enough and the right kinds of money to achieve your outcome goals. So as part of your strategic planning process, you may need to figure out what your financial model should look like given the answers to all of your other strategic questions.

These are just a sampling of potential key strategic questions. Your unique mission and operating model will necessitate that you create your own custom list of key strategic questions.

Once you have that list, the purpose of a good strategic planning process then is to set about answering those questions in an evidence-based, decisive way. And once you have answers to all of your key strategic questions, you can craft a compelling, effective strategic plan that board, staff and supporters will be excited to bring to fruition.

If you want to learn more about the strategic planning process I use with my clients, check out my Strategic Planning page.

Photo Credit: Nick Page

 

 

Related Posts:

  • Will There Be a #MeToo Moment for the Nonprofit Sector?
    Will There Be a #MeToo Moment for the Nonprofit Sector?
  • How Board Members Can Stop Nonprofit Leader Burnout
    How Board Members Can Stop Nonprofit Leader Burnout
  • How a Single Nonprofit Leader Can Shift How Money Flows to Social Change
    How a Single Nonprofit Leader Can Shift How Money…
  • Let's Stop Undervaluing Our Nonprofit Leaders
    Let's Stop Undervaluing Our Nonprofit Leaders
FacebookTweetLinkedIn

Filed Under: Strategy Tagged With: nonprofit, nonprofit programs, outcomes, strategic plan, strategic questions, strategy, theory of change

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Consulting Services

If you want your nonprofit or foundation to do and be more, Social Velocity can help you get there

Ready to Learn More About Working with Social Velocity?

Apply for a Consultation
Reinventing Social Change Book

Download Chapter 1 of “Reinventing Social Change”

and keep up on webinars, training and events when you sign up for the Social Velocity e-list

Featured Blog Post Topics

  • Social Changemaker Interviews

  • Smart Strategic Planning

  • Effective Philanthropy

  • Networks for Social Change

  • The New Nonprofit Leader

  • A Groundbreaking Board

  • Reinventing the Nonprofit Sector

  • From Fundraising to Financing

Recent Posts

InReach Solutions Interview with Nell Edgington of Social Velocity

Talking About the Road to Nonprofit Abundance

red and white lifebuoy

How To Ask For (and Receive) The Help Your Nonprofit Needs

Join Me to Learn How to Start Attracting Abundance

Reinventing Social Change Book Available Now!

Order Your Copy of Reinventing Social Change

A little change image from Matt Artz

Move From Nonprofit Fundraising to Social Change Financing

Categories

  • Abundance
  • Advocacy
  • Board of Directors
  • Capacity Building
  • Capacity Capital
  • Financing
  • Fundraising
  • Individual Donors
  • Leadership
  • Marketing
  • Networks
  • Nonprofits
  • Philanthropy
  • Roadblocks
  • Social Change
  • Social Movements
  • Strategy

Footer

Reinventing Social Change Book

Download Chapter 1 of “Reinventing Social Change”

and keep up on webinars, training and events when you sign up for the Social Velocity e-list

InReach Solutions Interview with Nell Edgington of Social Velocity

Talking About the Road to Nonprofit Abundance

February 26, 2021

red and white lifebuoy

How To Ask For (and Receive) The Help Your Nonprofit Needs

February 10, 2021

Join Me to Learn How to Start Attracting Abundance

January 28, 2021

Reinventing Social Change Book Available Now!

Order Your Copy of Reinventing Social Change

January 21, 2021

A little change image from Matt Artz

Move From Nonprofit Fundraising to Social Change Financing

January 14, 2021

Recent Tweets

Tweets by nedgington
  • Consulting
  • Book
  • Clients
  • Speaking
  • Blog
  • About
  • Connect
  • Tools

© 2020 Social Velocity · Privacy Policy