Articles & White Papers

06/16/2003
The Planning Nautilus

The Nautilus Analogy to Organizational Life

The nautilus is a marine animal that lives in a chambered spiral shell. In a typical life cycle, a nautilus builds a shell of approximately thirty chambers, each progressively larger to meet the needs of a growing organism. While the nautilus, at any given time, lives only in the outermost chamber, a living cord called the siphuncle extends through all the chambers, connecting the nautilus at all times to its beginning place at the center of its shell.

The life of a healthy nonprofit organization can be visualized in the form of the nautilus. Initially the organization begins when concerned people gather to pursue a specific purpose and meet specific human needs. The mission of the organization is established. But the mission is useless without the living organism — the body that will express the mission — and a good plan, the structure and base of operation for the organism. The plan might be thought of as the shell used by an organization to provide necessary structure for the living expression of mission.

As the organization grows, it outgrows one plan and must create another — built on the foundation of the previous plan and spiraling out from the mission, which remains always at the center. The history remains as a lasting foundation and the basic root is unchanged, but a new chamber is needed to meet current needs and facilitate current expression of mission.


The Planning Nautilus

Healthy organizational advancement depends on an effective cycle of planning, implementation and evaluation. This cycle can also be visualized in the form of the nautilus as a spiral or cycle of activity expanding continually outward from the center of mission. The root is unchanged and the process repeats itself with each cycle. But the result of each turn is a new, although recognizable, embodiment of organizational mission.

Visualize the steps of the advancement planning cycle as the chambers building outward from the center of the nautilus shell. The chambers in a single planning cycle include:
- Review and reaffirmation of mission
- Assessment of current internal and external environments
- Creation of a fresh vision based on mission and the current environment
- Formulation of an operating plan
- Acquisition of resources
- Implementation of the plan
- Assessment of outcomes


Review of Mission

Mission is the reason for existence of the organization. A strong mission statement identifies organizational purpose, population to be served, needs to be met, and basic program to meet these needs.

Every action of an effective organization is a relevant living expression of mission. It makes sense, then, that good planning begins with a fresh look at the mission statement. Adequate time should be taken to reflect on each aspect of the statement in order to understand anew the foundational importance of this language. Occasionally this review will result in fine-tuning of the statement to reflect current language and conditions. It is rare, however, that the basic spirit is altered.

This stage of planning is contemplative. It allows for action of the Spirit to bring fresh meaning and realization of mission for the current situation.


Environmental Assessment

With renewed connection to mission, we are prepared to expand our reflection to the current environment. The assessment phase of planning involves a look at the internal and external environments in which our mission is expressed. In every step this work should be non-judgmental. It is simply a gathering of relevant information needed for fresh organizational visioning.

Internal assessment involves taking stock of how our organization measures up in relation to mission. What assets and resources do we have for expression of mission? What internal factors define and limit the scope of our pursuit? What internal barriers hamper our effectiveness or draw off energy that could be used in pursuit of mission?

External assessment involves taking a snapshot of the current environment for the expression of mission. Who are our current and potential clients? What are the defining characteristics and needs of these clients in relation to our acknowledged mission? How have their needs changed since the last planning cycle? How will they change again before the next cycle?

For nonprofits, this external assessment must also apply to supporting constituencies. What has changed for our donors and volunteers? What messages do they need regarding our mission and services? How do they want these messages to be packaged and delivered? What response mechanisms and opportunities do they need and expect?

This phase involves gathering and processing of both quantitative and qualitative data. In many cases existing studies may be used. In other cases, new research will need to be undertaken.

After all information is gathered, it should be summarized, with integrity, into a form relevant and accessible to those who will use the information to create vision and formulate a plan.


Strategic Visioning

Strategic visioning is the creative phase of planning. Vision should surface in the context of community. Community, in the case of a nonprofit organization, should be defined as all internal and external stakeholders of the organization. A typical list of stakeholders might include:
- Direct service providers
- Governing board
- Administrative and support staff
- Current and potential clients for service
- Community representatives
- Donors and volunteers
- Organizations providing complementary services
- Indirect beneficiaries of services provided

When stakeholders are many and scattered, it may be most practical to do initial visioning with a relatively small group and then test the emerging vision in a planned series of remote gatherings.

Vision is the product of a creative group process involving interaction of mission with information gathered in the environmental assessment. Vision is an answer to questions like:
- Whom should we serve?
- How should we serve them?
- What assets can we build on?
- What irrelevant practices or habits might we discard?
- What new methods and resources are needed?
- Where can those resources be found?

Vision should be expressed as a set of strategic goals. Goals should be concrete and quantifiable. Ultimately these goals should be adopted by a governing board and serve as guideposts to staff in development of an operating plan.


Formulation of Plan

Plan formulation is typically an administrative function. Once visioning is complete and goals are established, staff begins the process of turning goals into concrete plans for programs and services. A comprehensive plan should be developed with reasonable timelines and realistic pro-forma operating and capital budgets. These budgets should account for all changes in revenue, expense and investment that will result from implementation of the plan. A completed plan should be presented to the board for review and adoption.


Resource Acquisition

Resource acquisition will typically be a combination of new or increased revenue streams from changes in program and gathering of charitable resources necessary for plan implementation. Because revisioning often results in major changes for the organization, resource acquisition will generally include a major fund raising effort. Depending on the needs identified by the vision and the plan, the focus will be on operating funds, capital funds, endowment funds or, most likely, some combination of the three. A campaign feasibility study will generally be conducted to test whether campaign goals are in sync with the interests and charitable capacity of the constituency.


Plan Implementation

Implementation of the new operating plan will often begin simultaneously with the launch of the funding campaign. Care must be taken, however, that implementation does not outpace the capacity for short-term financing and progress of the funding campaign. Moving too fast can put the organization at unreasonable financial risk. In addition, moving too fast can give donors the impression that campaign funds may not be needed, breaking the vital momentum required for campaign success.


Outcomes Assessment

A good operating plan will have performance measures built in from the very beginning. Desired outcomes should be defined as a part of the plan and methods established for tracking progress toward outcomes. At the end of established timeframes, data collected in the performance measures should be analyzed and compared to the anticipated and desired results. When substantially all aspects of a new plan are completed and assessed, the organization will once again want to turn its attention toward a new cycle of planning. The outcomes assessment at this point becomes a useful tool in the environmental assessment phase of a new planning cycle.


Building the Cycle of Service

Effective planning for a healthy nonprofit organization is an ongoing cycle of mission centered activities. Careful attention to each step of the cycle will yield productive results in the pursuit of mission. The steps, while individual, are related in a vital way. Vision must grow directly out of the union of mission and environment in order to be relevant to current and anticipated needs of clients. Program plans rooted in vision are dynamic expressions of mission rather than mundane repetitions of perfunctory tasks. Fund raising to support a compelling vision and a realistic plan is an exciting opportunity for donors, rather than an annoying drain on time and resources. And mission is the vital center, the source of energy that ties all of this activity together for the benefit of those served by the organization. The end result is effective service, rewarding to staff and deeply satisfying to donors and volunteers.