A new fiscal year for many Canadian nonprofits and charities is on the horizon – a time to wrap up, reassess, and reset. Strategic planning can play a critical role in guiding your organization at this pivotal time. To make your strategic plan as successful as possible, it will need to be supported by a meaningful engagement process. Here, we’ll explore the why, who, and how of engagement to access the collective wisdom of your staff, board, and community.

Why does engagement matter?

Engagement is the foundation of a strategic planning process. Taking a broad and inclusive approach to engagement will reflect the diverse perspectives of your organization’s ecosystem. When people are effectively and respectfully engaged in the process, they will be more invested in the outcomes, ensuring a collective commitment to your final strategic plan.

Who should be engaged?

Establishing a strategic planning committee is a helpful first engagement exercise. Typically made up of a mix of board members and staff, this committee steers the process, often in collaboration with an external consultant. The members of this committee act as conduits to different levels of the organization, highlighting diverse perspectives and identifying engagement opportunities. Providing the committee with adequate time and resources is essential for effective management of the process.

Once the committee is in place, an important early exercise is identifying who else should be engaged in strategic planning and how. An engagement plan defines these key groups and how they will participate in the process. A tool like the International Association for Public Participation’s (IAP2) Spectrum of Public Participation can be used as a guide to identify who contributes insights and who will be involved in making decisions about your strategic plan.

Below are some common groups for nonprofits and charities to engage in strategic planning:

• Board members: Whether you have a hands-on working board or an oversight-focused governance board, board members can provide high-level insight about your organization’s health and its role in your community or sectoral landscape.
• Leadership staff: Leadership staff have the critical role of bridging strategic and practical thinking in your organization. They will be important drivers of the programs, policies and activities that will progress your strategic plan and promote shared ownership.
• Frontline staff: Your frontline staff understand the day-to-day challenges and opportunities of your organization better than anyone. As the face of your organization, their perspectives are crucial to the development of a cohesive strategic plan that resonates with their needs and realities, as well as those of your community.
• Community members: For organizations accountable to or serving a particular community, engaging community members in the strategic planning process is imperative. This ensures that the plan aligns with your community’s needs and aspirations, fostering relationship-building and a sense of connection.
• Peer organizations: Your organization may be one of many serving a community to meet related or interconnected needs. Engaging your peers can give your organization a sense of its position in your community and deepen your understanding of its unique value.

How should we engage them?

Engagement should be meaningful, accessible, and safe for participants. This means grounding in trust, providing options, addressing barriers, and when appropriate, ensuring confidentiality. Given the potential for tough issues to surface during strategic planning, your organization must be prepared to navigate these discussions. Employing a third-party facilitator can provide a trusted buffer, fostering open dialogue and honest input. For those participating outside of their job descriptions, acknowledging their time and effort with appropriate compensation goes a long way in demonstrating respect for their contributions.

Develop your engagement plan to cater to the diverse needs of each group. We recommend a mix of methods, which could include 1:1 semi-structured interviews, focus groups, town halls, interactive posters and surveys. These methods can be tailored to ensure that participants can contribute in a manner that meets their needs, preferences and schedules.

What should we ask?

What you are trying to learn from each group should inform what you ask. To get a robust picture of perspectives from across your organization, we recommend developing a common set of questions supplemented by some group-specific ones. For example, you might ask all of your staff and board members the following questions to inform a SWOT analysis:

• What are our strengths? What are we great at?
• What are our weaknesses? Where are we falling short?
• What are some opportunities you see that could build our impact?
• What threats do we need to be aware of as we plan for the future?

You might add a question for board members focused on the perception of the organization in your broader field, a question for leadership on skills, and capacity and a question for frontline staff on important insights from community members.

What’s next?

After gathering input, it’s essential to dedicate time to sit with the information you’ve collected. Synthesizing what contributors have shared into an engagement summary that highlights key themes like your SWOT analysis and community priorities is a good place to start. A session focused on making meaning of the engagement summary before any strategic planning sessions take place provides an opportunity for participants to synthesize, validate, and reflect on what has been shared. This collaborative process holds up a mirror for ongoing reflection and lays the groundwork for a plan that resonates with the collective vision and aspirations of the organization.

Engagement is not just a preliminary step in the strategic planning process – it is the heartbeat that sustains the plan throughout its life. By involving a diverse range of contributors and employing thoughtful engagement strategies, organizations can craft strategic plans that are not only effective on paper but resonate deeply with those responsible for their implementation. In the Canadian social purpose sector, meaningful engagement is not just a best practice – it is a cornerstone for building a resilient and impactful future.

Roots & Rivers Consulting works alongside social purpose organizations, specializing in strategic planning, evaluation and facilitation. We meet our clients at important moments, joining their teams to manage transitions, unearth insights and make ambitious plans. Connect with us at rootsandrivers.ca.