Helping
organizations
achieve their missions!
Strategic Planning
Organizations need different kinds of strategic planning at different points in their development. So whether your goal is to identify one or two strategic priorities, develop a detailed work plan for the next year or some combination of the two, Peggy can help you design a strategic planning process that makes sense for you.
"Peggy is my top referral when a nonprofit needs help with their strategic planning. Her approach is accessible and pragmatic - she is a coach, a task master, and an educator. And it works!"
- Funder, New Hampshire"The three year strategic plan we developed in 2001 is dog-eared from use as a helpful reference, and continues to serve as our reference point for both daily and longer term work decisions."
- Katherine Hartnett, Senior Project Director,
NH Minimum Impact Development, The Jordan Institute
Will we get beyond the talking stage? Absolutely. Many people have experienced the frustration of participating in planning sessions that lead to nowhere - either no decisions get made or the decisions never get translated into action. In contrast, Peggy will help you design a strategic planning process that results in clear decisions and a well-defined implementation plan. For many groups this includes a detailed action plan and timeline that they can use as a "roadmap" to guide their work.
How long will this take? Because each organization has different needs, there is no one answer to this question. How long the process takes depends on what you want to get out of it, the time, energy and money you have to devote to the process and the amount of staff and board time you have available to lay the groundwork for and follow-through on the plan.
In some cases, strategic planning involves one or two planning meetings followed by a half-day workshop and a simple write-up of the workshop decisions. In other cases, the process can involve extensive work with committees before and after a full-group workshop, the creation of a detailed implementation plan, and one or more "check-in" sessions during the first year of implementation.
How much will it cost? Because the process is tailored to the needs of each organization and does not take a "canned" approach to strategic planning the costs vary widely with most projects running between a thousand and seven thousand dollars.
Do you do team building?.... Will this be fun?/Do we have to play games? Peggy doesn't specialize in team building as the sole goal of the project. However, Peggy's workshops are very interactive and are structured in a way that participants get to know one another. Participants report that the days are fun and productive; that they are high energy and develop the group's cohesiveness without creating an "encounter group" atmosphere.
Why do we need a facilitator - can't we just do this ourselves? Yes, you could do it yourself. Hiring a facilitator, however has four distinct advantages:
1. It allows everyone to fully participate in the process without having to worry about running the session.
2. A neutral facilitator can help the group navigate conflicts and find common ground - something that is difficult for a group member who has a "stake" in the outcome to do.
3. It is often easier for a skilled "outsider" to "corral" a group - keep them on-task and synthesize complex discussions. Part of the expertise Peggy brings is the ability to structure discussions in a way that leads to productive results.
4. It takes a lot of time to plan a workshop, write up the results of the workshop, and draft follow-up documents. For many organizations, it makes more sense to contract for this work than to add it to the workload of an already overburdened Executive Director or Board Chair.What makes you different from other strategic planning consultants? While there are many skilled facilitators in the world, Peggy brings three strengths that are fairly unique:
1. She is a professional social worker who understands the complex needs and strengths of the individuals and families that nonprofits serve. She has a strong commitment to the ethics of the social work profession. She already "gets" and values what nonprofits do.2. Peggy's work with classroom teachers, principals, and district-wide administrators has allowed her to see and understand the daunting challenges and remarkable opportunities that our schools face in today's world. As a result she is familiar with the issues and vocabulary of schools on such things as curriculum alignment; performance-based assessment; and job embedded professional development.
3. Peggy is available to work with organizations before and after the strategic planning workshop itself. The pre-workshop work means that unlike "canned" workshops, your workshop will be one that addresses the specific issues that matter the most to you. The post-workshop work enables you to capitalize on the work completed at the workshop by clearly defining what has to happen next in order to implement the decisions reached at the workshop.
Center for Wildlife, Cape Nedick, ME
Community Child Care Center, Portsmouth, NH
Community Wellness Coalition, York, ME
Dover Adult Learning Center, Dover, NH
Dover Housing Authority, Dover, NH
Families First of the Greater Seacoast, Portsmouth, NH
Family Tree, Portsmouth, NH
Foundation For Seacoast Health, Portsmouth, NH
Great Bay Figure Skating, Dover, NH
HUB Family Resource Center, Dover, NH
Invest In Kids, Concord, NH
Jordan Institute, Concord, NH
Little People's Center, Lee, NH
Main Street Project, Dover, NH
Minimum Impact Development Project, Concord, NH
New Hampshire Celebrates Wellness, Concord, NH
New Hampshire Child Care Association, Concord, NH
Noble High School Health Center, Berwick, ME
Partnership for Effective Nonprofits, Portsmouth, NH
Ready To Learn Task Force, Dover, NH
Seacoast Mental Health Center-New Heights, Portsmouth, NH
Seacoast Repertory Theatre, Portsmouth, NH
State Of New Hampshire Department Of Education Even Start Programs, Pittsfield, Concord, Nashua, and Dover, NH
State of New Hampshire Division of Children and Family Services, Concord, NH
Suicide Prevention Partnership, Portsmouth, NH
Tidewater School, Eliot, ME
Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, Dover, NH
Women's Fund of NH, Concord, NH
Women's Policy Institute of NH, Concord, NH
Woodman Park School, Dover, NH - Woodman Park Success 2000, School Improvement and Math Improvement Project