Nonprofit Project Planning Techniques

🧠 Logic models might seem academic—but they’re really about one thing: serving people well. If you work in a nonprofit or local agency, you probably don’t have much time to slow down. The need is urgent. The workload is real. And taking time to build a logic model can feel like one more thing on an already packed list ✅ A logic model isn’t red tape—it’s your blueprint for doing the work well, without wasting time, trust, or resources. 🚫 BEFORE (no logic model): “We’re going to run financial literacy workshops for youth in transitional housing.” Sounds good. But what does that actually mean? Who’s running them? How often? Will youth show up? What happens after the workshop? How do we know it worked? Too often organizations receive funding then scramble to figure the program out after the fact. ✅ AFTER (logic model clarified): “We offer trauma-informed financial coaching for youth in transitional housing—through weekly group workshops and 1:1 follow-up. Youth get transportation support, meals, and real-world tools to build savings, avoid predatory lending, and access banking. We track confidence levels, savings rates, and stability six months after program completion.” Same mission. But now it’s a real program—grounded in logistics, accountability, and human needs. Here’s the logic model framework that helps you get from “vague idea” to “impactful plan”: 🔧 INPUTS – What are you working with? Do you have trained, trauma-informed facilitators? A safe space to meet? Bus passes, food, or translation? Are youth involved in design? 📚 ACTIVITIES – What exactly will happen? Are the workshops weekly? Are they interactive or lecture-based? Is there any follow-up? Will youth leave with tools they can use the next day? 📈 OUTPUTS – What will you count? Number of sessions. Number of youth served. Number who return for more than one session. These are the basic metrics of reach. 🔄 OUTCOMES – What will change in people’s lives? More confidence with money. Fewer overdrafts. More consistent savings. Knowledge that’s used, not just heard. 🌍 IMPACT – What long-term difference are you aiming for? Are youth more stable financially in 6–12 months? Less likely to cycle through housing insecurity? Do they feel in control of their futures? 👇 A lot of orgs don’t plan—because they’re under-resourced, moving fast, and trying to meet real needs. But skipping the planning stage can cost more in the long run. #SocialImpact #NonprofitLeadership #HumanCenteredDesign #ProgramPlanning #GovernmentInnovation #Evaluation #WatkinsPublicAffairs

Something I've noticed as a consultant: nonprofits rarely stick to their own project timelines. This has nothing to do with the competence or dedication of nonprofit staff or volunteers - the people I work with are amazing. This is a widespread trend that points to some systemic issues in the sector. Here's what I see driving this trend: ‼️ Culture of urgency - In many nonprofits, everything is urgent, all the time. Some of that is real, some of it isn’t. 💵 Funder deadlines - So many grant-funded projects get rushed through to accommodate the external, often arbitrary timeline of funders. 💬 Decision-making bottlenecks - Getting boards or committees involved in project management slows things down, sometimes without a lot of upside. 😫 Overburdened staff - Too many nonprofit staffers are simply overworked, dealing with unrealistic expectations, and juggling too many priorities. When an organization takes on a project without the internal capacity to support it in a meaningful way, you risk missing out on the full value of the investment. As a consultant, I can do a lot to support a client with a flexible and responsive approach to project management, but ultimately, the organization needs to have the time and space to engage meaningfully in the work. So if you’re planning a project in your organization (especially one that requires external support) here’s some helpful advice: 🗓️ Re-think your timelines - Build some breathing room into your project timeline. I recommend a 30% buffer. Allocate more time to the milestones that matter the most, or the points in the project where more people are involved. ✅ Do some capacity planning - Look at your workflow for the year, and line it up with your staff roles. Be realistic about how much work people can take on, and try not to allocate more than 85% of a staff role to planned work. 🫵 Delegate decision-making - If you are delegating a project to a staff person, give them as much discretion over the project as possible. When the project is ‘urgent’, this is even more important. 📞 Negotiate with funders - If your project is funded by a grant, talk to your funder about flexibility on the reporting or end date. Many funders are quite flexible with this! 📊 Consider the full value of the work - What would make this project a worthwhile investment? What would signal a 'missed opportunity' in this work? Think about how to align your timeline with the full value of the work, rather than simply churning out the min specs deliverable. Ultimately, a realistic approach to project management will lead to a better outcome for your organization. And if your org doesn’t have the capacity to manage a project in a given timeline, it’s ok to pass, postpone or shift priorities. Does any of this sound familiar? What other advice would you add?

Summer is the start of strategic planning season for many nonprofits, but too often, that planning process is anything but strategic. Here are 5 important things to get right so your next planning process is strategic, effective, and meaningful. 1 >> Plan for Less Many strategic plans read like an extensive wish-list rather than a succinct perspective on the organization's most important priorities, investments, and intentions. This translates into organizations planning to use 100% (or more) of their staff and resource capacity, ignoring important realities - like ongoing high turnover rates, onboarding timelines, and the fact that other important things will come up. Plan for less capacity - let's say 65-80% - and leave room to adapt to what comes next. 2 >> Make Tradeoffs Good strategy involves making clear, consistent choices about what you will and won't do to reach your goals. That means making tradeoffs. When you try to do everything at once, it's hard to know which parts actually worked - and it reduces understanding of how to create meaningful impact for the folks you serve. 3 >> Align Your Plan and Budget Your strategy needs to inform your budget, full stop. If your budgeting process is run separately from your strategy development process, then your budget will win out every time and your strategic plan will become yet another expensive bookend. 4 >> Make it Make Sense Your strategic plan is not a "one-size-fits-all audiences" document. Your staff, community, volunteers, donors, and other stakeholders all need to understand your strategy, but trying to make a single planning document speak to everybody reduces clarity and engagement. Instead, create a cohesive strategic narrative that can be adapted to different audiences and enhanced with the right kinds of data, marketing materials, operating details, and communications approaches for each audience. 5 >> Spend Time to Explore & Determine What You Really Need Often, nonprofit executives come to LaFemina & Co. seeking one thing (e.g., a strategic plan) when they actually need something else. Many other consultants we know have the same experience. Before you jump into a new strategic planning process, spend time having conversations with experts and consultants you trust about what's most needed right now at your organization. You may be surprised by solutions that are a better investment for your current needs. This list is far from comprehensive, but it represents some often-missed essentials for creating effective strategy. Have you seen these items impact strategy development in your work? Share your experiences in the comments. #nonprofit #strategy #leadership #management #ChangeLeadership --- I'm Veronica - I advise CEOs and Department Heads at established nonprofit on creating strategic clarity and learning to lead change well. On LinkedIn, I write about practical approaches to improving the ways we think, plan, and work.

If you’re leading a nonprofit, you likely don’t have a shortage of ideas. You have a shortage of capacity to do them all well. Here's your fix. David La Piana's 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻. One of the most useful tools I've come across. You don’t wait until you’re drowning in choices. Or another "great idea" gets shared at your board meeting. You 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 the ideas show up. So you can effectively evaluate them quickly. Here’s how La Piana lays it out: Any potential strategy must: ✔ Directly support your 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻’𝘀 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 ✔ Leverage your existing 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 And it may also need to: ✔ Meet 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮 (e.g., pay for itself or fit your budget) ✔ Uphold 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 (no cutting corners to say yes) ✔ Fit your 𝗴𝗲𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗽𝗲 ✔ Strengthen your 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 in your space You create screening questions specific to your work. Always keep the first two. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗟𝗮 𝗣𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗮'𝘀 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘃𝗲: Let’s say a funder offers your organization a grant to expand your early childhood program into an adjoining county. Sounds great, right? But you run it through your Strategy Screen: – Mission-aligned? ✔ – Uses your competitive advantages? ✖ You’d be entering a region where you lack relationships and infrastructure. – Financially sustainable? ✖ The grant covers a period of two years, but no plans are in place beyond that. – Quality? ✖ Your current staff is stretched, and expansion risks diluting what you already do well. – Strengthens leadership position? ✖ High risk of diluting current work means reputation damage. Despite the appeal, the screen helps you say “𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄." 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗱 𝗴𝘂𝘆, 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀. And also points to where you want to build new resources. If in this case you had several ✔s. That’s the power of a Strategy Screen. It doesn’t eliminate hard decisions. It gives you a clear way to make them. And as a nonprofit leader, good ideas are everywhere. And often get handed to you. But your resources aren't unlimited. The Strategy Screen helps you filter, fast. So you don’t waste energy chasing what doesn’t fit.