Posts Tagged ‘social impact’
Facilitating a SWOT Analysis
. The role of assessing the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT ) in nonprofit strategic planning is often misunderstood and misused. At the most extreme a SWOT analysis is confused with the strategic planning process with an organization believing that a SWOT is the sum total of strategic planning. ...Read More
Facilitating Strategic Planning for Social Impact
. Over the last few months, I have posted a series of articles on strategic planning for nonprofit and social sector agencies. Not surprising, a number of potential client calls are from folks looking for facilitation and process support for strategic planning. Indeed in this anemic economy, many nonprofit agencies find ...Read More
Facilitating Beyond the Crisis in Thinking
. Typically, my posts try to capture original thoughts related to facilitation and process. This week, however, has been one of rich discovery and learning from the words of others. In this post, I am lacing together the knowledge of others in a synthesis of ideas to reinforce my practice foundation ...Read More
Facilitating Meaningful Differences between Vision and Mission
. As a facilitator I work with a range of social sector organizations on strategic and business planning processes. In my work, I often encounter ambiguity about the difference between a vision and mission statement. In some cases, I will hear an executive director or board chair say something like, “Our ...Read More
Facilitating Strategic Budget Plans & Resource Development
. For many nonprofit organizations this is time of the year where the board and staff turn their attention to drafting a budget to guide business operations for the next fiscal year. For many agencies, this annual ritual simply starts with taking last year’s budget and incrementally scaling the numbers up ...Read More
Facilitating Nonprofit Strategy in Economic Uncertainty
. I recently read, yet one more so-called expert advice column promoting the ultimatum of “merge” or “die” as the pathway for many nonprofits. In this iteration, the ultimatum arises out of the knee jerk reaction caused by the recent economic downturn. Citing duplication of service and competition for scarce resources, ...Read More
Facilitating Models of Social Impact
. I will confess that I am a visual learner. I like to not only see the big picture but to be able to draw it as well. This inclination towards a visual process has served me well in facilitation. In fact, I have staked out the position that visual learning is ...Read More
Strategic Planning: Building Momentum & Process
. In this series on strategic planning, my goal is to outline principles that inform the development of a strategic planning process. The first principle is that agencies need to connect the planning process and their organizational culture. The second principle is that strategic planning must be tied to a clear ...Read More
Socially Responsible Growth & Strategy
. In the last 15-20 years the concept of Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) has grown from an abstract investment concept to a mainstream practice. According to the Social Investment Forum’s 2007 report on SRI Trends, over $2.71 trillion in total assets are being managed using one or more of the three ...Read More