Welcome to 2024: Setting Your Nonprofit Up for Success

Hi, and welcome to 2024! As we step into a new year, it's the perfect time for your nonprofit to lay the groundwork for a productive, impactful, and successful year ahead. The start of the year offers a fresh opportunity to reassess, realign, and reinvigorate your strategies and operations. Here's how you can start the year off strong by creating efficient calendars, implementing time-saving tools and technology, scheduling structured professional development, and aligning everything with your strategic plan and goals.

Reflect and Plan

Begin with a comprehensive review of your high-level strategic plan and key goals for the year. This is the cornerstone of your nonprofit's direction and success. If you don't have a strategic plan or haven't yet discussed the challenges or adjustments needed for the new year, now is the time to schedule a session to do so (you can schedule a 1-hour session with me in my “Services” section). During this meeting, identify areas for growth, potential challenges, and key objectives for your fundraising and operational efforts.

Efficient Calendars and Time-Saving Tools

An efficient calendar is your roadmap through the year, helping you to navigate through your strategic plan with precision and intention. Utilize digital tools and software that offer shared calendars, task management, and project tracking to keep everyone in sync. Tools like Google Workspace, Slack, or Trello can help streamline workflows and enhance collaboration. I also love using Calendly to schedule calendar appointments without having to go back and forth and waste time securing availability through email.

Incorporate key dates, milestones, and deadlines into your calendar early on. This includes grant deadlines, fundraising events, board meetings, and reporting periods. By doing so, you provide a clear visual of what lies ahead, allowing for better preparation and resource allocation.

Professional Development: A Structured Approach

Investing in your team's growth is investing in your nonprofit's future. Schedule a year's worth of professional development for your staff, making it structured and consistent. Consider implementing a "set it and forget it" approach where each employee chooses a certain number of training hours per month. This empowers your team to take charge of their growth while ensuring it aligns with your nonprofit's goals. You can provide a list of free tools or choose to have a mix of paid/free opportunities throughout the year. Make sure to build in time to discuss the benefits of professional development - or better yet - have your employees do a “round-robin” share with one another!

 Leverage a mix of in-house training, online courses, workshops, and conferences to cover a broad spectrum of skills and knowledge. Platforms like LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, Udemy, Nonprofit Learning Lab, Taproot and Catchafire have nonprofit training resources that can offer valuable content tailored to your needs.

Align Meetings and Activities with Strategic Goals

Intentionally schedule your meetings and activities to ensure they drive every aspect of your organization towards meeting its strategic goals. This means prioritizing activities that directly contribute to your objectives and being mindful of time spent on tasks that don't align with your core mission.

Regular check-ins and progress reviews can help keep your team focused and accountable. Use these meetings to celebrate achievements, address challenges, and adjust strategies as needed to stay on track.

Addressing Last Year's Challenges

Compile a list of areas your nonprofit wished to improve upon from the previous year. This could include fundraising strategies, donor engagement, volunteer retention, or operational efficiencies. Use these insights to inform your planning and ensure that you're not only setting goals but also addressing past obstacles.