Strategic Planning through a Racial Equity Lens

Conduct Comprehensive Assessment

Determine Priorities, Goals

Design Implementation Plan

During strategic planning an organization determines its priorities for the next 3-5 years. That list of priorities is then used to create goals that will serve as a guide for how the work of the organization will be done. Layering on a racial equity lens, both in the creation process and in the plan itself, ensures that the organization’s work is rooted in racial equity, not as an afterthought, but as pivotal to how the organization functions. This is important because, although nonprofit organizations do some of the most important work in this country to support communities and individuals, they also are in a position to do significant harm. Racist systems are present everywhere in this country, including our organizations. By proactively working to dismantle those systems and do work through an anti-racist/racial equity lens, organizations are able to minimize the harm they might unintentionally cause, while enhancing the positive and meaningful impact of their work and the strategic planning process for everyone involved.   

Our strategic planning process includes the components of any strategic planning process, but those components are enhanced through the work of embedding them in racial equity. This means that we look at what is contained in your plan as well as how that plan is created. Below are some examples of how this work is done. However, please note that we are able to customize our work so that it fits your organization’s needs.

How We Embed Racial Equity into a Strategic Plan

  • A comprehensive assessment is conducted; results are utilized to inform the rest of the planning process.
    • We help facilitate an assessment and the process for administering it that are, whenever possible, designed with significant input and guidance from people with lived experience of racism and other forms of oppression and the assessment includes questions about racial equity at the organization.
    • We work with organizations to include participants in the assessment so that there is a representative sample of people with lived experience of racism and other relevant forms of oppression.
  • Mission and values are created or reviewed/edited.
    • Mission and values explicitly cite the organization’s commitment to racial equity. 
    • Values help determine who the organization is accountable to. 
  • Organizational priorities are determined.
    • The updated mission and values are used to guide the process of determining organizational priorities, including how those priorities will intersect with racial equity. 
  • 3-5 goals are created that will move the organization closer to achieving its mission when those goals are successfully completed.
    • Goals include components that explicitly push racial equity forward at the organization. 
  • An implementation plan is created to outline steps to achieve the strategic plan’s goals and includes evaluation metrics
    • The steps include specific ways in which successfully completed goals move the organization forward in its efforts to align with racial equity.

How We Embed Racial Equity into a Strategic Planning Process 

  • The process used is emergent to better accommodate the needs of those participating in the creation of the strategic plan and to incorporate knowledge gained throughout the experience. 
  • The entire planning process is centered in kindness and care for each other over productivity. Unnecessary urgency, perfectionism, binary thinking, and other fear based ways of working are explicitly pointed out to gently guide the group back to aligning with anti-racism and racial equity.
  • The organization creates a planning team utilizing provided guidelines to ensure marginalized voices are represented to the greatest degree possible.
  • A planning meeting is held with the team to determine and care for accessibility needs for the entire planning process such as communication, attending meetings, decision making structure, technology, etc.
  • Facilitation of meetings is done so that people who have lived experience with racism and other relevant forms of oppression lead idea generation and decision making as much as possible. 
  • There are frequent opportunities to provide feedback for those not on the planning team. 
  • There is time taken to discuss the process as well as the plan to ensure that those who hold marginalized identities are not burdened by either. 
  • Conversations are regularly held to ascertain whether or not racial equity was thoughtfully included during various parts of the process. 

If this kind of strategic planning process that CommunityConnective facilitates through a racial equity lens feels like it might be a good fit for your organization, please contact us so that we can discuss creating your next plan together.

Her kindness is a balm. I like that even though we were familiar with them, going over the ground rules each month helped settle and place us. I appreciated the resources and have used many of them since.
Accountability and validation, thoughtful and thought provoking. She cares deeply about the subject.

She worked to make sure all voices were heard and that people participated. She is very kind and thoughtful and clearly has passion for this work
★★★★★

I have had the pleasure of working with Heidi, Prerna, and Rebecca for the past three years, and I cannot emphasize enough how invaluable their contributions have been to the education and progress of our organization. Their dedication and commitment to our mission have been truly remarkable.

Traci Rivera

Formerly The Night Ministry Chief of Staff

★★★★★

During 2020, post the murder of George Floyd, my organization was in dire need of external assistance to sort through the many emotions flowing through staff. With the help of Heidi Massey’s expertise in social justice and racial equity, her anti-racist work was just what we needed at the time we needed it most. Not only did Heidi help plan the structure and assisted with the facilitation of our racial caucuses, her work started the healing process that was essential in changing the workplace culture around race and building allies. We are more than grateful to have partnered with CommunityConnective and truly value Heidi’s expertise.

Tracy Bishop

Tracy Bishop

Forest Preserves of Cook County Director of Permits, Rentals and Concessions

★★★★★

I’ve had the pleasure of learning from and partnering with Heidi in a variety of ways over the last 10 years – in one to one and small group sessions, workshops, panels, and more! She is a highly skilled, versatile, and conscious facilitator and thought leader in the equity, social justice, and leadership spaces. Heidi’s knowledge base and experience is deep, and she also partners well with other facilitators to ensure the voices and lived experience of diverse participant groups are present. Every learning experience I’ve had with Heidi has been transformative.

Alex Cornwell

Alex Cornwell

Chicago Lights Director of Evaluation and Impact Racial Equity & Social Justice Committee Co-Chair, Chicago Women in Philanthropy

★★★★★

They nurtured my belief that vulnerability is an important value of a leader when changing the culture of an organization that seeks to embody diversity, equity, and inclusivity. Working with Prerna and Heidi through our coaching sessions helped to pay more attention to my inner voice, to trust my intuition, to be open to make mistakes, and to respect the pace of inclusive processes during the construction and implementation of policies and decision-making.

Rev. Carlos Reyes Rodríguez

Rev. Carlos Reyes Rodríguez

Immigration Law & Justice Network Culture & Outreach Manager

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