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How Long is a Long-Range Plan?

Nonprofits know they need plans. Like any other organization, they have goals and objectives, work to do, resources to gather and manage. This doesn’t happen in a vacuum or on the spur of the moment. It happens as the result of a planning process—deciding where you want to be at some date in the future, and how you want to get there.

The Problem Statement

They say be sure you’re asking the right questions before you start to spell out your answers. “They” must have been thinking about a persuasive proposal. It’s important to frame the problem, the challenge or the opportunity first, and then go about telling how you’ll address it.

Institutional Memory – Lest We Forget

Your nonprofit has a history of funding from a variety of foundations, a few local businesses, maybe a special-purpose state grant. Congratulations. Now a new person takes the proposal writer’s chair, it’s time for reports and renewals, so the newbie asks the basic questions: “Did we get a grant from the XYZ Foundation? How much? When? Who did we work with over there?”

DUNS Bites the Dust

If your organization applies for Federal funding, you’ve gotten to know the commercial data firm Dun & Bradstreet—more specifically its unique numeric identifier called the DUNS number. Your organization probably has (or had) a DUNS number, along with 300 million others, so the Feds could tell exactly which agency or organization you are.

The Case for Evidence-Based Methods

The need for the program has been established. The organization is credible and the budget is concrete. Now we lay out the methods section. Why are we doing our work this way? Well, that’s how we’ve always done it, it’s our traditional approach.

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