Free kit · Strategy and planning
Nonprofit Strategic Plan Template: free one-page strategic plan template in Word and PDF
Take your nonprofit from the first conversation to an approved strategic plan in 6 to 12 weeks, then keep it in use. Three goals with a stop-doing list beside them, owners and measures, and four quarterly reviews booked in the vote that approves the plan. The full plan goes to the board; the one-page version goes into every board packet.
Word and PDF · 14 pages · For executive directors and boards
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What is inside
- Situation summary worksheet. Three years of your own numbers, five to eight short conversations and a SWOT analysis where every line points to a decision.
- Goals and stop-doing list. Four questions to test every candidate goal, a place for the goals that wait, and three to five things to stop.
- Full strategic plan. Eight parts, from mission and vision to the review calendar, each with a size limit and a sample from a fictional youth literacy nonprofit.
- One-page strategic plan. The mission, three goals, what you will stop and the four review dates on one page, for every board packet.
- Quarterly review dashboard. A 60-minute quarterly agenda, a dashboard, the month-six check for a stalled plan and four questions for the annual review.
How to use it
- Week 1: the board chair and the executive director agree who holds the pen and the problem the plan should solve.
- Weeks 2 to 5: the executive director builds the situation summary; the board checks the mission and vision, and a planning group chooses the horizon.
- Weeks 6 to 8: the board and senior staff choose three goals and the stop-doing list in one session.
- Weeks 9 to 12: the executive director drafts the plan with owners and measures, and the board approves it with all four reviews booked.
- Every quarter: a 60-minute review with the dashboard; the fourth comes before next year's budget is drafted.
Questions
Is the kit free?
Yes. Enter your name, email and organization once, and every kit in the library opens on this browser.
Can I edit it?
Yes. The Word file is fully editable: replace the sample lines with your own, change the schedule to fit your board and move any part you do not need into an appendix.
Does it work in Google Docs?
Yes. Upload the Word file to Google Drive and open it with Google Docs; the tables and ruled lines carry over.
Can I share it inside my organization?
Yes. Copy it, adapt it and share it with your board and staff.
Read the guide
More kits for executive directors
Strategic Planning Retreat Agenda PackOne-day and half-day agendas, the pre-reads, a record of the day and the 30 days after
Nonprofit SWOT Analysis and Mission and Vision WorksheetsA SWOT session that ends in decisions with owners, and worksheets to test and rewrite your mission and vision
Logic Model and Theory of Change KitBoth tools for one program, filled examples and an evaluation plan for the yearly review
With a strategic plan, the document is rarely where it goes wrong. The months after the vote are. A coach helps the executive director decide which goal to keep and which to cut, instead of deciding alone between everything else.
Six sessions of executive coaching: $300, $400 or $600, set by your organization's yearly operating expenses.
