I was once brought in to a nonprofit to turn around a failing program. This program accounted for a third of the nonprofit’s budget and it was falling short of its performance goals by 80%.
A deep dive into its funding application and performance status laid bare an enormous gap between what the nonprofit had promised to its funders and what the nonprofit was positioned to deliver. There was no program plan in place and staff were in a broken cycle of trying new 'fix-it' approaches without a road map for where they were going and how they were going to get there.
While not all nonprofit programs fail, I wish I could say, the ‘fund-it-first’ approach was unique to this nonprofit, but in my years of experience in the nonprofit space, this is the norm rather than the exception. The nonprofit mantra can often be: write the grant now, figure out the program later. This leads us in the nonprofit space to the common experience of 'flying the plane as we build it.'
What if we stopped doing that?
What if we spent as much time, resources, and energy in meticulously planning our programs as we invest in crafting the grant proposal that gets us there?
Program planning is paramount to the success and effectiveness of any nonprofit initiative. Yet, nonprofits too often move from 'get the funding' to 'do the work' without taking the necessary steps to figure out the best, most cost-effective, and efficient ways to do so.
This is where program planning fits in.
A robust program plan yields numerous benefits to an organization. The following list highlights just a few of them:
1. Focuses on goal achievement
The first question asked in program planning is – 'What do we want to accomplish?' By starting with the end goals, a program planner can map out the tasks, activities, and objectives that will lead to achieving those goals. If activities and tasks are not assigned to a clear goal, the program planner can more easily identify and eliminate those unneeded items.
2. Allows for flexibility
Program structure will often change between program design and program implementation. This is due to the feasibility of staff bandwidth, client demand, and/or staff skill set. A strong program plan offers key scaffolding to maintain the basic structure of a program while allowing components of a program to be adjusted without sacrificing goal achievement.
3. Maximizes your resources
Through a program plan, a program manager is able identify where program finances and manpower are best spent. If certain goals require more tasks and activities than others, then it is easy to identify, before program execution, where your energy and funding should be focused.
4. Creates a data collection plan
A good program plan establishes key markers that must be hit in order for success to be achieved. It ensures data is collected consistently and sets scheduled check-ins to assess metric progress, which can help in early detection when a program is off-track.
5. Identifies sustainability
Finally, a good program plan will provide forward-thinking avenues for ongoing sustainability. Grants come and go. Your organization will want to work with a program planner to anticipate how your program will continue if current grant funding were to expire, or if one of your funding streams is potentially lost.
So as you find yourself thinking about how your organization will implement a program that just got funded, make sure to ask yourself the following question:
· Do we have a plan?
If you can't answer definitively 'yes' to this question, then reset. Spend as much time and energy in your program plan as you do in your grant making.
I am certainly not saying that money is not important, but it can't be MORE important than effective planning.
If you are doing all the work to find the money, then you should make sure you have a way to keep it!
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