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Strategy & strategic planning

Multi-year strategic plan development for nonprofits

Signs you need a strategic plan

Everyone is busy, but there is no shared sense of direction — priorities shift, decisions are made ad hoc, and funders keep asking for a strategy you don't have.

What you'll achieve

A clear, co-owned 3–5 year strategic plan that aligns your team, guides resource allocation, and gives funders confidence.

How a Nonprofit Builder consultant helps

  • Facilitate a participatory planning process involving staff, board, and key stakeholders, turning the insights into a structured, actionable plan.

Key deliverables

  • Strategic plan document, accompanying one-page summary, implementation roadmap, success indicators.

From the resource library

Free tools and guides to get started

  • 2.1C012

    One-Page Strategic Plan (OPSP)

    A one-page planning template from the Scaling Up Growth Tools set. It puts a team's core values, purpose, long-term goal, annual targets, quarterly priorities and actions on a single sheet, so everyone can see the plan and who owns each part. Leadership teams fill it in together and revisit it each quarter. It comes in a free download pack with other one-page tools such as the One-Page Personal Plan and the Rockefeller Habits Checklist.

    ClassicTool or templateFree with sign-up
  • 2.1C019

    Agile Strategy

    A guide to running strategy as a living system for nonprofits and social enterprises. It sets out 3 layers: Strategic Direction, which fixes long-term vision and values; Strategic Signals, which capture new insights and changes in the environment; and Strategic Sprints, focused projects of 2 to 3 months that move the strategy forward. Teams use it with the one-page Agile Strategy Canvas and review the strategy on a regular cycle.

    EmergingKey manual or guideFreeNonprofit Builder tool