Image sourced from New York Magazine

by Janine Vanderburg, CEO, Joining Vision and Action

Three things every nonprofit should ask itself as part of ongoing strategic planning

As an avid student of—and sometimes participant—in politics, I watched with many of you the stunning and rapid denouement of Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign, culminating in the suspension of his campaign this weekend.

While there will be lots of Monday morning quarterbacking, this analysis by Eli Stokols in Politico struck me. In essence, Stokols makes the case that Bush campaign failed because his team stuck to its original campaign plan playbook despite a changing environment. In particular, Bush remained oblivious to a growing voter anger and the emergence of Donald Trump as a competitor in a crowded field until it was too late.

As someone who is engaged in ongoing strategic planning for our JVA clients, I see an important lesson here for nonprofits and social enterprises. After spending so much time crafting long-term plans, social change organizations can mistake the map for the territory, following the plans despite a rapidly changing environment. Here are just a few examples I’ve seen of “Trump moments” in the nonprofit sector:

• Remaining in a gentrifying neighborhood as their constituent base moves to other neighborhoods
• Resisting the adoption of social media and newer methods of fundraising as their donor base continues to age
• Operating retail stores that simply arrange social enterprise products on shelves without applying sophisticated merchandising and display techniques
• Failing to consider the implications of policy shifts in health care or education reform
• Not realizing that the fact that a favored funder “narrowing its focus” would jeopardize a funding source they had come to count on

What do all these cases have in common? Sticking too closely to the plan. Five-year strategic planning documents, often assembled and thought through with great care, are helpful frameworks – but it’s a grave mistake to treat them as rule books. Instead of simply carrying out the tasks laid out, nonprofit leaders ought to be continually asking: “What’s different out there? Do we need to pivot? And how?”

How to avoid getting Trumped

So how do you make sure that you are not just “doing strategic planning” every three to five years but are always scanning the environment for the big things that will affect your work, strategy and financing?

Here are three things you ought to embed into your ongoing strategic thinking:

1. Constituent feedback. What do our constituents want us to do that we are not? Who else do they turn to? What other options do they have and what do they think of them?
2. Trends analysis. What are the demographic trends in the communities you serve? What legislation and policies are being proposed that might affect your work? What are the trends in the type of funding that you receive? David LaPiana’s The Nonprofit Strategy Revolution, a favorite of ours, has some simple and great worksheets for collecting this kind of information.
3. Future competitor analysis. It is simple enough to catalog and research your current competitors – although many nonprofits don’t even do this much. Even better is asking this question: “Who could put us out of business?” In JVA’s strategic planning sessions, we often ask team members to brainstorm the characteristics of a competitor that could put them out of business. If they are putting you out of business because they have ended the problem you were founded to solve—well, then that’s great and you should join them in celebrating! But if it’s because you’re not paying attention to the Trump entering the race, then that’s another thing.

How do we embed ongoing strategic thinking into our work?

Start small: log calls and find out what people are asking for that you don’t currently do. Dedicate board and staff meeting time for ongoing analysis of trends; include identification of trends as standing agenda items. Establish a board-staff committee charged with looking at the environment and reporting to the board at least quarterly. And for your next staff or board retreat: Have your team members “build” the competitor who could put you out of business. You might just generate some amazing ideas to become that organization yourself. Jeb didn’t see Trump coming, but now you can.