Strategic Planning

Successful issue focused United Ways all share one thing in common – they are using proven issue focused strategies and they have stopped doing outdated activities that are no longer effective.

The primary objective of our strategic planning process is helping you plan how your United Way will implement issue focused strategies and how you will stop doing outdated activities that are no longer effective.

Since we created the issue focus model in 2011, we have identified a comprehensive set of proven issue focused strategies that will allow your United Way to change lives and achieve your bold goal. These issue focus strategies cover resource development, impact/investment, marketing/engagement, and governance. For example, creating measurable impact on your issue requires using proven issue focused strategies such as developing community-wide relationships and responsibility for your bold goal, identifying and funding investments that address your targeted root causes, and using system-level measurement that measures community-wide progress toward your bold goal.

Our strategic planning process brings together your board and staff to:

  • Explore and discuss issue focused strategies appropriate for achieving your bold goal

  • Determine the priority and timing for implementing the issue focused strategies

  • Develop a three-year plan for implementing the issue focused strategies and discontinuing outdated and ineffective activities

Our strategic planning services are for United Ways that have identified their issue and bold goal and are already on the journey to becoming fully issue focused. If your United Way is just starting the process of adopting an issue focus, you will want to start with our Traditional Issue Focused Transformation or our Guided Issue Focus Transformation course.

 

Next Steps

Our strategic planning process will give your United Way the discipline and direction to implement proven issue focused strategies and leave behind outdated activities that are no longer effective.

Contact us for more information about our Strategic Planning services.

Here’s what our clients have to say about working with us:

Testimonials

“Thank you for a great day of thought-provoking conversation! I know I conveyed to you that I had high expectations for the day, and y’all exceeded them!”

- George McCanless, President & CEO of United Way of Central Georgia

"The process they use is so efficient that our board members were blown away by what we've been able to accomplish in a short amount of time. It's well worth the money to bring in the experts. Had I known about Perspectives before, I would have started this process sooner."

- Shane Orr, Executive Director of United Way of Muscatine

"We are thrilled with the ‘single issue’ focus on financial stability; we got there with help from Perspectives, a great consulting firm. They not only led our board through the entire strategic planning process, but their ongoing technical assistance has been extremely helpful with all our efforts." 

- Ken Toll, President/CEO of United Way of Jackson County

"You were so right! Focusing on the issue of early childhood education has resulted in raising more money from grants and campaigns, attracting new donors, and reduced designations. Now everyone knows what our United Way does in the community." 

- Julie Capaldi, President of United Way of Pickens County

"We know of no other consulting group with the breadth of knowledge and experience that Perspectives has in working with local United Ways."

- Bill Jackson, President & CPO of United Way of Erie County (retired)

"For years, our United Way wanted to move to an issue focus but struggled with how to get there as a one-person shop. The GIFT program was exactly what we needed – step-by-step instructions, samples, and ready guidance from the Perspectives team. We are now an issue-focused United Way with a solid strategic plan, and I absolutely would not have been able to manage this on my own. Perspectives’ GIFT program changed the trajectory of our work!"

- Julie Mallard, Executive Director of United Way of Delta County