Over the past few years, I’ve heard some version of this question again and again:
“Does strategic planning even make sense right now?”
It’s a fair question.
Many nonprofit leaders are operating in conditions that feel fundamentally unstable — shifting funding landscapes, staffing strain, political pressure, evolving community needs. Long-range certainty feels out of reach, and the idea of a five-year plan can feel disconnected from daily reality.
And yet, the absence of shared direction comes with its own costs.
What I’ve learned from working alongside nonprofit leaders during periods of uncertainty is this:
Strategic planning still matters — but not in the way it used to.
Some elements no longer serve us well. Others matter more than ever.
What Doesn’t Hold the Way It Used To?
The illusion of prediction
Traditional strategic planning often assumes a level of predictability that simply isn’t there anymore. When plans are built around overly specific forecasts, they can quickly feel obsolete — or worse, constrain necessary adaptation.
Research on adaptive leadership and complexity reinforces this reality: in volatile environments, planning for certainty can actually reduce responsiveness (see Harvard Business Review’s “How to Lead When the Future is Unclear“).
Overly detailed roadmaps
When plans attempt to account for every possible initiative, timeline, and outcome, they often become burdensome rather than helpful. Leaders and boards can feel boxed in by decisions that no longer reflect current conditions.
The result? Plans that sit on shelves — not because people don’t care, but because reality has moved faster than the document.
What Still Holds — and Matters More Than Ever
Shared understanding
In uncertain times, alignment is more important than precision.
Organizations don’t need perfect answers; they need shared clarity about:
- What matters most right now
- What decisions belong where
- How tradeoffs will be made
This kind of clarity helps leaders move forward even when not everything is known.
Clear decision-making frameworks
One of the most useful outcomes of strategic planning today isn’t a list of initiatives — it’s a set of decision rules.
When new opportunities or challenges arise, leaders can ask:
- Does this advance our core purpose?
- Do we have the capacity to do this well?
- What would we need to say no to?
This reduces reactivity and supports steadier leadership under pressure.
Alignment across leadership and board
Uncertainty often exposes misalignment that was already there.
Strategic planning, when done well, creates space for leadership teams and boards to:
- Surface assumptions
- Clarify roles
- Strengthen trust
Without this alignment, even the best-intentioned organizations struggle to act decisively (www.penncreativestrategy.com/services/Leadership).
Inclusion as a strategic asset
Inclusive strategy isn’t about adding more voices for the sake of it. It’s about improving decision quality.
When organizations engage staff, stakeholders, and community voices thoughtfully, they gain insight into:
- What is actually working
- Where unintended consequences may arise
- How strategy will land in practice
In times of uncertainty, blind spots are costly. Inclusion helps reduce them. (See Bridgespan’s Strategy and Uncertainty in the Social Sector)
A Different Way to Think About Planning
In uncertain times, strategic planning is less about prediction and more about sense-making.
It’s about helping organizations:
- Name what has changed
- Clarify what still holds
- Agree on how decisions will be made
- Build enough shared understanding to move forward together
When planning serves those purposes, it becomes a stabilizing force — not an outdated exercise.
A Final Thought
If your organization is feeling hesitant about planning right now, that hesitation is information — not a failure.
Often, it signals the need for a different kind of conversation: one that creates clarity without pretending certainty, and direction without rigidity.
If that’s where you are, you’re not alone — and you don’t have to figure it out by yourself.
