Stealing Smart: For-Profit Best Practices for Nonprofits

"These are strategic ideas that a nonprofit has to think about in addition to measuring the day-to-day activities," Delaney says. "… Some nonprofits tend to get so lost in the weeds that sometimes they lose track of where they're really going."

That's where the strategic plan comes in. It looks at not only what the organization is doing, but how what it's doing today affects tomorrow … and how the needs of both the organization and its constituents will change in the future. Then the foundation can be laid for the steps the organization needs to take.