Business Planning Can Help Nonprofit Organizations Enhance Strategy and Identify Necessary Resources

The May issue of “Leadership Matters,” published by Bridgestar, explores the organizational and leadership benefits, drawing on the experiences of MY TURN (aMerica’s Youth Teenage Unemployment Reduction Network), a Brockton, MA-based nonprofit acclaimed for its work with at-risk youth.

[ClickPress, Wed May 03 2006] Because developing a business plan is an intense and time-consuming process, many leaders of nonprofit organizations may feel they lack the time and resources for such an undertaking – particularly if they have been operating successfully. But the process brings many benefits, according to the May issue of “Leadership Matters,” including helping leaders to achieve greater strategic clarity about their programs and identifying the resources required to provide and manage them.

Based on the experience of more than 80 nonprofits, the Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit organization bringing leading-edge strategies and tools to the challenges and opportunities facing nonprofit organizations and foundations, found that business planning enables an organization’s leaders to connect the dots between mission and programs, to identify conditions that lead to better outcomes, and develop a roadmap for expanding services, along with clear measures and milestones to stay on track.

Published by Bridgestar, a nonprofit initiative of the Bridgespan Group dedicated to attracting, connecting and supporting senior leaders for the sector, the May issue of “Leadership Matters” explores the organizational and leadership benefits, drawing on the experiences of MY TURN (aMerica’s Youth Teenage Unemployment Reduction Network), a Brockton, MA-based nonprofit acclaimed for its work with at-risk youth. In the two-plus years since it underwent the business-planning process, MY TURN has met or exceeded every one of the plan’s milestones based on detailed dashboard of performance metrics.

For example, business planning enabled MY TURN to develop its strategic thinking and approach to decision-making. After some years of opportunistic growth, its leadership realized it needed a rigorous process for screening potential expansion communities. To do so, MY TURN had to specify which activities and resources would be required to deliver those programs and capabilities as well as new leadership positions necessary to expand services, increase effectiveness and take the organization to the next level.

During the process, MY TURN established performance measures that allowed the organization to understand whether the desired results are being achieved. The process not only aligned and developed staff already on board; business planning also helped identify the staff MY TURN needs into the future, such as new positions in program, development, and operations functions to build an organization capable of supporting growth. MY TURN also identified the need to professionalize functions formerly provided by generalists: IT; human resources; finance. New hires, phased in over three years for cultural and financial reasons, would be critical to allowing MY TURN’s senior managers to focus on the activities in need of their attention.

MY TURN’s Executive Director Barbara Duffy recalled, “When we first started the business-planning project, I thought, well, we know who we are – why are we spending time doing this? But once we got into it, I realized we needed to do it. It really helped to set the stage for the decisions we had to make.”

The organization also found that business planning helped its board of directors become more fully engaged, recognizing they had a lot to contribute beyond funding. MY TURN now taps board members’ experience more effectively.

Done properly, business planning can have a long-term effect on the way organizations approach decision-making. The questions posed during business planning are not the sort organizations answer only once. Rather, in Bridgespan’s experience, leadership teams find themselves applying the approach they took to developing their business plan to opportunities and questions that arise down the road. At the end of the day, that is why so many nonprofit organizations find business planning truly energizing and transformational.

Each month “Leadership Matters” picks a different theme designed as a conversation about how to build and sustain effective nonprofit organizations. Available to Bridgestar members (or, for a complimentary subscription, please email subscribe@bridgestar.org), “Leadership Matters” is part of a robust portfolio of offerings that includes a job board that has listed more than 400 senior positions from around the United States and across a range of service areas including the environment, human services, elder services, human rights, and youth services. The organization has assisted more than 50 organizations in finding new leaders through its talent-matching services, which include executive recruiting and related advisory activities.

The current issue of “Leadership Matters” is available at:
http://www.bridgestar.org/Learning/Newsletters/2006/May2006.aspx.

“Business planning can guide organizations as they plan, assemble, train and support their leadership teams. But business planning should do more than just identify new positions. The process provides the opportunity to consider the development needs of existing staff members,” says David Simms, Managing Director, Bridgestar. “Business planning can help nonprofits make sure they not only have the right people, but also that their teams have training or other professional development resources and are in positions where they can succeed and carry out new strategic priorities.”

About Bridgestar
Bridgestar, an initiative of the Bridgespan Group, is a nonprofit organization providing talent-matching services, content, and tools designed to help organizations build strong leadership teams and individuals pursue career paths as nonprofit leaders. Bridgestar’s goal is to attract, connect, and support senior talent, leading to greater organizational effectiveness and social impact.