Planning & Research

Strategic Planning FAQ : An overview of the basic questions about strategic planning for those who are new to the process as well as veteran planners who want to orient others who will be involved. From the Alliance for Nonprofit Management.

Should we use a consultant for strategic planning?
Here's a good response from the Alliance for Nonprofit Management. For more general information on working with consultants, see additional links in the section on "General Management" above.

What's in a Mission Statement? From the Alliance for Nonprofit Management.

How to Develop a Mission Statement. From the Leader to Leader Institute (formerly the Drucker Foundation). The criteria for an effective mission statement are outlined in Step 2 of this document.

What's in a Vision Statement? From the Alliance for Nonprofit Management.

How do you develop an annual operating plan? An introduction from the Alliance for Nonprofit Management, for those who are ready to operationalize their strategic plan.

UT Strategic Analysis Program: A program of the University of Tampa's College of Business, the "SAP" provides Tampa Bay corporations with strategic plans created by UT students as an integral part of their studies. Costs are waived for nonprofit clients committing to spend 10-15 hours of time with the students over a 15-week semester. Review details & apply online (when answering how you learned of this resource please indicate "MAP" for UT/MAP tracking purposes).

Drucker Foundation's Five Most Important Questions (for every nonprofit to answer). These critical five questions are central to planning and organizational self-assessment for both nonprofit and for-profit entities.

Economic Contribution of Florida Nonprofit Organizations : A Resource for the Public Good. PDF (85 pages). This 2002 study commissioned by the Philanthropy & Nonprofit Leadership Center provides valuable planning data for use by nonprofits as well as business and government. This groundbreaking study was financed by the Edyth Bush Foundation & the Jesse Ball duPont Foundation.

National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) : The national repository of data on the nonprofit sector in the United States. Its mission is to develop and disseminate high quality data on nonprofit organizations and their activities for use in research on the relationships between the nonprofit sector, government, the commercial sector, and the broader civil society. Working closely with the IRS and other government agencies, private sector service organizations and the scholarly community, NCCS builds compatible national, state and regional databases and develops uniform standards for reporting on the activities of charitable organizations.

Planning for Growth : Considerations for all organizations dealing with growth, by Paul Connolly & Laura Colin Klen in The Grantsmanship Center Magazine.

Planning in Organizations. A compendium of resources assembled by Carter McNamara, Ph.D. Simply put, planning is identifying where you want to go, why you want to go there, how you will get there, what you need in order to get there and how you will know if you're there or not. Includes links to many types of planning, from advertising and promotion to training and development planning.

SurveyMonkey enables anyone to create professional online surveys quickly and easily. Options include a free basic subscription that will meet the occasional needs of many organizations (as well as a fee-based, professional subscription for larger surveys or more frequent use). No long-term contract commitments are required for use.

The United States Nonprofit Sector 2001 : Research presented by the National Council of Nonprofit Organizations in collaboration with the Urban Institute's National Center for Charitable Statistics to promote better understanding and appreciation of our nation's nonprofit community. While the data are largely reflective of pre-9/11 trends, the commentary on the role and value of the sector to American society remains useful. 8-page PDF.

Using the Drucker Self-Assessment Tool : The Leader to Leader Institute (formerly the Drucker Foundation) provides an online introduction to the Drucker Self-Assessment Tool, a strategic planning tool for organizations to clarify mission, define results, set goals, and develop a focused plan. The website reviews the five questions that organizations must be able to answer in order to plan effectively. The Tool can be used with or without a facilitator; for those seeking a facilitator, a database of trained facilitators in each state is available on the website. Note: The printed Facilitator's Guide and Participant Workbooks (with worksheets to guide discussion) must be purchased, but are available at very reasonable package costs on the website.

Capaciteria is a FREE service designed to help nonprofits find the best resources to build their institutional capacity. Nonprofit capacity support is a critical issue, and like all mission-based issues nonprofits deal with, resolving the problem has two major components. One involves tangible resourcing. The other involves useful information to help nonprofits make better decisions just as they assist their own constituencies. Capaciteria addresses the information component of the nonprofit capacity support issue by providing useful resources.