Believe it or not — 2024 is right around the corner. For many of us, this is the time of year when we begin to reflect on the previous twelve months and begin making plans and setting goals for the upcoming year.
We get this on a personal level (hello New Year’s Resolutions.) We are used to considering our personal goals and accustomed to making plans for personal growth. (If you’re ready to dive deeply into this conversation — our SandBoxx Community is ready and waiting to chat about all things personal development.)
But to all my friends who find themselves leading or supporting nonprofits, allow me to ask…
Is your nonprofit ready for 2024?
Now, before you allow the “bigness” of this question to send you into a panic, I encourage you to take a deep breath.
While I firmly believe that intentionality with strategic planning is critical for nonprofit success, I also passionately hold that this process of planning for your nonprofit’s success does not have to be stressful!
So whether you’re ready to create a new vision for your nonprofit in 2024 or it’s simply time to review and refresh a previous strategic plan — I want you to know that we are going to walk through this together!
This process doesn’t have to be stressful – but it must be thoughtful! Let’s take it one bite-sized step at a time.
Let’s look at the big picture!
As you review, update, or create your nonprofit plans for 2024, there are a few key steps you’ll need to take:
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Take stock of your current state of affairs. Take some time to review the work of your nonprofit in the previous year. Essentially, you’re looking to gather data the provides a clear picture of your organization.
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What is working well? What goals/objective are you effectively meeting?
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What is not working?
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How does your team function?
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It’s important to gather information from a variety of sources including empirical assessment data, feedback from other team members, program partners, funders, and donors.
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Identify your nonprofit obstacles for success. Even the most effective nonprofits will hit speed bumps or obstacles that hinder your organization’s ability to effectively reach goals. What are yours?
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Create simple and actionable strategies for overcoming those obstacles. Once you’ve identified the roadblocks that are hindering your success in one (or multiple) areas of your nonprofit work, it’s time to focus on the most impactful area first. Think dominoes. Ask yourself which area would have a multiplier effect if you solved it first. That’s the ONE to begin first.. Don’t worry – these roadblocks won’t be solved in a day. That’s okay! Remember friend, we’re shooting for progress, not perfection.
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Plan for visibility. What is your nonprofit marketing/communication strategy? In other words, how do you plan to share your story with community members and potential funders in the coming year? In writing, video, presentations? Too many nonprofits remain “invisible” to those who need their support and services, to policymakers and funders, and to people in other communities who want to achieve similar results. More and more, video messaging is gaining ground. Consider this: Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to 10% when reading it in text, as per Insivia.
Just as businesses are thoughtful with their marketing strategy, as a nonprofit leader, you must also be intentional with sharing your nonprofit story with the right audiences. Whatever format you choose, show up, be consistent, know who your audience is, why your message is important to them and what you’re asking them to do.
Alright – if you’re feeling like this article is very high-level, good principles but where are the “meat and potatoes” and “how do I do this” practical stuff…you’re right!
My goal in writing this was to invite you to step into the process of planning for your nonprofit’s success in the coming year.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be releasing blog content that takes a deeper dive into each of the four strategic moves mentioned above. I promise – you’ll get the practical “how-to” information you’re craving.
Click HERE to join our community list to ensure you don’t miss this powerful content!
Article was contributed by: Maria Lees, Team Writer with Sarah Boxx
