Allison, Michael & Kaye, Jude. "Why Plan?" Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1997. http://www.genie.org Strategic Planning FAQ #1.
In this article, the authors discuss the importance of strategic planning. Not only do they discuss the importance of having the plan but also the specific way to obtaining that plan. The authors describe a successful process as one that supports the organization — involving all members from stakeholders to volunteers, and even the community. There should be a consensus reached about the end results they are being attempted (goals and objectives) and the way to go about accomplishing those results (internal vision, programs, etc). The planning process they present is called the "ends" and "means" plan. The following chart is how they explain this:

Means		Ends
Internal Vision		External Vision
Business		Purpose
Programs and Internal Management		Goals
Activities		Objectives

The article suggests that when implementing, your plan should be "tight on ends and loose on means!"

Canales, James E.; Kibble, Barbara D.; Terk, Natasha. "One Step Beyond Strategic Planning." Foundation News & Commentary, Vol.41 Issue 5 Sep/Oct. 2000.
This article explains that restructuring is going beyond the steps of strategic planning. Restructuring involves expanding by merging, or new partnerships including joint ventures, or a consolidation of two or more organizations. The article discusses lessons and observations of restructuring. More and more nonprofits are choosing to restructure so they can maximize resources and minimize needs and liabilities while working toward a similar goal. Strategy is extremely important for all organizations and restructuring is another strategic tool to help nonprofits build a stronger organization. It can be difficult and expensive at first but will save money in the long run. The three authors personally help to fund various strategic restructured organizations. Since this is becoming more popular, organizations are also developing to assist in restructuring so that the high initial costs don't prevent possible beneficial mergers. However, the strongest asset of strategic restructuring is that more people are concentrating together to work toward the mission of the organization.

Carrigan, Linda. "Braking for Growth." (2000) http://www.echoinggreen.org/resource/orgdev/carr1.htm.
Organizational Development.
This article discusses the importance of planning and organizational systems. Linda Carrigan goes through three steps she feels are important in putting together an effective strategic plan. They are: 1) The Process is as Important As the Product. This step deals with including stakeholders in the process in a meaningful way, involving all parties in the decision making process, keeping it simple as to not inhibit creativity, the using consultants, and picking a process and implementing it well. 2) Let Data Drive the Process. This is a very important step. Keep your emotions out of it as to not stall the process. Data keeps it at an "objective level." Some of collection activities Carrigan considers important in creating a strategic plan include; market analysis, competitor analysis, and environmental scan. 3) Keep the Plan Off the Shelf. Carrigan discusses how many plans look great when presented but never achieve results because they are not used. Implement the plan, pick a few projects you know you can achieve and push for those first. It is important to celebrate progress with the staff when obtaining those goals. This keeps the momentum going.

Collett, Stacey. "SWOT Analysis." Computerworld, Vol.33 Issue 29, Jul.19, 1999.
A SWOT analysis is an in-depth internal look at the strengths, weaknesses of the organization, and externally at the opportunities and threats that may arise. The author concentrates on how important the analysis of a company or organization's strategy is to success. The focus of this article is the for-profit sector, however these aspects should also be carried over to the nonprofits so that they can analyze their position in the service market or society in relation to other organizations. SWOT analysis will also help to increase the effectiveness of management. The purpose of the analysis is to have a clear understanding before one takes action. The article breaks down the four-part approach to analyzing and developing strategy and lists several questions to use as guidelines for a better understanding of each of the four areas of the SWOT analysis.

Hay, Robert D. Strategic management in non-profit organizations, Westport: Greenwood Press, 1990.
Distinguishing mission, objectives and goals can be the hardest part of starting a new organization. These words can be used to describe the same thing. When building an organization's vision, the above terms need to be broken down into three different dimensions. The breakdown should be done so the mission can result the executive's perception of the service. Then an evaluation needs to be done to analyze what tasks will be needed to build the vision. This creates the fundamental duties that the organization sets out to accomplish.

Hutton, Stan. "Get Good Advice Before Launching Your NPO." http://nonprofit.about.com/careers/nonprofit/library/weekly/aa101200a.htm. October 12, 2000.
This is a very interesting article about having knowledge and a plan before you begin a nonprofit organization. The article centers on world famous baseball player Sammy Sosa. It describes how Sammy Sosa donated a 2.7 million dollar building to his hometown in the Dominican Republic to start the Sosa Foundation. It also describes how money from the foundation was used to pay for things like the moving of Sosa's yacht from Florida to the Dominican Republic, and how rent was not collected from tenants of the building whom mostly were Sosa's relatives. All in all the financial accountability was nonexistent. This was not because the foundation is a bad thing. The article describes many things the foundation does to help the community. It was just a matter of poor planning when the organization was set up. There was a lack of knowledge about keeping the personal accounts separate from the foundation accounts. It does also mention that Sosa isn't in trouble.

Polyack, Jolene. "Nonprofit Organizations Need Marketing Strategies To Meet Goals." Business Journal — Serving Fresno & the Central San Joaquin Valley, Issue 322490, Aug.2, 1999.
This article provides marketing strategies for nonprofit organizations. Four strategies were discussed. They are differentiation, competition, research, and promotion. The first strategy, differentiation, is simply setting one organization apart from other similar organizations. The second strategy was to consider other nonprofits as competition and study what has and has not been successful for them. Next was the importance of researching target markets so that an organization can communicate more effectively to people who may actually care what it has to say. An organization should also treat its existing givers or donors like a business would treat its customers — by creating value for them. Finally, the strategy of promotion is used when a nonprofit reaches potential givers either by telemarketing, direct mail, event marketing or advertising. It is important to weigh the results of each approach to see if the method used is the best way to promote the service. The author mentions that nonprofits should always communicate to the media and get them involved to create exposure. Jolene Polyack also says, "Marketing strategy can become the catalyst for achieving a nonprofit organization's goals. It will insure that your organization is receiving its fair share of the time and money available."

Ramanathon, Kavasserei V. and Hegstad, Larry P. Readings in Management Control in Nonprofit Organizations, New York: John Wiley and Son's Inc., 1982.
Kavasserei and Hegstad team together to edit this book on management control. They begin with an introduction to the nonprofit sector and continue with financial and management control. They then choose articles are useful when attempting to understand the design of management control for the unique characteristics of nonprofits. The readings include the subject of the control of expenditures for cost effectiveness. Designing the control structure is also covered. The work also covers the process of planning, programming, and budgeting. The editors conclude with readings on reporting and the evaluation of performance.

Stone, Melissa, Bigelow, Barbara, & Crittenden, William. "Research on Strategic Management in Non-Profit Organizations." Administration and Society, 1999.
This article presents an analysis of what is known and not known about strategic management activities in the world of non-profit organizations. The authors found, through analysis of previous research, that many non-profits do not conduct strategic planning. Those that do prepare a strategic plan, prepare it because it is a funding requirement. Contrary to popular belief, having board members with a business background does not influence whether or not an organization does strategic planning, while having a leader with business experience does. Leadership and planning can be linked to performance, especially when turbulent environmental conditions arise.