Strategic Planning in the Nonprofit Sector
Strategic planning in the nonprofit sector cannot be overlooked these days when nonprofit organizations depend largely on donations from both public and private partners, who demand accountability. Two articles identified for this study include “Funder-Initiated Integration Partnership Challenges and Strategies” (Eschenfelder, 2011) and “Understanding Workplace Deviant Behavior in Nonprofit Organizations toward an Integrative Conceptual Framework (Nair & Bhatnagar, 2011). These two papers have largely contributed to the knowledge of strategic planning in the nonprofit sector.
In his article, Eschenfelder (2011) indicates that strategic management in nonprofit organizations is fundamental because consolidation is often in a funder’s best interest for nonprofit organizations, reducing the workload on contract management and maximizing the impact of limited resources in such a way. The author further notes that funder’s support is a primary reason for pursuing strategic planning and integrations in nonprofit organizations.
Similarly, the article “Funder-Initiated Integration Partnership Challenges and Strategies” clarifies that strategic planning helps in the provision of peer support that ensures the nonprofit organization’s sustainability among member centers. Eschenfelder (2011) says that it helps members of the organization be accountable to one another. Hence, they are motivated in achieving the required performance outcomes.
Nair and Bhatnagar (2011) in their article “Understanding Workplace Deviant Behavior in Nonprofit Organizations toward an Integrative Conceptual Framework” note that strategic planning is crucial in nonprofit organizations as they are often required to deal with diverse external constituents such as the community, government and volunteers. Thus, they need flexibility and local discretion. The article draws attention to the need for accountability and structuring mechanisms in nonprofit organizations with more internal evaluation procedures for members in nonprofits (Nair & Bhatnagar, 2011). It means that with age, the purpose of the organization, its vision and idealism that held members together may become diluted as leadership changes, but strategic planning is particularly critical in keeping a nonprofits’ mission and ideology alive.
In addition, the article indicates that strategic planning is helpful because it focuses on critical concerns and challenges that nonprofit organization faces, and it assists major leaders to outline in what way respond to them. The article outlines that these types of strategies can assist nonprofit sectors to devise and undoubtedly convey their future course of action and target to appropriate stakeholders and act on those objectives at the same time.
Eschenfelder’s article adds to the knowledge of strategic planning because it outlines that the key to success for nonprofit organizations is the satisfaction of key stakeholders. This implies that the analysis of stakeholders as well as the involvement of citizens in the overall strategic planning process of a nonprofit organization is of great importance. Eschenfelder (2011) points out that the attention and commitments of key decision makers are the resources that are most needed to undertake strategic planning in nonprofit organization.
Nair and Bhatnagar’s article (2011) contributes to the knowledge of strategic planning in nonprofit organizations because it indicates how individuals can respond to situations recognized as challenges that require a considered, collective and often novel response. The authors say that “nonprofit executives know that they must find ways to diversify their revenue streams or face permanent fiscal uncertainty or worse” (Nair & Bhatnagar, 2011, p. 258).
It is evident from Eschenfelder’s article (2011) that the mindset and culture of nonprofit organizations has not been conducive to thinking in terms of market forces. This implies that they have been lacking in making strategic planning until recently, when they had to form coalitions with other nonprofit organizations in order to distribute income and increase their grant base for additional competence and efficacy (Eschenfelder, 2011). Therefore, individuals articulate that nonprofit organizations should manage their funds well at present because they rely entirely on aid.
Furthermore, these two articles offer a practical move towards strategic planning in nonprofit organizations. The adoption of business strategies from the most useful and pertinent thoughts allows nonprofit organizations to attain victory without changing its exceptional duty. It is important to realize that through strategic planning, nonprofit executives, leaders, and decision makers will unearth the core values for daily use and classify events likely to influence plans and services and assess the nonprofit sector’s main competencies.
In conclusion, the articles add to the knowledge of strategic planning because they elaborate its role in selecting approaches that enable mission fulfillment. They help readers synthesize the importance of structuring operational sensation, survey prospects for partnership with new organizations and promote a tradition of premeditated discussion.
