What’s the Difference Between Strategy & Planning?
As I work with nonprofits, I encounter confusion on the difference between strategy and planning, especially when it comes to growing revenue. This post explores both, explains their differences, and provides examples of each.
What Is Nonprofit Strategy?
A nonprofit strategy identifies different routes to the future you want. It explains how you will win enough resources and enough supporters to create exemplary mission results. A good strategy provides overall direction. You use it long-term. You can condense strategy into a few well-chosen words to convey its essence.
Example of Nonprofit Strategy
- Educate the moms: Adopted by a home for young unwed mothers to help them move families out of poverty.
- Education comes first: nothing gets in the way. Advocated by Centre College in Danville, Kentucky
- Forty percent donor, 40 percent earned, and 20 percent government: A nonprofit’s sustainable income strategy.
- Follow the North Star: Used by runaway slaves. (Okay, this is not a nonprofit, but it’s was an effective strategy.)
What is Nonprofit Planning?
Nonprofit planning works best when used with a strategy. Planning gets specific. The planning timeframe can be for ten minutes or three years. It’s always finite. Plans can be simple: Go to the store and buy milk. They can be complicated: Take one step per day for 365 days to plan the gala. Using the strategies above, the examples below illustrate how strategy and planning enhance each other.
Example of Planning that Flows from Nonprofit Strategy
- Educate mothers. A home provides free daycare. The hours’ match class times at the local community college.
- Education first. Neither Labor Day, sickness, sports events, or tornado warnings interfere with classes. Centre holds classes. (Centre canceled classes for an ice storm this winter—the first time in over a decade.)
- Forty percent donor income: To grow donors, the nonprofit presents at 20 community events, collect emails, and provide a follow-up newsletter with provocative information.
- North Star. A runaway slave gazes up at night to confirm the next day’s direction.
You can have a strategy without a plan and a plan without a strategy. When linked, a strategy, such as we want to go north during the heat of the summer, and a plan that includes hotel reservations and a tank full of gas, allow you to reach your destination efficiently and effectively. To grow your nonprofit’s income, create a strategy that will set your way to winning; then make your plans to get there.
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