As a result of our net income of $83,568 in Year 2, we will be able to continue providing our essential programs and services to the community.
Our nonprofit’s balance sheet is shown below:
20XX | 20XX | 20XX | 20XX | 20XX | ||
ASSETS | ||||||
Cash | $16,710 | $90,188 | $158,957 | $258,570 | $392,389 | |
Accounts receivable | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
Inventory | $21,000 | $23,153 | $25,526 | $28,142 | $31,027 | |
Total Current Assets | $37,710 | $113,340 | $184,482 | $286,712 | $423,416 | |
Fixed assets | $246,450 | $246,450 | $246,450 | $246,450 | $246,450 | |
Depreciation | $36,960 | $73,920 | $110,880 | $147,840 | $184,800 | |
Net fixed assets | $209,490 | $172,530 | $135,570 | $98,610 | $61,650 | |
TOTAL ASSETS | $247,200 | $285,870 | $320,052 | $385,322 | $485,066 | |
Debt | $317,971 | $272,546 | $227,122 | $181,698 | $136,273 | |
Accounts payable | $9,660 | $10,187 | $10,210 | $10,694 | $11,170 | |
Total Liabilities | $327,631 | $282,733 | $237,332 | $192,391 | $147,443 | |
Share Capital | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
Retained earnings | -$80,431 | $3,137 | $82,720 | $192,930 | $337,623 | |
Total Equity | -$80,431 | $3,137 | $82,720 | $192,930 | $337,623 | |
$247,200 | $285,870 | $320,052 | $385,322 | $485,066 |
The nonprofit’s net assets will increase by $35,000 as a result of our income statement.
Our nonprofit’s cash flow statement is shown below:
20XX | 20XX | 20XX | 20XX | 20XX | |
CASH FLOW FROM OPERATIONS | |||||
Net Income (Loss) | -$80,431 | $83,568 | $79,583 | $110,210 | $144,693 |
Change in working capital | -$11,340 | -$1,625 | -$2,350 | -$2,133 | -$2,409 |
Depreciation | $36,960 | $36,960 | $36,960 | $36,960 | $36,960 |
Net Cash Flow from Operations | -$54,811 | $118,902 | $114,193 | $145,037 | $179,244 |
CASH FLOW FROM INVESTMENTS | |||||
Investment | -$246,450 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Net Cash Flow from Investments | -$246,450 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
CASH FLOW FROM FINANCING | |||||
Cash from equity | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Cash from debt | $317,971 | -$45,424 | -$45,424 | -$45,424 | -$45,424 |
Net Cash Flow from Financing | $317,971 | -$45,424 | -$45,424 | -$45,424 | -$45,424 |
SUMMARY | |||||
Net Cash Flow | $16,710 | $73,478 | $68,769 | $99,613 | $133,819 |
Cash at Beginning of Period | $0 | $16,710 | $90,188 | $158,957 | $258,570 |
Cash at End of Period | $16,710 | $90,188 | $158,957 | $258,570 | $392,389 |
The nonprofit’s expected cash balance of $90,188 will be used to continue providing our essential programs and services to the community.
For 20XX, we expect that most of our funds will come from private donations; however, we require some donations for our operating expenses. As a result, the nonprofit plans to apply for grants this year.
Additionally, the nonprofit is always looking for opportunities to expand its fundraising efforts with events or corporate sponsorships. The nonprofit has also begun looking into ways we can use social media to develop a stronger online presence and increase brand awareness.
Let Children Prosper is committed to transparency and accountability. We will be publishing our nonprofit’s annual report on our website which will include a financial overview as well as program and service highlights.
The nonprofit plans to seek out individual donors as well as larger contributions from businesses and other organizations.
Our nonprofit relies on donations from individuals, businesses, and other organizations.
In order to continue providing our essential programs and services, we need to secure funding from both public and private sources. Some of the ways in which we hope to secure this funding include applying for grants, holding fundraising events, and seeking corporate sponsorships.
In order to generate more donations, we will be undertaking the following fundraising initiatives:
As a nonprofit organization, we aim to engage in donor outreach and online fundraising through websites such as Facebook and PayPal. We also plan to create a nonprofit blog where individuals can stay informed about our mission and learn how they can become involved with Let Children Prosper.
We are also exploring the option of hosting an annual fundraiser that will feature live entertainment, food, drinks, and opportunities to interact with nonprofit representatives.
Our nonprofit’s Board Treasurer is also a member of the Grants Coordinating Committee for the nonprofit’s parent organization which has resources that may be useful in securing grant funds for Let Children Prosper. Additionally, the nonprofit will begin looking into using social media such as Facebook or Instagram to increase brand awareness and improve brand recognition among our target audience.
The nonprofit has also applied for membership in the National Association of Nonprofit Organizations & Executives which will provide access to additional resources and training related to nonprofit management and fundraising.
Download our non-profit business plan pdf here. This is a free nonprofit business plan example to help you get started on your own nonprofit plan.
Developing this type of business plan can be challenging for many nonprofit groups because they may lack familiarity with basic business principles such as market research and financial projections. There are several steps that can be taken to make the process go more smoothly:
Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your business plan?
With Growthink’s Ultimate Nonprofit Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!
The first step in starting a nonprofit is figuring out how to bring your vision into reality. If there’s any tool that can really help you hit the ground running, it’s a nonprofit business plan!
With a plan in place, you not only have a clear direction for growth, but you can also access valuable funding opportunities.
Here, we’ll explore:
We also have a few great examples, as well as a free nonprofit business plan template.
Let’s get planning!
A nonprofit business plan is the roadmap to your organization’s future. It lays out where your nonprofit currently stands in terms of organizational structure, finances and programs. Most importantly, it highlights your goals and how you aim to achieve them!
These goals should be reachable within the next 3-5 years—and flexible! Your nonprofit business plan is a living document, and should be regularly updated as priorities shift. The point of your plan is to remind you and your supporters what your organization is all about.
This document can be as short as one page if you’re just starting out, or much longer as your organization grows. As long as you have all the core elements of a business plan (which we’ll get into below!), you’re golden.
While some people might argue that a nonprofit business plan isn’t strictly necessary, it’s well worth your time to make!
Here are 5 benefits of writing a business plan:
Did you know that businesses with a plan are far more likely to get funding than those that don’t have a plan? It’s true!
When donors, investors, foundations, granting bodies and volunteers see you have a clear plan, they’re more likely to trust you with their time and money. Plus, as you achieve the goals laid out in your plan, that trust will only grow.
In order to sell your mission, you have to know what it is. That might sound simple, but when you have big dreams and ideas, it’s easy to get lost in all of the possibilities!
Writing your business plan pushes you to express your mission in the most straightforward way possible. As the years go on and new opportunities and ideas arise, your business plan will guide you back to your original mission.
From there, you can figure out if you’ve lost the plot—or if it’s time to change the mission itself!
The first step in achieving your goals is knowing exactly what they are. By highlighting your goals for the next 3-5 years—and naming their key milestones!—you can consistently check if you’re on track.
Nonprofit work is tough, and there will be points along the way where you wonder if you’re actually making a difference. With a nonprofit business plan in place, you can actually see how much you’ve achieved over the years.
Getting volunteers and filling nonprofit board positions is essential to building out your organization’s team. Like we said before, a business plan builds trust and shows that your organization is legitimate. In fact, some boards of directors actually require a business plan in order for an organization to run!
An unfortunate truth is that many volunteers get taken advantage of . With a business plan in place, you can show that you’re coming from a place of professionalism.
Writing a business plan requires some research!
Along the way, you’ll likely dig into information like:
With this information in place, not only will you have a better nonprofit business model created—you’ll also have a more stable organization!
If you’re feeling uncertain about building a business plan from scratch, we’ve got you covered!
Here is a quick and simple free nonprofit business plan template.
Now that you know what a business plan can do for your organization, let’s talk about what it actually contains!
Here are some key elements of a business plan:
First of all, you want to make sure your business plan follows best practices for formatting. After all, it’ll be available to your team, donors, board of directors, funding bodies and more!
Your nonprofit business plan should:
Curious about what each section of the document should look like?
Here are the essential parts of a business plan:
We’ll get into these sections in more detail below!
Feeling ready to put your plan into action? Here’s how to write a business plan for a nonprofit in 12 simple steps!
Take a look at what’s going on in your corner of the nonprofit sector. After all, you’re not the first organization to write a business plan!
All of this information will show you what parts of your business plan should be given extra care. Sending out donor surveys, contacting financial institutions and connecting with your beneficiaries are a few tips to get your research going.
If you’re just getting started out, this can help guide you in naming your nonprofit something relevant, eye-catching and unique!
Your business plan will be available for a whole bunch of people, including:
Each of these audiences will be coming from different backgrounds, and looking at your business plan for different reasons. If you keep your nonprofit business plan accessible (minimal acronyms and industry jargon), you’ll be more likely to reach everyone.
If you’d like, it’s always possible to create a one page business plan AND a more detailed one. Then, you can provide the one that feels most useful to each audience!
Your mission statement defines how your organization aims to make a difference in the world. In one sentence, lay out why your nonprofit exists.
Here are a few examples of nonprofit mission statements:
In a single sentence, each of these nonprofits defines exactly what it is their organization is doing, and who their work reaches. Offering this information at a glance is how you immediately hook your readers!
Now that your mission is laid out, show a little bit more about who you are and how you aim to carry out your mission. Expanding your mission statement to include your vision and values is a great way to kick this off!
Use this section to highlight:
Don’t worry too much about the specifics here—we’ll get into those below! This description is simply meant to demonstrate the heart of your organization.
When you put together your business plan, you’ll want to describe the structure of your organization in the Operations section.
This will include information like:
If you’re already established, make a section for how you got started! This includes your origin story, your growth and the impressive nonprofit talent you’ve brought on over the years.
This information will have its own section in your nonprofit business plan—and for good reason!
It gives readers vital information about how you operate, including:
Above all, highlight what needs your nonprofit meets and how it plans to continue meeting those needs. Really get into the details here! Emphasize the work of each and every program, and if you’re already established, note the real impact you’ve made.
Try including pictures and graphic design elements so people can feel your impact even if they’re simply skimming.
Your Executive Summary will sit right at the top of your business plan—in many ways, it’s the shining star of the document! This section serves as a concise and compelling telling of your nonprofit’s story. If it can capture your readers’ attention, they’re more likely to read through the rest of the plan.
Your Executive Summary should include:
This section will summarize the basics of everything else in your plan. While it comes first part of your plan, we suggest writing it last! That way, you’ll already have the information on hand.
You can also edit your Executive Summary depending on your audience. For example, if you’re sending your nonprofit business plan to a loan provider, you can really focus on where the money will be going. If you’re trying to recruit a new board member, you might want to highlight goals and impact, instead.
Having a nonprofit marketing plan is essential to making sure your mission reaches people—and that’s especially true for your business plan.
If your nonprofit is already up and running, detail the work you’re currently doing, as well as the specific results you’ve seen so far. If you’re new, you’ll mostly be working with projections—so make sure your data is sound!
No matter what, your Marketing Plan section should market research such as:
Data is your friend here! Make note of market analyses and tests you’ve run. Be sure to also document any outreach and campaigns you’ve previously done, as well as your outcomes.
Finally, be sure to list all past and future marketing strategies you’re planning for. This can include promotion, advertising, online marketing plans and more.
The Operations section of your business plan will take the organizational information you’ve gathered so far and expand the details! Highlight what the day-to-day will look like for your nonprofit, and how your funds and resources will make it possible.
Be sure to make note of:
This is the what and how of your business plan. Lean into those details, and show exactly how you’ll accomplish those goals you’ve been talking about!
Your Impact Plan is a deep dive into your organization’s goals. It grounds your dreams in reality, which brings both idealists and more practically-minded folks into your corner!
Where your Executive Summary lays out your ambitions on a broader level, this plan:
Your Impact Plan will have quite a few goals in it, so be sure to emphasize which ones are the most impactful on your cause. After all, social impact is just as important as financial impact!
Speaking of…
One of the main reasons people want to know how to write a nonprofit business plan is because of how essential it is to receiving funding. Loan providers, donors and granting bodies will want to see your numbers—and that’s where your Financial Plan comes in.
This plan should clearly lay out where your money is coming from and where it will go. If you’re just getting started, check out what similar nonprofits are doing in order to get realistic numbers. Even if you’re starting a nonprofit on a tight budget , every bit of financial information counts!
First, map out your projected (or actual) nonprofit revenue streams , such as:
Then, do the same with your expenses:
If your nonprofit is already up and running, include your past accounting information. Otherwise, keep working with those grounded projections!
To make sure you have all of your information set, include documents like:
This information comes together to show that your nonprofit can stay above water financially. Highlighting that you can comfortably cover your operational costs is essential. Plus, building this plan might help your team find funding gaps or opportunities!
Your appendix is for any extra pieces of useful information for your readers.
This could be documents such as:
Make sure your additions contribute to your nonprofit’s story!
Here are two great examples of nonprofit business plans. Notice how they’re different depending on the size of the organization!
This sample nonprofit business plan shows what a basic plan could look like for a hobbyists’ co-op. If your nonprofit is on the smaller, more local side, this is a great reference!
This sample nonprofit business plan is for a much larger organization. Instead of focusing on the details of a membership model, it gets deeper into programs and services provided.
We hope this sheds some light on how creating a nonprofit business plan can help your organization moving forward! Remember: you know what you want for your organization. A business plan is simply a tool for making those dreams a reality.
Is a membership program part of your business plan? Check out WildApricot ’s award-winning membership management software!
With our 60-day free trial , you’ll have all the time you need to fall in love with what we have to offer.
32 Free Nonprofit Webinars for August 2024
12 Fundraising Metrics Your Nonprofit Needs to Track
Non-Dues Revenue for Nonprofits: The Basics
Benchmarks & insights for growing revenue and constituents.
Business plans aren’t only for startups and corporations; they’re equally crucial for nonprofit organizations. A well-drafted nonprofit business plan not only provides direction but also attracts donors and other stakeholders. In this article, we’ll delve into the hows and whys of writing a nonprofit business plan and walk you through the process step by step.
A business plan is like a roadmap. It charts the course, setting clear goals and detailing the strategies needed to reach your destination (e.g., business goals). Given the unique challenges nonprofits face — competing for funding, demonstrating impact, and managing resources efficiently — a business plan is indispensable for staying on track.
A nonprofit business plan is a document that outlines an organization’s operational and financial objectives, and details the strategies and resources (both human and capital) required to achieve those objectives. It serves as an internal guide for the organization’s leadership and a tool for communicating with external stakeholders.
At its core, a nonprofit organization thrives on clarity of purpose, and a business plan offers just that. It establishes a clear mission and vision, serving as a guiding light for every strategic decision and action.
Beyond this foundational benefit, a business plan fosters operational efficiency. Meticulously outlining processes and delineating roles and responsibilities ensures a streamlined workflow, preventing any overlaps or omissions that could hamper the organization’s effectiveness.
In a competitive landscape where nonprofits vie for funding, a well-articulated business plan attests to the organization’s seriousness, structure, and transparency. Donors and sponsors are more inclined to invest when they see a clear roadmap detailing how an organization will use their contributions.
Last, a business plan serves as a robust framework for performance evaluation. Setting benchmarks and expectations drives the organization toward its goals and creates a culture of accountability — ensuring that every stakeholder is aligned and contributing to the collective mission.
Like a blueprint, a business plan has several elements that are indispensable to its structure. But depending on your organization’s goals and purpose, there may be elements unique to you. Let’s consider the pillar elements of every plan:
Creating a nonprofit business plan can seem daunting, but it can be rewarding if you take the right approach. Follow this step-by-step guide to help you navigate the process:
Crafting a nonprofit business plan requires meticulous organization and seamless data collection. As you dive into the process, Jotform can help you create customized forms that streamline various aspects of your planning.
Whether you’re gathering initial research and feedback, managing donor information, registering volunteers, or even tracking impact metrics, Jotform ensures that every piece of data is organized and accessible.
Jotform’s intuitive interface and templates make it easy to design forms tailored to your nonprofit’s specific needs. Use Jotform’s business plan templates to give yourself a head start. From soliciting feedback on a new program idea to managing donor relationships to reporting on the tangible impact of your efforts, Jotform simplifies the process. You can even use the business proposal template to collect grantor signatures.
Nonprofit organizations are eligible for a 50-percent discount on paid Jotform plans.
Photo by Monstera Production
Thank you for helping improve the Jotform Blog. 🎉
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
How to Start A Nonprofit Organization
How to start an online petition
6 of the best credit card processing solutions for nonprofits
5 discount software tools for nonprofit organizations
Avoid making these costly donation form mistakes
How a Seattle Website Used Jotform to Raise $20,000 for Local Schools and Nonprofits
How to accept nonprofit stock donations
How to organize a 5K run
How to set up a relief fund
The 10 best Blackbaud alternatives for nonprofits in 2024
Little Green Light vs Salesforce
Webinar: How to prepare for giving season with Jotform + Square
How to get people to donate money to you
5 ways Jotform can facilitate your giving campaigns
How a nonprofit can use QR codes
DonorPerfect vs Raiser's Edge
How to improve nonprofit grant management
How to set up an emergency rental assistance program in your community
The Importance of a Great Donate Button
How Jotform helps Women’s Wilderness promote women’s empowerment
How to conduct prospect research for nonprofits
6 tips to get your donation form in front of donors during COVID-19
How to find a Form 990 for a nonprofit
How to write a powerful nonprofit mission statement
Webinar: Maximum Impact: 5 ways to automate year-end giving
Raiser’s Edge vs Salesforce: Which is best?
Top donation management software solutions
Learn How MidTown Uses Jotform Nonprofit Forms
Announcing a New Book on Maximizing Donations
Marketing automation for nonprofits
Aplos vs QuickBooks: Navigating financial software choices
4 effective ways to boost your nonprofit’s finances
How to start a scholarship fund
How to collect donations with Carrd
How a Nonprofit Supports Documentary Filmmaking with the Help of Jotform
5 Ways Jotform Can Help Your Nonprofit
DonorPerfect vs eTapestry: Comparing nonprofit CRM systems
9 table templates to help with your nonprofit
How does a nonprofit fill out a W-9 form?
The 14 best nonprofit CRM solutions for 2024
Top 25 nonprofit survey questions
The best WordPress donation plug-ins
15 best WordPress plug-ins for nonprofits
Donor management: Nonprofit tips for retaining donors
How a Nonprofit Museum Uses Jotform
Use Jotform for Nonprofit Management
Year-end giving campaign ideas
Best way to collect donations online: Jotform
How First Tee Greater Detroit uses Jotform to empower youth through golf
Get a Nonprofit Discount With These Companies
10 of the best nonprofit event management software apps
How to set up Venmo for nonprofit organizations
How to use Jotform Tables to facilitate giving
Reasons to Use Jotform as a PayPal Donate Button Alternative
Top 7 online donation tools to raise more money
How to Create a Winning Donation Form
Best 5 nonprofit websites of 2024
Scaling up your operations: Unlocking growth with tech
WildApricot vs MemberPlanet: A detailed comparison
How to organize a potluck
Top 5 membership management software solutions
How to write a grant proposal for a nonprofit
How to set up a GivingTuesday donation system using Jotform
10+ marketing strategies and tools every nonprofit needs
The United States of Charity The Generosity Index: Ranking the Most Charitable Places in the U.S.
Reviewing WildApricot’s pricing: Which plan is best for you?
The essentials of Google Pay for nonprofits
Send Comment :
Search for:
Candid learning offers information and resources that are specifically designed to meet the needs of grantseekers..
Candid Learning > Resources > Knowledge base
Like for-profit business ventures, nonprofits can create a business plan to describe how they will turn their mission into reality.
The business planning process involves the following steps:
You can also use a business plan for a specific project or venture for a nonprofit.
To help diversify their revenue sources, for example, many nonprofits explore ways to earn income by developing their own business ventures. A classic example is Girl Scout cookies. Each year Girl Scout troops sell cookies, and the money they earn goes toward Girl Scout programs. Providing goods or services for a fee can be an important way for a nonprofit to bring in revenue to supplement its fundraising activities.
Selected resources below can help you learn more about creating an overall business plan for a nonprofit organization or specifically for an earned income venture.
Still have questions about starting a nonprofit, finding grants or other fundraising and management queries? Chat with or email Candid's experts to get answers. Ask Us Now!
If you're thinking about starting a nonprofit, take Candid's course, Is Starting a Nonprofit Right for You? Take the course in person or watch the video.
Candid's Online Librarian service will answer your questions within two business days.
Explore resources curated by our staff for this topic:, staff-recommended websites, how to write a nonprofit business plan.
This article provides a brief overview of the steps involved in creating a nonprofit business plan.
This guide provides an overview of the steps in the planning process, (including SWOT analysis), vision and mission statement development, and goal setting.
This full-text article by Donald A. Griesman goes into detail on the process of starting a nonprofit organization. Beginning on page 10, he describes the elements of a business plan for a new nonprofit.
Entrepreneur.com offers some information on the differences between a nonprofit and traditional business plan.
This outline was developed for nonprofit organizations wishing to embark on earned income ventures with a business model.
This site provides an overview of business planning, with a special section focusing on nonprofits. Includes sample nonprofit business plans.
Foundation Center does not endorse the business planning software sold on this site, but the sample nonprofit business plans provided are helpful and quite comprehensive.
Along with a link to its full-text article titled “Business Planning for Nonprofits: What It Is and Why It Matters,” the Bridgespan Group gives links to 3 sample nonprofit business plans.
Provides a listing of suggested resources on business and strategic planning for nonprofit organizations.
Offers advice on strategic plans, business plans & feasibility studies, as well as information on financial options, assessing funding sources. Extensive information on planning volunteer programs as well.
Though not geared specifically to nonprofits, these resources from the SBA cover in detail the elements that should be included in any kind of business plan.
Find: Amazon | Free eBook
Sign up for our newsletter.
Unfortunately, many founders or leaders skip creating one — which generally leads to fundraising frustrations and stalled services, among other problems.
Maybe they don’t know what a nonprofit business plan can do to help them.
Or perhaps it seems too daunting, and they don’t know where to start.
There’s also a common misconception out there that because your organization is labeled a “nonprofit” it doesn’t need to operate like a business. (That couldn’t be farther from the truth.)
Passion and enthusiasm can only get you so far. Without a guide or roadmap to get you where you want to go, you can spend a lot of time floundering.
After all, you can’t jump into your car and drive somewhere you’ve never been if you don’t have directions, can you?
So why do folks who are looking to start or grow a nonprofit not draft a business plan?
No matter where your nonprofit is in its growth or what you’re trying to accomplish, a plan will help you reach your goals faster than if you are trying to operate without one.
Your nonprofit business plan helps you figure out the direction for your nonprofit, the resources you need, and the shortest path to success.
For new nonprofits, it helps you see if you can actually gather the support that you hope you can. In short, you can determine before you begin if your idea for a nonprofit is feasible.
If your nonprofit is already up and running, a nonprofit business plan helps you decide if the funding and opportunities for growth exist for your new or young nonprofit.
Your organization doesn’t exist to make money. But a nonprofit business plan is necessary to attract major donors, foundations, Board members, and other potential partners.
You might need to apply for a business loan at some point, especially if you want to buy a building or set up a thrift store. Lenders will want to see your nonprofit business plan to get an idea of how well you’ve thought things through and to see what your revenue projections look like.
Regardless, your nonprofit needs a roadmap for the future so you can accomplish your goals and fulfill your mission.
So, let’s break it down and take a look at the pieces you’ll need to think through and include in your nonprofit’s business plan.
The most common question we get about business plans is “where do we start?”
I get it. It can be a little overwhelming, especially if you’re not naturally a planner.
Essentially, you start with the basics — your mission, vision, and goals.
Your nonprofit’s business plan will then expand on those, going into detail about what you’ll do and what it will cost.
A good plan answers a number of who, what, when, where questions like these:
Your Nonprofit Business Plan not only answers these questions in a format that’s easy to read and understand, but explains your organization and its processes clearly and factually.
Your Nonprofit’s Business Plan should include only relevant information, including these 9 elements:
1. Executive Summary. The Executive Summary is the first thing that any potential partner or supporter will read, and it introduces the mission and purpose of your nonprofit.
It summarizes the identifiable needs you are committed to filling and explains how your nonprofit will meet those needs.
Unlike for-profit businesses, you are not just selling your potential partners on the numbers and inviting them to make a profit.
You are writing a compelling story about how you are helping change the world for the better.
Because this section of your nonprofit business plan is a summary of the facts contained throughout the whole document, it is often written last.
You can customize this section of your business plan depending on your purpose in sending it out. For example, the Executive Summary might have a very different focus if you are trying to recruit an expert in your service sector to the Board versus applying for a small business loan to open a gift shop.
For instance, if your nonprofit is a 501(c)(3), you will list that in this section. (There are other types of nonprofit organizations such as fraternal beneficiary organizations, or horticulture, labor, and agricultural organizations that are structured as nonprofits as well…so be clear here.). Or maybe your nonprofit is actually an NGO based in another country.
In this section, talk about whether you have employees or are all-volunteer. Do you have (or will have) a facility? Paint a picture of your organizational structure so the reader can understand quickly what your nonprofit looks like from an operational point of view.
If yours is an established organization, you can discuss how your nonprofit was started and the milestones you have reached. Listing previous successes and accomplishments in this section can be convincing for potential partners and reassure them that you will use their funding efficiently.
If your nonprofit is just getting started, explain your vision and why you are creating your organization. Focus on the problems you see and the practical ways you intend to alleviate those problems.
3. Products, Programs, and Services. This section provides detailed descriptions and documentation of how you meet needs in your community.
This is where you describe the need and who benefits from your programs. Talk about how lives are changed because of the work your nonprofit does.
Go into some detail to describe the number of people or animals who need you, the number you serve or intend to serve, and the remaining gap who need service.
For example, if you run a homeless shelter, you should mention the number of people who are homeless on any given night in your area. Talk about the number of beds you have, the number of beds you are planning to add in the coming year, and exactly what services you provide in addition to shelter.
If your shelter offers wrap-around services or plays a key role in connecting those you serve to other vital services, talk about those, too. Do your beneficiaries have access to medical care once a month? Does your organization provide a meal? Do you have volunteer tutors who can help students who are homeless with their work? Note who carries out your programs and services and whether you use mostly volunteers or whether you have paid staff in place.
This section will convince potential partners that you are making a difference in a concrete way.
Also, talk about any other nonprofits who are addressing the same need and how your services are/will be different. Donors don’t like duplication of services, and getting grants will be tough if you can’t articulate how your approach is unique.
4. Marketing Plan. Your marketing plan should describe the specific target audiences you want to reach for both programs and fundraising, key messages you’ll use, and which methods or vehicles you’ll use to reach the right people.
Describe whether you mostly advertise and market to a local community or whether your organization is national or worldwide in scope.
This section should include specific marketing strategies and associated costs, such as:
If your nonprofit is already established, let your reader know what your marketing plan has been in the past, what has worked, and how you plan to expand it.
What do you and your staff do every day to run programs and provide services? Be specific. How much does a single unit of service cost per person? Who delivers the service? Where and how?
If you have a five-year plan for expanding operations, include that as well. Outline your ideas to move into new areas, new facilities, or new markets.
Note any expanded services. If you are planning on growing or expanding your services what would that mean in terms of operations? For instance, if you run a food bank and you are actively planning to double the number of people you feed in the next year, how will that affect operations? Will you need more refrigerated space? More trucks? More staff or volunteers? Will you expand hours? Be ready to share in the Financial section how this growth will impact your budget, both in revenue and expenses.
If you haven’t spent time making long-term plans, this is a good time to sit down with Board members and staff and think about it in detail! Decide if you’ll start the program or secure funding first (there’s a big difference!).
This section will show potential partners that you are professional, serious, and ready to act with whatever funding they can provide.
6. Evaluation Plan. This can be a separate section, or evaluation methods can be added to various other sections.
Evaluation is critical to determine your effectiveness as a nonprofit — and it’s particularly important for grants. How can you tell if a program is providing the benefit that you are promising? Potential donors and grantors will want to know how you will make sure that funds are used to their highest potential and that you are flexible enough to change if need be.
You should also talk about methods in place to evaluate various aspects of your nonprofit to make sure you’re getting a good return on investment for the time, energy, and resources you put into each area of operations.
For instance, you should monitor your marketing strategies to see what’s working to reach new people. Make sure someone is noting which social media posts are catching on. You should have a data collection system that helps evaluate which fundraising techniques bring in new donors and which techniques help you retain donors or take them to the next level.
You need to explain exactly how you will determine whether or not your beneficiaries are succeeding. For instance, how many of the students you tutor graduate high school? What is your mechanism for follow-up?
You can’t just tell people your idea is working. You need to have the data to prove it.
7. Management and Organizational Charts. In this section, explain the hierarchy of your organization and your expertise for doing the work ahead of you.
Who does what and what expertise do they have for doing it? Potential partners will feel more comfortable to know that the Director of Services for your women’s shelter has a PhD and 10 years of experience in social work.
They will also feel more comfortable knowing that you have all your bases covered in management and staff. This is a good place to outline your future staffing and management needs, including any reliance on volunteers.
Start by developing revenue projections, including anticipated sources of funding from donations, grants, etc. Your projections can’t just be guesses — they need to be based on something specific, whether it’s how much you raised last year, how much a similar organization raised last year, or on an expert’s recommendations. So, include a summary of your fundraising plan here to show how money will be raised.
In addition to revenue projections, also include a breakdown of anticipated expenses. How much of your funds go directly to those you serve? How much goes to your employees’ salaries? How much funding goes to facilities payments or upkeep? You should be very detailed in this section.
Don’t forget things like legal and accounting services, insurance, website upkeep, internet, phone bills, and utilities. If your nonprofit’s money goes into it, include it here.
Include future cash flow statements, income sheets, and balance sheets. You should let your potential partners know how you distribute these funds amongst your various programs and services. This is where your accounting practices can make or break you!
Writing out a detailed financial plan can be very revealing to you as well as to donors and foundations. It may help you identify gaps in your funding and how you plan to deal with them. It’s well worth the effort to gather this information. Not only will it make potential partners more comfortable, it will give you clarity as well!
9. Appendix. The appendix is where you should include extra information that might make the business plan too lengthy or complicated to read through.
You can include your current fiscal year budget , a list of your Board members and their bios, and other relevant documents. You can include any information that you feel is important but perhaps too detailed to include in the main body of your nonprofit business plan.
Use technical jargon or acronyms your reader might not be familiar with.
Make the document unreadably long. Instead, use the appendix for very long or dense documents.
Use only text. Break up the sections for easy reading, and use graphs and charts where you can.
Get so passionate about the cause you forget to tell your reader the nuts and bolts of your nonprofit.
Make the document easy to read. If it’s printed, print on reasonably heavy paper with at least a 12-pt. font.
Use reasonable margins. You want your reader to be able to easily read each page.
Divide the sections clearly with headers and white space.
Use color, graphs, and charts to draw the eye and keep the reader moving through the document.
Have someone, or even several someones, read and edit your nonprofit business plan. (Silly grammar errors and typos are not going to impress your reader with your professionalism.)
Update your audience and keep them excited.
Writing a nonprofit business plan is not the easiest thing in the world, but it’s definitely worth your while and gets your ideas down on paper. It may seem like a daunting task, but if you break it into sections and start gathering information, you will find that your business plan can help you find direction and the means to help fulfill your mission.
About the author: sandy rees.
I need help writing my non profit business plan
The resources listed in this article will help. Is there a specific place where you’re stuck?
Thank you so much for this! Is there a good sample you could point me to look at?
You might try googling “sample nonprofit business plan” and the type of nonprofit you have so you can find one that’s applicable to your work.
This information was informative, detailed and to the point without being too wordy. Thank you for your advice, it helped me a lot.
What is the average total page count for a business plan
It depends on how much detail you get into. Somewhere between 15 and 20 pages should give you plenty of direction.
Nonprofit organizations exist to meet social or environmental problems. For that reason, organizations don’t always focus on a solid financial bottom-line. However, they can’t effectively achieve their objectives without recurring donation income , human capital, and operation planning.
The structure of a nonprofit business plan is in truth no different from that of a profit-driven entity —but an important shift is in the wording, which shies away from business terminology. Another major difference is in the inclusion of fundraising and grants as primary sources of income. And while other organizations worry about taxes in the planning stage, nonprofits have little to no taxes to consider.
Here’s the components you need to write a successful business plan for your nonprofit:
An executive summary allows the organization to make a lasting first impression to the audience. This part contains the outline of the objectives, problem statement, and overall mission of the nonprofit. When you start writing a nonprofit business plan, envision it as a time-bound chance to market the firm.
Here are a few details to include in a summary:
A point to note : It’s essential to structure the executive summary as though you are addressing potential partners. As such, avoid too much jargon and technical aspects in this section.
Nonprofits target a specific group of people, or residents of one particular area. The target group has unique traits, strengths, and resources — such knowledge is crucial in the organization’s mission and sustainability. That said, it’s critical to gather a few data points and document them in your plan.
Here’s a list to include:
Find details on whether specific traits such as education or culture have a potential impact on your project. The findings will prevent mistakes and enhance your success.
Any nonprofit’s success relies on the leadership’s ability to raise sufficient funds. One of the ways to successfully fundraise is by using target fundraising personas. These may include corporate donors, private citizens, and other well-funded organizations — remember that in the end, large institutions are made up of individual people. Your persona list can guide you in identifying particular people to reach out to.
You can also use personas to identify supporters in different segments, including by income. The different characteristics of each segment will guide your approach to fundraising campaigns for that segment. For high income individuals, it is wise to organize personal visits as opposed to sending emails.
Notable nonprofits may also generate funds by creating alliances. Companies might become official sponsors in exchange for brand growth. The success of such partnerships depends on how well you’ve structured your mission.
Ultimately, the fundraising element should consist of straightforward and workable ideas that the organization seeks to utilize. When nonprofits create solid financial plans, it inspires investors and partners — which in turn attracts more than enough funds to run the organization.
This is the section that appeals to any potential partner or stakeholder. Therefore, you should provide details about your programs, execution of your mission, and the various ways your community will benefit.
For clarity, here’s what to include in this section:
This section is the heart and soul of your operations. It’s prudent to ensure it’s detailed, clear, and deliberate.
Just like businesses, nonprofits also require marketing, outreach, and advertising. Through marketing, the organization gains awareness and brand growth that helps to attract partners who will power their operations. As such, it’s essential to include these strategies in the business plan.
Some aspects to include in this section are:
For any organization, planning is part of the recipe that leads to sustained performance and a secure future. That’s why the knowledge of how to write a business plan for a social enterprise is essential. Among many benefits is the quick, positive impression it creates on stakeholders.
Without a well-crafted business plan, an organization’s operations are in jeopardy, and it may prove challenging to attract funding and goodwill from target donors. A partner like Elevation can help you to develop inspiring resources like your nonprofit logo , website, and marketing campaigns.
Nonprofits are well-known for being able to do a great deal with minimal resources....
Looking for volunteer opportunities but clueless about where to begin? Overwhelmed by the amount...
You’ve just come off a long fundraising season and the lethargy of the holidays...
More than half are rolling deadlines, so take a look now and then start bookmarking for your next grant cycle. The list focuses on grants that will fund technology and marketing needs for NGOs and other non-profits.
CHECK DEADLINES
Introducing the new option to Bundle & Save. Customize your choice of website and/or marketing plans and pay 10% less when you create your own bundle.
EXPLORE PRICING
A nonprofit business plan is a document that describes your nonprofit’s mission, goals, strategies, and financial projections. It helps you communicate your vision to donors, stakeholders, and staff, as well as guide your decision-making and operations.
Writing a nonprofit business plan can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are some easy-to-follow steps to create a comprehensive and effective plan for your nonprofit. If you want to learn how to start your non-profit business , Read This Guide.
Follow these simple steps to write your non profit business plan, step 1: mind your audience.
Remember that not everyone who reads your plan will be as experienced and knowledgeable as you are. You need to tailor your language and tone to suit your audience’s needs and expectations. For example, if you are writing for potential funders, you need to emphasize your impact, sustainability, and competitive advantage. If you are writing for internal use, you need to focus on your objectives, action plans, and performance indicators. Knowing your target audience is crucial for your marketing and sales. Find out how to identify and reach them with these proven tips.
Make a nonprofit business plan outline that covers the main sections of your plan. These include:
Looking for inspiration for your nonprofit business plan? Check out these 11 amazing non profit business plan example.
Think back to when you were in school. Did you enjoy reading long paragraphs of text with no visual aids? Probably not. The same goes for your readers. You want to make your plan easy to read and understand by using clear headings, bullet points, tables, charts, graphs, and images. You also want to use consistent fonts, colors, and styles throughout your document.
A business plan outline is a roadmap for your success. Learn how to write a clear and compelling one with these simple steps.
Create a specialized business plan with our writers!
Each section of your plan should have a clear purpose and flow logically from one to another. You should also use transitions and summaries to connect the different sections and highlight the main points. For example:
Step 5: display your data aesthetically.
Data is an essential part of your plan. It shows that you have done your homework and that you have evidence to support your claims. However, data can also be boring or confusing if not presented well. You want to use data visualization tools such as tables, charts, graphs, and images to display your data in a way that is easy to comprehend and appealing to the eye. You should also use captions, labels, legends, and sources to explain what the data means and where it comes from.
No matter how good you are at writing or how confident you are in your plan, you should always have someone else review it before you finalize it. An editor can help you catch errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, formatting, logic, consistency, clarity, and accuracy. They can also give you feedback on how to improve your content and structure. You can hire a professional editor or ask a colleague or friend who has experience in writing or reviewing business plans.
Step 7: keep the tone positive.
Writing a nonprofit business plan can be challenging and stressful. You may encounter difficulties or uncertainties along the way. However, you should not let that affect the tone of your plan. You want to convey a sense of optimism, enthusiasm, passion, and confidence in your nonprofit’s mission and vision. You want to show that you have a clear direction for the future and that you are ready to overcome any obstacles or risks that may arise. By following these steps, you can create a nonprofit business plan that will impress your readers and help you achieve your goals. Remember that your plan is not set in stone. You should update it regularly as your nonprofit grows and changes.
Do you want to make a positive difference in the world while running a sustainable business? Here are 53 brilliant non-profit business ideas that you can start today.
Faq's of non-profit business plan.
Nonprofit and not-for-profit are terms that describe a type of organization that does not distribute its surplus income to owners or shareholders, but rather uses it for a social or charitable cause. Not-for-profit is usually written with hyphens, while nonprofit is usually written without hyphens.
Planning in a not for profit is creating a strategic plan that guides the organization.
The strategic plan involves: Reflecting on the mission Identifying the most important goals Determining the strategies to reach them Measuring the progress and outcomes
Planning in a not for profit also requires: Engaging the staff, board, and other stakeholders Revisiting the plan regularly as the environment changes
A non-profit example is an organization that does not distribute its surplus income to owners or shareholders but rather uses it for a social or charitable cause. Some common examples of non profits are:
Charitable organizations, such as hospitals, universities, national charities, and foundations. Religious organizations, such as churches, mosques, temples, and synagogues. Volunteer service organizations, such as labor unions, legal aid societies, and animal welfare groups. Research organizations, such as institutes, think tanks, and academic centers. Cultural organizations, such as museums, libraries, and arts groups.
A non-profit (NPO) is an organization that does not aim to make a profit, but to serve a social or public benefit.
To write a non-profit project proposal, you need to follow these steps:
Identify the problem or need that your project will address Research the existing solutions and gaps in the field Define your goals, objectives, activities, outcomes, and indicators Develop a budget and a timeline for your project Write a clear and concise summary of your proposal Include supporting documents such as letters of support, resumes, etc.
A summary of a non-profit organization is a brief overview of its mission, vision, values, programs, impact, and achievements. It should highlight what makes the organization unique and why it deserves support.
The 7 steps of a business plan are: Executive summary Company description Market analysis Product or service description Marketing and sales strategy Financial plan Appendix
– There is no definitive answer to what is the best type of nonprofit, as different nonprofits may have different goals, missions, and strategies. – However, some possible criteria to evaluate nonprofits are: impact, efficiency, transparency, accountability, and sustainability. – Impact refers to how well the nonprofit achieves its intended outcomes and creates positive change for its beneficiaries and society. – Efficiency refers to how well the nonprofit uses its resources, such as time, money, and staff, to deliver its services and programs. – Transparency refers to how openly the nonprofit communicates its activities, finances, and results to its stakeholders and the public. – Accountability refers to how the nonprofit adheres to ethical standards, legal regulations, and best practices in its operations and governance. – Sustainability refers to how the nonprofit ensures its long-term viability and resilience in the face of challenges and changes.
– Public charities: These are organizations that receive most of their funding from the general public or the government, and they usually have a broad charitable purpose. – Private foundations: These are organizations that are funded by a single source, such as a family, a corporation, or an individual, and they usually make grants to other charities rather than operate their own programs. – Hybrid organizations: These are organizations that combine elements of both public charities and private foundations, such as donor-advised funds, supporting organizations, and community foundations.
Get started
If you’re looking to start a new charity but don’t know where to start, a nonprofit business plan template can help. There are more than 1.5 million nonprofit organizations registered in the US. While it’s awesome that there are so many charitable orgs, unfortunately, many of them struggle to keep their doors open.
Like any other business, a nonprofit needs to prepare for the unexpected. Even without a global pandemic, strategic planning is crucial for a nonprofit to succeed.
In this article, we’ll look at why a business plan is important for nonprofit organizations and what details to include in your business plan. To get you started, our versatile nonprofit business plan template is ready for you to download to turn your nonprofit dreams into a reality.
Get the template
A nonprofit business plan template is not that different from a regular, profit-oriented business plan template. It can even focus on financial gain — as long as it specifies how to use that excess for the greater good.
A nonprofit business plan template includes fields that cover the foundational elements of a business plan, including:
The template also controls the general layout of the business plan, like recommended headings, sub-headings, and questions. But what’s the point? Let’s dive into the benefits a business plan template offers nonprofits.
Download Excel template
To get your nonprofit business plans in motion, templates can:
If you’ve decided to start a nonprofit, you’re likely driven by passion and purpose. Although nonprofits are generally mission-driven, they’re still businesses. And that means you need to have a working business model. A template will give your ideas direction and encourage you to put your strategic thinking cap on.
One of the biggest reasons for writing a nonprofit business plan is to attract investment. After all, without enough funding , it’s nearly impossible to get your business off the ground. There’s simply no business without capital investment, and that’s even more true for nonprofits that rarely sell products.
Stakeholders and potential investors will need to assess the feasibility of your nonprofit business. You can encourage them to invest by presenting them with a well-written, well-thought-out business plan with all the necessary details — and a template lays the right foundation.
One of the essential characteristics of any business plan — nonprofits included — is transparency around what you want to achieve and how you are going to achieve it. A nebulous statement with grandiose aspirations but no practical plan won’t inspire confidence.
Instead, you should create a clear and concise purpose statement that sums up your goals and planned action steps. A good template will help you maintain a strong purpose statement and use clear messaging throughout.
Of course, there are different types of nonprofit plan templates you can use, depending on the kind of business plan you want to draw up.
From summary nonprofit plans to all encompassing strategies, check out a few sample business plan templates for different nonprofit use cases.
New nonprofit ventures in the early stages of development can use this business plan template. It’s created to put out feelers to see if investors are interested in your idea. For example, you may want to start an animal shelter in your community, but aren’t sure if it’s a viable option due to a lack of funds. You’d use a summary business plan template to gauge interest in your nonprofit.
In this scenario, you have already laid the foundations for your nonprofit. You’re now at a point where you need financing to get your nonprofit off the ground.
This template is much longer than a summary and includes all the sections of a nonprofit business plan including the:
It also typically includes a variety of documents that back up your market research and financial situation.
This type of business plan template is extremely detail-oriented and outlines your nonprofit’s daily operations. It acts as an in-depth guide for who does what, how they should do it, and when they should do it.
An operational nonprofit business plan is written for your internal team rather than external parties like investors or board members.
Convinced to give a business plan template a go? Lucky for you, our team has created the perfect option for nonprofits.
At monday.com, we understand that starting a nonprofit business can feel overwhelming — scrambling to line up investors, arranging fundraising events, filing federal forms, and more. Because we want you and your nonprofit to succeed, we’ve created a customizable template to get you started. It’s right inside our Work OS , a digital platform that helps you effectively manage every aspect of your work — from budgets and high-level plans to individual to-do lists.
Here’s what you can do on our template:
Besides a business plan, starting a nonprofit requires a lot of other documentation. Supporting documents include a cash flow statement or a general financial statement, resumes of founders, and letters of support.
monday.com’s Work OS lets you store all these essential documents in one centralized location. That means you don’t need to open several tabs or run multiple programs to view your information. On monday.com, you can quickly and easily access documents and share them with potential investors and donors. Security features also help you control access to any board or document, only letting invited people or employees view or edit them. By keeping everything in one place, you save time on tracking down rogue files or statements and can focus on what really matters, such as running your nonprofit.
With monday.com’s nonprofit business plan template, you can seamlessly transform your plan into actionable tasks. After all, it’s going to take more than some sound strategic planning to bring your nonprofit to life.
Based on your business plan, you have the power to create interactive vision boards, calendars, timelines, cards, charts, and more. Because delegation is key, assign tasks to any of your team members from your main board. You can even set up notification automations so that everyone stays up to date with their responsibilities. Plus, to make sure the team stays on track, you can use the Progress Tracking Column that shows you the percent to completion of tasks based on the different status columns of your board.
From budgets to customer satisfaction, you need to maintain a high-level overview of your nonprofit’s key metrics.
monday.com keeps you well-informed on the status of your nonprofit’s progress, all on one platform. With customizable dashboards — for example, a real-time overview of donations received and projects completed — and visually appealing views, you can make confident decisions on how to take your nonprofit business forward.
Now that you have the template, let’s cover each section and how to fill it out correctly.
So what exactly goes into a nonprofit business plan? Let’s take a look at the different sections you’ll find in most templates.
This is a concise summary of your business at the beginning of your plan. It should be both inspired and to the point. The executive summary is typically two pages long and dedicates about two sentences to each section of the plan.
This section gives some background on your company and summarizes the goal of your business. At the same time, it should touch on other important factors like your action plan for attracting potential external stakeholders. You can think of an organization overview as a mission statement and company description rolled into one.
Any business exists to provide products, programs, and services — perhaps with a focus on the latter two for nonprofits. Your business plan should outline what you are bringing to your community. This will influence your target market , potential investors, and marketing strategies.
An effective marketing strategy is the cornerstone of any successful business. Your marketing plan will identify your target audience and how you plan to reach them. It deals with pricing structures while also assessing customer engagement levels.
The operational plan describes the steps a company will take over a certain period. It focuses on the day-to-day aspects of the business, like what tasks need to be done and who is responsible for what. The operational section of a business plan works closely with strategic planning.
Even nonprofits face competition from other nonprofits with similar business profiles. A market analysis looks at the strengths and weaknesses of competing businesses and where you fit in. This section should include a strategy to overtake competitors in the market. There are many formats and templates you can use here, for example, a SWOT analysis .
Your financial plan should be a holistic image of your company’s financial status and financial goals. As well as your fundraising plan , make sure to include details like cash flow, investments, insurance, debt, and savings.
Before we wrap up, we’ll address some commonly asked questions about nonprofit business plan templates.
How do you write a business plan for a nonprofit.
The best way to write a nonprofit business plan is with a template so that you don’t leave anything out. Our template has all the sections ready for you to fill in, combined with features of a cutting-edge Work OS.
For some extra tips, take a look at our advice on how to write a business plan . We’ve detailed the various elements involved in business planning processes and how these should be structured.
Business plans don’t have to be excessively long. Remember that concise communication is optimal. As a rule of thumb — and this will vary depending on the complexity and size of your business plan — a nonprofit business plan is typically between seven and thirty pages long.
A nonprofit business plan is called just that — a ‘nonprofit business plan.’ You may think that its nonprofit element makes it very different from a profit-oriented plan. But it is essentially the same type of document.
The consensus is that a corporation is the most appropriate and effective structure for a nonprofit business.
Creating a business plan and approaching potential investors, aka donators, is the best way to start a nonprofit business if you don’t have the funds yourself.
Send this article to someone who’d like it.
As noble and inspiring as they are, nonprofit businesses often don’t start out with much funding or acclaim.
The only thing they have in ample is passion regarding the vision. So how do they turn it into a business? Crafting a nonprofit business plan . There’s no better way to turn that vision into reality.
It provides the nonprofit’s idea a strong backing with how the business will work and where the money will be used.
So are ready with your passion and vision? Combine it with a business plan that we will guide you in writing through this detailed guide along with examples.
A nonprofit business plan is a strategic document that outlines the mission, goals, and operational strategies of a nonprofit organization. It includes detailed sections on programs and services, market analysis, organizational structure, financial plans, and impact measurement.
This plan serves as a roadmap for the nonprofit’s activities, helping to align resources toward achieving its mission. Additionally, it also showcases the organization’s viability and strategic planning to potential donors and partners.
Creating nonprofit business plans is necessary to convey the purpose of your business. But that’s just one reason. Here are other reasons why you need a non-profit business plan:
You see! There’s no way we can ignore the importance of a nonprofit business plan. Let’s move forward with the guide.
Say goodbye to boring templates
Build your business plan faster and easier with AI
Plans starting from $7/month
There are nine steps to writing a nonprofit business plan. Each section will provide you with the necessary guidance to craft a robust and effective plan.
Let’s get started and get into the nonprofit business plan outline:
The executive summary provides a synopsis of the whole business plan. Business people prefer to write this section last, after gaining knowledge of every other section.
Here’s what to include in the executive summary :
This summary should be no longer than two pages maximum, clear, compelling, concise, and engaging for readers.
The organizational description section provides an in-depth look at what your nonprofit aims to achieve. It includes the nonprofit’s mission, vision, core values, and strategic goals.
So begin this section with the name of your nonprofit, and then identify the structure of your organization. But since it’s a nonprofit, exempted from tax, you still need to choose from the below structures for registration purposes:
This is the simplest structural form. It’s basically an s-corporation of nonprofit organizations. Unincorporated associations are easy to set up but provide limited liability protection.
Trust is managed by trustees who hold assets for the benefit of beneficiaries. It’s often used for charitable purposes.
This is a more formal structure that provides liability protection for directors. It can earn tax-exempt status so it has become the most common structure for nonprofits.
This is the structure of an organization owned and operated by its board members, who share the profits and decision-making responsibilities.
Though less common for nonprofits, an LLC can be used for nonprofit activities. It offers flexibility and liability protection but doesn’t automatically qualify for tax-exempt status.
Now, after deciding on the structure, move forward with the mission and vision statement (like you would in any business plan).
Remember, your mission and vision statement will give the picture of what your nonprofit does and why it does that. So, don’t forget to keep it engaging and in storytelling form.
For example, Our Genetic Legacy (OGL) is an NGO dedicated to preserving and promoting the history and contributions of Blacks, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in American history. So, their statement is clear and engaging:
The market analysis section requires a lot more market research, but the first thing you need to do is clearly define your organization’s goals.
For example, STREAM Academy helps students apply classroom learning to real-world situations. Clearly defining this goal allows them to identify their target market effectively.
Without a defined goal, it’s difficult to understand and identify who actually needs your programs or services.
Once, you define your goals, it is time to differentiate them into various segments. You can do that by differentiating them through these behaviors:
Now that you’ve segmented your audience, it’s time to get information about the market through:
Go to the official government websites and collect relevant statistics or data. Now, use the data to your nonprofit’s focus. For example, if your nonprofit supports homeless youth, find the number of homeless youth in your region.
Identify similar nonprofits in your area. Study their services, target audience, and strategies. Include your findings to understand your position in the market and identify unique opportunities.
Conduct a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis keeping both internal and external factors in mind, to better understand your nonprofit business.
Stay informed about the latest trends in your industry by subscribing to newsletters, participating in forums, and attending events.
By following these steps, your nonprofit can better understand its environment, identify opportunities, and plan for future growth.
Half of the revenue of nonprofit organizations comes from either selling products or rendering services. So, the next step is to mention your programs, products, and services here to clarify everything about how you earn money, where your money goes, and what you provide.
For example:
Recycling Breeze is earning revenue from selling various recycling products like reusable bags, water bottles, dishes, etc. They also accept donations. Besides, they support educational workshops for the underprivileged youth and finance beach-cleaning activities.
In short, this section should include:
Ensure you outline future plans for each program to show long-term commitment and viability.
Creating effective marketing and outreach plans is essential for raising awareness, attracting donors, and achieving your nonprofit’s mission.
Before creating the marketing plan, understand your unique selling propositions (USPs). Just determine what sets your programs, products, and services apart from others.
Now, don’t forget to highlight these pointers in your marketing messages to gain more attention and differentiate your nonprofit.
Once you know the USPs and have crafted the marketing message, it’s time for you to select the channels where you should pose. You can use a website, various social media platforms, newsletters, local newspapers, host workshops or events, and a lot more.
Plan regular updates across all channels to actively engage with your audience. Partner with local businesses, schools, and other nonprofits to spread awareness.
Lastly, track key performance indicators like website traffic, social media engagement, funds raised, etc to know the effectiveness. You can also collect feedback from your audience to refine your strategies.
The operations plan section of your nonprofit business plan includes your daily operations regarding who will work on what. It includes information on:
The nonprofit sector is considered the third-largest employer in the United States. Thereupon, the competition is high and ensuring that the right person is in the right role is crucial for your nonprofit’s success.
Develop a comprehensive staffing plan that includes effective recruitment, thorough training, and strong retention strategies.
Ignoring retention can lead to high staff turnover, significantly impacting your organization’s performance. Make a strong team by giving training and various perks.
Describe the organizational hierarchy, including the board of directors, executive team, and staff. Mention the role of each team member of the organization.
This could refer to suppliers who provide your products, donors who offer financial contributions, and individuals or groups who organize fundraising events.
Describe the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for key activities and functions of your organization. Also, mention how you will ensure the quality and consistency of your product and services.
List which tools and technology your nonprofit will use. You can include any software like donor management, fundraising platforms, etc. Remember to include everything else including computers, vehicles, and machinery.
If your nonprofit sells products online or needs any shipping method, mention here the way you will ship the products or reach your customers.
In short, this section mentions everything that affects the daily operations of your non-profit business to give a clear idea of how your organization works and who works on what activities.
The impact plan should clearly define the changes your nonprofit will bring to society.
Outline specific goals, like your organization wants to reduce plastic waste by 10% in three years. Or increase recycling program participation by 10% in one year.
Include KPIs like the number of workshops, participants, and the volume of waste recycled. Describe data collection methods such as government data, surveys, program records, etc.
Then, detail how you will analyze this data and use feedback to continuously improve and adjust your programs.
Highlight the importance of adapting strategies based on data and feedback to ensure ongoing effectiveness and responsiveness to community needs. This approach ensures your nonprofit’s efforts make a positive difference in society.
A financial plan is the base of how you will collect and utilize the funds. It generally includes:
Identify all potential income sources, such as donations, grants, fundraising events, and product sales. Then provide a detailed revenue forecast for the next 3-5 years, using real data or practical assumptions.
List all operational expenses, including salaries, and rent. Also, detail the costs associated with your programs and services. Include significant purchases or investments needed for your nonprofit to function smoothly.
Provide all the necessary financial statements in this section such as:
The appendix of a nonprofit business plan includes additional information that supports the main content. Here is what you can include in nonprofit appendix section:
By including these elements in your appendix, you provide comprehensive evidence and context, strengthening the credibility of nonprofit business plans.
Ready to write your nonprofit business plan, but not sure where to start? Here you go, download our free nonprofit business plan template PDF and start writing your plan. It’s easy. All you need to do is download and edit it to meet your nonprofit needs.
In conclusion, writing a nonprofit business plan involves thorough research, clear goal-setting, and a detailed strategy for achieving your mission.
To smoothen your process, you can try Upmetrics ! Like various other nonprofits have tried and trusted the tool for its excellent business plan writing features.
See what one of the nonprofit owners has to say about her experience with Upmetrics “Signing up for Upmetrics was game-changing for our business. It helped us increase our revenue and secure funds over $142,000—Shellie Baxter – Founder and CEO of Our Genetic Legacy.”
So, wait no more and get your nonprofit off the ground in no time!
Frequently asked questions, how long should a nonprofit business plan be.
The average length of a nonprofit business plan is around 15 to 30 pages depending on the complexity of the business idea and scope of the organization.
Yes, a nonprofit business plan can help in fundraising. It clearly outlines financial needs, program impacts, and strategies, showcasing the idea and depth of the nonprofit business.
There are various business planning tools and resources that can guide you to create a nonprofit business plan like:
The financial section of a nonprofit business plan should be very detailed to ensure transparency. It should include:
About the Author
Upmetrics Team
Upmetrics is the #1 business planning software that helps entrepreneurs and business owners create investment-ready business plans using AI. We regularly share business planning insights on our blog. Check out the Upmetrics blog for such interesting reads. Read more
No Risk – Cancel at Any Time – 15 Day Money Back Guarantee
Streamline your business planning process with Upmetrics .
Could your organization use a nonprofit business plan ? The answer is yes . Although the nonprofit sector doesn’t always work like the for-profit world and you might not think of your nonprofit as a business, having a business plan can boost your growth and support.
The most important thing to remember is that your nonprofit needs to be unique so it stands out from other nonprofits. Secondly, you want to convey the value that those who engage with your organization or donate money will receive. This can be making them feel charitable but also more productive and engaged. Think about the value/emotion you are hoping to evoke and convey it through your business plan.
The following sections should be included in your nonprofit business plan:
Organization overview.
Customer analysis, marketing plan, operations plan, management team, financial plan.
Let’s break each of these down.
Start your nonprofit business plan by clearly stating your organization’s mission and describing how it plans on reaching its goals. Include a concise description of what makes your organization stand out among competitors (e.g., “We are the only non-profit animal welfare organization in XYZ county” or “Our college student volunteers provide assistance at less than half the cost as our competitors”). Succinctly communicate why people should care about your organization so they will choose to support you. Include other pertinent information about your organization such as the bios of key staff members and the amount of funding you are looking to raise.
The purpose of the executive summary is to convey key information about your organization so readers can decide whether they are interested and willing to read the rest of your plan. Keep the executive summary to one to two pages in length. Create it after completing the other sections so you can simply summarize them. But make sure you do so in an exciting and compelling manner, so readers want to read and learn more about your organization.
This section should include a description of your organization’s overall structure, beginning with who founded it and how it is currently governed. Other important information to provide includes your the nonprofit is located, how many paid/unpaid staff members there are, what facilities are available for use by customers or employees, and what kind of support services are provided (e.g., IT, HR). Lastly, explain any accomplishments your organization has achieved to-date, as the best indicator of future success is past performance.
In this section, write about your nonprofit’s services or programs in detail. Document the programs you offer and how they function. Provide details, sketches, etc. to clearly communicate the offerings and value your organization provides. If applicable, consider including audience testimonials that express satisfaction with your nonprofit’s offerings.
For industry analysis, address some questions and provide information that supports your answers. Consider this: how big is the industry? For example, if you provide education to high school students, discuss the market size for public and private high school education.
Also answer the following questions:
This section should begin with a definition of who the organization considers to be its primary target market (e.g., high school students, working moms, etc.). Based on this group’s needs and wants, prioritize which benefits/offerings from your services or programs are most important to them. This section should also include facts about your supporters’ key needs and pains or other information that might be helpful for your nonprofit’s fundraising efforts.
The marketing plan should discuss how the individuals you serve are likely to find out about your organization’s services and programs along with what promotional activities will be used to reach new audiences . Outline why each activity is beneficial for growing your nonprofit and which demographic it best targets. For strategies that have already been used, provide specific figures on results achieved.
Below are sample promotional activities that many nonprofit organizations use:
Developing relationships with the media and utilizing earned media coverage helps with free public exposure. This in turn gets the word out about an organization’s mission. For example, you can create press releases related to new staff additions or upcoming events and share them with your media contacts.
Social media sites allow organizations to stay connected with supporters and advocates at any time of day. There are different social media platforms that work for different organizations. For example, Twitter is a great way to have quick conversations with people about an issue. Facebook is a good place for sharing more in-depth content and articles on a particular subject area. LinkedIn is a platform where you can build your network of contacts and share information about your organization or topic area.
Producing great content for blogs or other channels can be an extremely effective way to bring people back to your site or area of social media where they are more likely to donate. A blog can allow you to have conversations with supporters and advocates, answer questions, give more information about your organization or cause, and talk about the issues in your community. In addition, the use of photos, videos, infographics, etc., is a great way to get information across in a compelling manner.
Sending out an e-newsletter is a great way to engage your supporters. You can include links back to your website, send updates about your organization, share compelling videos or photos from recent events, etc. Just make sure your audience has opted in to hear from you and be sure you don’t spam their inboxes with constant updates every day.
Organizing special events around a particular subject area is a good way to inform the public about an issue or about your organization. Some examples of events are panel discussions about a subject, fundraising dinners, etc. Webinars have grown in popularity with nonprofits in recent years as well. With so many options for virtual, hybrid or in-person gatherings, you’ll be sure to find a way to boost your nonprofit’s audience and growth.
Just because digital marketing has grown doesn’t mean that traditional media isn’t viable. Unfortunately, this can be one component of advertising that nonprofits often neglect due to lack of funds. Adding an ad to the back of a newspaper with some basic information about what you do, how people can get involved, and what you are looking for in terms of volunteers, donors, etc., is still a great way to spread the word.
Don’t forget about pay-per-click advertising on search engines like Google. This makes it possible to drive traffic to your website based on specific keywords your target audience searches or pages they visit online. You can write compelling ads that allow you to get the word out about what your organization does.
This section should describe in detail how your nonprofit runs or plans to run its business day-to-day. Outline internal systems that will be used to track and monitor each product, service, or program offered by the organization (e.g., accounting software). Describe what kind of training employees may need to perform their duties effectively. Also include information about whether future hiring plans are scheduled. If so, mention whether all positions will need to be filled immediately or if some can be temporarily contracted out until permanent staff is hired. Finally, create a chart showing the milestones your organization hopes to achieve annually over the next five years.
Provide a list of important management team members within your organization. Make sure to include each person’s title, how long they have been working there, and what responsibilities are part of their role. For each person, include any previous experience they have as well as personal traits that would help them succeed in it. If there are no existing employees with enough business expertise to serve certain roles, list the qualifications the ideal candidate would possess instead.
In this section of your business plan, provide a detailed breakdown of how much funding you are seeking broken down by category (e.g., marketing, staffing, etc.). Provide information about how much revenue is expected from donors and customers compared to funds needed to cover operating costs such as salaries, advertising, and rent. If the organization already has an existing revenue stream, explain how new funding will be used to fund new operations.
The appendix is a good place for any additional information that you would like readers of your nonprofit business plan to have. This includes additional industry research and information on your products, services, or programs. It might also include testimonials from satisfied customers or profiles of board members. Or, it might include architectural designs of a new facility you hope to build.
In summary, a nonprofit business plan is a document that outlines your nonprofit organization’s goals and objectives. A well-written, comprehensive plan can help you attract funding from potential donors or investors. It will also provide clarity to stakeholders by giving them an understanding of your vision for the organization’s future growth.
Nonprofit management, october 19, 2021, you may also enjoy.
Community is the New Commodity - Lacroy Nixon Starting a nonprofit organization is a daunting...
Aug 16, 2024 | 2 Minute Read
From securing and managing grants to strategic planning to stewarding supporter relationships,...
Aug 14, 2024 | 7 Minute Read
Making the Most of Google Grants - Sean Littman Everyone in the nonprofit space is talking...
Aug 9, 2024 | 2 Minute Read
Whether you’re with a large team or a solo entrepreneur looking to start the next great cause, we have a membership package that will help you grow your network and your cause.
While a nonprofit business plan is similar to that of a for-profit company, it has a few important differences, including the need for a fundraising section.
Ready to start your business?
by Sandra Beckwith
Sandra Beckwith has been writing for traditional and online publications since she sold her first magazine article wh...
Read more...
Updated on: June 20, 2023 · 3 min read
Fundraising section is essential, keep it real.
While nonprofit organizations are purpose-driven rather than profit-driven, they have a great deal in common with their for-profit counterparts.
"We may be governed by a different part of the tax code and exempt from some—but not all—taxes, but we are businesses, too," says Rick Cohen, chief operating officer at the National Council of Nonprofits.
Like other types of businesses, successful nonprofits outline their goals and how they will achieve them in a written document known as a business plan.
A nonprofit's business plan is similar to that used by a for-profit entity but has key differences. Here's what you need to know about how to write a nonprofit business plan.
For-profit business plans detail what a company does, how it does it, who does it, and how it pays for it. A nonprofit business plan outlines that as well but approaches parts of the process differently.
The biggest difference is that nonprofit organizations focus on the problem they want to solve and how to fund programs and activities that help do that.
"Nonprofits have the added burden and opportunity of impact in their business plan," says Sara Gibson, co-founder and CEO of 20 Degrees, a consulting firm serving nonprofits. "The sector doesn't measure worth in profit—it is measured in lives and in change created. That has to be part of the plan."
Typical nonprofit business plans feature many of the following elements:
For-profit businesses might be funded initially by owners or outside investors, but the ultimate goal is usually self-sufficiency through sales. Many nonprofit organizations aren't structured or created to generate income to support their community services, so fundraising is key.
"It is critical for the sustainability of nonprofits that they are constantly being connected with grants and funders who will provide the financial resources needed for these nonprofits to continue offering quality and valuable assistance to the communities they serve," says Fernando Urbina, director of outreach for ImmigrationHelp.org.
Mikko Sperber, managing partner and founder of Fundamental Strategy, recommends taking on a for-profit business mindset when writing the fundraising section of the nonprofit business plan.
"If you build your plan to have a budget surplus at the end of your year, you then have the capital to reinvest in growing your organization and furthering your mission," he says.
The organization's communication and marketing strategy feeds fundraising goals, so be thoughtful about that piece when writing a nonprofit business plan.
"If no one knows who you are, then no one will be donating to your cause," says Mike McKnight, director of operations at Racing for Orphans with Down Syndrome.
When outlining your business plan, be realistic about fundraising and other revenue streams, then match your budget to your fundraising goal, not the other way around. "In worst-case scenarios, fundraising numbers are plugged into a budget after the programmatic expenses are figured to just offset them without a realistic plan," Sperber says.
Matching your budget to your fundraising goal is especially important because of the organization's impact on the community served, says Cohen, whose organization offers nonprofit business plan resources on its website.
"The worst thing a nonprofit can do is get to a place where people are counting on their services, but then need to close their doors, leaving those people in the lurch," he says.
To ensure your organization's business plan properly supports your mission, consider consulting with professionals such as nonprofit advisers and attorneys specializing in this sector.
Keep your nonprofit business plan handy, too. It's your organizational blueprint, but you'll also need to update it as circumstances or market conditions change.
You may also like
Why Do I Need to Conduct a Trademark Search?
By knowing what other trademarks are out there, you will understand if there is room for the mark that you want to protect. It is better to find out early, so you can find a mark that will be easier to protect.
July 31, 2024 · 4min read
What Is a Power of Attorney (POA)? A Comprehensive Guide
Setting up a power of attorney to make your decisions when you can't is a smart thing to do because you never know when you'll need help from someone you trust.
July 28, 2024 · 16min read
For nonprofit organizations, the business-planning process offers a rare opportunity to step back and look at the organization as a whole. It is a time to connect the dots between mission and programs, to specify the resources that will be required to deliver those programs, and to establish performance measures that allow everyone to understand whether the desired results are being achieved. As a result, it encourages strategic thinking, not only while the plan is being created, but also thereafter, as implementation leads to new challenges and the need to make new decisions and tradeoffs.
Combined with our overview article, Business Planning for Nonprofits: What It Is and Why It Matters , the sample nonprofit business plans below can act as guides for your own organization's plan.
Harnessing ai for social good: insights from the frontlines.
Guiding principles to ground artificial intelligence discussions before your nonprofit dives into its possibilities.
Nonprofits can achieve strategic clarity by keeping in mind these three lessons we’ve learned from working with scores of leadership teams on developing their strategy.
A new study by The Bridgespan Group explores the funding strategies of large US-based nonprofits and reveals two key findings.
The importance of strategic planning for nonprofit organizations.
Rita L. Soronen, President & CEO, Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption .
Strategic planning is integral to the success of every nonprofit organization. These plans serve as road maps that guide nonprofits, ensuring actions align with an organization’s mission and goals. Additionally, strategic plans function as accountability tools, providing a framework for decision-making, developing timelines and resource allocation.
One of the key benefits of strategic planning is the opportunity for reflection. By taking a step back from day-to-day operations to examine an organization’s broader ecosystem, key audiences—including staff, members of the board and other partners—can assess how well a nonprofit’s current mission, goals and tactics are serving the organization and adjust as necessary.
Each strategic planning process differs slightly depending on an organization’s needs. Every strategic plan, however, should leave key audiences with a clear understanding of and alignment with an organization’s goals, objectives and tactics.
• Goals: The first step of a strategic plan should be to identify an organization’s goals, which represent its broader and often long-term aspirations. Goals provide a sense of a nonprofit’s vision for the future and what the organization seeks to accomplish. Goals should be ambitious yet accomplishable.
• Objectives: The next step is to determine objectives, which should break down each goal into actionable and attainable milestones. Objectives provide key audiences with a plan for how an organization’s goals will be reached. Objectives should be concrete and measurable, ensuring that progress toward a nonprofit’s goals can be tracked and evaluated.
• Tactics: Next, a strategic plan should identify tactics that can be used to support a nonprofit’s objectives. Tactics are the practical means through which objectives are accomplished. Tactics ensure that the necessary resources and actions are in place to execute the strategic plan effectively and can include components such as integrated marketing and communications, fundraising, education and training, hiring practices, diversity, equity and inclusion programs, software upgrades, communication tools and more.
Strategic plans are time-consuming and require full and active participation from a nonprofit’s CEO, staff, board and key allies. An organization should therefore undergo a planning process frequently enough to be useful but not so often as to become overly burdensome. At the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, we undergo a strategic planning process every three years. Each department also engages in extensive yearly planning to help move the organization toward reaching key metrics outlined in the organization’s overall strategic plan.
It is critical to the success of a nonprofit’s strategic plan that an outside consultant facilitate the process. Internal staff, board members and partners are too close to the organization to be neutral. An outside consultant creates a safe and impartial space for key audiences to provide honest feedback on the organization's strengths and areas that require improvement. The added capacity provided by a consultant can also help ensure the day-to-day work of the organization continues throughout the intensive strategic planning process.
A good consultant should begin by conducting interviews with key individuals within the organization, including leadership, select staff members and board representatives. These interviews provide the consultant with a comprehensive understanding of the organization's goals, challenges and capabilities. By investing time and effort into deep, thorough interviews, a consultant can gather valuable insights and perspectives from key audiences, enabling them to identify critical issues and opportunities.
In addition to internal interviews, a consultant should actively seek input from external audiences who have a vested interest in the organization's success. This includes funders, policymakers and allied organizations. By engaging with various perspectives, a consultant gains a better understanding of the organization's impact within its sector and some of the external factors that may influence its strategic direction.
An essential responsibility of the consultant is to create an accountability plan as part of the strategic planning process. This deliverable should clearly outline each goal, objective and tactic identified during the strategic planning process along with clear assignments of responsibility. This fosters a sense of ownership and commitment among members of the team. Additionally, a consultant should leave the organization with a timeline for executing the plan and a process to monitor and evaluate it.
While executing a strategic plan, an organization will encounter barriers inhibiting its success. These obstacles should not be perceived as failures but as opportunities for collaboration around lessons learned and new ideas to reach a goal. For instance, following our strategic planning process in 2006, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption devised an aggressive campaign to move 10,000 children out of foster care and into permanent, loving homes across the United States and Canada. However, it took the organization longer than three years to reach this milestone.
Though achieving this goal was an extended journey, the challenges and barriers provided us with an important opportunity to evaluate internal tactics and, when necessary, engage external expertise. During each strategic planning process, we examined holes in previous plans that prevented us from success and adapted, as necessary. Often, we found ourselves asking the following types of questions:
• What additional resources do we need to reach this goal?
• What additional education and training do staff and board members need?
• What shifts in state and local policies need to occur?
A strategic plan is not merely a checklist approved by the board and handed to the staff to execute or sit on a shelf; it is a dynamic guide. Unforeseen circumstances or competing pressures can delay or derail a goal established in a strategic plan. This is not a marker of a strategic plan’s failure but rather an opportunity to assess, adapt and grow for the benefit of the nonprofit’s mission and the populations it serves.
Forbes Nonprofit Council is an invitation-only organization for chief executives in successful nonprofit organizations. Do I qualify?
Heather Marie Vitale
CNN Underscored Money
Published 10:30 AM EDT, Wed March 13, 2024
Man working at home --> iStock/damircudic
Ready to start a business? You’ll need to write a business plan. Business plans can seem intimidating, but you’ve already done the hard part of coming up with an idea. While business plans can take some time to develop, they allow you to think through your strategy, understand the market and discover what gives your business an edge.
Follow our guide to learn how to write a business plan.
We receive compensation from our partners for Featured Offer placements, which impacts how and where their offer is displayed.
A business plan outlines your vision, goals, strategies and financial projections for launching and growing a successful business. Think of it as a road map leading you through each step of your business’s structure, including its products and services, future customer base, unique attributes and vision for success. It also allows you to uncover any potential weaknesses in your business idea and strategy and develop solutions to anticipated problems in the future.
As Megan Taylor Morrison, founder of MTM Coaching and Consulting, puts it:
“A business plan is like a thought exercise that gets you in the space of discovering who you serve, what you do and what your competition is. It forces you to answer questions now that you would have to answer later on.”
Business plans are also critical for obtaining funding and attracting investors and business partners. Before agreeing to invest in you and your business, your benefactors need to understand your business and what kind of return on investment they can expect. In addition to your financial projections, investors and lenders will want to see your operations plan, market and competition research, and target customer base to get a full picture of your business. Typically, lenders and investors require a business plan before agreeing to fund your business.
Related : How to start a business in 2024: Your step-by-step handbook
The short answer: It depends.
The long answer: If you’re launching a self-funded solo business, a business plan will likely serve as an internal planning document that can help you determine how to operate and grow your company. You might not need to share your business plan with anyone, but taking the time to formally set goals, strategize, calculate financial projections and organize your ideas can be invaluable. It forces you to answer important questions now that you would otherwise have to answer down the line, perhaps after learning a costly lesson.
If your business is more involved — has multiple owners, requires outside funding, involves your intellectual property, operates in a concentrated market, etc. — then a business plan is critical to helping you and future partners and investors understand your specific vision, goals and plans for making your business a success.
The more you can do to strategize and think through your business before you launch, the better.
Although there isn’t one specific way to write a business plan, you should pick the format that will best showcase your business. There are two main types of business plans: traditional and lean startup.
Traditional business plans are the most common — and most comprehensive — format. Each section of a traditional business plan provides a detailed overview of your business’s structure, leadership, strategy, products and services, and financial projections. Traditional business plans require a lot of research, careful planning and dedicated time to write but will save you time and money down the line by helping you anticipate problems and streamline how you make decisions.
Lean startup plans are shorter and more simplified, offering a high-level view of your business that’s focused on a few key elements, such as flexibility and continuous adaptation. A lean startup plan is right for you if you’re looking to launch and develop quickly or if you intend to regularly adapt and refine your business plan. Lean startup plans use bullet points and charts to demonstrate your company’s focus and purpose, key activities, leadership, general target customers, competitors, revenue streams and expenses. Typically these plans are no longer than one page.
You can find traditional and lean startup business plan examples on the US Small Business Administration’s website; in addition, the small-business mentorship organization SCORE provides business plan templates .
You’ve learned why a business plan is important and what types are out there, but how do you write a business plan? The below sections describe the most common and key elements of a traditional business plan layout:
The executive summary is your elevator pitch — your bottom line upfront. You’ll summarize the key points from the entire document, pulling the most important information from each section, including a business description, mission statement, market overview, operations strategy and general financial projections.
Your executive summary should be thorough enough that someone could get a solid understanding of your business from only reading the summary, but not so thorough that they get lost in the details. Keep it to one or two pages.
To make things easier for yourself, write this section last. By then you’ll have a stronger understanding of your whole business plan and can more easily pull the key information you’ll need to highlight in your executive summary.
Think of your mission statement as your business’s ultimate why: It defines your business’s purpose, goals and values. It also clarifies how you’ll meet those objectives. It helps someone understand the crux of your business in 100 words or less. The high-level overview should be impactful and resonate with future business partners, investors, employees and customers.
Due to their short length, mission statements can be tricky to get right: There’s so much to say in so few words. Focus on the most essential elements of what your business does, who you serve and how. For inspiration, visit the websites of your competitors and other businesses you admire to see how they approached their mission statements.
There’s no set location for your mission statement in a business plan, and it can be a standalone section or included in the executive summary or business description.
The business description details why your company exists: It describes what it sells, what it does and what makes it unique. You should tailor your business description to highlight your company and what it does best.
Here are some of the most common elements to include in a business description:
Your market research and analysis section demonstrates your understanding of your target market. Detail the current status of the industry, consumer demand, business trends and how your competitors are stacking up.
Use these critical questions to guide your thinking:
The operational structure section describes how your business is organized and managed.
Identify your business’s legal structure. This includes sole proprietorships, partnerships, limited liability companies and corporations. Read more about business structures in our sole proprietorship vs. LLC and LLC vs. corporation guides.
Provide a detailed organization chart that explains how your business is staffed, starting with management. This will include information about each role and the ownership of each partner or staff member.
Related: Explore our guide to the best business formation services .
The product and service summary section is where to share the specifics of what your business offers. Get detailed: This is the space to show off your talents, innovations and ideas. Always note if your business has a claim to any intellectual property that needs protection , including all certifications, patents, trademarks, copyrights or any pending filings.
Although you need to tailor this section to your specific products and services, your summary should include some of the following:
The marketing and sales plan section details how you’re applying your market research to a strategy in line with your overall business goals. Your plan should reflect your unique business, so get creative with how you can best showcase what you have to offer.
Your primary focus is to detail your marketing and sales goals. These can be answers to questions, such as how you’ll attract and retain customers, set your business apart from your competitors and make your sales.
Your marketing and sales plan should include these elements:
You may want to keep a separate, internal nuts-and-bolts version of your plan that explains how you’ll execute your strategy. This helps cut bulk in your business plan and focus on the bigger picture.
Your financial plan section includes your financial projections and funding requirements (if applicable). This section is critical to prove to potential lenders, investors and business partners that your business will be a success and a sound investment. Be thorough and honest: You’re only hurting yourself and your business if you miscalculate or underrepresent your financial plan.
While developing your projections, try modeling outcomes for different possibilities, including best- and worst-case scenarios. This can help reviewers understand your logic and demonstrate that your business is built to weather major storms. It can also help you locate some weak points in your financial plans that you may be able to fix preemptively.
Generally, your projections should provide a financial outlook for the next three to five years. If your business is already operational, supplement your projections with your existing financial data to provide a bigger picture. Although your reviewer may ask for specific documents, here are the most common financial documents and data you’ll want to include:
If you’re not sure how to get started with your financial plans and projections, try SCORE’s financial projections template or its other financial templates .
The appendix is the space to provide additional documents that a potential lender or investor requested or additional support to prove the viability of your business.
Typically this includes the following:
Be judicious with what you include in the appendix: Adding too many documents will significantly increase the bulk of your business plan. Tailor your appendices to your audience by only including what a specific reviewer will need to see.
While there isn’t one single way to write a business plan, you can save yourself time, money, stress and (maybe) your business by avoiding some common pitfalls.
A business plan is your road map to starting, launching and growing your business. It’ll help you refine and strengthen your business idea, build a marketing and sales strategy, understand your competition, and accomplish your goals. It’s also important for getting outside funding from lenders and investors.
Artificial intelligence (AI) can make it easier to write a business plan by giving you structure and some content, but it can’t come up with your ideas. Always review what the AI wrote afterward to check for mistakes and expand on underdeveloped sections.
A traditional business plan should include an executive summary, a business description, market research, a business structure, a products and services overview, a marketing plan, your financial projections and an appendix (as needed).
Business plans can vary in length depending on several factors, including the type of business and the structure of the business plan. There isn’t a specific length for a business plan, but typically traditional business plans are 15-20 pages long. Lean startup business plans are around one page in length.
Editorial Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines, hotel chain, or other commercial entity and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of such entities.
This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended and should not be understood to constitute financial, investment, insurance or legal advice. All individuals are encouraged to seek advice from a qualified financial professional before making any financial, insurance or investment decisions.
Note: While the offers mentioned above are accurate at the time of publication, they're subject to change at any time and may have changed or may no longer be available.
COMMENTS
Step 3: Outline. Create an outline of your nonprofit business plan. Write out everything you want your plan to include (e.g. sections such as marketing, fundraising, human resources, and budgets). An outline helps you focus your attention. It gives you a roadmap from the start, through the middle, and to the end.
Avoid using jargon, acronyms, or any unfamiliar terms. Write for a general audience, and you'll be more likely to keep the reader engaged. 2. Outline your plan. Make a nonprofit business plan outline. Once you know what information will be put into the plan, you'll understand what data you need to source to write it.
How to Write a. Nonprofit Business Plan. A nonprofit business plan ensures your organization's fundraising and activities align with your core mission. All of the parts of your business plan, from the executive summary to the fundraising and impact plans, should align with your nonprofit's central mission. — Getty Images/Maskot.
A nonprofit business plan is required if you want to secure funding from grant-making organizations or investors. A well-crafted business plan will help you: Define your organization's purpose and goals. Articulate your vision for the future. Develop a step-by-step plan to achieve your goals. Secure funding from investors or donors.
Operational Plan: Explain the day-to-day operations of your nonprofit and spotlight the people who'll make it happen. Marketing Plan: Outline the channels and methods you use to drive your campaigns. Impact Plan: Describe the impact you'd like your organization to make and include the impact you've already had.
Step 1: Write a mission statement. Having a mission statement is essential for any company, but even more so for nonprofits. Your markers of success are not just how the organization performs financially, but the impact it makes for your cause. One of the easiest ways to do this is by creating a mission statement.
Learn how to create a business plan for your nonprofit organization that answers key questions about your mission, vision, activities, revenue, expenses, and risks. Find out the basic components and format of a business plan, and get additional resources and tips from experts.
Step 6: Create a financial plan. Develop a detailed budget and financial projections for your nonprofit. Identify potential revenue streams, such as grants, donations, fundraising events, membership fees, and earned income. Estimate expenses for staffing, programs, operations, and overhead costs. .
Executive summary. The executive summary of a nonprofit business plan is typically the first section of the plan to be read, but the last to be written. That's because this section is a general overview of everything else in the business plan - the overall snapshot of what your vision is for the organization. Write it as though you might ...
The first step in writing a nonprofit business plan is to conduct a feasibility study. This study will help to determine whether or not the nonprofit is viable and whether or not it has the potential to be successful. The feasibility study should include an assessment of the current market, an examination of the competition, and a review of the ...
11. Outline the Financial Plan. One of the main reasons people want to know how to write a nonprofit business plan is because of how essential it is to receiving funding. Loan providers, donors and granting bodies will want to see your numbers—and that's where your Financial Plan comes in.
Define your mission and vision. Clearly state what your organization aims to achieve and the change it wants to bring about. Outline your programs and services. Detail how you plan to achieve your mission. Break down your offerings, explaining the impact and benefit of each. Determine your organizational structure.
The business planning process involves the following steps: Researching the market, using a resource such as GuideStar, to see who else might be doing what the nonprofit plans to offer. Investigating the resources the nonprofit will need to provide the service. Devising marketing and communication strategies. Assessing risk.
If your nonprofit is already established, let your reader know what your marketing plan has been in the past, what has worked, and how you plan to expand it. 5. Operational Plan. This section should describe both day-to-day operations and long-term plans for operating your programs.
Here's the components you need to write a successful business plan for your nonprofit: 1. Executive Summary. An executive summary allows the organization to make a lasting first impression to the audience. This part contains the outline of the objectives, problem statement, and overall mission of the nonprofit.
Step 2: Outline your plan. Make a nonprofit business plan outline that covers the main sections of your plan. These include: Executive summary: A brief overview of your nonprofit's mission, vision, goals, strategies, and financial summary. Learn more on business plan executive summary. Organization Overview: A description of your nonprofit ...
Step 3: Write Your Outline. An outline will help you organize your writing and focus on vital information. You should draft an outline for your business plan that includes your mission statement, budget, marketing, fundraising and financial model, volunteers, programs, board, goals, etc. Step 4: Explain Your Offerings.
A nonprofit business plan template includes fields that cover the foundational elements of a business plan, including: The overarching purpose of your nonprofit. Its long and short-term goals. An outline of how you'll achieve these goals. The template also controls the general layout of the business plan, like recommended headings, sub ...
Let's get started and get into the nonprofit business plan outline: 1. Create an executive summary. The executive summary provides a synopsis of the whole business plan. Business people prefer to write this section last, after gaining knowledge of every other section.
Executive Summary. Start your nonprofit business plan by clearly stating your organization's mission and describing how it plans on reaching its goals. Include a concise description of what makes your organization stand out among competitors (e.g., "We are the only non-profit animal welfare organization in XYZ county" or "Our college ...
That has to be part of the plan." Typical nonprofit business plans feature many of the following elements: Executive summary. Mission and goals. Community impact. Products, services, and programs. Organizational structure and staffing. Audiences. Market and competitive analysis.
Starting a Nonprofit and wondering how to write a nonprofit business plan? Here are 8 things to include in your plan for a new nonprofit organization. #Nonpr...
Sample business plans from nonprofit organizations with which The Bridgespan Group has worked. For nonprofit organizations, the business-planning process offers a rare opportunity to step back and look at the organization as a whole. It is a time to connect the dots between mission and programs, to specify the resources that will be required to ...
Strategic planning is integral to the success of every nonprofit organization. These plans serve as road maps that guide nonprofits, ensuring actions align with an organization's mission and goals.
4. Understand your target audience: nonprofit marketing plan template. A marketing persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal donor, volunteer, or supporter. These personas are based on your existing supporters and define their most appealing characteristics that suit your campaign.
Not updating your business plan: After you write a business plan, the world will continue to change. Your industry, market and customer base will evolve — and so should your business plan.
thinking about forming a §501(c)(3) nonprofit take Pro Bono Partnership's on-demand webinar, Starting a Nonprofit: Upsides, Downsides and Alternatives. For more information on starting up or maintaining a tax-exempt organization and required filings, or for a listing of helpful resources during the start-up phase, please call
You will learn the purpose, structure, and requirements of a business plan. Each crucial section of the business plan will be reviewed and key elements will be discussed. It will be my goal to provide attendees with a 'blueprint' on how to write a winning business plan.