Business Plans and Work Plans

1. Business Plans and Work Plans Facilitated by: Caroline Egan Carmichael Centre for Voluntary Groups

2. Business Planning and Management Requires: • Leadership – invest in team development • Decision-making and structure • People- get the right people on the bus! Allocate work and key responsibilities • Effective work processes and systems (continuous improvement) • All revolving around a culture of effective behaviours that facilitates the capacity to change • Don’t forget “key wins” throughout the year

3. Where to begin?

4. Identify Project Outputs and Outcomes • Outputs: What and how much gets produced or delivered (usually expressed in quantitative measures) • Outcomes: The difference made. What are the short and long term benefits of the activity?

5. Example: The Youth Project The aim of the project is to reduce criminal activity by offering support and group work to young people Inputs: staff, budget, venue, advertising Outputs: One-to-one support sessions, outings, group work Outcomes: After the project young people will be more confident, aware of alternatives to crime and training Long term change: Less social exclusion and less criminal activity

6. Social Entrepreneurship “Social entrepreneurship is about innovation and impact. Not income.” Joseph A. Schumpeter Social enterprises are organisations whose mission is to bridge social opportunity into sustainable reality innovatively, effectively and efficiently. They focus on the sustainability of their solutions by generating strategic value to their stakeholders, which have measurable social/environmental/economic outcomes for their beneficiaries, develop strategic fit as well as social return on capital that match their donors/investors’ preferences and, in many cases, earning income from products and services

7. Social Entrepreneurship Process PROCESS CHANGE Inputs Activities Outputs Outcomes Goals Mission

8. Social Enterprise Concept • The problems (opportunity) • Vision & Mission • Theory of Change • The Solution • Social Impact • The Team • Financial Summary

9. Scenario Planning: Scenarios • Tool … that organisations can use to help them imagine and manage the future more effectively. • Process … highlights the principal drivers of change and associated uncertainties facing an organisation at present and explores how they might play out in the future. • Result … a set of stories that offer alternative views of what the future might look like.

10. Example of 2 x 2 Schematic Strong Labour Market Anything Possible Business Remains the Same People feel empowered People feel disenfranchised Social networking dominant Society Meltdown Depressed Labour Market

11. Business Plans: A Management Tool • Communicating specific goals and objectives • Promoting efficiencies • Identifying opportunities for improvement • Establishing performance guidelines • Raising funds • Guiding the implementation of capacity building initiatives ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL – Tailor business plan to the audience!

12. Business Planning – Why do we plan in non-profits? • To understand the deployment of people and resources • To prevent contractual delays and fines • To fulfil contractual agreements • To achieve significant cost savings by ensuring appropriate and effective allocation of resources

13. Operational Plan – Typical Descriptive Content • General info e.g. opening hours and days • Physical plant • Equipment • Assets • Special requirements • Materials • Service delivery (production) • Inventory • Feasibility • Cost the Work

14. SMART Actions SMART Actions are • Specific • Measurable • Achievable • Realistic • Time framed

15. Practical Question: • What have been your organisational stumbling blocks in improving your operations? What have you done to address them?