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Nonprofits Make an Impact with Strategic Thinking

All nonprofits exist to make an impact, and must do so by following through some good strategic thinking. That's what this post is about.

So, lots of my posts draw from thinking tools invented by business-oriented writers like Edward De Bono and Michael Michalko. You probably know about SWOT analysis and logic models, so I'll just leave those alone. A quick search would turn up some good resources on those subjects anyway.

If-Box Maps:

Planning a series of action steps to get from here to there is kind of basic to strategic thinking. The next step of your social marketing effort is to do X. If X works out, or if not, what is the next step. A tool created by Edward De Bono called the "if-box map" formalizes this systematic process of outlining steps. I can't create a decent map and put it here, but the logic should be clear enough:

A-1 Define an audience, goal, and potential advertising medium
If-1 If that audience is available, and not getting a related message already
A-2 Brainstorm a "sticky" message tailored to that audience and test it out.
If-2 If the test is successful, secure the services of a designer.
A-3 Deploy the advertisements and track the results.

In a real if-box map, you might want to spell out alternatives. Your intended audience gets bombarded with information on the dangers of smoking, as it happens. Then, you will turn to a second or third choice and craft a message for them.

Working Backwards:

This is a common goal-setting tool, that most people have likely never used at work. The concept here is so basic you can probably guess how it works just from that section heading. Yep, just decide where you want to be, what success would look like, and work backwards, from there. Remember to make sure that end point is SMART (Specific, Measurable, Action-Oriented, Realistic, Timely).

A social marketing campaign to stop teen smoking might start out with this goal: Cut the average number of teenagers who smoke by 50% (from the 2014 level) by 2019. So, write that down on the bottom of a sheet of paper. Take a step back from that 50% reduction in teen smoking. What step might have happened just before? What step would have led to that last action step? Keep working back to the beginning where you have just started and 19% of teens smoke.

This is a quick overview of two simple tools to aid strategic thinking and planning in the nonprofit world. Give one of the tools a try with your next planning challenge and see what happens.
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