As of 2017, there were more than 1.5 million NGOs in the United States. These non-governmental organizations advocate for all kinds of issues, be it politics, healthcare, human rights, or the environment. However, despite the enormous number of NGOs, many organizations don’t survive past the first 5 years. This is because they don’t have a proper business plan, and are unable to achieve what they set out to achieve due to lack of direction.

So, why do you need a professional business plan writer to draft a business plan for your organization? Here’s what a professionally written business plan can help you with.

Focus on Mission & Values

Creating a business plan is the first step in cementing your NGO’s core mission and values. It ensures that you’re focused on what it is that you plan to do, keeping your core values in the spotlight. It also allows you to revisit your existing mission and vision statement and update them if necessary, based on your current values.

For example, let’s suppose when you first started off your NGO, your mission was to help families affected by floods in Florida. Over the years, you’ve also focused on helping individuals seeking rehabilitation due to unrelated reasons. Your mission has evolved from providing housing help to flood-affected individuals, to helping other individuals and families get proper housing as well. With a business plan, you can lay down your revised mission statement, which will then shape your course of action.

Identification of Goals and Objectives

If you run an NGO, simply reiterating your mission statement isn’t enough to keep going. To be able to implement the values and objectives you’ve highlighted in your mission statement, you need to take the right measures for your goals to become achievable.

Business planning allows you to identify your measurable goals and thus, devise a business framework that can help you attain those objectives. For instance, it leads you to recognize the resources you need to move forward,s such as funds, supplies, or staff. A business plan serves as a complete roadmap for your nongovernmental organization, and answers the following questions:

1. What goals is my NGO aiming to accomplish?
2. How will I pursue these goals to succeed in my quest?
3. What will I need to move ahead with my plans and how can I achieve these?

Alignment of Strategies

Business planning also takes into account all the internal and external factors involved that may influence the plan, helping you align strategies. Internal factors may include things like the availability of skilled labor, access to relevant tools, and the ability to generate adequate funds. External factors usually refer to the growth or decline of your NGO’s audience, the economic forces impacting your progress, and the need for unanticipated resources.

Once you know the internal and external factors involved, you can better devise business strategies that would align with your business goals.  

A2Z Filings has a team of business plan writers who can help you draft a concrete business plan for your NGO. Call us at 561-212-1192 for more details about our work.