Involving Members in Your Strategic Planning Process

During our recent webinar "Increasing the Impact of Your Strategic Planning Efforts", one participant asked "What are some concrete suggestions for involving the membership in the development of a strategic plan?" Here is our response:
• Reserve a few slots on the strategic planning committee for member representatives with a reputation for "big picture thinking"
• Invite selected members to participate in a strategic planning retreat
• Conduct dialogue sessions/focus groups with members to solicit feedback and input on what they view as emerging issues and challenges facing the organization, the field/profession and the members themselves
• Build in opportunities for input of members at already scheduled meetings and events – monthly membership meetings, conferences, training programs
• Conduct an online membership survey. I've taken an online membership survey which we used in some of our strategic planning projects involving membership organizations and associations and removed organization specific references. You can take a look at this survey online at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/H3KLMXD. Feel free to use the survey questions and edit as needed.

Core Strategy #8: Deploy Targeted Volunteer Engagement Strategies

In previous posts, I listed 10 key strategies that need consideration in the strategic plans of nonprofit organizations. The first strategy is “Embed capacity building into the fabric of your nonprofit". The second strategy is to "Build an exceptional board". The third --to engage in accelerated strategic thinking and planning. The fourth strategy is to "Forge partnerships, alliances and mergers to increase mission impact and sustainability". The fifth strategy is to "Develop board and staff succession plans". The sixth strategy is to "Build capacity for effective public policy and advocacy". The seventh strategy is to "Master use of social media".

The eighth strategy is to deploy targeted volunteer engagement strategies.

One of the most important opportunities for nonprofits today is the potential impact of baby boomers as they now begin to retire. A lot is being written about what boomers will be doing with their volunteer time and their charitable dollars. Also, for a number of reasons, many boomers will put off retirement to continue working in their current jobs or in new part-time positions. Several studies suggest that many boomers, when they think of employment "after retirement", express a preference for work in the nonprofit sector.

All of this represents great news for nonprofit organizations. The problem is that many nonprofits are not thinking about how to capitalize on this phenomenon. They have no coherent strategy for volunteer engagement. This trend and its implications are so important that a strategic plan that doesn’t include concrete strategies to tap into Boomer charitable giving, volunteering and professional workplace skills and knowledge, is deficient in a serious way.

In my work with nonprofits, more and more organizations are looking for ways to maximize their engagement of volunteers to increase mission impact. And the good news? Lots of excellent resources are readily available. Here are several excellent resources including some that focus on engagement of younger volunteers:

• VolunteeringInAmerica.gov. This website hosted by the Corporation for National and Community Service, provides the most comprehensive collection of data on volunteering and civic engagement ever assembled, including data for every state and nearly 200 cities. The data is collected through a partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and has been released annually since 2005. http://www.volunteeringinamerica.gov.
• Everyone Ready Professional Development Program in Volunteer Management. Everyone Ready® is a professional development program in volunteer management delivered via Online Seminars, electronic Self-Instruction Guides, interactive discussion boards, and other online resources. To learn more about this innovative approach to training, go to: http://energizeinc.com/everyoneready.
• Calculating the Economic Impact of Volunteers. The Economic Impact of Volunteers Calculator created by the Points of Light Foundation estimates the appropriate wage rate for volunteer time based on what the person does, the value of specific tasks according to market conditions as reported by the US Department of Labor. Organizations can use the Calculator to determine the value of the time their volunteers give doing a wide variety of volunteer jobs. Go to: http://www.handsonnetwork.org/tools/volunteercalculator.
• Sample Volunteer Job Descriptions. The Community Services Council of Newfoundland and Labrador whose mission is to encourage citizen engagement, has created an excellent resource for the development of volunteer job descriptions. To learn more about creating job descriptions for volunteers, go to: http://www.envision.ca/voljobdesc/example_form.asp. To view a variety of sample volunteer job descriptions to help determine the type of volunteer you are looking for, go to: http://www.envision.ca/voljobdesc/description_form.asp. Then to create volunteer job descriptions, you can use an interactive template. You can view your job descriptions online, print them or email them, go to: http://www.envision.ca/voljobdesc/example_form.asp.
• The New Volunteer Workforce by David Eisner, Robert T. Grimm Jr., Shannon Maynard, & Susannah Washburn. Stanford Social Innovation. http://www.ssireview.org.
• Reinventing Aging. Harvard School of Public Health–MetLife Foundation Initiative on Retirement and Civic Engagement. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu.
• Resources on Baby Boomers. The collection available at the website of the National Corporation for Community Service originally complied by Temple University in April 2008, offers a list of resources for those who have had limited experience with this population, or anyone who would like to learn more. http://www.nationalserviceresources.org.
• The Boomers’ Guide to Good Work. Ellen Freudenheim is the author of a new guide to help boomers find public service jobs in the second half of their lives—the preference of most boomers in their 50s, according to a new national survey. Both the guide, The Boomers’ Guide to Good Work: An introduction to jobs that make a difference, and the survey, MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures New Face of Work Survey are available free online at http://www.civicventures.org. The MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures New Face of Work Survey is available at http://www.civicventures.org.
• Generation We: How Millennial Youth are Taking Over America And Changing Our World Forever. Eric Greenberg and Karl Weber. Free downloadable book at http://gen-we.com.
• Youth and Students in Service Resources. Collection of resources that includes volunteering by young people - children, teens, and college age - plus service-learning and family volunteering. http://energizeinc.com.

Strategic Planning for Networks

In a previous post, I discussed collaborative strategic planning, an exciting and important development in the nonprofit sector. I noted

"Nonprofits are showing new interest in collaborative strategic planning efforts in which the focus is on a shared customer/constituent base or pressing community issue rather than development of a strategic plan for their organization alone. Examples include several youth and family serving organizations developing a collaborative strategic plan to offer new services to children with special needs in a region or neighborhood development groups focusing on affordable housing in city neighborhoods."

Some important collaborative strategic planning is being done within networks. A stunning example of this phenomenon can be found in the work of Eric Kim who has facilitated strategic planning for networks. He recently presented in a webinar entitled "Strategic Planning for Networks" sponsored by the Leadership Learning Community. You can access the presentation slides as well as an excellent summary of the presentation on the blog of Patti Anklam. You can access all of this at the website of the Leadership Learning Community.

A related resource is the article "the Network Nonprofit" referenced in another earlier post on our blog: The Networked Nonprofit: A New Mental Model of Organizational Growth.

Core Strategy #7: Master Use Of Social Media

In an earlier post, I listed 10 key strategies that need consideration in the strategic plans of nonprofit organizations. The first strategy described in that post is “Embed capacity building into the fabric of your nonprofit". The second strategy is to "Build an exceptional board". The third strategy discussed in my last post is to engage in accelerated strategic thinking and planning. The fourth strategy is to "Forge partnerships, alliances and mergers to increase mission impact and sustainability". The fifth strategy is to "Develop board and staff succession plans". The sixth strategy is to "Build capacity for effective public policy and advocacy".

The 7th strategy is to master use of social media. Here's what some of the experts are telling us:

• First, we’re not in charge anymore. There was a time when we were more in control of communication about our nonprofit. We created the message and we decided who would and wouldn't get the message. Those days are gone. Witness the multimillion dollar ad campaigns of major corporations gone up in smoke as a result of someone mobilizing an army of consumers through use of Facebook and Twitter.
• Next, it's about engagement. Communication is no longer a one-way proposition. People are no longer content to be the passive recipients. People expect to respond. People expect to co-create content and knowledge with us.
• Integrated with an overall communications plan. Social media is a powerful tool, technique, medium that needs to be joined to the other marketing and communication tools in our arsenal.
• Define your desired outcomes. Like all communications planning, it starts with determining the desired outcomes of our efforts.
• Monitor and measure. This follows from the previous point. Once we figured out what it is we want to achieve, what is the message? Who is the audience? How can we engage them? How do we measure our success - and our mission related impact?
• Finally, social media is not a substitute for building personal relationships of trust and commitment between the organization and our various constituencies, supporters and stakeholders.

There has been so much written on the use of social media by nonprofits. The following is by no means a complete resource list but provides you with a starting point:

• Social Networking Guides and Resources for Nonprofits. Networking for Good has compiled an excellent collection of introductory articles and resources to help you determine whether or not online social networks including services like Facebook, MySpace, and blogs fit your needs, and if so, how to get started. You can access the collection at http://www.fundraising123.org/social-networking. A great place to start is the article entitled 10 Things You Need to Do Prior to Diving into Social Media‖. Go to: http://www.fundraising123.org/article.

• YouTube Nonprofit Program. Does your organization have a compelling story to tell? Do you want to connect with your supporters, volunteers, and donors but don't have the funds to launch expensive outreach campaigns? YouTube can help. Video is a powerful way to show your organization's impact and needs, and with a designated "Nonprofit" channel on YouTube, you can deliver your message to the world's largest online video community. Go to: http://www.youtube.com/nonprofits.

• Everything You Need to Know About Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is a category of new Internet tools and technologies that focuses on the idea that the people who consume media, access the Internet, and use the Web shouldn't passively absorb what's available -- rather, they should be active contributors, helping customize media and technology for their own purposes, as well as those of their communities. These new tools include, but are not limited to, blogs, social networking applications, RSS, social bookmarking, and wikis. This resource provided by Techsoup includes articles on a variety of Web 2.0 tools and technologies. Techsoup intends to update this page from time to time so you can check back to learn about the latest technologies for your organization. Go to: http://www.techsoup.org/toolkits/web2.

• Social Change Takes More Than Social Media. Go to: http://www.netsquared.org.

• The Power Formula for Linkedin Success: Kick-start Your Business, Brand, and Job Search by Wayne Breitbarth. This simple, user-friendly guide explains how you can access the full power of LinkedIn--including advice on making lasting business connections, building a unique personal brand, and generating significant business opportunities. Breitbarth demonstrates how you can take advantage of all the features of this professional networking platform. He shows you how to create a compelling profile, use keywords to improve your ability to find and be found by others, build a solid base of connections, solicit valuable recommendations, and much more. Go to: http://www.amazon.com.

Core Strategy #6 Build Capacity for Effective Public Policy and Advocacy

In an earlier post, I listed 10 key strategies that need consideration in the strategic plans of nonprofit organizations. The first strategy described in that post is “Embed capacity building into the fabric of your nonprofit". The second strategy is to "Build an exceptional board". The third strategy discussed in my last post is to engage in accelerated strategic thinking and planning. The fourth strategy is to "Forge partnerships, alliances and mergers to increase mission impact and sustainability". The fifth strategy is to "Develop board and staff succession plans".

The sixth strategy is to build capacity for effective public policy and advocacy. Now more than ever, nonprofits need to engage in advocacy and public policy work. Direct services, while important, are not sufficient to advance the missions of many nonprofits. Building internal capacity needed to engage in advocacy effectively involves much more than acquiring advocacy skills. A solid foundation for effective advocacy requires attention to the following things:

• Board-level commitment. A solid foundation for advocacy and public policy work begins with a board level commitment. The advocacy work requires the full knowledge and support of the Board of Directors. Advocacy needs to be viewed as a central strategy to achieve mission impact.

• An established issue agenda. There needs to be an agreed-upon process for determining which issues the nonprofit will advocate on. If the nonprofit is the local presence of a regional or national organization, guidance on which issues to focus on is usually provided.

• Someone designated to move the work along. Nonprofits that engage in advocacy and public policy work in a serious way have identified a staff person who is responsible for the work.

• Advocacy linked to strategic plan vs. an add-on element. The commitment to advocacy is reflected in concrete strategies and action plans that are part of the organization's overall strategic plan.

• Board recruitment linked to mission-driven advocacy. Prospective board members are fully informed about the organization's commitment to advocacy. Furthermore, collective and individual board responsibilities relative to advancing the organization's issue agenda are clearly communicated in advance.

• Building a pressure-resistant revenue base. "He who pays the piper calls the tune". Often, nonprofits will shy away from advocacy for fear that high-profile work of this type will alienate current and prospective funders. Plans to increase the amount of unrestricted dollars are essential if the nonprofit intends to engage in advocacy and public policy work, especially on the issues that are more controversial.

The great news: lots of excellent resources on the subject of nonprofit advocacy. Here is a starter bibliography:

• A Citizen's Guide to Lobbying by Donald E. deKieffer.
• SPARC Building Capacity for Public Policy Tool Kit.
• Effective Advocacy at All Levels of Government. Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
• Guide to State Advocacy by NP Action, a project of OMB Watch.
• Click Here for Change: Your Guide to the E-Advocacy Revolution by Policy Link.
• The Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest.
• NCNA Policy & Advocacy Resources.