Focus of Guidebook

When members of nonprofit organizations struggle with their strategic planning process or their plan ends up not being useful at all, it is rarely because their planning process did not include state-of-the-art techniques in facilitation or the latest models in strategic planning. Rather, it is because their process 1) did not completely suit the nature and needs of the nonprofit and 2) did not thoroughly address all of the most critical, "core" aspects of strategic planning.
Guidelines in this guidebook are focused on customizing and implementing an organization- or program-wide, strategic planning process for a nonprofit organization. Guidelines will show you, step-by-step, how to conduct a very complete, simplified (not simplistic!) strategic planning process that is very realistic, flexible and suited to the nature of the typical nonprofit organization. Guidelines are useful to cultures that prefer highly rational approaches to planning or more naturalistic and unfolding (organic) approaches.
One of the best ways to ensure that the strategic planning process is highly effective is to ensure that facilitation of the process is highly effective as well. Therefore, this guidebook also provides complete, step-by-step techniques and tools for facilitating every aspect of nonprofit strategic planning -- one of the few strategic planning books, if any, to include that information for facilitators.
The book is organized so that the reader can use it to conduct a complete strategic planning process, or it can be used as a reference manual to address certain phases of planning when needed.