Organization Planning is one of six day-long Fundamentals courses offered annually, teaching practical knowledge and skills in core competencies that every nonprofit leader needs to know.

Click here for an overview of Nonprofit Fundamentals

Most healthy organizations take a "time-out" periodically to gather the right people together, both board and staff, to ask and discuss the following questions:

• What does our organization do now, and why?
• What do we want to be and do in the future, and why?
  
• How can we get there together?   

Learning Objectives
During this interactive session, you will:

• Discuss the importance of developing a mission statement, articulating the principles that guide the organization and creating a realistic vision for the organization's future;
• Understand the role of a Strategic Plan, an Annual Plan, and a Fund Development Plan in your organization's operations;
• Review tools that you can use in any planning session to help people participate fully and bring forth the best of their ideas to create practical solutions;
• Cover different approaches to planning, such as scenario, critical issues, goal-setting and appreciative inquiry; and 
• Become familiar with NC Center for Nonprofits Standards for Excellence related to organizational planning.

This is a practical workshop - you'll walk out with a "plan to plan" - and your next step will be to implement it! 

Follow-up Support
After completion of the course, attendees can access three hours of no-cost one-on-one assistance from the instructor in order to help apply what's been learned to the needs of their organizations. (Note: you must represent a WNC nonprofit in order to qualify for this support.)

Who should take Fundamentals: Organization Planning?
This course is appropriate for representatives from organizations of any size or developmental stage, whether you are new or experienced in the nonprofit field. We encourage multiple representatives from an organization to attend together. 

Intructor: Judy Futch is a consultant working with non-profit organizations and community stakeholder groups on issues as varied as service delivery improvement, organizational re-design, staff retention and recruitment, succession planning, program consolidation, and strategic planning. She is president of Judy Futch Consulting and focuses her work on the human dimension of change and transition as well as coaching organizations on strategies and collaborations for success.

Schedule and Registration
For course schedule and registration information, go to the Duke Nonprofit Management web site, course selection page.  Under "Select A Site," indicate Western NC.  Click here.