Strategic Planning Manual FOR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA

Transcription

1 Strategic Planning Manual FOR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA 2010

2 Foreword This manual is based on international best practices, first-hand experience, and published works in the field of nonprofit management and strategic planning. The ideas, format, and processes presented here have been developed to fit the requirements and environment of the nonprofit organizations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The following is a sample of the important published works that have been used as the basis for this manual and have been referenced throughout the document: Allison, Michael and Jude Kaye. Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations: A Practical Guide and Workbook. John Wiley & Sons. Inc OVC TTAC Publication. Strategic Planning Toolkit Barry, Bryan W. Strategic Planning Workbook for Nonprofit Organizations. St. Paul, MN: Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, Bryson, John M. Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining Organizational Achievement. 3rd edition, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Bryson, John M. and Farnum K. Alston. Creating and Implementing Your Strategic Plan, 2nd Edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, McKinsey and Co. Effective Capacity Building in Nonprofit Organizations. Venture Philanthropy Partners, Shapiro, Janet. Strategic Planning Toolkit. Civicus: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. 2 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

3 Table of Contents What Can You Expect From This Manual Introduction to Strategic Planning Phase I Prepare Phase II Assess Phase III Envision Phase IV Create Phase V Implement Phase VI Evaluate Conclusion FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 3

4 What can you expect from this manual? The Strategic Planning Manual is intended to serve as a guide for nonprofit organizations to use throughout their strategic planning process. Leaders and managers of organizations must think and act strategically if they are to meet their professional obligations and have a significant impact on the communities they serve. Without a strategic framework your organization will not know where it is going, why it is going there or how to get there. The Manual is organized in a simple way to help you both learn about the basics of the planning process and use the process. It is designed primarily for leaders, managers, planners, employees, and other stakeholders of public and nonprofit organizations. It will be of most help to those who have had only limited experience in strategic planning. The Manual is a collection of best practices in the field but each organization must make the process their own. The manual is intended for existing and new organizations. Each organization must try, evolve, fail, and find its own way and adapt the process to best fit their organizational needs. Note: We suggest you read the complete manual at least once before embarking on the strategic planning process in order to fully understand what it entails and have a good comprehension of the whole process. 4 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

5 The following figure illustrates the main phases of the strategic planning process: EVALUATE 6 PREPARE 1 2 ASSESS 5 3 ENVISION IMPLEMENT 4 CREATE The Manual contains the following: 1 Introduction It provides a definition of the strategic planning process, strategic plan and its importance in leading and managing your nonprofit organization. It helps all the stakeholders speak the same planning language. Phase I: Prepare Getting your organization ready for strategic planning. In this step, you find out how ready your organization is for strategic planning and you form a group that will be responsible for the planning process. This phase raises several important questions: Is the organization ready for strategic planning? What do we want to accomplish through strategic planning? Is it the right time for strategic planning? What do we need to do to get ready? FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 5

6 Phase II: Assess Determining where your organization has been and where it is now. In this step, you assess your organization s history, projects, structure, culture, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. You should ask the following questions: What do our board, staff, clients, and others (stakeholders) think about our current state? What have we done well and what not so well? In what ways do we need to build our organizational capacity to provide better service? What are your financial resources? How is the environment changing? Do we have enough staff to operate efficiently? Does the staff have the necessary qualifications? Phase III: Envision Creating Vision, Mission, and Values. In this important step, through a number of meetings and brainstorming sessions, you create or re-evaluate your organization s guiding statements: vision, mission, and values. You involve all the stakeholders to reflect on the main reasons for their work, the nature of the organization, and the impact on the society. You ask questions such as: Why do we exist? What is our purpose? What is our ideal state of being? Phase IV: Create Prioritizing your organization s core strategies, specific goals, and objectives. This phase will help you determine where you want your organization to go and create a roadmap for your organization s work for the next three to five years. Your goals are realistic, your objectives are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results-oriented, Time-bound) and your resources support your plan. At the end of this phase, the strategic plan is written up into a comprehensive, easy to follow document to include everything agreed upon in the previous phases. Phase V: Implement Putting your plan into action. In this step, you create annual action/operating plan(s) and supporting budgets that will allow you to make your plan a reality each year. This is usually done by creating detailed Annual Operating Plans with specific tasks, deliverables, key personnel, timeline, resources and budget. In this phase, you also communicate and tell others - including board, staff, clients, community partners, and funding sources about your plan. 6 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

7 Phase VI: Evaluate Evaluating how well your plan is working. In this step, you monitor and evaluate implementation and the short-term and long-term effectiveness of the plan and use your evaluation data to inform your future decision-making. Appendix Finally, the appendix provides key process tools (questionnaires, survey instruments, templates, etc.) on how to accomplish the tasks involved in the phases. These tools are meant to provide guidance but they may not be necessary or appropriate for every situation. They can be changed and adapted to suit your organization s needs. Note: How Consultants Can Help? Organizations vary in their capability to undertake the strategic planning process. Some are able to complete the process on their own and some are not. Some don t have leadership and staff skilled in strategic planning. Many have board and staff members with strategic planning experience but not enough time in their busy schedules to dedicate to this process. A number of organizations have the skills and time but what they all often lack is objectivity, commitment, and discipline. One option for those organizations who feel they would like additional support is to hire a consultant. Consultant can provide invaluable assistance in designing and facilitating a strategic planning process that involves all the key stakeholder groups in a neutral, objective, timely, and cost-effective way. Consultants can also obtain sensitive information confidentially and share it in a useful fashion, provide expert advice, facilitate consensus among stakeholders; and help to organize seemingly diffuse or contradictory thoughts and approaches. What outside consultants cannot do is take full responsibility for developing the strategic plan, or determine an organization s mission, vision, goals or implementation activities. Their role is to facilitate a process whereby the organization s leadership makes those decisions. Hiring a consultant can also be expensive and that may prevent some organizations from being able to use outside help. It is up to your organization to think carefully and determine whether or not hiring a consultant would be the most efficient way to go about your strategic planning process, however, regardless of the decision, it is recommended that all those involved in the process read this manual and familiarize themselves with all that needs to be done. FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 7

8 Introduction to Strategic Planning 8 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

9 Introduction to Strategic Planning What is Strategy? A strategy is an overall approach, based on an understanding of the broader context in which you function, your organization s strengths and weaknesses, as well as external opportunities and constraints you are attempting to address. A strategy gives you a framework within which to work, it clarifies what you are trying to achieve and the approach you intend to use. What is Strategic Planning? Strategic planning is a disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, what it does, how it does it, and why it does it, with a focus on the future. 2 Strategic planning helps an organization focus, ensures that all members of the organization are clear on the organization s vision and mission and that they are all working towards the same goals. It assists you in projecting where your organization will be in three or five years and how to get there. It provides you with the big picture of what you are doing and where you are going. FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 9

10 The following Chart illustrates the strategic planning process: 3 WHERE YOU ARE Mission and Mandates Structure and Systems Communication Program and Services People and Skills Budget Support STRATEGY FORMULATION VISION, MISSION & GOALS STRATEGIC ISSUES HOW TO GET THERE Strategic Plan IT Plan and HR Plans Communications Hiring and Training Restructuring Budget Allocations WHERE YOU WANT TO BE Mission and Mandates Structure and Systems Communication Program and Services People and Skills Budget Support STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION What is a Strategic Plan? Strategic plan is the result of the strategic planning process; it is a leadership and management tool that provides guidance in fulfilling your organization s mission with maximum efficiency and impact. If it is to be short, effective and useful, it should articulate specific goals and describe the specific action steps and financial and other resources needed to accomplish them. Because it is strategic in scope, it helps you identify where your organization is now and envision where you want it to be in the future. Because it is a plan, it helps you take systematic actions and steps to bridge the here and now and your vision of the future. However, as President Eisenhower once said Plans are useless. Planning is everything, meaning that the true value of the strategic planning process comes from the analysis, the debate, and the fresh thinking that it generates. 10 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

11 Why should your organization undertake strategic planning: Because it will help you discuss issues and come to a consensus on what the organization s capacity is in terms of: STRATEGY ASPIRATIONS ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS WHY SHOULD YOUR ORGANIZATION UNDERTAKE STRATEGIC PLANNING? SYSTEMS AND INFRASTRUCTURE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE CULTURE Strategic planning will help your organization transform itself from good to great. 4 A great organization is one that delivers superior performance and makes a distinctive impact over a long period of time. For a social sector organization performance must be assessed relative to its mission. According to Jim Collins, the well-known strategist and academic, the critical question is: How effectively do we deliver on our mission and make a distinctive impact, relative to our resources? 5 FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 11

12 Benefits of Strategic Planning It increases organizational effectiveness and efficiency It shows the big picture as well as specific actions It provides an explicit understanding of the organization s vision and mission among internal and external stakeholders It is proactive and engages stakeholders It identifies organizational strengths and weaknesses It enables organizations to pinpoint new opportunities or the causes of current or projected problems It focuses your organization on the future It provides a roadmap for specific actions to fulfill your mission It helps the organization have a greater impact It fosters communication and teamwork It creates a forum for constructive discussion It is essential for funding support It is necessary: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail What Strategic Planning is Not It does not predict the future It is not a substitute for effective leadership It is not a wish list or a marketing tool It is not a magic solution for organizational problems It is not a linear and predictable process Key Strategies to Successful Strategic Planning 6 1. A clear and comprehensive grasp of external opportunities and challenges No organization exists in a static environment. Social, political and economic trends continually impact the demand for its offerings and services. Even as advances in technology present new opportunities, they also generate new expectations. Needs and community demographics are all subject to change. So too are methods for delivering programs and services. It is thus essential that a strategic plan reflect the external environment. Programs, services and operations should be reexamined and reshaped in light of current realities and future projections. 12 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

13 2. A realistic and comprehensive assessment of the organization s strengths and limitations The foundation of any successful strategic plan is a consideration of capabilities and strengths, weaknesses and limitations. Information, both objective and subjective, must be gathered from a wide array of sources, including staff and board members, clients, community leaders, funders and partner organizations, among others. 3. An inclusive approach At one point or another, all important stakeholder groups should have a voice in the planning effort. At a minimum, that includes staff representatives, board members, clients, and partner organizations. Involvement of the senior leadership is crucial to successful strategic planning. Without their buy-in, leadership and decision-making authority, effective strategic planning is not possible. To be sure, all views will not be weighted equally, nor will every staff member be involved at every stage. If the planning process is to succeed, it must incorporate the views or feedback of all the constituencies that will be affected by the plan or have a role in its implementation. An effective plan takes multiple elements into account: the funding, the expectations of beneficiaries and other stakeholders, the competitive landscape and the requirements of operations and programming. Neither board nor staff, acting on their own, has a full grasp of all those areas - hence the need to ensure that representatives from both are involved. 4. An empowered strategic planning committee (SPC) Strategic planning should be a participatory undertaking. As a matter of practical necessity, the core work will generally be entrusted to a small planning committee with sufficient decision-making authority to keep the project moving forward. This isn t to suggest that the committee members have the right to adopt and implement key action steps, or that they will not be held accountable to the board or larger community. But neither should they be subjected to constant second guessing, nor be required to seek board or management approval at every step. The board s confidence in their skill and judgment must be implicit. FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 13

14 5. Learning from best practices Clearly, each organization has its own individualized mission, client base and operating culture. Thus, each must map a strategy, incorporating goals and action steps carefully customized to its needs. A plan that is appropriate in one setting won t necessarily be appropriate in another, no matter how similar the organizations. Nonetheless, it is possible to learn from the successes, failures and mistakes of others. One way or another, every nonprofit organization and foundation deals with challenges related to human resources, technology, capacity building, fundraising, organizational development and governance. Often, a solution that works for one can be successfully adapted by another. 6. Clear priorities and an implementation plan While missions and visions are essential to inspiring commitment to your organization, they may be seen as hollow unless accompanied by an organized description of activities needed to fulfill desired aims. Developing a workable strategic plan means analyzing the organization s objectives and strategies and determining priorities. The planning committee should outline the full list of priorities and, if there are many, decide which to move ahead on and which to cut back. Once priorities are set, members of the planning committee need to identify sets of activities and the necessary budget and resources to achieve the goals and objectives. 7. Patience For small and mid-size organizations, strategic planning often moves faster. But for larger organizations with many constituencies, the process may advance much less quickly. When an organization is making major changes and needs extensive buy-in, the process may not be perfectly linear. As information is gathered, sifted, and analyzed, assumptions are rethought, new ideas advanced and old ones revamped or discarded. It is important to keep things on course and maintain momentum, but rushing is counter productive. 8. A commitment to change No matter how relevant its original mission, no organization can afford to tie itself to the same goals, programs and operating methods year after year. As client needs, market conditions and funding criteria change, strategies need to be revisited regularly. Sometimes all that s needed is fine-tuning; other times, a more fundamental rethinking of goals and opportunities may be required. If they are to remain viable and effective, organizations must be prepared to change as extensively as conditions require. 14 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

15 9. Strategic Planning Document Whether an organization engages in an abbreviated or extensive strategic planning process, a strategic plan should be created. This document is a symbol of accomplishment, a guide for internal operations, and a marketing and fundraising tool. A successful plan is a usable plan one that is short, to the point, informs the organization s activities as well as its long-range views, and one that yields meaningful improvements in effectiveness, capacity and relevance. 10. Annual Operating Plan Strategic plan must be translated into an annual operating plan and supporting budget for the first year. This is the most critical part of the strategic planning process. Annual operating plan is how an organization makes things happen. A critical test of a good strategic plan is that the annual operational activities are clear and that the budget supports each of those activities. Without the operational plan that identifies specific tasks, identifies responsibilities, resources, and the timeline, a strategic plan will rarely be successfully implemented. FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 15

16 16 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL Phase 1: Prepare

17 Phase I: Prepare Strategic planning process is not something that can happen on its own. Someone must make a decision to initiate and plan the process. To get ready for strategic planning, an organization must start by asking: Is my organization ready to embark on the strategic planning process? And what do we need to do to get ready? A strategic plan can take your organization in a different direction; the results can be surprising and positive. Still, the planning process should not be taken lightly because change, no matter how exciting, is difficult. 7 There are many reasons and issues for considering undertaking the strategic planning process. Do we have a clear mission? Are we providing relevant services? Are we having the impact we want? What do we do about a potential loss in funding? Are we stretching our resources too thin? Should we close down a program or change the direction? If the goals for planning are not clear at the beginning, it will be difficult at the end to determine if the process was successful. The main prerequisite for successful strategic planning is a true commitment to the process by Executive Director and the board. Whether the organization is ready essentially comes down to whether the Executive Director and the Board are able to devote the attention, time, and resources to the process. They will lead the process through the Strategic Planning Committee. They may decide to hire an external consultant to facilitate the process with them but they will still be the main decision-makers. They need to be clear on what they would like the planning process to accomplish and then assess the organization s readiness. If there is a funding crisis or the environment is turbulent or key personnel are not available, then it may not make sense to engage in strategic planning at this time. The short-term preparation work that you do will pay off for your plan in the long run increasing its chances for success. 8 FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 17

18 Timing: The questions to ask here are: When do you need to do a strategic planning process? How often do you need to do a strategic planning process? At what point in an organizational or project cycle do you need to do a strategic planning process? Suggestions: There is usually no need to do a comprehensive strategic planning process more than once every three years unless the external or internal context has changed dramatically. This does not exclude you from doing a strategic review more often - once a year. A strategic review is quick - you look at the strategic framework, against what is happening internally or externally, as a sort of reality check. There are various times in the life cycle of an organization where it makes sense to do a strategic planning process. So, for example, when you are initiating a new project or new organization; if you have just had a major evaluation of the organization or work and this has led to challenging recommendations; when you reach the end of a major phase; when the organizational structure within which your organization or project functions needs to be developed, clarified, or consolidated, etc. Conditions: By reviewing the following conditions for success, the leaders of the process will be able to determine whether their organization is ready to embark on the strategic planning process. An organization should make sure the following conditions (or almost all of them) are present before deciding to initiate the process: 9 A) Commitment, support, and involvement from the top leadership, especially the executive director and board president B) Commitment to clarifying roles and expectations for all participants in the process, including clarity on who will be the decision-makers C) Willingness to gather information about the organization s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats; the effectiveness of current programs; current and future needs of the community; and information about competitors or partners D) The right mixture of individuals on the planning committee (people from different levels of the organization as well as strategic thinkers, implementers and visionaries. Broad participation is necessary so that staff feels ownership of and is energized by the process E) An adequate commitment of organizational resources to complete the process (e.g. time and money) F) A willingness to question the status quo, to look at new ways of doing things; a willingness to ask hard questions and face difficult choices; and a willingness to support organizational change as a result of the planning effort 18 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

19 G) The organization has the financial capacity to sustain itself for the immediate future without a financial crisis H) No serious conflict between key players within the organization I) No high-impact decision to be made in the next six months by an external source (e.g. major funder, government, etc.) J) No merger or another major partnership effort on the way K) A board and top management willing to articulate constraints and non-negotiables upfront L) A commitment to allocating sufficient resources to support the implementation of goals and objectives If most or significant number of the conditions for success are missing, then an in-depth strategic planning process may not be appropriate at this time an organization may have to wait until the conditions or people change. It is important to discuss and determine these issues up front. An organization that decides to begin the process must then pave the way for an organized process. How well you analyze the conditions under which strategic planning will take place can mean the difference between your plan succeeding or failing. Assessing readiness can help identify issues that may impede the process, opportunities for strengthening it, and potential allies or supporters who will help move the planning process forward. 10 The following steps make the organization well prepared for the process: 1) Identify stakeholders 2) Create a strategic planning committee (SPC) 3) Determine roles and responsibilities 4) Identify specific issues or areas that the planning process should address 5) Identify information that must be collected to help make sound decisions 6) Establish a common ground for strategic planning 7) Create a strategic planning work-plan (plan for planning) FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 19

20 1 Identify Stakeholders At the first strategic planning meeting of the Executive Director and the Board, it is important to identify the organization s stakeholders and how they can contribute to the process. At this point, it is important to identify who your stakeholders are but keep in mind that during the Assess phase it will be important to analyze and understand your stakeholders and their needs. Your stakeholders are the people or groups who use your organization s services or are affected by your organization s actions. Identifying your stakeholders will help you assess the current environment of your organization by giving you an understanding of who will be affected by your plan or want to contribute input. A stakeholder is any person or group whose best interests are served by your organization or who receives or uses your organization s resources or services. Stakeholders are also any person or group with a vested interest in your organization; or who can expect a certain level of performance or compliance from your organization. Stakeholders can be internal and external. Internal stakeholders are employees, board, etc. External stakeholders can be the government, media, partners, etc. Organizations may have many different stakeholders. Stakeholders may not necessarily use the resources or receive the services of a program; they may be advocates of the program or other community members who are affected by the program. To begin stakeholder identification, list all your organization s internal and external stakeholders. Be as inclusive as possible. Examples of stakeholders are: Internal Board, management, staff, etc. External Government agencies, public, community, clients, nonprofit organizations, competitors, regulators, legislators, etc. 20 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

21 After listing all of your organization s stakeholders, identify the key stakeholders based on their positive or negative impact on your organization and their ability to affect your work and determine which stakeholder can help you during the strategic planning process. Evaluate each stakeholder in terms of how important they are (e.g. extremely, reasonably or not at all) and what role should this stakeholder play in the strategic planning process, if any (e.g. strategic planning committee member, participant in the process, plan reviewer, expert resource, etc.) You might worry that bringing together the opinions and thoughts of so many different people will make the planning process more difficult. Though it may be harder to achieve consensus among a wide range of people with different insights and interests, having such a range of input will greatly benefit your plan. When people contribute valuable insights and data to the strategic planning process, they are often more receptive to the final plan. They will be naturally interested and encouraged to see the outcomes of their contributions. 2 Create a strategic planning commitee (SPC) After identifying your main stakeholders, next step in preparing for your strategic planning process is to put together a strategic planning committee. The recommendation is to decide on a strategic planning group that takes full responsibility for coordinating and planning this process. The bottom line is to think critically about who can and should contribute to your strategic plan, and to get them involved early in the process. The members can be selected either by preparing the short list from your stakeholders list and asking all staff to vote on members or by having Executive Director and the board member select the planning committee. The first option is preferable because it involves the Board and all staff in the process and the members are seen as true representatives from various levels at the organization. The committee should be convened once a decision to go ahead with planning has been reached. FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 21

22 The commitee should: Consist of approximately 8-10 members (it can be smaller or larger but not too large because it would make it more difficult to organize meetings and discussions) Be a combination of visionaries (people who see what the organization can be) and action-takers (people who ensure that the project goals and tasks are realistic and doable) Be a group that has the respect and the power to make decisions on behalf of the organization Be a diverse group (board and staff, finance person, external stakeholder, etc.) Sample SPC members: BOARD OF DIRECTORS The board of directors will ultimately adopt the plan and will use it to guide its decisions and actions. If the entire board is not involved directly in the planning process, it must at least have one member leading the process as well as approve a planning process and be kept informed of its progress. The process of developing a strategic plan is a special opportunity to engage the board of directors in an active role in shaping the organization>s future. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Executive Director plays a major role in the Strategic Planning effort. He/she may ask a consultant, a board or staff member to assist him/her in the process but the Executive Director is the one that is in charge of leading the effort. STAFF Staff members have expertise and information that should be used during the planning process. Since they will be the ones who will carry out the plan on a day-to-day basis, they should be informed and, to whatever extent is appropriate for the organization, involved. Organizations often rely on representation from staff on the planning team. EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS Those who benefit from the organization>s services and have interest in the organization s work are sometimes involved in the planning process (clients, beneficiaries, competitors, academia experts, media, government representatives, etc). Each organization makes its own choices about whether to include clients on the planning team or whether to consult them in some other way. 22 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

23 3 Determine Roles and Responsibilities At the first meeting of the planning committee, the committee s responsibilities should be outlined and any milestones confirmed. Roles of the key players should be defined. Who will be the key people responsible for each aspect of the strategic planning process? What level of control will the board have? Role definition is extremely important so that efforts are not duplicated or neglected. 11 Usually, either the Board President or the Executive Director will lead the strategic planning process. A planning committee spearheads the process. This does not mean that committee members are responsible for doing all the work; work will be done by many but strategic planning committee members are responsible for ensuring that the work gets done. If the organization is using the outside consultant, he/she will facilitate the process with other stakeholders. A planning committee decides (with input from others) which stakeholders to involve, how to involve them, coordinates and makes assignments to staff or board members, provides linkages and liaison with everyone involved, and prioritizes or narrows information for the organization to discuss and evaluate. The planning committee also discusses strategic issues, makes recommendations regarding strategies and priorities, creates drafts of documents for approval by the board, holds meetings and brainstorming sessions, keeps everyone updated on the process. FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 23

24 Sample SPC Member Roles: PLANNING PROCESS CHAMPION This is usually a key member of the board of directors or the executive director. The person must be someone who believes in strategic planning and will help keep the process on track. This person does not have to be an expert in strategic planning, but s/he should be someone respected by board and staff members. PLANNING PROCESS FACILITATOR This person may be an outside consultant, though this role can also be played by a member of the board. The facilitator s main responsibility is to plan the process, outline the steps, carefully plan each meeting s agenda and to ensure the group stays on track and that the planning process is completed successfully. PLAN WRITER Someone must assemble the planning group>s decisions into a cohesive document. This person uses the notes from SPC meetings, decisions, and other information to prepare a plan, often in the form of several drafts for review by the entire planning group. Writing the plan, however, is more than simply compiling a record of planning meetings. The plan writer must also insert options and next logical steps into the drafts at each stage of the planning process. The plan writer can often be the Executive Director, board member or consultant. 4 Identify specfic issues or areas that the planning process should address There are various types of strategic issues to consider. Most issues will fall under one of these headings: 12 Vision and Mission. How well are we achieving our vision and mission with our programs and how could we have greater impact? Administrative and Organizational Capacity. Do we have the administrative capacity to effectively and efficiently support our programs and services? What would it take to maximize our organizational and administrative capabilities in terms of planning, human resources and leadership, organizational culture and communication, and our technology and facilities infrastructure? Governance. How effective is the board at protecting the public s interest ensuring that charitable money is being used effectively and efficiently and that the organization is fulfilling its mission? What can we do to ensure that our board is able to fulfill its governance role now and in the future? Finances. Are our operations financially viable and how can we ensure the long-term financial stability and sustainability of our organization? Do we have effective financial management systems in place to monitor our finances? 24 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

25 External Factors. What are the main external factors that influence the organization s work and what effect do they have on the organization? Are the external factors likely to change in the next 3-5 years or not? Beneficiaries. Who are the main beneficiaries of our work? Is our organization targeting the right population and do we have to re-evaluate our target audiences? Do we have enough information about their interests and needs? Have we assessed the impact of our projects on client groups? 5 Identify information that must be collected to help make sound decisions The most effective way to assess your organization is to collect information about important aspects that could affect its functioning. In order to prepare for the review of relevant information it is helpful to gather in one place any documents or other background information that would help inform your strategic process. The following is the list of types of documents that provide useful information: 13 Category Historical Perspective Type Organizational timeline Significant events in the organization s history Organizational accomplishments Mission, vision, values statement Guiding Statements Program-Related Documents Financial Documents Administrative Documents Previous strategic plans Annual plans Annual reports Program descriptions; work plans Program evaluation reports Newsletters Needs Assessments Fundraising materials Fundraising plans Financial plans Organizational chart Organizational processes Communication documents (monthly reports or updates) Personnel policies and performance appraisal forms Client satisfaction surveys Previous evaluation designs and reports Internal databases Other reports (government, external, etc.) Budget reports Audits Sample financial reports Internal accounting procedure manuals Previous organizational effectiveness surveys Performance measurement Volunteer management plan Information technology plan Survey of facilities and equipment Governance Documents Board development plan Board minutes Board manual Previous board self (or external) evaluations Board roster or committee structure FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 25

26 6 Establish common ground for strategic planning Finding common ground for your strategic planning process is critical to the success of your plan. By making sure that everyone is on the same page, you can better make a strategic plan that meets everyone s expectations. At the same time, you also ensure that your planning process has a set of common ground rules so that people interact respectively and efficiently. Establishing a foundation of trust and cooperation in your planning group is essential to your work. The following are suggestions on how to create a positive and productive atmosphere in your planning group. 14 Know-how. Everyone involved in the committee should have a basic understanding of strategic planning, of what it can and can not accomplish and the component parts of the process. Develop relationships. Relationships are the key to change. Recognize and value what each participant brings to the table. Ask questions to get the people talking about what they believe is important. Set-up activities that require group interaction and work. Share the work. Everyone in the committee and other members of the organization need to be involved in the process. Collaboration. Promote mutual sharing and learning among stakeholders. Everyone at the table, regardless of their rank or experience, has something to offer. The more diverse the group (e.g. Executive Director, junior staff member, board member, external stakeholder, etc.) the richer the discussion. Big picture. Develop a shared vision for the future, the big picture. Not every concern can be addressed during the strategic planning process. Determine the ideal scenario and then work together to identify ways to get there. Have participants think about what would be the ideal situation and what steps are necessary to get there. Think of how each person can contribute to this shared vision. Ownership. The committee and the entire organization should be involved in the process. Regular updates, requests for input and ideas, and official feedback should be part of the process. 26 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

27 7 Create a strategic planning work-plan (plan for planning) Finally, the planning committee will need to develop an overall work-plan for managing the planning effort. The work-plan should outline the following: A) Main Tasks (required over the course of the entire planning process) B) Activities within each task (interviews, meetings, surveys, etc.) C) Persons responsible (for executing or overseeing) D) Resources required E) Measurable outcomes F) Timeframe and schedule G) Status Keep the following important points in mind throughout the process: Know the purpose of your effort. Know what you want to achieve have clear outcomes for the process. Know what you have to cover to achieve these outcomes know what steps you have to work through. Know what additional issues need to be dealt with in the time available. Prioritize sensibly. Don t be inflexible. But do have a commitment to time-keeping. Make sure that someone records what is said and, most importantly, what is agreed. This does not mean verbatim (word-for-word) notes, but rather a record of important discussions and decisions. Whether or not you decide to use an outside facilitator, make sure that someone is responsible for chairing each session and that they are skilled enough to do so properly. Build in steps that involve all participants you need to take people with you, not just get the tasks done. If you have asked people to do preparatory work, make sure this is taken into account in the agenda so that people feel their efforts are valued. Once the work-plan is completed, everyone on the strategic planning committee and the organization is on the same page on what needs to be done. Your organization is now ready to proceed to the next phase in the strategic planning process Assess. FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 27

28 28 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL Phase 1I: Assess

29 Phase II: Assess The strategic planning committee is in charge of organizing and completing this phase. Assessment enables organizations to understand the current external and internal context within which they operate in order to be able to develop effective strategies. Many organizations get excited about the strategic planning process and want to jump right in and create the plan. Stop! Have patience! It is very important to create the proper foundation for the strategic plan. By taking a critical look at your organization first, you can better understand what strategic planning needs to address. The Assess phase of the strategic planning process is the information gathering and analysis phase that results in a database of concrete information. This information will be used to make decisions about programming and administrative priorities and to develop overall strategies. It allows the strategic planning team to see the organization as a whole in relation to its environment. If your organization has been in existence for a while and has done a lot, all the previous work and structure have to be reviewed. If your organization is new then it is important to establish where it is right now, what its resources are, what the experiences of its founders and staff are as well as what its strengths and weaknesses are. It is important that this phase is done thoroughly and patiently. This phase requires time and effort and there will be a tendency to jump to conclusions and want to respond without having gathered most of the information. FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 29

30 Don t make any final conclusions until all the necessary information has been obtained. During this phase, the strategic planning committee will have to continually assess to determine whether they have sufficient and accurate information to make informed decisions regarding short and long-term priorities. Information should be gathered from the following sources: 15 1) Internal stakeholders (board, staff, volunteers) 2) External stakeholders (clients, funders, partners, community leaders, government officials) 3) Objective data (statistics, data about trends, research studies, interviews with experts) The assessment phase has four major tasks: A) Assess the history and current scope, scale and capacity of operations B) Gather new information by conducting a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis C) Conduct an external assessment D) Summarize your findings Data-gathering methods to be used during this phase are the following: 1) Interviews (phone and in person) 2) Questionnaires and surveys 3) Brainstorming sessions 4) Focus groups 4) Research 5) Observations Before starting with the tasks of collecting and assessing the information, the strategic planning committee members must identify and understand stakeholders. The process of identifying key stakeholders already started during the preparation phase and we will now go into a more in depth analysis of each of them. As we stated earlier, stakeholder is any person, group, or organization that can place a claim on the organization s resources, attention, or output or is affected by its output. A stakeholder analysis is not only identifying who the organization s internal and external stakeholders are but how they evaluate the organization, how they influence the organization, what the organization needs from them, and how important they are KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

31 Using the list of internal and external stakeholders compiled during the Prepare phase, analyze the main stakeholders in terms of type (e.g. client, customer, partner, competition, etc.), sense of his/her/its judgment about your organization s performance, how this stakeholder affects the organization, what your organization needs from this stakeholder and what they need from you. Main Tasks A) Assess the history and current scope, scale and capacity of operations When it comes to internal analysis, the three major categories that should be assessed here are: Resources (inputs) Present strategy (process) Performance (outputs) Using these three categories as a guide, the following are the essential internal elements in the organization that need to be assessed in order to determine the history and current status of your organization: 17 History A summary of the events that have shaped the organization (key events in the organization s past as well as all specific program activities and services). Where have you primarily focused your energy and resources over the past years; and what efforts have gotten you to where you are now? Current Status Current programs and activities Does the existing structure of programs and activities make sense? Are the programs managed well? Do existing programs and activities support each other and the mission? What are the main accomplishments? What is being done well and not so well? How successfully are client s needs being met? Aspirations An organization s mission, vision, and overarching values and goals, which collectively articulate its common sense of purpose and direction. Strategy The coherent set of actions and programs aimed at fulfilling the organization s overarching goals. FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 31

32 Organizational skills The sum of the organization s capabilities, including such things (among others) as performance measurement, planning, resource management, and external relationship building. Human Resources The collective capabilities, experiences, size, potential and commitment of the organization s board, management, staff, and volunteers. Systems and infrastructure The organization s planning, decision-making, knowledge management, information technology, and administrative systems, as well as the physical and technological assets that support the organization. Organizational structure The combination of governance, organizational design, inter-functional coordination, and individual job descriptions that shapes the organization s legal and management structure. Financial resources The size of the budget, incoming funds, operating costs, accounting procedures, and the degree budget meets current and expected needs. Culture The connective tissue that binds together the organization, including shared values and practices n, it is important to draw out what you learned and reach conclusions. Write what you learned down as a reference point for the rest of the process. When you do a review of programs, you look at the impact and effectiveness of the work you are doing. Is it making a difference? When you do a review of the organization, you look at the efficiency of the way in which the work is done. Do we do our work in a way that is cost-effective and that produces maximum results with the least possible input? Whichever way you gather information, it is important to draw out what you learned and reach conclusions. Write what you learned down as a reference point for the rest of the process. The question to answer here is: What have we learned from this program review or the organizational review that we must keep in mind as we go forward with our strategic planning? 32 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

33 B) Gather new information by conducting a SWOT analysis Another essential way to assess your organization is to have your planning group conduct a situational analysis also known as SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). Worksheet for doing the SWOT analysis can be found in the Appendix. The SWOT analysis is an overview of the most important internal strengths and weaknesses and the most important external opportunities and threats. It clarifies the conditions or situations within which the organization operates and provides an overall system view of the organization. It is very important to do a SWOT analysis prior to addressing core strategies because unless there is a good understanding of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, strategic issues will be misidentified and strategies will not address the real issues. The SWOT analysis can be done at the level of the whole organization or of each program. 18 Strengths What are the organization s internal strengths? What do we do well? (e.g., highly qualified staff, familiarity with the clients, proximity to clients, flexible organizational structure, good project management capabilities, etc.) Weaknesses What are the organization s internal weaknesses? Where can we improve? (e.g., high employee turnaround, board micromanagement, not enough staff members, lack of qualified staff, etc.) FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 33

34 Opportunities What external opportunities exist with respect to pursuing our mission? What changes are taking place in our environment that might allow us to better achieve our mission? (e.g., change in government policies, increase in funding for the services we offer, partnership opportunity with another organization, etc.) Threats What external threats might hinder the pursuit of our mission? What changes in the environment do we need to guard against or prepare for in doing our work? (e.g., tough competition, change in government policies, economic crisis resulting in lack of funding, relocation of clients, etc.) Who to involve in the process? How to do this activity? Suggested Method SWOT Analysis Process SPC, Board and/or staff. The extent and format of their involvement is to be decided by the strategic planning committee Set up a SWOT analysis meeting If meeting is not possible, ideas and opinions can be collected through questionnaires, interviews, by telephone, etc. Distribute SWOT worksheets (from the Appendix) to all participants ahead of time in order to get people thinking Brainstorm and record ideas on the flip chart Encourage participants to be as specific as possible Review the SWOT, sort into categories, select most important items and summarize results Share the results with all the members of the strategic planning committee Brainstorming One way to get information about these quickly is to brainstorm. The leader of the process should remind participants that brainstorming means not making judgments because those will come later. Participants should just speak what is on their minds, piggybacking on something someone else might have said earlier. There will be time later to screen out some of the duplicates, and even the useless ideas. Brainstorming guidelines: try to get as many ideas out quickly generate or spin off on another idea do not criticize, either through comments or body language do not «justify» or explain have the mindset that there are no «bad» ideas involve everyone in the process Successful organizations are those that exploit strengths rather than just focus on weaknesses in other words, this process is not just about fixing the things that are wrong but also nurturing what goes right. 34 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

35 Your strengths are your competitive advantage. This is another term borrowed from business but useful in the nonprofit context. It refers to that which makes you preferable as a service provider to other similar organizations. It is the special something that makes stakeholders such as donors or beneficiary communities say: We want to work with them. C) Conduct an external assessment External environment analysis is done in order to identify the external factors affecting the work of the organization. You have already started doing your external assessment during the SWOT analysis. Based on this information, SPC members can get input from outsiders, either as a confirmation of what the internal stakeholders determined or new perspectives, that will make the difference in developing sound plans. The external environment analysis is undertaken at the following four levels: 19 A MACRO C the ENVIRONMENT the political, economic, social, technological, ecological and legal characteristics of the market. NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN KSA the industry or field the organization operates in, which includes analysis, trends, and services of other organizations doing similar type of work. OPERATING ENVIRONMENT factors that might affect the organization s competitive position and operations including information about external stakeholder s needs and expectations, clients, donors, beneficiaries, regulations and policies, government agencies, etc. CLIENT NEEDS ANALYSIS Needs analysis seeks to address the questions such as: Who are the individuals we seek to serve? What are their needs? What needs are currently met? Which needs are still not met? What resources do we need in order to meet these needs? B D The external assessment can be done by doing research of available data or by phone and in person interviews, questionnaires or surveys as well as focus groups with the clients, members of the community, partners or experts (external stakeholders) who have the appropriate knowledge and experience. FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 35

36 Information connected to external environment can also be called assumptions. Assumptions are external conditions that your project or organization cannot control but which it assumes will exist and which are necessary to the success of the project. So, for example, if your organization receives regular funding from a certain foundation, it may make an assumption that this foundation will continue to fund your projects for many years to come and that you can rely on their support. To make this assumption, the organization/project must have good reason to believe it (e.g. you received funding from them for many years, the leadership hasn t changed, theirmission hasn t changed, etc). If it does, then this becomes one of the important conclusions from the external assessment: We can rely on funding support from this Foundation. However, if it believes the opposite, then this also needs to be taken into account in planning, as a hindering factor. It is important to keep monitoring the assumptions that have been made in case external circumstances change and you have to adjust your plans. D) Summarize your findings After having collected information from all the sources listed above, the planning committee should have sufficient amount of data collected so that its members can make informed discussions during Phase 3 and 4. The next step in this process is to summarize and consolidate all the data so that it is easily understandable and well organized. Without effectively consolidating your data, you will not be able to compare the different data you have found to see any issues or identify strengths and weaknesses. Data can be summarized around two areas: 1) Around the framework of vision/mission, finances, administrative capacity, and governance 2) Around the SWOT structure (internal and external assessment results) 36 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

37 Organizing your data will also help you start to make sense of the data by identifying emerging strategic issues or priorities: Are there any emerging strategic issues affecting the organization that need to be addressed? Are there things that the organization should consider starting or stopping? Are there things that the organization should consider doing differently, more of, less of, same? Are there new or surprising issues that are coming up? One or two members of the committee (or a consultant) should summarize the findings, create a master list of key strategic issues that are emerging, create a brief report and present it to the committee as a whole, the Board and the staff. After reviewing and discussing the data findings, the committee would then discuss possible considerations for the future. By now some themes and priorities will start emerging. Your organization is ready to move to the next step Phase 3. FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 37

38 Phase I1I: Envision 38 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

39 Phase III: Envision Once you have assessed your organization, it is time to focus on where you want it to go. This is defining the guiding principles or aspirations and a strategic framework within which your organization or project functions. CLEARLY STATED VALUES CLEARLY STATED VISION CLEARLY STATED MISSION A STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK THE SHORT-TERM OBJECTIVES OF THE ORGANIZATION THE OVERALL GOALS OF THE ORGANIZATION CORE STRATEGIES OF YOUR ORGANIZATION Strategic Framework assists in understanding the gaps between where an organization is and where it needs to be to achieve its goals and objectives. All these elements need to be in alignment. This means that they should fit together and complement one another, rather than contradict one another. The first three points are the main focus of the Envision Phase of the process and the rest will be discussed in the next phase. One of the main reasons for undertaking the strategic planning process is to establish or reaffirm a shared understanding of why an organization exists and its aspirations for the future. FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 39

40 The reflections of this are the organization s mission, vision, and values statements also known as guiding statements. By developing these guiding statements, you will create a big picture, a shared idea, of what your organization is, what it does, and why it does it. These fundamental concepts form the basis of what your organization will become. Vision statement An image of the future your organization seeks to create Mission statement Statement of purpose and business Values statement Guiding concepts, beliefs, and principles Most organizations start developing their vision first then their mission and finally their values. It is up to you to decide what works best for your organization. It can be useful to start with identifying your organizational core values first because it can actually help you as you draft your vision and mission. Strategic planning committee members need to be clear and have an agreement on the definition of each statement and the format and length of each statement. Next, the planning committee decides who to involve in the process. There are two options: strategic planning committee agrees on the drafts of guiding principles and then shares them with the board and the rest of the staff who provide input, other suggestions and feedback; or the committee involves the entire organization in the process from the start by asking everyone to submit their versions and then the committee discusses these during a meeting or a retreat and finalizes the statements. Whichever option you chose, make sure you provide all participants a few days in advance of the meeting with a document that includes the following: Definitions of each statement Format of each statement (full sentences or phrases, paragraphs, etc,) Length of each statement Guiding questions to help them create statements Best practice examples of statements that other successful organizations use Examples of the template can be found in the Appendix. Be prepared to have some good debates during the discussion of the organization s guiding principles. This activity evokes strong feelings. Take your time, make sure you clarify each point and strive to reach an agreement. 40 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

41 Vision Statement Organizations and projects in the nonprofit sector usually exist because they want to make a difference in society. A vision is a guiding image of a successful future. It is a picture of the future that is desired by the organization and its stakeholders. Some terms that are used to describe a vision statement are: inspiring, aspiring, and motivating. Vision is the most powerful motivator in any organization. It should challenge and inspire the group to stretch its capabilities to achieve the desired result. The focus of an effective vision statement should be first on the client to be served or the constituency whose lives are to be impacted by the organization. Drafting a vision statement begins with ideas, evolves through discussion, and results in a shared sense of direction and motivation. All board and staff members should be involved in the process (by submitting ideas or feedback) but the planning committee should be more fully engaged in the process and come up with the final version. As you continue with the strategic planning process, your organization will probably refer back to its vision statement (as well as mission and values) and may modify them during the process as it becomes clearer where the organization is going and where it should be in the future. The vision statement answers the questions: What will success look like? How do you want your community to be different? How would your society look if your organization successfully fulfilled its purpose? A powerful exercise is to ask individuals to write a news headline that describes their vision of success for the organization in five or ten years. This can be a good starting point for discussing the vision statement. FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 41

42 Vision statement should not be longer than two or three sentences. A vision statement is only the beginning. It does not identify specific approaches and strategies to bring the vision about. A vision can set the stage for change but it does not tell people specifically what needs to change to reach that vision. Develop your vision statement before you begin your work on your mission statement. The challenge is to create a vision that is grand enough to inspire people but also a vision that is grounded in sufficient reality that people can believe can happen. Some examples of vision statements include: The Rockefeller Foundation attempts to harness the creative forces of globalization, support ing breakthrough solutions to 21st century challenges. This is smart globalization: ensuring that the opportunities unleashed by globalization are accessible to more people, more fully, in more places and that poor and vulnerable people are equipped to seize them. (Rockefeller Foundation) Nonprofits serve as agents of democratic involvement, innovation, and positive social change. Our organization s leadership and services are local, regional, and national in scope and support the growth of an effective nonprofit sector essential to help communities. (Com passpoint Nonprofit Services) Through its leadership in the field of philanthropic and nonprofit studies and its outreach programs, our organization helps develop generous and engaged citizens and societies world wide in which voluntary action and philanthropy for the common good are a part of the fabric of life. (The Center on Philanthropy, Indiana University) Our organization envisions a peaceful, equitable, and sustainable world, generously endowed by ethical, accountable, effective and inclusive philanthropy. (World Congress of Muslim Philanthropy) To advance the status of Saudi women and support their roles as active partners in the development of society. (Al-Nahda Philanthropic Society for Women) 42 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

43 Mission Statement A mission statement is the next level of refinement of the organization s guiding statements. The mission statement clearly identifies what the agency is and why it exists. In just a few sentences a mission statement should be able to communicate the essence of an organization and its work to the world. Like the vision statement, drafting a mission statement begins with ideas, evolves through discussion, and results in a shared sense of direction and motivation. All board and staff members should be involved in the process (by submitting ideas or feedback) but the planning committee should be more fully engaged in the process and come up with the final version. The mission statement answers the questions: Who are you as an organization? Why do you exist? What do you do? Whom do you serve? A mission statement is generally short, preferably no more than a paragraph. It should include three main elements: Purpose. One sentence that describes the ultimate result an organization is trying to achieve. Why does the organization exist? A purpose sentence focuses on an end result. Business. A statement that describes what organization does. Beneficiaries. Description of for whom services are provided. FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 43

44 Some examples of mission statements include: Our mission is to serve individuals and families in the poorest communities in the world. Drawing strength from our global diversity, resources and experience, we promote innovative solutions and are advocates for global responsibility. We facilitate lasting change by: Strengthening capacity for self-help Providing economic opportunity Delivering relief in emergencies Influencing policy decisions at all levels Addressing discrimination in all its forms (Care) Our organization is a private, independent grant-making institution dedicated to helping groups and individuals foster lasting improvement in the human condition. Our organization seeks the development of healthy individuals and effective communities. We pursue this mission by supporting research, policy development, dissemination, education and training, and practice. (The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation) Our organization is the nationwide community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and service. (The American Cancer Society) We are a non-profit organization that aims to empower Saudi women socially and economically through financial assistance, training and job skills development. (Al-Nahda Philanthropic Society for Women) Values Statement Your organizational values are the shared values that support your work as an organization and your relationships with users and other stakeholders. They are what you believe is the right way to do things and to deal with people, and what you believe is the way that, ideally, the world ought to be organized. 44 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

45 Nonprofit organizations are known for being values-driven. Values usually focus on service, quality, people, and work norms. Core values need to be made explicit to the whole organization, they are debated and updated from time to time. Creating a set of values can help your organization make decisions and take actions that are in alignment with each other. 20 Values statement represents the principles on which an organization is built and that guide its planning, operations and programs. The value statement answers the questions: What does my organization believe? What does my organization stand for? What drives my organization? What are my organization s governing ideas? Some examples of values include: Integrity, quality and excellence in service provision must always be maintained We are client centered Self-confidence is not taught or learned; it is earned by surpassing your own self-set limitations We believe that greater understanding between individuals and people worldwide reveals universal values and aspirations We believe that citizens of all countries need personal contacts with other peoples and cultures We believe our work should always be transparent, ethical and accountable We believe in people We believe that respect and value for diversity in all aspects pf our organization are essential to our well-being We are pragmatic, problem-solvers with a commitment to innovation We believe in collaboration and partnership We are driven by a personal commitment to making a positive difference in people s lives We believe in making a positive impact on society We are committed to quality, integrity and transparency We believe in mutual respect and the value of each individual We work as a team and believe in strategic partnerships We value time, professionalism, and responsibility FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 45

46 Values statement can be a couple of sentences long or a bulleted list of points. Make sure it is to the point, clear and that it captures the essence of your organization. It is important that all the members of the committee agree with the final version and that you sought input from the whole organization in the process. After completion of all the guiding statements, the Executive Director and the Board of Directors give the final approval and the process is completed. Note that pamphlets, websites, and other communication information should also be updated. 46 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

47 Phase IV: Create FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 47

48 Phase IV: Create By this time, most of the information has been gathered, appropriate stakeholders have had a chance to contribute their ideas, the organization knows its strengths and weaknesses, and the guiding statements have been agreed upon. At this point, the big picture outline of the organization and its direction for the upcoming years is starting to emerge. It is now time to develop core strategies as well as concrete measures for what the organization wants to specifically achieve in the next three years and the resources it needs. This phase of the strategic planning process has the following steps: 1) Develop core strategies 2) Create goals and objectives 3) Prioritize 4) Write the strategic plan 1 Develop Core Strategies The flow of the strategic planning process suggests that an organization should be able to establish its overall direction at this point because it has officially gone through the previous important phases. The process now requires in-depth discussions about strategic issues and choices facing the organization. It is the role of the SPC members to get together, discuss and decide on the three to five core future strategies that will serve as the primary focus of the organization s resources for the next three years. These core strategies can be: Internal (organizational) External (community) 48 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

49 Set up a meeting for the committee members to begin the process. Make sure everyone has the following information: Copies of the new mission, vision and values statements Situational assessment report Results of the SWOT analysis Best examples of core strategies from other great organizations As the planning committee begins this work and discussions, don t be surprised if the process becomes choppy and difficult. While some priorities are emerging and themes are becoming clearer, there still may be some areas that need additional work. During this step, the committee may decide to re-visit discussions held in previous phases and make some changes to the mission statement or decides that gathering additional information may be necessary. Be patient and give yourselves permission to be confused. At this time, the core strategic program or service choices as well as administrative, financial and governance priorities need to be looked at. The SWOT analysis data can be very helpful during this process as it will give the planning members some of the information they need to make decisions. If the situation assessment reveals a major opportunity, that opportunity can be exploited if the organization has or is able to create the complementary strengths. In such cases, the organization should take advantage of its position and invest in the program. Similarly, if the assessment reveals a major threat to the organization, that threat can be successfully responded to if the organization has a complementary strength. Keep in mind that your decisions about future core strategies should respond to three main factors: 21 1) What are you deeply passionate about Understanding what your organization stands for (values) and why it exists (mission and vision) 2) What you can be best at Understanding what your organization can uniquely contribute to the people it touches, better than any other organization in the field or area 3) What drives your resource engine Understanding what best drives your resource engine, broken into three parts: time, money, and brand The planning committee should write a draft of what it sees as the handful of important directions that the organization will need to pursue over the coming few years. FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 49

50 The following are some examples of core strategies: Healthcare organization Increase partnership efforts Change our focus from concentrating on one disease to multiple health issues Invest in infrastructure including finding a new location, increasing the number of staff, salaries and technology Private school Expand from K-8 to K-12 Improve our teacher training efforts Make technology an integral part of the learning experience Improve fundraising strategy Foundation Expand our grant-making focus from the local to the national level Establish a donor advisory board Increase financial resources Provide training for local nonprofit organizations Improve impact measurement Once the SPC agrees on the core strategies, it is important that it shares these strategies with the rest of the organization (Board and staff members) for feedback and comments. After receiving comments, SPC should review them and decide on the final list of core strategies. Remember - after each main phase of the strategic planning process always share information and decisions of the SPC with the rest of the organization for feedback. That way, you have given all staff and Board members an opportunity to contribute, feel informed and have an ownership of the process. The next step is translating your core strategies into overarching goals and specific objectives. 50 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

51 2 Create Goals and Objectives Your goals and objectives are a bridge - they help you move from your guiding statements and your core strategies to the actions it will take to make them concrete. A solid set of goals and objectives is essential for effective strategic planning without them, it is easy to get stuck in the big picture. The goal is a general expression of what you want to accomplish; an objective is a Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results-oriented and Time-bound (SMART) statement of how you will accomplish the goal. The following chart illustrates some basic differences between goals and objectives: NOT TIED TO A TIMEFRAME NARROW PRECISE ABSTRACT GOALS OBJECTIVES TANGIBLE INTANGIBLE CONCRETE GENERAL INTENTIONS BROAD TIED TO A TIMEFRAME FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 51

52 For a larger organization, each department should take the lead on drafting the department s goals and objectives. For smaller organizations, strategic planning committee members may take responsibility for drafting initial list of goals and objectives for the whole organization. Once again, it is important to share the drafts with the rest of the organization for feedback before agreeing on the final list. In case an organization has a number of departments, SPC is still in charge of preparing the necessary documents that will help departments with their work. The planning committee should: Set up a meeting with all the department heads and staff Ensure all department staff are well informed of the process and contribute to it Define and explain the terminology and meaning of setting up goals and objectives Explain that goals should be written first and then objectives for each goal Explain that each goal should have no more than two to four objectives Establish timeframe for all the activities Clarify expectations with opportunities for questions and feedback Provide final drafts of values, vision, and mission statements Provide examples of successfully written goals and objectives Explain the next steps after goals and objectives have been set up Review final drafts of goals and objectives to determine if anything needs to be clarified and re-worded Ensure that goals and objectives are well written, clear and understandable Ensure an agreement on the goals and objectives is reached by each department and all department staff have actively contributed to the process Keep in mind that goals and objectives must be written so that they can be monitored. Goals: Express desired end result and outcomes (general intentions) Bridge from guiding statements to actions (address priorities) Will chart a clear direction but will not set specific milestones or strategies What do we want to accomplish in broad terms? Goals provide a framework for a more detailed level of planning. 52 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

53 Goals should meet a certain criteria: 22 Describe the desired result Clarify and support the fulfillment of the vision and mission Address core strategies Normally encompass a longer period (up to three years) Address gaps between the current and desired level of service Chart a clear direction for the organization Specify who will benefit Be challenging but realistic Objectives: Set of activities needed to achieve the goals Specific and measurable targets for accomplishing goals They are SMART What actions will we actually take to accomplish our goals? What is the timeline? Who will benefit? Objectives should meet a certain criteria: 23 Specific. Objectives should reflect specific accomplishments that your organization wants but not the specific activities that will be required to complete them. Measurable. Objectives must be measurable so that you can determine when they have been accomplished. Build into your objectives how progress will be measured (percentage of increase, number of participants, level of achievement, etc.). Attainable. They should be challenging but should not demand the impossible. They should also be consistent with available resources. Results-oriented. Objectives should specify a result. Time-bound. Specify a timeframe for meeting objectives from a few months to a year. FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 53

54 The following are examples of goals and objectives: Goal To increase public awareness of healthy lifestyle Objectives To sponsor one conference on nutrition and exercise during 2008 and increase media coverage of this topic To increase media coverage of healthy lifestyle by doubling the amount of newspaper articles and adds focusing on healthy lifestyle Goal To increase coping skills of families in stress Objectives To present two workshops for 20 families in 2008 To increase performance on self-administered test by 50% as a result of two workshops Goal To increase management skills of leaders of nonprofit organizations Objectives To hold two management and leadership training seminars in 2008 for 25 NPO leaders To sponsor a management expert to spend one week coaching each of the 25 NPO leaders in 2008 Once you determine your goals and objectives, the next step is to set priorities for attaining them. 3 Prioritize Setting priorities is critical - your organization will probably have many goals and the only way to ensure that it can achieve them all is to put them in a priority framework. 54 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

55 To do the most good and to do it well requires saying no to getting involved in too many things and the discipline to stop doing what does not fit. 24 Prioritizing does the following: Ensures that you can achieve your goals (what is reasonable for the time period) Ensures that you are not over committing your organization s resources (time and money) Ensures that you prioritize based on Impact and Urgency of each goal The following are questions that can help guide you through this process: Does this program make sense from a mission and core strategies point of view? Are we the best organization to provide this service (or could our competition do a better job)? Does this program make sense financially? How much do we need to invest to make it successful? Do we have staff skilled enough to accomplish this effort? Does this program have support and full commitment of the leadership and members of the organization? One way to prioritize your goals is to look at them in terms of IMPACT and URGENCY. Both are equally important to ensure balance (if you only address those issues that require urgency, you will find that your organization is constantly putting out fires. If you only address those issues of high impact then your organization may not look responsive to pressing and urgent needs). 25 Goal: Impact Urgency High Medium Low Once again, after the SPC agrees on the organization s goals and objectives, make sure others in the Board and organization have been informed and their feedback has been requested. FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 55

56 4 Write the Strategic Plan Once you have articulated the vision, mission and values, agreed upon your core strategies, finalized your goals and objectives and established priorities, you are well on your way to making your plan a reality. The next step is to put all of these pieces together into one coherent but brief document. It is very important to produce a short, usable document at the end of the strategic planning process, otherwise the process does not have an ending and your effort may be diminished. What is a strategic plan? A strategic plan is simply a brief document that summarizes why an organization exists, what it is trying to accomplish and how it will go about doing so. Strategic plan should be no longer than pages plus the appendices. The more concise and simple the document the greater the likelihood that it will be used by all in the organization. The plan writer (i.e. Executive Director or facilitator) will draft the final strategic plan document with the input from others involved in the process and then submit it for review and feedback to other members and and stakeholders. Who should review the plan? The committee should decide in advance who will review and comment on the draft plan. As previously indicated, the guiding principle of participation is that everyone who will help execute the plan should have some input in shaping it meaning Board members, staff and other stakeholders. Allow one or two weeks to get feedback on the draft of the plan. Upon receiving all the feedback, the committee must agree on which suggested revisions to accept. The reviewers of the plan should focus on making sure that the plan answers key questions about priorities and directions in enough detail to serve as a guide to the organization. 56 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

57 Table of contents of an effective strategic plan includes: 26 1) Introduction by the Executive Director or President of the Board 2) Executive Summary 3) Brief Organizational History 4) Summary of Situational Assessment 5) Vision, Mission and Values Statements 6) Summary of Core Strategies 7) Organizational (and Departmental) Goals and Objectives and/or 8) Community (Program) Goals and Objectives 9) Financial, Administrative and Governance Goals and Objectives 10) [Possible] Appendices: A) Annual Operational Plan(s) B) Annual Budgets C) Long-range Budget Projections D) Organizational Chart 1) Introduction by the Executive Director or President of the Board This is a half or one-page cover letter that introduces the strategic plan, thanks all those who were involved in the process and gives it a stamp of approval to indicate that the organization has achieved a critical level of internal agreement. 2) Executive Summary In one page, this section summarizes the strategic plan. It should reference the mission and vision and core strategies. From this summary, the reader should be able to understand what is most important about the organization s plan and where the organization is going. 3) Organization History In one or two pages readers should learn the story of the organization and main accomplishments (projects) and changes over time. 4) Summary of Situational Assessment This section focuses on the main themes that emerged during the situation assessment. In one or two pages, summarize what was done during this phase and indicate the main results. 5) Mission, Vision, and Values These statements can stand alone without any introductory text because they introduce and define themselves. FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 57

58 6) Summary of Core Strategies This section makes clear the strategic thinking behind the plan and tells readers where the organization will be primarily focusing its resources over the next few years. After each strategy provide a very brief explanation of that strategy so that it is clear why this strategy was selected. 7) Organizational (and Departmental) Goals and Objectives They represent a plan of action of what organization intends to do over the next few years. This section outlines the main organizational goals and objectives and also departmental goals and objectives. 8) Community (Program) Goals and Objectives They are externally focused and explain the organization s efforts with the community. In some instances, organizational and community goals and objectives can be combined in one. 9) Financial, Administrative, and Governance Goals and Objectives These goals and objectives are organizational and indicate what internal actions and resources will be needed to support program goals. They can also be included within the Organizational goals and objectives or kept separately. 10) Appendices The main reason to include any appendices is to include any other information that can be helpful in supporting your strategy. Perhaps no appendices are necessary. Please take note that this is an outline of the most common component parts of the strategic plan. Depending on the nature and work of your organization not all of them may be necessary or you may opt to add other sections. It is up to the strategic planning committee to decide on the format of the strategic plan prior to writing the plan. Once the final draft has been completed by the strategic planning committee (including input from all the stakeholders), it should go to the Board for the final approval. 58 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

59 Phase V: Implement FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 59

60 Phase V: Implement The implementation phase is the most important phase of the strategic planning process and it has two important steps: 1) Implementing the plan 2) Communicating the plan Implementation Strategic plan is a means to an end. Only by putting plans into action can you ensure that your organization meets its strategic goals and objectives and fulfills its mission and vision. The first step in implementing the strategic plan is to develop a first-year action or operating plan and budget based on the strategic plan. The strategic plan must be converted into an annual operating plan and a supporting budget in order to be implemented. A plan does no good to anyone if it simply sits on the shelf. Strategic planning committee will continue to oversee the implementation of the strategic plan and ensure that action plans are completed on time and successfully. The planning committee should hold a meeting of all the staff to explain the nature, value and importance of developing annual action plans. SPC should also assign the responsibility of creating an annual action plan to the head of each department and should follow-up and monitor that the process is done on time. It is important that department heads complete this work together with their staff because they are the ones who would be doing the work and are most familiar with what needs to be done in each of their areas of work. 60 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

61 All staff must be involved in creating annual operating plans. The planning committee should also distribute soft and hard copies of the action plan template to those in charge of developing them, as well as the budget and resource request forms. The annual action plan provides a detailed plan for the upcoming year in the language of tasks, deliverables, timelines, resources, and responsibilities. The following are main characteristics of a useful annual operating plan: 1) An appropriate level of detail enough to guide the work but not so much that it becomes overwhelming and confusing 2) Your action plan is an extension of the goals and objectives. Just as every goal has a set of objectives, every objective has a set of actions/tasks 3) A format that allows for periodic reports on progress towards specific goals and objectives 4) A structure that allows user to easily see that it is consistent with the priorities in the strategic plan 5) A budget that supports all the activities outlined in the operating plan The following are the main components of the operating plan: 1) Action/task 2) Due date 3) Key personnel 4) Status 5) Goal/objective 6) Outcome/Performance measure 7) Resources/budget Before a decision is made regarding an action or task, you should weigh it against certain organizational factors. The following questions can be used as a test of each suggested action: 1) If this action is completed, will that help us reach the goals and objective? 2) What are the anticipated costs and benefits of this action? 3) Will this action have any positive or negative impact on any other goals and objectives? 4) How long will the action take to complete? 5) Are there any constraints we can expect if we move forward with the action? 6) Do we have the necessary resources to accomplish this action? FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 61

62 As you develop your action plan, you need to clarify the roles and responsibilities required to complete the actions. For an action to be completed someone has to be identified as responsible and accountable for it; someone needs to own it. You will also start to gauge what kind of resources you will need to implement the plan. The individual or team responsible for developing action plans should identify the resources (e.g. fiscal, personnel, technology, and other) necessary to carry out the plan and should fill out the resource request list in order to ensure that resources are made available on a timely basis. The outcome or performance measure is an important part of the action plan that will be used extensively during the monitoring and evaluation phase. It can be done as a line item within the action plan or as a separate performance measurement plan attached to the action plan which follows each action/task, indicates the deliverable of the task and how to measure the success of the task. Please keep in mind that annual action plans are working documents that will be updated regularly for progress and changes as you move forward and depending on your work. In addition, annual plans are to be done separately for each year of the strategic plan so it is important to keep that in mind when scheduling activities for the following year. Action planning for the following year should happen in November/December of the previous year. Action Plan and Performance Indicators templates can be found in the Appendix. 62 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

63 Communicate At this point, the strategic planning committee has completed the planning process and created a document! Action plans for the first year of operations are also completed. The plan was formally adopted by the board of directors as the official strategic plan of the organization. Congratulations! Your long-term direction is clear and your various stakeholders have been engaged in the process and have committed to the plan. It is now time to share your plan with the internal and external stakeholders. Your organization depends on its stakeholders; keeping them informed is crucial to gaining their support. Now that you have identified your stakeholders during this process, you need to chose who you want to inform and the best methods for communicating with them. There are a number of options: newsletter, interactive briefings, meetings, mailing the plan with the cover letter, sharing only the executive summary or the whole plan, etc. The whole plan should be shared with all the staff members and board members. Set up an all staff meeting and a Board meeting and officially present the plan. Make it a celebratory event! Make sure you thank all the strategic planning committee members and all the participants who contributed to the process. Although this is a significant achievement, the journey is not complete yet. It is now time to make sure that the plan is being put into action. FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 63

64 PHASE VI: MONITOR AND EVALUATE 64 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

65 Phase VI: Monitor and Evaluate You have completed most of the important components of the strategic planning process. The last steps are to reflect on the planning process and put into place a monitoring and evaluation plan. Tracking your plan can reveal problems, serve to verify assumptions, allow for mid-course corrections, and indicate whether or not it succeeded in achieving its goals. Evaluation can also indicate what aspects of the plan succeeded and to what degree; change in conditions; new unanticipated factors; and any positive or negative consequences of the plan. The strategic planning committee should continue to lead the monitoring and evaluation process and identify who can help with this process. One of the first decisions is whether you want to conduct the evaluation with your own staff of hire an outside consultant to facilitate the process. Some of the main questions to consider as you are making this decision are the following: Do we have the expertise to do the evaluation with our staff? Would internal staff be objective and impartial during the process? Would external consultant have sufficient knowledge about the organization in order to do a good job? How much would it cost to have staff do it in addition to their work vs. hiring an outside consultant? Is it productive to move staff from their current responsibilities to do this effort and who would cover for them? Can we afford and external consultant? FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 65

66 1 Evaluate the Strategic Planning Process The strategic planning committee should convene a meeting to reflect on the strategic planning process. What worked about the process? What did we learn that can help us in the future? The strategic plan can be assessed in terms of whether it accomplishes the following: Provide guidance to both short and long-term priorities Helps the organization allocate resources Is understandable by people who did not participate in the development of the plan Is responsive to organization s understanding of internal and external conditions Is the product of a consensus and commitment building process Has been formally adopted by the Board of Directors The annual Action Plans meet the following measures of success: Developed by staff who are responsible for the implementation Provide an easy implementation and monitoring tool Translate strategic plan into action Present a realistic plan The committee should use the attached worksheet Evaluate the Strategic Planning Process to complete this process. The worksheet should be distributed to all the committee members and then discussed in a meeting. One of the committee members should be taking notes in order to capture what was discussed and for the future reference. 2 Evaluate the Strategic Plan Implementation The organization will need to monitor, evaluate, revise and update the plan once a year after it is being implemented. The planning committee will schedule a progress monitoring meeting at least twice a year to keep the process moving. 66 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

67 An annual schedule needs to be established for the strategic planning process in order to make the process achievable and effective. The following table illustrates how the typical process flows in a three-year planning cycle: 27 APRIL-NOV/DEC - Develop a three-year - strategic plan OCT-NOV/DEC - Develop annual operating plan and budget APRIL - Operating plan update JULY - Operating plan update - Monitor stategic plan implementation OCTOBER - Operating plan update NOV/DEC -Evaluate implementation and adjust in n ecessary (report) - Develop new annual operating plan and budget 0 YEAR 2 YEAR CONTINUE PLAN 1 YEAR 3 YEAR LAUNCH PLAN FINISH PLAN APRIL - Operating plan update JULY Operating plan update - Monitor stategic plan implementation OCTOBER - Operating plan update NOV/DEC -Evaluate implementation and adjust in n ecessary (report) - Develop new annual operating plan and budget APRIL - Operating plan update JULY Operating plan update - Monitor stategic plan implementation OCTOBER, NOV/DEC - Evaluate implementation and adjust in necessary (report) Develop a three-year stategic plan - Develop annual operating plan and budget If you followed our instructions in Phase 4 (Create), your annual operating plans should already have an outline of the tasks, deliverables and measurements to be used to evaluate the implementation of the plan. These components are very important during the evaluation phase as they will be used as tools to monitor and evaluate the progress of your plan. The following are the necessary steps of your monitoring and evaluation process: Monitoring activities are focused on whether the plan is being implemented as it was designed. As part of the monitoring process, the planning committee should organize a yearly meeting that would focus on these questions: Is the current strategic plan on target? What has been or hasn t been accomplished? Are you reaching your target audience? Are the internal and external environment assumptions still valid? What are the current main issues facing the organization? Do any changes or new priorities need to be added to the plan? Are there any performance targets that need to be looked at? Depending on the results, the Board would need to be involved to discuss issues and agree on priorities and changes. A written record of all the meetings must be kept and summarized for all. The monitoring and evaluation effort should result in a written report of the findings that will be shared with all the stakeholders and used to inform all the future planning efforts. FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 67

68 68 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL CONCLUSION

69 Conclusion No strategic plan will be implemented without issues. Each organization will have its own set of problems. Below we have listed some common problems with which you may have to deal, along with possible solutions. 28 Potential problem Resistance from your Board to major changes Possible solution It would be best to have Board members (or representatives) participating in the strategic planning process. Before the meeting at which you present the plan, go and see those most likely to support the changes. Explain the changes and why they were considered necessary. Ask for continuous Board input and support. Resistance from donors to major changes Resistance from staff to changes Resistance from beneficiaries to changes The need to make some staff redundant If you have a few major donors, you need to make appointments with them to explain the proposed changes. Have a clear presentation that shows why the changes are considered necessary, how they will be implemented, and how problems will be addressed. Focus on the strategic importance of the changes in terms of increasing impact on the problems the project or organization is addressing. Make sure you have thought through the financial implications, what these are likely to mean, and how you will deal with them. For smaller donors, prepare a briefing document that can go out, explaining the changes. Another option is to organize a one-off presentation for all your donors. Be prepared to deal with conflict in an empathetic (understanding), but firm and assertive way. Lead by example. Strategic Planning Committee can play an important role here by encouraging staff to make the changes and showing leadership in the process. If the changes impact beneficiaries, you need to explain them to the beneficiaries up-front, and give them support to cushion any negative impacts. If the strategic planning process leads to a major reorientation of the work, or to a rationalization of the organization, then it may be necessary to make some staff members redundant. In addition to ensuring that you follow the labor legislation, you should also do everything you can to help redundant staff find alternative employment or get retraining. By involving all staff during the whole process, it will be more clear to them why changes are necessary and important. FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 69

70 Potential problem The need to raise additional funds The need for different/ additional expertise Possible solution It may well be that your strategic planning process means the need to expand what the organization is doing. This may involve you in fundraising, developing a financing strategy, rationalizing other areas of work, or negotiating with existing donors. Provided your expectations are reasonable, and you plan ahead of time, this problem should not be insurmountable. Remember, having a good track record will stand you in good stead in such instances. This may mean employing new people or training existing staff or volunteers. You need to decide which is most appropriate. Do not think that you can train existing staff or volunteers to do anything and everything. Sometimes specific expertise and experience is needed. However, where staff and volunteers are interested, every effort should be made to involve them in new areas of work. We hope this manual will help you as you prepare for your strategic planning process. Please note that the tools you find in the appendix may need to be changed and adapted to your organization s specific needs. Regardless of whether you decide to complete the strategic planning process with your internal stakeholders or hire an external consultant, this manual can be a useful guide for educating everyone involved about the process, making sure everyone uses the same language and is on the same page in order to put the process of strategic planning to good use in your organization. 70 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

71 APPENDIX FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 71

72 Appendix Phase I: Prepare Planning Conditions Questionnaire Identify Planning Process Issues and Expectations Plan the Planning Process Stakeholder Identification Form Strategic Planning Committee Membership Strategic Planning Work Plan Phase II: Assess Capacity Assessment Checklist and Performance Indicators All Staff Feedback Organizational History SWOT Checklist of Human Resource Indicators Departmental Assessment Director General Survey Board Self Evaluation Questionnaire Evaluate Current Programs External Stakeholder Questionnaire Legal and Financial Assessment Phase III: Envision Vision Template Mission Template Values Template Phase IV: Create Goals Template Objectives Template Core Strategies Template Summary of Goals and Objectives Phase V: Implement Annual Operating Plan Annual Plan Measurement Indicators Resource Request Phase VI: Evaluate Evaluate the Strategic Planning Process Monitor and Update the Strategic Plan For an electronic copy, please go to 72 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL

73 Bibliography 1 An Office for Victims of Crime Publication (OVC TTAC). Strategic Planning Toolkit., Bryson, John M. Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining Organizational Achievement, 3rd edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Bryson, John M. Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining Organizational Achievement, 3rd edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Collins, Jim. Good to Great and the Social Sector Monograph. Jim Collins, Collins, Jim. Good to Great and the Social Sector Monograph. Jim Collins, Mittenthal, Richard A. Ten Keys to Successful Strategic Planning for Nonprofit and Foundation Lead ers. TCC Group, Shapiro, Janet. Strategic Planning Toolkit. Civicus: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. 8 Allison, Michael and Jude Kaye. Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations: A Practical Guide and Workbook. John Wiley & Sons. Inc Allison, Michael and Jude Kaye. Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations: A Practical Guide and Workbook. John Wiley & Sons. Inc Allison, Michael and Jude Kaye. Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations: A Practical Guide and Workbook. John Wiley & Sons. Inc Strategic Planning,. Report by the Foundation for Community Association Research, Allison, Michael and Jude Kaye. Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations: A Practical Guide and Workbook. John Wiley & Sons. Inc Allison, Michael and Jude Kaye. Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations: A Practical Guide and Workbook. John Wiley & Sons. Inc U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1992, Multicultural Principles for Head Start Pro grams, Washington DC: Administration for Children and Families, Head Start Bureau. 15 An Office for Victims of Crime Publication (OVC TTAC). Strategic Planning Toolkit., Bryson, John M. and Farnum K. Alston. Creating and Implementing Your Strategic Plan, 2nd Edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Effective Capacity Building in Nonprofit Organizations. Prepared by McKinsey & Company. Venture Philanthropy Partners, August An Office for Victims of Crime Publication (OVC TTAC). Strategic Planning Toolkit., Arizona State Budget and Strategic Planning Advisory Committee, 1998, Managing for Results Strategic Planning and Performance Measurement Handbook, Office of Strategic Planning and Bud geting, 20 Office for Victims of Crime Publication (OVC TTAC). Strategic Planning Toolkit., Collins, Jim. Good to Great and the Social Sector Monograph. Jim Collins, An Office for Victims of Crime Publication (OVC TTAC). Strategic Planning Toolkit., An Office for Victims of Crime Publication (OVC TTAC). Strategic Planning Toolkit., Allison, Michael and Jude Kaye. Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations: A Practical Guide and Workbook. John Wiley & Sons. Inc An Office for Victims of Crime Publication (OVC TTAC). Strategic Planning Toolkit., Allison, Michael and Jude Kaye. Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations: A Practical Guide and Workbook. John Wiley & Sons. Inc Allison, Michael and Jude Kaye. Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations: A Practical Guide and Workbook. John Wiley & Sons. Inc Shapiro, Janet. Strategic Planning Toolkit. Civicus: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. FOR NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA 73

74 King Khalid Foundation (KKF) Tel.: Fax: [email protected] 74 KING KHALID FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL P.O. Box 22 Riyadh,