Stakeholders and strategic planning: experiences of an Australian nonprofit organization 1993 - 2001

Under pressure from declining government support and increased competition, many nonprofit organizations in Australia have tried to incorporate strategic planning processes. A cursory view would regard the strategic planning process to be similar for organizations, profit focussed or not. However, this paper will suggest that developing a strategic plan can be a more complex and challenging task for nonprofits. While their goals are frequently amorphous, and measures of performance difficult to define, the many stakeholders who may be involved cause the major problems. This paper discusses stakeholder theory, then the experiences of an Australian nonprofit organization as it attempted to develop a strategic plan. It argues that existing models of strategic planning do not adequately allow for the strength of the legitimate, powerful and urgent needs of stakeholders in nonprofit organizations, and that nonprofits need to carefully consider the rewards and pitfalls of strategic planning before embarking on the process.