Capacity Benchmarking Tool
For Faith- and Community-Based Organizations
Table of Contents | Part I: Board of Directors | Part III: Program Monitoring
Part II: Strategic Planning
What is a Strategic Plan?
Strategic planning is “a disciplined effort to… shape and guide what an organization is, what it does, and why it does it.”3 For faith-based groups, strategic planning provides an opportunity to formally connect faith-based values with program design. Strategic plans take into account the organization’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as circumstances in the organization’s external environment.
Why is a Strategic Plan important?
Strategic planning is important because this process:
- Sets the organization’s goals and priorities and helps get the board, staff, and other stakeholders “on the same page;”
- Identifies the programs, services, and organizational capacities and resources needed to achieve goals; and
- Outlines the strategies, board and staff roles, and expected timelines for achieving goals.
What topics are covered in the Strategic Planning section?
Organizational Mission
Information Gathering
Setting Goals
Monitoring and Updating Strategic Plans
| Organizational Mission | Needs a lot of work (1) | Needs some work (2) | Needs a little work (3) | Meets Current Needs (4) | |
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| Best Practice: The organization has a clear purpose that guides decisions. |
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| Basic Benchmarks | |||||
1. The organization has a written mission statement that reflects the organization’s overall purpose and relevance to the needs of the organization’s clients/customers.
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| 2. All board members understand and can explain the mission. | |
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| 3. All staff members understand and can explain the mission. | |
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| 4. The board reviews the mission statement regularly and modifies it when needed. | |
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| 5. Board and staff members explicitly connect decisions to the mission. | |
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| Achievement of basic benchmarks is sufficient for this area; no enhancement benchmarks provided. |
| Information Gathering | Needs a lot of work (1) | Needs some work (2) | Needs a little work (3) | Meets Current Needs (4) | |
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| Best Practice: Strategic plans are based on relevant internal and external information and circumstances |
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| Basic Benchmarks | |||||
1. Plans and strategic decisions are informed by internal information such as the organization’s history, past performance, internal culture and work style, and strengths and weaknesses.
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2. Plans and strategic decisions are informed by the people and institutions potentially affected by the organization’s decisions. Gather perspectives using surveys, interviews and/or focus groups with:
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| 3. Client needs are understood through demographic and other data, as well as relevant articles and books. | |
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| 4. Plans and strategic decisions are informed by current and expected social, political, economic, technological, and legal conditions. | |
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| 5. Plans and strategic decisions are informed by anticipated funding. | |
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| Achievement of basic benchmarks is sufficient for this area; no enhancement benchmarks provided. |
| Setting Goals | Needs a lot of work (1) | Needs some work (2) | Needs a little work (3) | Meets Current Needs (4) | |
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| Best Practice: The organization develops comprehensive annual and long-range goals designed to achieve its mission. |
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| Basic Benchmarks | |||||
| 1. There is a written strategic plan approved by the board. (The executive director may be the primary author.) | |
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2. The strategic plan includes annual and long-range goals.
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| 3. The goals reflect realistic expectations of available resources. | |
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| 4. Each goal is supported by strategies and measurable objectives that will help indicate the organization's progress toward the goal. | |
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| 5. The board, staff and volunteers review and make suggestions about the goals, strategies, and objectives. | |
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| 6. There is a written workplan for implementing the annual and long-range goals and objectives. The work plan includes: (1) a description of the desired outcome; (2) strategies for achieving the outcome; (3) timelines; (4) resources needed; and (5) staff, board, and committee responsible for implementing each strategy. | |
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| Enhancement Benchmarks | |||||
| 7. The board, with staff input, develops a 3 to 5 year vision for: (1) The organization’s impact on the people and conditions addressed in the mission; and (2) Institutional capacity – the staff, volunteers, funding, technology, and other resources needed for the organization to have the desired impact on the community. | |
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| Tips and strategies for setting goals: | |
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Prepare or update your strategic plan every 2 – 5 years. |
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Distribute and/or present the draft plan to staff and board members for feedback. |
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Set measurable objectives by asking how you will know that your plans are having the intended impact. Decide what “evidence” you will consider. |
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Develop a vision for the organization by completing statements like:
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Annual plans are a strategic year-by-year break down of the long-range strategic plan. Modify annual plans based on new information about progress achieved, challenges, and potential opportunities. |
| Monitoring and Updating Strategic Plans | Needs a lot of work (1) | Needs some work (2) | Needs a little work (3) | Meets Current Needs (4) |
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| Best Practice: Strategic plan implementation is monitored; goals and strategies are modified when appropriate. |
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| Basic Benchmarks | ||||
| 1. The executive director (with input from senior staff ) determines whether goals and objectives are being met. | |
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2. The executive director (with input from senior staff ) determines modifications such as:
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3. The board gets periodic progress reports to help determine whether objectives and goals are being met. The board determines modifications for major goals and strategies (i.e., those goals or strategies that would significantly impact the organization’s identity, broad strategies, or available resources). |
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Achievement of basic benchmarks is sufficient for this area; no enhancement benchmarks provided. |
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| Tips and strategies for monitoring the strategic plan: | |
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The executive director should report to the board about the strategic plan at least on a quarterly basis. |
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A one-page action plan or workplan summarizing the goals, strategies, person(s) responsible and timeline(s) can serve as a resource for the executive director and the board in terms of monitoring the strategic plans. |
Congratulations! You have completed your assessment of the Strategic Planning capacity area. Use your responses to determine the most important capacity building priorities. Please review the "How to Use This Tool" section on page 4.
Table of Contents | Part I: Board of Directors | Part III: Program Monitoring