There are certain moments in the life of an organization when reviewing the current strategic plan is called for. For example, the board hires a new CEO or a new chairman of the board is elected. However, Professor Michael Porter from the Harvard Business School says that boards should review their strategic plans annually, especially during economic downturns or major shifts in their sectors.
Although most nonprofit boards do review their strategic plans annually, most do not ask or require their fund raising operation to conduct their own separate strategic planning process preferring rather to incorporate fund raising into the organization's overall strategic plan.
While this mode of operation might make sense during times where there is little change in the fund raising environment, today’s environment is anything but status quo.
The Rise of the Expert Facilitator
In the past few years, the consulting world has awoken to many of the same competitive pressures facing organizations, whether they are for-profit or nonprofit. One of those is the Expert Facilitator.
In the past, outside strategic planning facilitators were hired for their expertise in the process of strategic planning. The facilitator was skilled in both the strategic planning process and in drafting the written plan document the process produced. Although this has been the process most organizations have chosen over the last 20 years, it is losing favor as its Achilles heel is that it depends on its ideas and perspectives being generated internally by staff, management, board members and other existing stake holders.
A different approach is quickly gaining traction with management and board leadership. This is the Expert Facilitator. Like the facilitator described above, the Expert Facilitator is also skilled in the strategic planning process, but, unlike the previous mentioned facilitator, the Expert Facilitator brings outside perspective, information and subject matter expertise to the strategic planning process. In times of fast moving change like today’s fund raising environment, it is critical to add outside perspectives and expertise to the very important strategic planning process.
-Mike
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