Key Points
- A good business plan for a nonprofit helps with getting funding, sets clear goals, and shows how programs work. The Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles and other groups use three-year plans (2025–2027) to help them make decisions and keep track of how well they are doing.Â
- A good plan should include an executive summary, a mission statement, financial statements (like an income statement and cash flow), program details, ways to raise funds, and ways to measure impact. This gives donors and board members all the information they need.
- Â It’s easier to run a nonprofit when you have tools like QuickBooks to keep track of financials and Donorbox to keep track of donors. Candid and SCORE are two groups that offer free templates to help new teams get started quickly.
- Involving board members, staff, and volunteers in every step of the process keeps your plan focused on what the community really needs, as surveys or needs assessment research have shown.
- Check your plan once or twice a year. Use data like dashboards or market analysis to change costs, goals, and deadlines to keep the nonprofit healthy over time.
As a nonprofit lawyer, I spend a ludicrous amount of time talking people out of forming nonprofits. If founding a successful, impactful nonprofit were easy, everyone would be doing it! Unfortunately, that logic does not deter the majority of prospective nonprofit founders that call our offices.
Finding support and funding in the nonprofit world is often more challenging than finding funding for a for-profit venture. In addition, contrary to the belief of many nonprofit founders, foundation grant dollars do not grow on trees and are, in fact, the most competitive and scarce source of funding available.
Finding a Fiscal Sponsor
While some nonprofit founders have hit on innovative ideas to fill existing community needs, others seem to believe 501(c)(3) status will automatically attract grants and donations and ensure their success. Fiscal sponsorship permits would-be nonprofit founders to test their ideas and find out whether their ideas will produce results and attract support before they invest significant time and resources into building an entire organization around those ideas.
Fiscal sponsorship also allows an experienced partner to handle the often tedious nonprofit accounting and compliance issues while the nonprofit founder focuses on building programs.
So, if you are considering founding a nonprofit to conduct a program you have not yet tested or found meaningful support for, stop stealing all the underpants and consider partnering with a fiscal sponsor.
Running a nonprofit can be hard and stressful. You want to help people, but it’s hard to do that if you don’t have a plan. A lot of people have the same problem: they know their idea is important, but they don’t know how to make it happen.
You might not know how to write an executive summary or how to set up your programs and services. You might be wondering what donors want from your business plan.
A good business plan for a nonprofit lets you make your own goals and decide what to do each day. This plan can help you get funding, find board members, and keep everyone focused on the mission statement.
This blog post will give you easy tips on how to plan strategically, show you examples of how to use Times New Roman font, and point out important parts like marketing plans and financial statements. It will also show you examples from groups like the American Red Cross.
What You Should Know About Business Plans for Nonprofits
A nonprofit business plan shows you how a group that isn’t for profit works. It talks about the programs, the money, and the structure. The business plan tells everyone what the company wants to do in the next three to five years.
This document uses budgets and financial statements like balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements to keep track of progress.
Nonprofits use plans to keep track of their mission statement, target audience, and needs assessment results all in one place. Plans also make it easier to find board members or volunteers by showing that the project will help the community or provide disaster relief.
The U.S. and other groups give away free templates. The Small Business Administration can help new nonprofits get off the ground quickly by giving them clear directions and simple steps to follow. Regular updates help the nonprofit stay on track as its priorities change over time. This helps the organization stay tax-exempt and helps with fundraising through grants or donations.
Why It’s Important to Have a Nonprofit Business Plan
A nonprofit business plan helps leaders understand their mission and how to make the best use of their resources. It gives organisers, board members, and volunteers important tools, like templates for strategic planning, to help them make decisions that will have a lasting effect.
Aligning Values, Mission, and Vision
When a nonprofit’s vision, mission, and values are all in line with each other, it can stay on track. It should only take one sentence to explain the mission. The Trevor Project says, “Fighting to end suicide among LGBTQ+ young people.” This simple phrase helps nonprofits make all of their decisions and set all of their goals.
Use a worksheet to help you write your mission statement and core values. Make sure that board members and staff can understand your mission, vision, and values. When making plans or advertising, make these statements more relevant to donors or other groups you want to reach.
The vision, mission statement, values, and main goals for each program or service should be in the executive summary, along with deadlines for each. Strategic planning uses these ideas to figure out what an organization will do for public benefit and nonprofit work over the next three to five years.
Making Strategic Decisions
You need a plan to make your mission statement, vision, and values work together once they are all in sync. A nonprofit business plan uses strategic planning to make sure that everyone knows what the goals and outcomes are for the next three to five years.
The Eisenhower Matrix and other tools help leaders keep their daily tasks and new strategies separate. For example, board members might first work on starting a big new program and then give other people regular jobs.
Dan Sullivan’s “three-year question” and other strategic questions can help people stop thinking the same way about how nonprofits work or even how to help people in need after a disaster. The business plan assigns a person to each goal and links it to real metrics, like output (how much work gets done) and outcome (what changes because of that work).
Regular review meetings keep everyone on track, which helps decisions stay focused on what is best for the nonprofit’s mission. Good plans also show when programs and services will be available and make sure that the ways the organization raises money are closely related to its funding needs, as shown in detailed financial statements like cash flow reports and income statements.
Getting Donors and Funding
Having a strong business plan will make donors and funders trust your nonprofit more. It demonstrates a clear approach to operations and effective strategies, increasing the likelihood of receiving grants, donations, or other support.
Cash flow statements, income statements, and balance sheets are all important tools for managing funds. These show what has happened and what will happen in the future.
Market research can help you figure out who you want to get to with your fundraising. Use surveys to learn more about your donors and why they give. Many new nonprofit founders believe that getting grants from foundations will be simple, but it is frequently much more difficult than they anticipated.
List all of your sources of income in your strategic planning documents. This includes things like membership fees, public benefit programs, and disaster relief funds. This will give you a full picture of the help you have. To get the best results, your fundraising plans should align with the goals of the grant and social change.
Promoting long-term Sustainability
Nonprofit business plans should include clear goals, milestones, and financial plans to help the organization grow over time. Nonprofits that do well plan ahead for three to five years. This makes sure that what they do is in line with their mission statement and the real world.
Having more than one way to raise funds is important. This includes events to raise money, grants, donations in kind, and donations from a lot of different places. As part of their strategic framework, the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles made big plans to raise funds.
Regular updates are important for keeping up with new needs or risks that come up during a needs assessment or feasibility study that is still going on. To keep a close eye on progress, board members need detailed financial statements like balance sheets and income statements.
Using accountability tools like dashboards, leaders can quickly change their plans if results don’t meet business plan metrics or impact targets. This way of running a nonprofit keeps it healthy and able to meet the needs of the community as they change from year to year.
Components of a Nonprofit Business Plan
A good business plan tells people how your nonprofit will help them and gives you a clear path to follow. Simple tools like an executive summary, a needs assessment, and financial statements can help board members and donors better understand what you do.
Executive Summary
The executive summary is a brief summary of your nonprofit business plan. It has the mission statement, vision, values, history, goals with due dates, and important programs or services.
It also talks about the financial plan, like the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement, and how the funds will be used for good things or to help people in need. This part also tells your story and shares your biggest successes to show how you made a difference and gain trust.
Write this summary after completing the other sections to ensure all facts are accurate. Then put it at the beginning of your business plan. Make sure that everyone, including grantmakers like The Denver Foundation, donors like UNICEF supporters, board members who help make decisions about strategy, and volunteers who help make social change happen, can understand what you’re saying.
This part should usually be one or two pages long so that it’s easy to read. Don’t use jargon to get more funding. A good executive summary can help you get financialsupport by quickly showing funders why your nonprofit is important.
Values, Mission, and Vision Statement
A nonprofit’s mission statement tells you what the organization does in one sentence. For example, CoachArt says, “Creating a transformative arts and athletics community for families impacted by childhood chronic illness.” This short line helps people make decisions every day and sets the tone for programs and services.
Vision statements say what you want to happen in the future, like making sure that every family feels cared for when things get tough.
Values show what the group thinks is most important. The Trevor Project’s main goal is to help kids, while Watts of Love’s main goal is to keep people safe and treat them with respect. Your marketing plans and needs assessment should all fit with these ideas.
Read this part often as your team grows or your goals change. Board members and funders will be able to stay on the same page with your mission if you give them clear updates. Use simple language so that everyone understands what you mean. These documents will help you get money by making plans and building trust with all the people involved.
Organizational Structure and Leadership
Clear roles help the mission statement by making it clear who is responsible for what in a nonprofit. Everyone on the team, from board members to staff, is working to reach the program’s goals.
For instance, in a typical setup, an executive director manages the business daily, while a board of directors oversees all operations.
Put a list of all the current leaders with short bios in the appendix so people can easily find them.
An organizational chart that shows who reports to whom is a common part of business plans. This helps people who give money and care about the project understand how decisions are made.
The plan should list the qualifications of key staff members, any important partnerships like state alliances or local groups, information about insurance coverage and compliance with tax-exempt status, and steps for leadership succession if needed.
If you include these details, donors will feel more confident about giving you money or help after reading your nonprofit business plan.
Overview of Programs and Services
Strong leadership in an organization is what keeps the nonprofit running smoothly every day. The board and staff plan, run, and help with a lot of programs that help the community.
The programs and services in a nonprofit business plan show how the group helps people. Every activity or service has a purpose, a cost, staffing needs, and ways to deliver it. For example, a disaster relief project might list the roles of volunteers, partners like local food banks, how supplies will get to where they are needed, and important goals like helping 500 families a month.
Many nonprofits use membership models, and some want to get 100 new members in their first year by holding events that reach out to people. Some people rely on donations of goods or services to save money.
Clear program descriptions list the benefits for the target audience and explain how impact is measured, such as with an annual impact plan or regular reports. Infographics and other tools can help people understand difficult tasks, like going to adult literacy classes or after-school tutoring hours, by showing them in a simple way.
Strong partnerships help public benefit groups that want to be tax-exempt under IRS rules reach their goals without spending too much money.
Market Analysis and Stakeholder Needs
Nonprofits can find new ways to grow and fill in the gaps by doing market research. Nonprofits can figure out what works and what doesn’t by looking at the business plans, donor demographics, grant requirements, and program details of their competitors.
Donor surveys or talking to people who use programs are the best ways to get real information about what stakeholders need most. For example, talking to board members and doing needs assessments make sure that the plan is based on the most important voices.
Local data sets the rules. You can see how your group compares to other groups in the same field by looking at their income statements and reports on their tax-exempt status.
A lot of people who give money say they only give to charities that are clear about what they do and why they do it. This is important for making early marketing decisions, like picking a name or figuring out who your target audience is.
Market research helps you figure out what stakeholders want, which helps you plan both your fundraising and your program. This way, efforts meet real needs in the community instead of guesses.
Strategies for Fundraising and Revenue
Most nonprofits have more than one way to make money. Common ways to make money include membership fees, donations, grants, in-kind support like goods or services, and special fundraising events.
Many nonprofits run outreach campaigns to find new donors or get more people to join. Some common examples are sending emails, posting on social media, or hosting charity dinners.
Teams work with board members and partners to raise more money to help them. Leaders use tools like donor management software or grant databases like Foundation Directory Online to look at the demographics of donors and find grant opportunities.
It is clear for everyone when donations are shown in financial statements like an income statement or cash flow statement. New groups can find out how much money they will make in their first year by looking at the business plan of a nonprofit that is similar to theirs.
Nonprofits can make money all year long by having a full schedule of events, such as charity walks, auctions, giving days, and more. These activities also keep donors interested and coming back.
Detailed Financial Planning
To have good financial planning, a nonprofit business plan needs to have clear plans for how to get money and make money. A good financial plan uses programs like QuickBooks or Excel to help board members keep track of old accounting data or make predictions about the future for new organizations.
To show how money moves around in the nonprofit, you should include a balance sheet, an income statement, and a cash flow statement. Write down all of your expenses, such as startup costs, salaries, insurance, utilities, software subscriptions, and program costs. This will help donors and funders understand exactly what you need.
To keep your records straight, label each source as either restricted or unrestricted funds. For instance, getting $50,000 in donations by June 2024 can be a goal that helps you keep track of how close you are to being able to support yourself in the long term.
Change these plans often as the money comes in so that your group stays on track with its mission statement and impact plan.
Metrics for Measuring Impact
Impact metrics tell you what your nonprofit does. Set clear goals, work on both social change and your own money health, and then use key results to see how well you’re doing. Make sure you have clear goals for each program or area of service.
Use dashboards and other tools to keep track of how well you’re doing compared to the goals in your business plan.
Check these impact indicators often and make changes when necessary. Needs in a community can change very quickly. Share information with board members, donors, and other interested parties so that everyone knows what’s going on with public benefit.
For example, in 2022, the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles used their outcomes dashboard to keep an eye on their disaster relief work and the number of people they reached by age group.
Income statements and cash flow statements are two types of financial statements that can help you see if programs are staying on budget while still reaching their goals. As programs grow or change over time, you should change the measurements. This is a big step towards making good strategic plans and keeping track of what you need.
Next, you need to write a business plan for your nonprofit based on these strong foundations for success.
Crafting a Nonprofit Business Plan
A good nonprofit business plan starts with clear goals and a lot of research. You can use Google Forms to find out what you need or Boardable to get feedback from board members. Your plan connects your vision, programs, and resources so that your group can make social change one step at a time.
Defining Organizational Goals
Make sure your organization has clear goals for the next three to five years. Make sure that every goal is closely related to your nonprofit’s mission statement and core values. A group that helps people after a disaster might want to help 1,000 families by 2027 by giving them things they need and finding better ways to raise money.
Make goals that you can measure so you can see and show that you are making progress. Put these goals in the parts of your business plan that talk about money and the impact plan. Set a date for each milestone, like when you want to build up your savings or start new programs.
Make sure that some people on your team are in charge of important tasks. For instance, board members might be in charge of big projects, while program staff might be in charge of direct services. Check your goals again when your needs change or your donor funding changes. Use real progress data from dashboards and income statements to change your goals so that everyone is still moving in the same direction.
Performing Market and Needs Research
You can start looking into the market and needs once you know what your organization wants to do. This step looks at who needs your services and programs, how other nonprofits in the area work, and where there are gaps.
You can learn from the business plans of the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles and UNICEF, for example. You can get information by using surveys with donors and interviews with board members, beneficiaries, and partners.
Check the demographics of your donors through outreach efforts, and look over the requirements for grants set by funders like foundations or government agencies. Check out records from banks or other financial institutions to see if there are any patterns that could change how you get money.
Look at the communities around you and see where your nonprofit organization could use more help. Write down every step of this process in the nonprofit business plan so that everyone is on the same page. Every year, update these results to help work that will help the public for a long time.
Involving Stakeholders in Planning
Get board members, staff, volunteers, and donors involved in the strategic planning process right away. Make sure that everyone in each group knows exactly what they need to do to write and review your nonprofit business plan.
Get feedback from people who are involved in the program by using surveys and focus groups. This will help you learn about the needs of stakeholders. Have regular meetings where everyone can talk about their ideas for marketing plans, programs, services, or feasibility studies.
Write down everyone’s ideas and use them to help you decide how to run your nonprofit or get funding.
Volunteers can help with research or getting in touch with the community during a needs assessment. This wide range of participation helps you make a realistic financial statement, like a balance sheet or cash flow statement. It also shows that impact measures are important in all areas of nonprofit work.
Use tools like dashboards to keep people informed. Always be open and honest so that people trust your nonprofit as you work towards your mission statement and long-term public benefit.
Structuring Operational Strategies
Make a list of all the programs and services, along with the daily tasks and logistics that need to be in place. Your nonprofit must follow the law by getting insurance, licences, and being tax-exempt.
Create an organizational chart so that everyone knows what their job is and who they report to. Let board members or staff run the programs.
Write down the steps you need to follow for things like raising money or helping people in need. Put important dates on a timeline and check your progress every so often.
Change your strategies based on real performance data from things like the income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, or needs assessment studies. Use strategic planning tools or donor management software to make things easier and clearer for everyone who is working on the business plan.
Building a Fundraising and Financial Framework
Write down all the ways you earn money. This includes gifts, grants, membership fees, donations of goods and services, and events that raise money. If your group is new, you can use business plan templates or accounting data from other nonprofits to figure out how much money you will make and spend over the next three years.
Set clear goals for board members or staff who are trying to raise money. Use donor management tools like donor database software to keep track of gifts and how involved donors are. In your marketing plan, write down the goals of each campaign and what you hope will happen.
Have regular meetings with donors to go over cash flow statements, balance sheets, and income statements so they can see everything clearly. Set up reporting routines that will make your supporters trust you.
Next, organizing operational strategies helps connect these plans to how programs work every day.
Establishing Implementation Timelines
Set a deadline for each of the main goals in the nonprofit business plan. For example, pick certain days to start new programs and raise money. Set specific tasks for board members or staff to do on your timeline.
Use a Gantt chart or another planning tool to make these dates clear to everyone in the company.
Check in on progress often and change the deadlines if you need to. Make sure that everyone who needs to see and understand these schedules can do so. This will help everyone stay on the same page with the nonprofit’s mission. Your timelines should match for important tasks like starting new programs, looking over financial statements, or making marketing plans for your target audience.
Give yourself extra time in case things don’t go as planned so that your goals stay realistic.
Now that the deadlines are set, the next step is to change the business plan as goals or situations change…
Continually Updating the Business Plan
At least once or twice a year, take some time to read over the business plan. Make sure to update your nonprofit business plan when new needs arise or things outside of your control change. Ask board members, staff, and community partners what works and what doesn’t.
To make sure you don’t miss anything, use dashboards that show how far you’ve come on each goal.
There should be new research results and the most up-to-date data in every section. So you have clear records, keep track of every change you make and write down why you made it in the first place. Make sure that all team members and board members know about important changes as soon as possible. This will keep everyone up to date.
This keeps your strategic planning process going and helps your nonprofit organization quickly adapt for long-term success, whether you are running feasibility studies, managing cash flow statements and income statements, or working on disaster relief programs.
Best Practices in Nonprofit Business Planning
Use tools like needs assessment surveys, financial forecasting software, and clear impact goals to help your nonprofit run better. Read on to find out more about these best practices.
Engaging Stakeholders in All Stages
Board members, staff, donors, and people who use the programs all need to give their input for a strong nonprofit business plan. Use surveys, interviews, or workshops to find out what they think about the mission statement, programs, and services.
During strategic planning, make sure that everyone knows what they need to do. For example, board members might be in charge of figuring out what the needs are, while staff members help with making plans for how to run the business.
From start to finish, write down all the feedback you get from everyone. Have regular meetings to talk about how things are going and, if necessary, change your goals. Open communication helps everyone trust each other and stay on the same page about the nonprofit organization’s most important goals.
Get people to look at things from different points of view. This helps keep the public good in check with financial statements like cash flow projections and income statements. Make plans that meet the needs of your target audience by using good data from tools like donor management software.
Planning Based on Good Data and Research
A good business plan for a nonprofit is based on facts, not guesses. A needs assessment and a SWOT analysis can help you figure out what your nonprofit’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats are.
Every year, get information from surveys of donors, contact with beneficiaries, and banks. You can see what they do well by comparing their programs and services to those of other non-profits that are similar.
To plan for the future, make sure to write down your research methods and sources clearly. Change the marketing plan, the impact plan, the ways you raise money, or even set new, measurable goals based on what you learn.
Before you start a program or service, do some market research to find out where there are gaps. Income statements, balance sheets, and feasibility study results are examples of tools that can help you prove that every strategy you include in your business plan is based on something real.
Avoiding Neglect of Financial Sustainability
Plans should have clear ways to make money and get money. Add detailed financial statements, such as cash flow statements, income statements, and balance sheets. Make a list of all your income and expenses for at least three years to help everyone plan better.
Assign some board members or key staff the job of keeping an eye on the money.
Look at the financial plan often and make changes when you need to. You can make money for your nonprofit by getting grants, donations, in-kind support, and earned income. Having more than one way to make money lowers the risk.
Give stakeholders clear reports. This builds trust and shows them how every dollar helps the nonprofit’s mission or the programs and services it offers.
Linking money directly to both program goals and the organization’s long-term impact will help the public and make the organization last longer.
Avoiding Aimless Plan Development
To help you write your nonprofit business plan, use templates and frameworks for strategic planning. Make sure that each team member or board member is in charge of a specific part of the plan. Set clear goals with measurable results, like “increase donor retention by 15% in 12 months” or “reach 200 clients through new programs and services.”
The best plans are short. Just focus on what you can do; don’t use long explanations or jargon.
Ensure that the business plan connects everything. For instance, the mission statement, the plan for raising money, the financial statements (income statement, balance sheet), the operational plan, and the measures of impact should all be connected.
Use new information from needs assessments or feasibility studies to support your choices. Update your nonprofit business plan as things change. This will help you stay on track with your goals instead of getting sidetracked.
Donor management software lets you keep track of how each part is doing so that they are still useful and relevant for everyday nonprofit work.
Resources for Nonprofit Business Planning
You can use many helpful guides, financial forecasting tools like QuickBooks, and data management apps to run your nonprofit more effectively. Candid or SCORE have free templates that can help your team get started with strategic planning or write an executive summary quickly.
Templates for Strategic Planning
Nonprofits can use strategic planning templates to help them set goals and keep track of how well they are doing. The template library at Donorbox is a great place for both new and old groups to start.
You can use these tools to make dashboards, write your mission statement, set OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), and plan how often meetings will happen. The 101 Guide to Mission and Vision Statements also helps teams stay focused on their main goal.
There are more than 50 real-life examples of nonprofit business plans in public repositories. These plans are for areas like health, the arts, animal welfare, disaster relief, education, and the environment. There are templates for both detailed plans and plans that only take up one page for simpler needs.
Groups can even put their own strategic plans online for other people to read and learn from. It’s easier to move on to the next step, which is financial forecasting tools, when you have good templates set up.
Tools for Financial Forecasting
Some of the most important software programs for planning a nonprofit business are QuickBooks, Excel, and Google Sheets. These programs make it easy to keep track of income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements.
New nonprofits often use financial data from groups that are similar to them to make good guesses about what will happen. Use the templates in these tools to write down all of your major costs, like salaries, startup costs, insurance, utility bills, hosting fees, and program costs.
Check your predictions against actual financial records every month. This will help you make better guesses in the future. When your funding changes, it’s easy to change your forecasts with financial accelerators like Jirav and LivePlan.
Make sure to explain all the assumptions that went into your numbers. People who read your nonprofit business plan, like board members and donors, should be able to understand it. Use software to automate tasks that need to be done over and over again. This way, employees can focus on their mission work instead of doing manual reporting.
Software for Managing Donors
WildApricot and Donorbox are two tools that nonprofits can use to keep track of their donors. You can try out WildApricot’s tools for managing members and donors for free to see how they work.
Donorbox has online tools for raising money that keep donors interested and let you see how well your campaigns are doing.
Nonprofits use these programs to keep track of donations, see who gives the most, and get in touch with people who support them. They also use CRM tools to send out automated thank-you notes. Fundraising tools connect directly to financial statements, so it’s easy to get updates on cash flow statements or information about income statements.
Many of the dashboards in these systems show data in real time, which helps staff find the best donors or trends that can help them keep more donors. The platforms follow privacy rules to protect donor information, and they also meet the needs of public benefit groups that do disaster relief or other services and don’t have to pay taxes.
Successful Nonprofit Business Plans
Read on to find out how people were able to succeed with the help of strong business plans, clear mission statements, and good financial tools.
The Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles’ Strategic Plan
The Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles’ Strategic Plan covers the years 2025 to 2027. It sets clear goals by having strong mission and values statements. Leaders use market research data and feedback from stakeholders to decide which programs and services to grow.
The plan includes a detailed sales strategy, financial assumptions, and important growth goals for each year.
Board members agree on how to get people involved, raise money, and help the community grow. We use set metrics, like dashboards that show how things are changing in the area, to keep track of our progress.
Clear timelines help everyone stay focused on results by making sure that operational plans meet long-term public benefit needs and keeping donor trust strong through accountability reports.
The Morris Habitat for Humanity Business Plan
Another great nonprofit business plan you can use is for Morris Habitat for Humanity. The strategic plan runs from 2020 to 2025 and aims to help more families afford housing.
The document lays out clear steps for programs and services to follow, with a focus on how many homes will be built or fixed each year.
The plan includes all of the financial statements, like income sheets, cash flow forecasts, revenue streams, and expected costs. It helps board members keep track of progress by showing timelines for both construction milestones and fundraising goals.
Morris Habitat works with people and groups in the area. They also use software to keep track of donations. We measure our impact every year by counting how many homes we built and fixed using set metrics.
Getting people to help out as volunteers is a big part of keeping costs down and getting more support from the community. Pictures in annual reports help make the results clear so that donors stay interested in the nonprofit’s goal of helping the public by providing safe housing.
UNICEF’s Future Plans
UNICEF’s Strategic Plan 2022–2025 has big goals for kids all over the world. Rights, health, and education are the plan’s main goals. It uses clear measures of results and outputs to find out how well each area is doing.
UNICEF works with local groups, board members, donors, and other charities, as well as governments.
Two ways to get money are to have strong relationships with donors and to make accurate predictions about how much money you’ll make. The business plan links its work to the UN’s goals for long-term growth. Feedback from stakeholders all over the world is what leads to updates.
Reports are honest about results because they include clear financial statements, such as the cash flow statement and the income statement. The strategic planning process makes sure that every child in the world who needs help or disaster relief gets it. This includes making sure that the program is financially stable and providing in-kind support.
The Denver Foundation’s Strategic Framework
The Denver Foundation Strategic Framework makes it clear what the most important things are for the next five years. Plans are all about fairness, inclusion, and community growth. Each nonprofit program has a clear path to follow thanks to its specific goals.
You can take things one step at a time with the help of timelines, budgeting tools, and metrics. A public dashboard shows results as they happen.
People from all walks of life help make these plans and check on how they are going often. The framework has steps for running the business and uses detailed financial statements to help the nonprofit grow and do better.
This plan changes when local needs change, which is a great way to make sure that programs are really useful to everyone in the area.
Managing and Monitoring Your Business Plan
As you write your nonprofit business plan, use simple tools like tracking dashboards and clear goals to keep track of your progress. Be willing to change. If the data says you need to try a different way to be more successful, do it.
Setting Clear Objectives and Results
Set goals using OKRs, which stand for objectives and key results. Make sure that every goal fits with the mission statement of your nonprofit. For example, a group that helps people after a disaster might say, “Deliver 10,000 meals in two months.” Give each goal a due date.
Keep track of both output metrics, like “number of volunteer hours,” and outcome metrics, like “families helped.”
Make sure that everyone on the board and in charge of a team knows what the goals are. Link each result to the bigger picture in your business plan. Use dashboards and other tools to keep track of progress so that everyone can see how the data is changing in real time.
Change your plans if you see gaps. You should use data to help you choose which programs and services to offer. Tell donors, staff, and volunteers how their support helps the community by sending them news.
Implementing Accountability Mechanisms
Assign each goal in your nonprofit business plan to a specific person or group. To keep track of progress and problems, keep accountability logs. Hold review meetings often so that board members can keep an eye on how well the programs and services are doing.
Dashboards and other management software can help you quickly check your cash flow or income statements.
Make sure the board of directors and anyone else who is interested get clear reports on the results. If someone or a group has too much to do or needs help reaching their goals, switch roles. Staff performance reviews should include checks on accountability. This keeps everyone focused on your mission statement, finances, and long-term goals for the good of the public.
Utilizing Progress Tracking Dashboards
For strong accountability, updates need to be clear and on time. Dashboards that show progress make it easy for nonprofits to see their business plan goals and milestones. These tools get information from donor management and financial software like QuickBooks or Salesforce, which makes it easy to spot trends in giving or spending.
For example, a dashboard can show how the income statement is doing each month or bring up problems with cash flow.
Staff, board members, and other important stakeholders can see these dashboards in real time to help them work together better. Nonprofits often change the settings so that different people can see what is most important. For instance, staff members may need more details about the services they offer, while leaders at the top may only need a broad overview.
When you connect dashboard numbers directly to plan goals, everyone stays focused on the impact plans and not just their daily tasks. Teams can fix problems before they get worse if they get updates often.
Adapting Plans Based on Performance
You should look over your plans once or twice a year, on a regular basis. Check on how well your nonprofit is doing by looking at dashboards and progress reports. Pay attention to what donors, board members, volunteers, and the people you serve have to say.
Check to see how these changes fit with the goals you’ve set for your business.
Change the goals and timelines if things don’t go as planned. Write down every big change and why it happened. Make sure that everyone, including staff and stakeholders, gets all the news.
Add new research and data to your strategic planning every time you change it. This will help make sure that programs and services keep meeting people’s needs as they change. Make sure that your nonprofit can change by making its financial statements, marketing plans, and operational strategies flexible.
In Summary
Good planning turns vision into action for a nonprofit business. A clear plan helps you stay on track, get donations, and see how far you’ve come with real data like cash flow statements or impact plans.
Using templates for strategic planning and donor management tools makes the process simple and easy, which saves you time and stress. Nonprofits can grow, get board members, and make lasting changes in your community with the help of strong business plans.
Take a moment to start or update your plan today. Small steps can lead to big changes. It depends on the success of your mission.
Questions and Answers
1. What is a nonprofit’s business plan, and why do they need one?
A nonprofit business plan explains the group’s mission, programs, and money goals. It helps board members figure out how to run the business, help people, and make the world a better place.
2. How does a needs assessment help nonprofits figure out what to do?
A needs assessment shows what the target audience needs the most. This step helps make programs and services that fit with the mission statement and have a bigger impact.
3. What should be in an executive summary for a nonprofit business plan?
The executive summary has important information like the nonprofit’s purpose, mission statement, main programs, financial statements like the income statement or balance sheet, and any special plans for helping people in need or after a disaster.
4. What do non-profits need to know about their financial statements?
Financial statements show how your group’s money flows. They include the cash flow statement, the income statement, and the balance sheet to show that your group is stable when you apply for tax-exempt status or in-kind support.
5. How can marketing plans help nonprofits do their jobs better?
Marketing plans help you get your message across to the right people by making sure that the messages about your programs or services are clear. These efforts bring in donors who care about the public good and don’t have to buy anything.
6. Who is responsible for making sure that a nonprofit sticks to its operational plan?
Every day, board members work with staff to make sure that the operational plan is in line with the goals of the strategic plan. They work together to meet the short-term needs of non-profits all over the world while keeping an eye on the long-term effects.
Ellis Carter is a nonprofit lawyer with Caritas Law Group, P.C. licensed to practice in Washington and Arizona. Ellis advises nonprofit and socially responsible businesses on corporate, tax, and fundraising regulations nationwide. Ellis also advises donors with regard to major gifts. To schedule a consultation with Ellis, call 602-456-0071 or email us through our contact form.