Developed by Authenticity Consulting, LLC
Business Planning
(For nonprofits, for-profits and hybrid organizations)
© Copyright Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC and Rolfe Larson, Rolfe Larson Associates.
Also visit the Library's blog on Business Planning.
Sections of This Topic Include:
Why Do a Business Plan?
Preparation for Planning -- Any Business Venture (nonprofit,
for-profit, hybrid)
For-Profit Business Planning (very similar to nonprofit
business planning)
Nonprofit Business Planning (very similar to for-profit
business planning)
Resources for Each Typical Aspect of Business Planning
Why Do a Business Plan?
Uses and Benefits of a Business Plan
A business plan is often prepared when:
- Starting a new organization, business venture, or product (service) or
- Expanding, acquiring or improving any of the above.
There are numerous benefits of doing a business plan, including:
- To identify an problems in your plans before you implement those plans.
- To get the commitment and participation of those who will implement the plans, which leads to better results.
- To establish a roadmap to compare results as the venture proceeds from paper to reality.
- To achieve greater profitability in your organization, products and services -- all with less work.
- To obtain financing from investors and funders.
- To minimize your risk of failure.
- To update your plans and operations in a changing world.
- To clarify and synchronize your goals and strategies.
For these reasons, the planning process often is as useful as the business plan document itself.
Also read:
Who Needs a Business Plan? (You Do)
Types of Content in Business Plan
Business plans appear in many different formats, depending on the audience for the plan and complexity of the business. However, most business plans address the following five topic areas in one form or another.
- Business summary -- Describes the organization, business venture or product (service), summarizing its purpose, management, operations, marketing and finances.
- Market opportunity -- Concisely describes what unmet need it will (or does) fill, presents evidence that this need is genuine, and that the beneficiaries (or a third party) will pay for the costs to meet this need. Describes credible market research on target customers (including perceived benefits and willingness to pay), competitors and pricing.
- People -- Arguably the most important part of the plan, it describes who will be responsible for developing, marketing and operating this venture, and why their backgrounds and skills make them the right people to make this successful. Ideally, each person in the management team (and key program and technical folks) are indicated by NAME.
- Implementation -- This is the how-to section of the plan, where the action steps are clearly described, usually in four areas: start-up, marketing, operations and financial. Marketing builds on market research presented, e.g., in a Market Opportunity section of the plan, including your competitive niche (how you will be better than your competitors in ways that matter to your target customers). Financial plan includes, e.g., costs to launch, operate, market and finance the business, along with conservative estimates of revenue, typically for three years; a break-even analysis is often included in this section.
- Contingencies -- This section outlines the most likely things that could go wrong with implementing this plan, and how management is prepared to respond to those problems if they emerge.
In many cases, an organization will already have in its possession some of the information needed for preparing a business plan. For example, in the case of nonprofits, grant proposals often contain some of this information.
More Basics on Business Planning
What
Do We Need -- Strategic or Business Plan?
Business Planning Doesn’t End With Your Plan: Part 1 of 2
Business Planning Doesn’t End with Your Plan: Part 2 of 2
Make a Business Plan and Reduce Chances of Incurring Debt
Case Against Business Planning
Preparation for Planning a Business Venture (nonprofit or for-profit)
Before you start a major venture, there are several considerations about yourself
that you should address. This manual guides you through those considerations.
Then the manual guides you through the major considerations you'll have to address
when you complete your business plan. The manual includes numerous links to
other free resources as the reader goes through each section of the manual.
Preparation for Planning
a Business Venture
For-Profit Business Planning
Basics of For-Profit Business Planning
Business
Plan for Small Business
Business
Plan FAQ
Business
planning -- free, online course from SBA
An Introduction to Business Plans
5
Most Common Mistakes When Writing a Business Plan
Critical
Steps to Writing a Business Plan
The
One-Page Business Case
General Resources Specific to For-Profit Business Planning
How
to Write a Business Plan (comprehensive overview and links)
Business
Plan Writing Center
Bplans.com: The Business Planning
Resource Center
Small
Business Administration resources
Sample For-Profit Business Plans
outline
of a business plan
numerous
sample business plans
sample
business plans
Sample Business Plans
Nonprofit Business Planning
How to Translate For-Profit Plans to Nonprofit Plans, If Needed
For-profit and nonprofit business plans have many similarities. For that reason, nonprofit personnel would benefit from reading the links in the section above, "For-Profit Business Planning". Some of the terms are different, but in most cases they can readily be translated into words more commonly used in the nonprofit sector. For example, "balance sheet" is what nonprofit call a "statement of financial position", "profit and loss statement" (or income statement) is essentially the same as a "statement of financial activities", and so on.
Basics of Nonprofit Business Planning
What
is a Business Plan and Why Do I Need One for My Nonprofit?
Nonprofit
Business Plan Tips
How
to Create Jobs, Save the Planet and Make Money for Your Nonprofit: A Lesson
in Developing a Business Plan
General Resources Specific to Nonprofit Business Planning
Useful Online Tool for Earned-Income Ventures
The following online business planning tool for earned-income focused ventures
can be helpful, Free sample plan (registration is required) is available. Or,
for a donation of $30 or more to the Truman Community Foundation, you can get
full access to business plan worksheets and reports.
Nonprofit Business
Solutions
Also Learn About Nonprofit Earned-Income Ventures
Nonprofit earned-income ventures involve developing nonprofit business plans.
These activities are often described in the broader context of social entrepreneurship.
See
Social Enterprise
(Social Entrepreneurship)
Online, Free, Forum for Those Interested in Social Enterprise
Here is a free, online forum with 1,000s of participants, including experts,
practitioners, researchers, etc.
npEnterprise Forum
Sample Nonprofit Business Plans
Nonprofit
Business Plan Sample
numerous
sample nonprofit business plans
How to Create Jobs, Save the Planet and Make Money for Your Nonprofit
Resources for Each Typical Aspect of Business Planning
Before reviewing the resources in the following sections about specific aspects of business planning, the reader should first get a basic understanding of the business planning process by reviewing the above sections in this topic in the Library.
Planning -- Basic Skills
Creativity &
Innovation
Decision Making
Planning
(General)
Problem Solving
Project
Planning
Be Nimble, Be Quick; Be Disruptive, Too
Market Research -- Inbound Marketing
Planning Your Research
Market Research
Product Planning
Sales and Services Planning
Customer Service
Quality Management
Sales
Advertising (Planning) -- Outbound Marketing
Advertising
(Planning Your)
Advertising
Planning
Staffing Analysis and Management Planning
Job Specification
Staffing (Planning)
Financial Analysis and Management
Finances
(For-Profit)
Finances (Nonprofit)
Feasibility Analysis
Feasibility
Testing -- Do Just Enough
Feasibility Testing -- A Lost Art
Feasibility
Testing -- Top 10 tips
Writing the Business Plan Document
Short
is Beautiful
Executive
Summary Says It All
Write
a Business Plan
Funding - Getting
Fundraising
(For-Profit)
Fundraising
(Nonprofit)
Loans (Getting)
Learn More in the Library's Business Planning Blog
The Free Management Library provides a very useful blog hosted by an expert
on business planning who writes an article two times a week, including from
guest writers. The blog also links to 100s of free resources related to business
planning. Read more about business planning, share an article or opinion, or
ask a question in the
Library's Business
Planning Blog!
For the Category of Business Planning:
Related Library Topics
Recommended Books
For-Profit-Specific Business Planning
Nonprofit-Specific Business Planning
For-Profit-Specific Business Planning
The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just hover your cursor over the image of the book. A "bubble" of information will be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.
Nonprofit-Specific Business Planning
Field
Guide to Nonprofit Program Design, Marketing and Evaluation
- by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Nonprofit business planning often is focused on a specific program, rather than on the overall organization. (Planning focused on the overall organization is usually strategic planning.) There are few books, if any, that explain how to carefully plan, organize and develop a nonprofit program. Also, too many books completely separate the highly integrated activities of planning, marketing and evaluating programs. This book integrates all three into a comprehensive, straightforward approach that anyone can follow in order to provide high-quality programs with strong appeal to funders. Includes many online forms that can be downloaded.
Field
Guide to Nonprofit Strategic Planning and Facilitation
- by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC. If you intend your nonprofit business planning to cover the entire organization, then you probably need strategic planning as much as, if not more than, business planning. This book provides step-by-step guidelines to customize and facilitate planners to implement the best strategic planning process to suit the particular nature and needs of their nonprofit. This is one of the few books, if any, that explains how to actually facilitate planning. Includes many online forms that can be downloaded and used by planners.
Also See
Planning and Project Management -- Recommended Books
Social Entrepreneurship (Nonprofit) -- Recommended Books
Strategic Planning -- Recommended Books
