Your organization likely already has a strategic plan that shapes how you advance and achieve your mission. This plan helps you accomplish your goals and ensure the long-term success of your nonprofit.

While this type of standard strategic plan is sufficient during times of internal and external stability, it may not be viable in the face of large-scale uncertainty or challenges. Creating a plan that specifically addresses the issues you’re facing can help you tackle them head-on and align your team for an efficient, effective approach.

In this guide, we’ll provide steps for creating a strategic plan tailored to the current circumstances surrounding your nonprofit so you can not only get through challenges but also grow through them.

1. Choose the right type of strategic plan.

Although most organizations’ default is a standard plan focused on long-term goals, that’s not the only type of strategic plan available to your team. You might create different types of strategic plans depending on the specific problem you’re facing and your organization’s main objective.

Aly Sterling Philanthropy’s nonprofit strategic planning guide outlines three strategic plan types intended to help nonprofits solve different challenges:

  • Issue-based strategic plan. This type of strategic plan is best for nonprofits with a specific internal problem. For example, let’s say you’re not raising enough funds to reach your goals and support your programming, or you can’t recruit enough volunteers to staff your volunteer events. In your issue-based strategic plan, you can create specific goals to solve these problems.
  • Organic strategic plan. On the other hand, an organic strategic plan deals with handling an external threat, such as economic shifts, changes in government policies or general decreases in giving. With this type of plan, you’ll analyze the threat and how it affects your organization so you can adjust your strategy accordingly.
  • Real-time strategic plan. Lastly, a real-time strategic plan is meant for nonprofits experiencing an unexpected event, like a natural disaster or public health crisis. Since these problems require you to act quickly, you’ll create short-term rather than long-term goals.

Even though each plan differs in its intended purpose, the underlying planning process is very similar. Let’s explore the three main pillars of the nonprofit strategic planning process and how you’ll navigate them while facing a specific problem.

2. Assess the problem at hand.

The typical strategic planning process begins with assessing your nonprofit’s history, infrastructure, core programs and vision for the future. Depending on the issue at hand, you may need to condense this task or only focus on certain aspects. For example, if you’re facing a natural disaster, you may just dive into your existing infrastructure and core programs to determine how you can adapt your operations to support beneficiaries at this critical time.

This stage also involves interviewing or surveying stakeholders to gather different perspectives on your organization’s operations. These individuals may include:

  • Current and past board members
  • Current major donors
  • Influential community members
  • Volunteers and staff
  • Beneficiaries

Again, the specific problem you’re addressing may impact which stakeholders you reach out to. For instance, an internal problem like the need to revamp your fundraising strategy may prompt you to focus on surveying internal stakeholders like board members and staff who are more closely tied to the issue.

3. Align with your team on your priorities.

Your stakeholder surveys should clarify your most pressing issues, but now it’s time to work with your board and staff members to transform these problems into clear solutions.

For instance, perhaps the heating system breaks in one of your organization’s homeless shelters during a winter storm. In this situation, you may work with sponsors or local businesses to fix the system via discounted or pro-bono services. Additionally, you may prioritize collecting in-kind donations of blankets, hats, gloves and scarves in the meantime while you work on getting the system fixed.

During the traditional strategic planning process, nonprofits often host retreats for internal stakeholders to meet and discuss their thoughts so they can build consensus on different elements of the plan. While this may not be an option during times of immediate distress, your organization can still practice the essence of this exercise by working together to align on your short-term goals and top priorities.

4. Develop an action plan.

Lastly, wrap up your crisis strategic planning process by compiling everything you’ve discussed into a cohesive action plan that helps your team move forward. Elements of this plan should include:

  • Action steps. Determine the smaller tasks within your broader priorities that team members can act upon. To continue our previous example, you may facilitate an in-kind donation drive by refining your gift acceptance policy, creating an in-kind donation page on your website and setting up collection bins.
  • Timeline. You might not have the luxury of creating a detailed timeline when you’re working to address a pressing issue. Instead, develop a condensed timeline that holds team members accountable for their responsibilities and brainstorm ways to expedite the process. For example, you may turn to quicker fundraising strategies like text fundraising. As Double the Donation’s text donations guide explains, “Text messages have a 99% open rate and 90% read rate within just three minutes of sending, allowing your organization to push forward donation requests with high urgency.”
  • Leaders. Delegate roles and responsibilities to board and staff members so they know exactly what they need to accomplish. Note who is in charge of each task so you can follow up with them if needed.
  • Necessary resources. In some cases, you may need to secure additional resources to execute your plan effectively, such as new technology or additional staff members. Ensure you have enough room in your budget to allocate to these resources before making any purchases.
  • Future and ongoing actions. Even when addressing a short-term problem, you may have takeaways with long-term implications. For instance, you may decide to more regularly collect in-kind donations like clothing and personal care items so you can have items your beneficiaries need on hand. Make a plan to instill these practices in your organization’s operations.

Distribute this plan to your team members to ensure everyone is on the same page. This document may also serve as a helpful resource when creating future strategic plans, so keep it accessible by storing it in a central location, such as a shared folder in your online workspace.

The key to navigating challenges is developing a plan to keep your team on track and alleviate some of the stress associated with the issue. If you need help creating a strategic plan that effectively addresses your organization’s most pressing needs, work with a nonprofit consulting firm to guide you through the process.