Strategic planning for nonprofits
A strategic plan your board can approve, in eight weeks
A guided, evidence-based process that hears from your staff, board and community, and ends with a plan your team can deliver, measure and report on.
The challenge
Too many good plans end up on a shelf
Nonprofits rarely lack commitment or ideas. Plans stall in the space between the retreat and the work: everyone starts from a different picture, the community is consulted too late, and nobody checks whether the plan's assumptions still hold.
Staff time is stretched
Your team is running programs. Planning has to fit around that work, not stop it for months.
Different facts in the room
Board, staff and volunteers each see part of the picture, and the loudest view tends to win.
Community voice arrives late
Funders and partners expect to be heard. Too often they are asked after the direction is already set.
No bridge to the work
Priorities get approved, but nothing says what success looks like, who owns it or how it will be measured, so the plan fades by the second quarter.
delivered for every dollar of value a strategy promises. Most of the loss happens after the strategy is chosen.
the ideas, with a better best idea, when people think alone before they discuss as a group.
organizations, or fewer, regularly check results against what their plans assumed.
From strategy to execution
A plan is only as strong as its bridge to the work
Most strategic plans stop at the vision. Ours carry every priority down to a measure, an owner and a date, so your board can see each quarter whether the plan is working and act before it drifts.
Where we will focus
Three to five priorities, each traced back to the evidence gathered in weeks 1 to 3.
What success looks like
Measurable objectives, each with a measure, a baseline, a target and a date.
Who answers for it
One named owner per objective, who reports its measure. Never a committee.
What we will do
The work that moves each measure, with dates, resources and dependencies in a year-1 roadmap.
Is it working?
Target against actual, a status for every objective, and decisions on what to change.
Our approach
Two questions, asked in the right order
Every engagement runs on Road Trip, Ignition's strategic planning method. It settles what has changed before anyone decides what to do, so your priorities rest on one shared, tested picture of where you stand.
What has changed that matters?
What you've learned, what could stop you, what's shifting in your sector and funding, and where work gets stuck. Heard from staff, board, volunteers and community, and checked against outside evidence.
What will we do about it?
A check on mission, vision and values, the assumptions the plan depends on, three to five strategic priorities, and objectives with measures, targets and owners, linked to initiatives with dates and resources.
How the eight weeks run
From first meeting to board approval
Three facilitated workshops, a survey and a round of interviews, with every step building on the last. Your board's dates are locked at kickoff, so the plan arrives when you need it.
Set up for success
Kickoff with your executive director and board chair or planning committee. We agree the decision criteria, roles and dates, and review your current plan, reports, financials and program data.
Hear from everyone
One online survey for staff, board and volunteers. Six to ten interviews with funders, partners, clients and community members. A scan of your sector, funding and policy context, with every input checked against evidence.
Agree on what's true
Staff and leadershipReview the digest together, hear short evidence briefs, run a pre-mortem, and privately score the risks, trends and constraints that matter most.
Decide what must be true
Board and senior staffCheck mission, vision and values. Rate the assumptions the plan depends on, and name the one or two constraints that limit the whole organization.
Build the plan
Leadership and key staffThree to five strategic priorities, objectives with a measure, baseline, target and one owner each, and initiatives with dates, resources and dependencies.
Test it with your people
The draft goes to staff and board for one round of written comments. Every change is made with its reason recorded.
Approve and hand off
BoardWe present the plan for board approval, then run a handoff session so your team can run quarterly reviews on its own.
How we work
Six principles behind every session
Each one answers a specific way planning goes wrong, and each one is grounded in research on how groups think and decide.
Think alone, then together
Everyone answers in writing before the group meets, so quieter voices count and the first opinion in the room doesn't set the agenda.
Ask widely, decide carefully
Staff, board, volunteers and community all contribute. Their input is themed before anyone sees it, so workshops start from a short, tested list.
Evidence over opinion
Every input is checked against outside sources and marked Supported, Partly supported, Contradicted or Internal only. Contradicted items are flagged, never quietly deleted.
Decide by criteria, not by vote
Criteria are agreed up front and choices are scored privately, so the people who know an area best shape the decision.
Explain every decision
Every priority is recorded with its reason, so staff and stakeholders can see how their input was used, even when the answer was no.
Built to be delivered
Every objective has one owner and every initiative a date. A watch list tells the board early when an assumption starts to fail.
less likely to reach the right answer when key facts sit with a few members. That's why experts brief before anyone forms a view.
the effect from facilitated reviews compared with self-run ones. Every workshop is facilitated.
process: people accept decisions they disagree with when they were asked and told why.
What you receive
Ten deliverables, ready to use
Everything is written for you and handed over in editable form. The first five build your shared picture. The last five put the plan to work.
Where you stand
Where you're going
Working together
What it asks of your organization
We carry the workload, so your people spend their time on the conversations that matter. Sessions are virtual by default, with in-person workshops available.
Executive director
- Kickoff meeting and a short weekly check-in
- Joins all three workshops
- Reviews drafts before they go out
Board or planning committee
- Kickoff with the chair or committee
- Workshop 2 with senior staff, about three hours
- Comments on the draft, then the approval meeting
Staff and volunteers
- One online survey
- Workshop 1 for staff and leadership, about three and a half hours
- Key staff join Workshop 3 to build the plan
Community and funders
- Six to ten interviews, chosen with you
- Funders, partners, clients and community members
- Their themes are shared back in the digest
A strong fit if you are
- A nonprofit or charity ready for a new strategic plan or a refresh
- Facing change in funding, demand, leadership or partners
- Wanting staff and community voices in the plan, not just the board's
- Working toward a board date six or more weeks away
- Looking for a plan with owners, not a document for the shelf
- In Ontario, or comfortable working virtually
Tailor the engagement
Next step
Start with a conversation
Tell us where your organization is and when your board needs a plan. We'll show you how the eight weeks would work for you.
Prefer email? Write tohello@ignitionstrategy.ca