Renew and Refresh with Development Planning
Big picture thinker.
Vision setter.
Team Leader.
Manager.
Problem Solver.
All of those things. And much more.
Carolyn embraced her role as Executive Director of their nonprofit community after-school program.
And she knew it took her strong team and board members surrounding her to make the dream come alive. Every day, after school, it did. Children with no place to go when the final bell rang needed more than a keycode to their home. They needed a nutritious snack. Help with homework. A place to play and be a kid. They needed a home away from home to be welcomed. To be nurtured and loved. Until mom, dad or a grandparent came for them a few hours later after work.
It was a good plan. It took years of hard work for it to materialize. And now, 20 years later, it was still working. But only because the vision stayed before them and objectives were regularly tweaked to get the program right and stay on track.
Today was the day each year Carolyn set aside to revisit the planning process. She knew there was always something fresh to learn and it seemed every day she discovered innovative online tools to help make the planning smoother.
Carolyn looked forward each year to this day alone to plan, dream and refresh the vision. She knew it was important to sit quietly and think -- away from her office and the constant demand for her time. On many planning days, she simply shut herself in her home and stayed hidden away from civilization for a whole day. Or she opted to put on comfy clothes and settle in to her favorite chair at her corner coffee shop for a few morning hours. Sometimes she booked a B and B by the seaside and enjoyed time alone with her journal and laptop. But this was the first time she planned a personal two-day retreat. It was a short drive to a mountain get-away location. She booked a cabin and created a To-Do list to ensure productive planning days.
It was a beautiful spot. Luscious trees. Fresh air. Breathtaking vistas. There were hiking trails and quaint shops and restaurants she would enjoy later in the nearby town. She would reward herself with those fun activities after she accomplished her purpose. She came to sharpen her plans and make sure their team’s advancement goals were achievable.
She pulled out her laptop and all the calendars and documents that listed plans from the past year and upcoming plans for the coming year.
Carolyn spread out all the documents of their last strategic planning meetings and pulled up her Excel spreadsheet where she kept updated lists of goals, priorities and plans. She sometimes used https://monday.com/ to help her organize. And also used handy project planning templates. https://www.template.net/editable/project-plan. But primarily, she used her uncomplicated Excel spreadsheet, and religiously recorded updates and relevant numbers after each team and board meeting.
Time to evaluate.
· She pulled up the dashboard her IT team member created for her to help keep track of everything: goals, plans, activities, funding, communication platforms.
· Each month, she broke down their plans and listed them into monthly goals. Were their plans moving them toward their goals? What was really working? What did they need to stop doing so they could do the main things better?
Carolyn paused to check their priorities with the S.M.A.R.T. goal model. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. https://www.volunteerhub.com/blog/is-your-nonprofit-setting-smart-goals/. She checked to see if they at least hit four out of five goals for each priority.
· She checked the most recent financial spreadsheet. Were their finances supporting their goals?
· What about fundraising? Were their plans for a fall gala on track to accomplish both awareness and gain new monthly donors?
· How about communications? How well were they sharing their vision and plans with the public and with supporters?
Carolyn made a new list to add to her spreadsheet: Goals Accomplished. Goals unmet. Underneath each she listed reasons why their goals were met including who was responsible for helping achieve them. Underneath the goals unmet section, she listed reasons why those goals weren’t realized. She honestly took responsibility first for why they weren’t met. She asked the hard questions: Had she not provided enough vision, encouragement or resources? If she wasn’t responsible, who was and how could she prevent that situation from happening again? What conversations with leaders did she need to have?
· What about their time? She made a note to add a column to her spreadsheet that listed the amount of time each event or activity took for her, her team, board members and volunteers. Next time she had a planning retreat, she would evaluate if the time spent was worth the outcome.
Final question. What surprised her the most from this last planning period? She thought about her board director who showed up at the children’s Christmas party to greet parents and guests. And the school principal who stopped by to show his support of the program. And the smiles on the kids’ faces when they came in the door each afternoon. In fact, she framed some of those smiling faces and placed them around her office to remind her why she was doing what she did every day.
But not all the surprises were good ones. Volunteers she thought were committed didn’t follow through. A major donor stopped funding and supported another cause. Kids she had personally invested in were pulled from the program by an angry parent.
On difficult work days at her office, she stopped to look at those smiling faces. Sometimes she shut down her computer and went to visit the program to see those smiles personally. That always renewed her energy.
Carolyn checked her watch. Wow. It was already late afternoon. She was pleased with the planning she had done that day. There was still much to do before she returned home tomorrow evening – finalize plans; revisit a list of priorities; create a document with all her new insights and plans to share with her team and board.
But for now, she shut her laptop and organized her papers. Time for a leisurely hike before dinner. She had a date with a mountain sunset.