1st Edition
Strategic FUEL for Nonprofits How to Create a Strategy That Is Focused, Understandable, Embedded, and Living
Most nonprofits approach strategic planning in ways that take too much time and effort, focus on the wrong issues, and set up the plan to be something that gathers dust on a shelf rather than being implemented. If you want a different approach, this is the book for you.
This book shows nonprofit leaders and organizations how to conduct strategic planning processes that deliver both a great strategy and an organization that can drive strategic change and continually refresh its strategy. It introduces a new framework—Strategic FUEL—and shows leaders how to map their organization’s strategic situation to a planning approach that addresses the most important opportunities and challenges, without wasting time and effort. It also shows the actions leaders can take during strategic planning to increase the odds of successful strategy implementation. The core content of this book was developed while working with nonprofit leaders on strategic planning, so it converts the best research and ideas to practice and step-by-step guidance.
This book will be a valuable resource for nonprofit CEOs and their teams, foundations looking to support their nonprofit grantees, and students in nonprofit management courses and programs. While the book is focused on the nonprofit world, the lessons are also applicable to any leader trying to drive strategy effectively.
Introduction. Chapter 1: The Elements of Strategic FUEL. Part One: Designing a Planning Process That Generates Strategic FUEL. Chapter Two: Determining What Strategic Planning Approach Your Organization Needs. Chapter Three: Creating the Conditions for Success. Chapter Four: Getting the Right People Involved in the Strategy Process. Part Two: Strategic FUEL Element 1. Focused: How to Build a Strategy That Enables Impact. Chapter Five: Prioritizing and Conducting Strategic Analysis. Chapter Six: Turning Analysis into a Focused Strategy. Part Three: Strategic FUEL Element 2. Understandable: How to Communicate the Strategy So People Get It. Chapter Seven: Communicating Throughout the Planning Process. Chapter Eight: A Strategic Plan Document that Communicates the Strategy Well. Part Four: Strategic FUEL Element 3. Embedded: How to Make Organizational Routines Strategic. Chapter Nine: The Connection Between Effective Routines, Learning, and Strategy. Chapter Ten: Designing Your Organization’s Strategy System. Part Five: Strategic FUEL Element 4. Living: How to Build a Culture That Enables Strategic. Chapter Eleven: What a Strategic Culture Looks Like. Chapter Twelve: Seven Approaches to Driving Strategic Change. Chapter Thirteen: Your Role in Leading Strategy. Chapter Fourteen: Final Thoughts. Appendix A. Appendix B. Appendix C.
Biography
Charles Moore is the CEO of Thrive Street Advisors and a trusted advisor and strategy consultant to nonprofit and for-profit leaders. He is an adjunct faculty member at the Georgetown Center for Public & Nonprofit Leadership and has served on the boards Father’s Uplift, EdFuel, SchoolTalk, and Monument Academy. Charles holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Harvard and an MBA and master’s degree in Education from Stanford.
Good strategy for uncertain environments, I’ve always suspected, should be more “search algorithm” than “itinerary.” In this book, Charles provides a compelling plan for organizing around that principle, full of hard-won wisdom on how to rally your team to make it happen.
Paul Niehaus, Ph.D., Founder, Give Directly
As much as we might want a strategy to be “done” and crossed off our to-do lists, it must constantly evolve to deliver value. This book offers an insightful framework for elevating your organization’s approach to strategy and keeping it relevant.
Clarence Wardell III, Ph.D., Senior Program Officer, Gates Foundation
