Whether they are registered charities, endowments, foundations or some other entity, our non-profit clients often ask if they have the same responsibility to create business plans and strategic plans as their profit driven counterparts. Our response is always the same: yes. With funding coming from grants, sponsorships, taxpayers and fundraising, we make the case that charities and other non-profit organizations have a higher duty of care to create and execute clear, measurable plans due to their unique conditions:

• Gaining business plan alignment across a large non-profit organization to a noble but “soft” mission can be elusive. Your non-profit strategic plan must address this.
• Large portions of most non-profit organizations run on volunteers, and we simply can’t count on volunteers to behave in the same way as employees.
• Funding can be incredibly unstable. Most established companies have revenue momentum that non-profits can only dream about. A deliberate long term financial plan is a critical component of every non-profit strategy.
• Non-profits are torn between equally important, yet contradictory priorities. Yes, we have competing priorities in our profit driven enterprises, but nothing compares to the choice between funding research for a cure, and funding care to alleviate suffering.

For information on the specific online and virtual training we offer to non profits and charities, please visit our Online and Virtual Training page.