Getting Strategic in the NFP Sector
One thing is clear when working in the Not-for-Profit (NFP) and for-purpose world, the word strategic can get thrown around far too easily. Plans for programs, work plans, and marketing activities are all routinely labelled “strategic”, but in truth, many of these are operational or tactical in nature. This confusion can undermine an organisation’s ability to stay focused on its purpose and deliver genuine social impact.
Understanding what strategic really means, and how it connects with operational and tactical planning, is vital. Even more so, in the NFP sector, strategy must be anchored in your theory of change to ensure every action supports your purpose and outcomes. Let’s break down how these pieces fit together.
Strategic Thinking and Seeing Around Corners
Strategic planning begins with strategic thinking. Strategic thinking is first and foremost a mindset. It is the ability to look beyond day-to-day demands and imagine a different future. It challenges assumptions, questions why things are done a certain way, and explores what else might be possible. Strategic thinkers ask:
Where are we heading?
+What trends or risks could disrupt us?
+How might we deliver greater impact?
+Why are we doing things the way we are doing them?
+What are the macro-meso-micro factors that are likely to shape the future?
In the NFP world, where funding, policies, and community needs constantly shift, this mindset is essential. Strategic thinking allows organisations to stay agile, anticipate change, and focus on what really matters. However, unless strategic thinking becomes part of the broader organisational culture, starting with your committee or board, it will, like innovation, be quashed in favour of reactivity and ossification.
Strategic Planning, Proper
While strategic thinking provides exploratory space for dreams, hopes and fears, strategic planning puts vision into a practical, structured framework. It is a disciplined process of deciding:
+What priorities we will pursue, and what pillars of success we will stand on
+How we will allocate resources, ensuring investments align with our highest-impact opportunities
+What measurable results we expect, to demonstrate accountability and progress
+When we will deliver, considering the short, medium and long term horizons
Strategic planning brings coherence to bold ideas. It maps a clear route from where you are now to where you want to be, setting the course for the years ahead.
Yet in practice, many organisations mislabel short-term, task-focused documents, such as quarterly action plans or service plans, as strategic plans. These documents are critical, but they are better described as operational or tactical plans. Overusing the word strategic risks diluting its true meaning and distracting leadership from the bigger picture.
The language of strategic, operational and tactical thinking has its roots in military planning but is just as relevant for today’s purpose-driven organisations:
+Strategic: high level, long term direction and priorities
+Operational: medium term systems, processes and resource plans that support those priorities
+Tactical: day-to-day activities and tasks that deliver programs and services
A true strategic plan should integrate and summarise all of these layers. It translates strategic direction into an operational framework, which in turn guides tactical execution. It should always capture the combination of ideas and events that culminate in achieving the organisation’s goals.
Consider this analogy: imagine a highly talented athlete with a history of injury, whose ultimate goal is to win the 800-metre event at the Olympics. Their strategic objective is clear, Olympic gold. To achieve it, they must first qualify through a series of trial events. They analyse their competitors’ times and develop a staged plan to progress through the trials while managing their health and training load.
They then put in place operational plans for each qualifying race, targeting just enough performance to advance without risking injury. Supporting those plans are tactical details, namely, daily training sessions, recovery routines, nutrition, and even their footwear.
Every decision is framed by their long-term strategic aim of Olympic success, ensuring that operational and tactical choices align with their big-picture vision.
In contrast, another athlete, younger and without an injury history, might pursue a broader strategy, “qualify wherever possible.” They might train for both the 800 and 1500 metre events, accepting the risk of splitting their focus to maximise their qualification chances. Their operations and tactics would adapt to this more flexible strategy.
Both athletes, shaped by their unique circumstances and strengths, apply different strategic approaches, but each layers their operational plans and tactical execution in support of their chosen path.
Similarly, organisations should consciously define strategy, translate it into operational systems, and support it with tactical actions, ensuring everything ultimately aligns with their purpose and long-term goals.
Connecting Strategy to Your Theory of Change
In the NFP space, strategy must always be rooted in purpose. That means connecting your strategic plan directly to your theory of change, the logical roadmap that explains how your activities lead to the outcomes and impact you seek.
A theory of change describes how resources and actions generate social change. It clarifies assumptions, inputs, and intended outcomes. Every objective in your strategic plan should be tested against this framework:
+Does this initiative support our theory of change?
+Will it strengthen our impact?
+If not, why are we pursuing it?
Aligning strategy with your theory of change ensures transparency, focus, and accountability. It helps boards, funders, and community members see exactly how your strategic choices advance the outcomes you promise. In a sector where resources are limited and needs are great, this discipline is essential.
Ultimately, strategic thinking helps you see where you need to go, while strategic planning shows how to get there. Operational and tactical plans then bring those ambitions to life on the ground.
By being clear on the differences between these layers and anchoring all plans in a robust theory of change NFP’s can avoid the trap of “strategic” jargon and instead stay genuinely strategic. That is how purpose-driven organisations position themselves to adapt, innovate, and deliver the greatest possible impact in a complex and changing world.
After all, true strategy is more than a buzzword. It is a commitment to deliberate, evidence-informed choices that change lives for the better.
