Thoughts and Reflections on Business Plan
A business plan has been widely accepted in the business field as the starting point towards investment. However, its application in the non-profit sector has been less recognized and appreciated by most nonprofit organizations, especially the small ones, attributing it to profit-making organizations. Nonetheless, from my personal experiences and lessons learned from the course, I have come to appreciate that the importance of business plans in nonprofit organizations goes beyond responding to donors’ demands. It is critical for all organizations to crystallize their purposes, building startups on evidence-based information, and guiding growth. Without a detailed and precise business plan, a nonprofit organization might find it hard to formulate and execute strategies in addition to attracting donors and obtaining loans and grants (Gibaldi, n.d.).
Given its importance, how then can not-for-profit organizations, especially the small ones, implement business plans in running both their short-term and long-term goals? First, there is a need for them to effectively understand their environment of operation and the impending factors that are likely to thwart or bolster their operations. As noted by Thompson and MacMillan (2010), this is attained through outlining the disqualifying conditions, defining the acceptability space, and drawing up the business rules of engagement based on the impending conditions.
With a clear picture of the environment in mind, such nonprofit organizations can embark on a discovery-driven planning process, which emphasizes launching a venture on the lowest cost possible and using the emerging information to continuously improve investments and update assumptions (Thompson & MacMillan, 2010). This is necessary due to the fact that risks and uncertainty always surround ventures, and there is a need to minimize risk to ensure that nonprofit organizations remain sustainable. With the intensifying world’s daunting problems and challenges, step-by-step planning with full knowledge about the environment is critical.