Over the past several months I have been participating in the mentoring program with my local chapter of AFP. The majority of the meetings with my mentee have focused on helping her articulate a case for support and building a philanthropic plan for the organization’s integrated strategic plan.

To extend the value of the work done with my mentee to others looking to improve their strategic planning skills, we will  spend the next several weeks breaking down the parts of a philanthropic plan. The philanthropic plan typically consists of five basic parts. These parts build on one another as your plan progresses to give your strategy clarity. The early sections give detail so that the latter sections can concentrate on providing a concise road-map of actionable items to achieve your development goals.

As with grammar, these parts are listed below to simply to provide structure and a general guideline, but rules are made to be broken (provided you understand the rules and the reason for them). These parts include:

• Organizational Context – mission, vision, history, values
• Philanthropic Environment – fundraising resource audit, SWOT analysis
• Philanthropic Goals – strategic, financial, timetable
• Philanthropic Strategy – cases for support (audience, case, and implementation)
• Benchmarks – staff performance metrics, strategic, financial

Next: Organizational Context

The ears of executive directors and fundraiser managers everywhere are burning. This article from onPhilanthropy.com is a must read for anybody that manages a development staff.

I have found that nonprofit leadership (when removed from frontlines fundraising) often times loses touch with the character qualities that define a productive fundraiser. These managers replace quality with quantity and have a deadfast focus on contacts and moves rather than the soft skill of making and maintaining sustainable donor relationships. Their focus tends to favor the here and now, meeting nearterm goals. This approach is to the detriment of a philanthropic culture that will outlast the tenure of current leadership.

I have yet to see a management system or measurement matrix that recognizes and rewards organizational pratices and policies that orientate the management structure as a donor-centered and mission-focused.