Free kit · Strategy and planning
Nonprofit SWOT Analysis and Mission and Vision Worksheets: free SWOT analysis template in Word, Excel and PDF
Run a SWOT session that ends in two to four decisions, each with an owner, a date and at least one thing you stop doing. Then test your mission against every program you run, rewrite it if it fails, and draft a vision your board and staff share.
Word, Excel and PDF · 16 pages · For executive directors and boards
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What is inside
- Invitation and data pack. The invitation, who is in the room and a data pack to send a week ahead.
- Your answers before the session. Up to three items per quadrant, each with its evidence, answered anonymously before the session.
- The SWOT grid with evidence. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats with evidence, narrowed by dots to the top five in each.
- Crossing the quadrants. Each strength and weakness paired with the outside factors it touches, to find what to do, fix, protect or stop.
- Decisions and the one-page record. Two to four decisions with an owner and a date, at least one stop item, and wording for the minutes.
- Mission statement test. Three questions and a say-no check for your current mission, and every program tested against it.
- Rewriting the mission. The group, the steps and three drafts from a fill-in sentence, for two working sessions and a board vote.
- Drafting the vision. Name the change, test the time horizon and draft three versions next to published examples.
- Testing and adopting the vision. Three board members' sentences compared, the drafts tested with staff and the people you serve, and the vote.
How to use it
- A week before: pick a facilitator who is not the executive director, invite six to twelve people and send Forms A and B.
- The session: two to three hours, about 80 minutes on the grid (Form C), then the last hour crossing the quadrants (Form D).
- After the session: the executive director brings two to four decisions to the board (Form E).
- Mission in doubt: test it first with Form F, and rewrite it in two sessions with Form G.
- Vision: draft it in one or two meetings (Form H), then test it and take it to the board (Form I).
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 and Excel files are fully editable: change the questions, the session timings and the data pack to fit your board, your staff and your programs.
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
Nonprofit Strategic Plan TemplateA full plan and a one-page plan, with a goal filter, a stop-doing list and a review dashboard
Strategic Planning Retreat Agenda PackOne-day and half-day agendas, the pre-reads, a record of the day and the 30 days after
Logic Model and Theory of Change KitBoth tools for one program, filled examples and an evaluation plan for the yearly review
With a SWOT or a mission rewrite, the worksheet is rarely where it goes wrong. The conversation is: naming the thing you stop when every event has people who love it. A coach helps you prepare to lead that conversation; the grid and the statement stay yours.
Six sessions of executive coaching: $300, $400 or $600, set by your organization's yearly operating expenses.
