A National Resource to Support Excellence in Community Action

Strategic Planning Tools and Examples of CAA Strategic Plans

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Last Revised: February 1, 2019 - Initial Posting: Sep 25, 2005
Purpose

Strengthening an agency’s strategic planning capacity is a key element of ROMA National Goal #5: Agencies Increase Their Capacity to Achieve Results.

Description

Please LET US KNOW if you have suggested STRATEGIC PLANNING items that might be added.
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CSBG Organizational Standards

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Technical Assistance Guide: Category 6 Strategic Planning – Community Action Partnership...webinar recording and webinar slides

A Comprehensive Guide to Community Action Strategic Planning (March 2016) - California Community Action Partnership Association and Community Action Partnerships

Examples of  CAA Strategic Plans

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CAA Strategic Plans incorporating the ROMA framework
ROMA-Based Strategic Plan: Charting and Navigating a Course toward Excellence (CAA Success Story)
Featured on the CSBG Training and Technical Assistance Resource Center (simple, no-cost registration may be required)

Additional examples of CAA Strategic Plans

More Strategic Planning Resources

Improving Performance, Scoring Success: Using Balanced Scorecards for Organizational Excellence - Community Action Partnership and Balanced Scorecard Institute
Improving Performance, Scoring Success: Using Balanced Scorecards for Organizational Excellence is a toolkit based on the Institute's rigorous Nine Steps to Success™ balanced scorecard framework that combines strategic planning, change management, program and service prioritization, performance measurement and target setting.  The Toolkit follows the five stages of the ROMA cycle: Assessment, Planning, Implementation, Achievement of Results, and Evaluation.

The toolkit is designed to help CAAs not only perform strategic planning, but organize measures and reporting in a way that maps to the six ROMA goals, helps meet National Performance Indicator reporting requirements, and supports participation in the Pathways to Excellence program. The goal is to help Agencies improve their efficiency and effectiveness, and become more strategy focused and aligned.

The Strategic Planning Toolkit - Illinois Association of Community Action Agencies
The The Strategic Planning Toolkit provides a simple framework and tactical tools to aid in real time planning.

Strategic Planning and Direction - Standards of Excellence - Category 2 - Community Action Partnership
Strategic Planning and Direction is one of seven categories incorporated into the Community Action Partnership’s Standards of Excellence, which represent attributes that distinguish all high-performance organizations, and set Community Action Agencies apart from other organizations when it comes to performance, community service, and overall excellence – see Pathways to Excellence/Award for Excellence in Community Action.  The Partnership has developed a series of Standards of Effectiveness Technical Assistance Guides - see left-hand menu options for Category 2: Strategic Planning and Direction (pp. 8-22).

Defining Community Action Mission: A Guide for Strategic Thinking and Planning - Tennessee Association of Community Action
Defining Community Action Mission: A Guide for Strategic Thinking and PlanningDefining Community Action Mission: A Guide for Strategic Thinking and Planning was prepared under contract for the Tennessee Association of Community Action (TACA) by the National ROMA Clearinghouse at the National Association for State Community Services Programs.  The guide provides step-by-step suggestions for community action leaders on how to engage agencies and community partners in strategic thinking and planning about who they are and what they hope to accomplish.  Specifically, it discusses various ways community action agencies might organize and carry out a mission-focused review and planning process that would enable them to:

  • Assess their current role, or mission, in the community in relation to the conditions and needs of low-income people;
  • Define what they hope to accomplish in the future among low-income people and within the communities they serve;
  • Identify available help and resources within the community that could be mobilized by community action to improve the opportunity for success among low-income people; and
  • Organize programs and services within the agency, and among other community organizations, to achieve agency mission and outcomes.

Strategic Planning Manual - University of Wisconsin Extension and The Center for Public Skills Training
The Nonprofit Management Education Center’s Learner Resource Center at the Center for Community Economic Development, University of Wisconsin Extension offers a Nonprofit Organizational Assessment Toolkit to help guide a group discussion about an organization’s operations.  Several helpful web sites are identified to support strategic planning and program planning by nonprofits.

A Strategic Planning Manual has also been developed by The Center for Public Skills Training with accompanying worksheets that can be edited in Word Format.

Strategic Thinking and Planning Blog is also available through The Center for Public Skills Training.  This resource offers reflections on strategic thinking and planning in the nonprofit sector with special attention to increasing mission impact, governing board effectiveness and forging partnerships and alliances.

Strategic Planning Resources - Free Management Library
Extensive Strategic Planning Resources are available through the Free Management Library.  Categories featured under Conducting Strategic Planning include:

Strategic Planning in Nonprofit Organizations: A Practical Guide for the Process - Western Michigan University Graduate Program in Nonprofit Leadership and Administration
Strategic Planning in Nonprofit Organizations: A Practical Guide for the Process is available from Western Michigan University’s Graduate Program in Nonprofit Leadership and Administration.  The framework outlined in this document could be extended to the degree necessary for larger organizations.

Outcomes

Strengthening an agency’s strategic planning capacity is a key element of ROMA National Goal #5: Agencies Increase Their Capacity to Achieve Results.

Contact

Kenneth Ackerman, Virtual CAP Project Manager
434.295.8802

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