Strategic Planning
by September D. Holmblad, PP, PLS, NALS 2002-3 President

According to The Nonprofit Board's Role in Strategic Planning, by Katy Sprinkel Grace, there are five basic components which make up strategic plans:

• Vision: A vision describes the association and its potential impact in the future. It is guided by dreams. It is what the association hopes will happen if its dreams are achieved. A vision inspires and directs all aspects of the association. (The NALS Vision statement appears in NALS.org and in each issue of @Law.)

• Mission: A mission is made up of two elements: (1) why the association exists and (2) a brief summary of what the association does to meet that need. (The NALS Mission Statement appears in NALS.org and in each issue of @Law.)

• Goals: Goals summarize the principal program, development, administrative, or other major accomplishments the association hopes to achieve in order to realize its vision and fulfill its mission. Goals are general and can be short and long term, and should be evaluated annually.

• Objectives: Objectives support the goals and provide detail (strategies). In other words, who will do it and when will it be done. Objectives are specific, measurable, attainable, results-oriented, and time determined.

• Action Steps (we call them action plans): Action steps outline the activities necessary to accomplish the goals. They should be determined by anyone who is responsible for the successful completion of a particular task (the board, committee chairmen, members).

The NALS Strategic Planning Committee and NALS committees are constantly evaluating the action plans, comparing old action plans with NALS' committee's operational plans, and adding new programs.

If you are interested in developing a strategic plan for your chapter or state association, do not reinvent wheels. Start with the NALS Vision and Mission and Goals and Strategies (which are published in NALS.org) and begin developing your own action plans on how to achieve the NALS' vision, mission, and goals within your own association. Look at your committee's current operational plan and determine what needs to be updated and discarded and what new programs can be developed at the local and state level to achieve the NALS vision…your association's vision!