Individual Courses
Nonprofit Skills for Leaders: Strategic Planning
This course is a comprehensive approach to creating and communicating the elements of a strategic plan. Using real-world examples, case studies, and videos featuring subject matter experts, the course helps learners develop the skills that bring clarity to the process of planning and executing the goals and objectives of the organization.
Course Content
Module 1: Nonprofit Skills: Measuring Results
Measuring Results addresses how to construct and implement an evaluation framework to measure the results of a nonprofit’s strategic plan. It also includes important metrics for measuring programs and organizational efficiency outside the strategic plan framework. The topic includes how to choose KPIs, when to hire an outside evaluator, sources of data, measurement techniques, and how small nonprofits can benefit from measurement.
Module 2: Nonprofit Skills: Strategic Planning Process
The module is designed to help nonprofit leaders apply basic strategic-planning skills to their nonprofit organizations. In this module, leaders will learn the difference between long-term planning and real-time strategy, and why their nonprofit needs to practice both. They will become familiar with the different types of strategic assessments, including SWOT analysis, and learn how to ask the Big Questions that will guide their strategic planning efforts. They will figure out the differences between strategic goals, SMART objectives, and organizational tactics. And they will come to understand the different roles that leaders and board members play in the strategic planning process.
Module 3: Implementing the Strategy
This session provides learners with an understanding of the resources and skills required to effectively implement a nonprofit strategic plan. They will learn how to break strategic goals and objectives into milestones with clear deliverables and how to use project management tools to outline timelines, tasks, roles, and responsibilities. This course also covers best practices for leading an implementation team, monitoring and reporting progress, identifying risks, and responding to some common challenges nonprofit leaders face when implementing the strategy.
Module 4: Establishing Mission and Vision
Establishing Mission and Vision guides nonprofit leaders through the process of identifying purpose and applying that to organizational goals. The topic includes discussions on what makes a mission and a vision and how purpose drives leadership. 3 case studies dissect the ways in which mission statements should be followed, reviewed, and refined. It discusses diversifying audiences and turning purpose into impact. After completing this session, nonprofit leaders will be able to move forward confident that their actions and objectives will align with both organizational goals and the ultimate purpose of the organization.