Chisel: Strategy for Nonprofits

How do you know when it is time to start strategic planning for your organization? Here are 10 diagnostic questions to ask yourself. 1. Are you satisfied with your current mission, vision, values, and value proposition statements? 2. Are you sensing that the organization is losing focus or clarity of purpose? Are your teams saying yes too often because they don’t know when to say no? 3. Do you have a good sense of your operating space, your competitors, or what is generally going on among organizations similar to yours? 4. Have you been keeping track of your organization’s success against your stated goals? Do all your teams have access to this information? Are you happy with this success? 5. Is your current strategy more than three years old? 6. Do you have an operating plan that identifies specific tasks with specific deadlines and people accountable for delivering these projects? 7. Does your strategy and operating plan determine your budget every year? 8. Is your board aware of the plans of staff and their progress towards the aims of the organization? 9. Do you wish you had more time for innovation and value creation? 10. Can anyone associated with your organization describe your purpose in a sentence? #strategicplanning #clarity #valuepropositions

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We're happy to announce that Christian Ferraro has joined Chisel Consulting as a Lead Consultant. Christian is an encouraging leader and natural strategist. He brings experience in international development operations, marketing, financial modelling, and law, and has led strategic planning for Canadian and U.S. charities. Christian holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business with a specialization in social sector management and a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School. He is also a Certified Community Mediator and is working towards a Certified Professional Impact Analyst designation via Queens University. In his spare time, Christian enjoys adventures with his wife and two children or pursuing creative projects! Christian shared some of his motivation with us. "Nonprofits face many challenges, but they also house incredible teams - I've been privileged to work with some of the most intelligent, loving, faithful, and hard-working people I know through these life-giving organizations. In this work, I especially love seeing teams energized by the clarity that strategy can bring - sometimes, that means asking big questions and shining light on difficult issues, but in my experience, the lightness, peace, and momentum that come with organizational focus are always worth it. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to serve others through my work with Chisel."

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