Strategic Plan

Assignment Description

Through this assignment, you will have the opportunity to walk through the strategic planning process, on a smaller, more targeted scale than usual. Instead of developing a strategic plan for an entire organization, it is just for the implementation of a volunteer program.

Directions

  • Find and choose a nonprofit organization (through online search or one with which you are familiar) that you believe could (or does) benefit from a volunteer program. If you choose an organization that already has a volunteer program, you should do this exercise to develop a plan to improve the program. If the organization does not have a current program, the exercise should be completed as if building a program from scratch.
  • Follow the following four steps (from the Balanced Scorecard Institute) to develop a strategic plan for a proposed (or current) volunteer program.
    • Assessment:
      • Determine the needs of the organization with respect to volunteers (how many, what kind, how often, etc.)
      • Determine what work will be done by volunteers
      • Consider Internal and external needs of the organization
    • Development:
      • Establish three broad strategic goals for the volunteer program
      • For each strategic goal, establish five SMART action steps
    • Execution:
      • Assign responsibility for each action step to a person/position/department.
      • Develop a timeline for each action step (in months/weeks)
    • Evaluation:
      • Develop 1-2 outcome measures for each strategic goal (decide WHAT you will measure)
      • Determine methods for tracking and reporting information (decide HOW you will measure)
  • Complete this exercise by entering your goals, action steps, etc. in the “Strategic Plan Template” document