True Business Planning for Nonprofits: A How to and What it Takes - Webinar Slides

Sep 22, 2026

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True Business Planning for Nonprofits explains how to define, generate, and allocate resources in order to deliver mission and impact. The webinar outlines what business planning is, what it is not, and the expectations leaders should hold, including liquidity management, financial understanding, funding support, and feedback systems. It emphasizes data-driven analysis across the organization model, market, risks, and metrics, and clarifies team roles and communication during implementation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages45

Reading Time16 min

AccessFree to download

Emergency To Do List

Today’s Agenda

What is Business Planning?

Team Members & Roles

Our Case Study

5 Elements of Business Planning

Communication & Implementation

Disciplines

Business Planning: What it is

Business Planning: Expectations

Business Planning: What it isn’t

True Business Planning for Nonprofits: A How to and What it Takes January 28, 2025 Webinar Sponsor: Moderators Dana Britto NFC Moderator and Founder Principal of Cultivar Consulting, LLC Wade Rogers, CPA NFC Moderator and Founder Financial Consulting and Training for Nonprofits Emergency to do list 1. Attend to liquidity – draw down lines of credit, consider timing on bill payments, reconsider unnecessary spending, do a cash flow projection 2. Contact local foundations to advocate for unrestricted dollars to ease liquidity 3. Reach out to state and field networks to ensure you are connected to lines of communication and can be part of any advocacy actions planned 4. Reach out to your constituents to inform them of any ways they might be able to help 5. Let other nonprofits know of the effects the freeze is having and of what you are doing to respond 6. FLANK the organizations in your community that may be most at risk for the longer term Today’s Presenters Steve Strang Practice Director at Spectrum Nonprofit Services Steve Zimmerman Principal at Spectrum Nonprofit Services Poll Questions Which aspect of business planning do members find most challenging? 􀁘 Market Forces 􀁘 Associated Risks 􀁘 Financial Leadership 􀁘 Value Proposition your organization's Today’s Agenda 􀁘 What is Business Planning? 􀁘 Team Members & Roles 􀁘 Our Case Study 􀁘 5 Elements of Business Planning 􀁘 Communication & Implementation 􀁘 Disciplines Business Planning What it is….. Business planning is a process of defining how to generate and allocate resources in pursuit of your specific mission & impact. It encompasses specific data and information, including analyzing your organization model, understanding your market, reviewing financial performance, defining your risks, and establishing metrics to track progress and adjust if needed. The resulting business plan, or completed business model, serves as a guide for the organization’s board and staff leadership. A nonprofit business model is leadership’s thinking of how a set of activities work together to generate resources and achieve impact to accomplish the organization’s mission. Business Planning Expectations 􀁘 Planning may take months; change may take years! 􀁘 A deep understanding of your nonprofits finances is helpful. 􀁘 Do we have enough working capital to meet our needs today? Do we method of bridging funds between business model shifts as needed? 􀁘 Do we have a set of funders who trust us and will support us in this process? Will they support us with‘innovation’ capital? 􀁘 What is our method of feedback? Do we have a culture and system that can capture, digest, and adapt to change based on our results? Business Planning What it isn’t….what are you trying to accomplish? 􀁘 Strategic planning: Defining your mission and/or outlining your path for impact and mission delivery. 􀁘 Development planning: To raise funds from donors and foundations, run events, and schedule campaigns. 􀁘 Program planning: Outlining how to solve a specific issue in your community through a service your organization provides. Team Members View of Business Planning is going to be different from each team members viewpoint. 􀁘 􀁘 􀁘 􀁘 􀁘 Executive Director Director of Finance Director of Programs & Program Managers Director of Development Board of Directors

FAQs

What does business planning mean for a nonprofit?

Business planning is a process for defining how to generate and allocate resources to pursue the organization’s mission and impact. It includes analyzing the organization model, market, financial performance, risks, and setting metrics to track progress and adjust as needed.

How is nonprofit business planning different from strategic, development, and program planning?

Strategic planning focuses on defining the mission and outlining the impact path, development planning targets fundraising and campaigns, and program planning details how the organization solves a community issue through services. Business planning ties these resource and activity decisions together around generating resources and achieving impact.

What immediate actions are recommended when facing liquidity stress?

The webinar recommends attending to liquidity by drawing down credit lines and reviewing bill payment timing and unnecessary spending. It also includes contacting local foundations for unrestricted dollars, reaching out to state and field networks and constituents, sharing impacts on other nonprofits, and supporting at-risk community organizations.

Sep 22, 2026

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