Developing A Successful Strategic Plan For Your Nonprofit

About this event

The phrase “strategic planning” can spark fear and frustration in executive directors and boards of directors – but both the process and product can be empowering for organizations that take the time to prepare before diving in. This workshop explores the transformational value of utilizing a transparent, comprehensive, and inclusive strategic planning process in yielding an impactful and applicable plan. The course inter-weaves case examples and exercises to give participants a practical understanding of how to move their organization through the process of creating and operationalizing a strategic plan.

Learning Outcomes: Participants in the workshop will learn:

• The value of developing a strategic plan
• Ideal timing to launch and expected duration of the planning process
• Who to include in the strategic planning process, how to engage them, and key roles and responsibilities
• The structure, time horizon and core elements of a strategic plan deliverable
• Key phases in the strategic planning process and how to adapt them based on organizational needs
• Common pitfalls organizations encounter in the strategic planning process and how to avoid
• How to operationalize the strategic plan and communicate to stakeholders
• How to bridge from a strategic plan into annual operating planning
• Strategies to track progress during the strategic plan’s lifecycle

The session will include ample time for discussion and interactive exercises. Participants will leave with concrete next steps in strategic planning for their organizations.

Target Audience: This workshop is designed for nonprofit staff and Board leaders who desire to fine-tune their organization’s current strategic planning process and/or are preparing to begin this process for their organization.

Faculty

Jennifer Lobenhofer

As the principal at JSL community Strategies, Jennifer Lobenhofer guides mission-driven organizations in envisioning, planning, achieving, and measuring their greatest imaginable impact on the communities they serve. She has more than twenty years of experience providing capacity-building education, facilitation, and consulting to organizations in the public and nonprofit sectors, and her current consulting practice focuses on providing strategic planning and program evaluation support to nonprofit organizations.

Two decades ago, Jennifer began her career examining the outcomes of pilot programs demonstrating promising new responses to affordable housing and community development needs. She then directed a statewide community and economic development training and advising program for local government officials. Those combined experiences led her to the realization that nonprofit organizations engage in the most meaningful policy implementation, innovation, and “heavy lifting” of creating real social change in communities, and that they all too frequently face significant capacity challenges in maximizing their impact. Since then, Jennifer has dedicated herself to the belief that the greatest good can only be accomplished if it is done well, and she has built her consulting practice on that foundational philosophy.  

Jennifer holds a Master of City and Regional Planning degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She lives in Thousand Oaks, California, where she enjoys choral singing, attending live theatre, wine tasting, and creating handmade greeting cards.