Rooty Tooty Fresh & Fruity: Bite-Sized Strategy Stack
A Simple Way to Dig into Strategy
For many nonprofit leaders, strategy feels like a luxury—something that’s nice to have but hard to implement. Maybe you’ve started a strategic plan, only to see it gather dust on a shelf while day-to-day demands take over. Or perhaps you never had the time to develop one in the first place because the work is urgent and constant, pulling your team in too many directions at once.
Without a clear strategy, it’s easy to feel like you’re reacting to everything—chasing funding, trying to meet community needs, and tackling projects that seem important but don’t connect to a larger goal. Your team ends up stretched thin, and decisions become harder because everything feels equally urgent.
What if strategy didn’t have to be overwhelming? What if there was a way to stay focused on what matters most—while staying nimble enough to adapt to the realities of nonprofit work? That’s where The Strategy Stack comes in.
This three-part framework offers simple, practical tools to help your team align priorities, navigate trade-offs, and take action—even if you don’t have a formal strategic plan. It’s not about doing more; it’s about doing the right things, better.
Step 1: Essential Intent – Define Your North Star
When everything feels urgent, it’s easy to get stuck trying to do it all. Essential Intent provides clarity, focusing your organization on one meaningful priority. It helps you answer: What will make the biggest impact this year?
What It Is:
Inspired by Greg McKeown’s Essentialism, an Essential Intent gives your team one clear goal to align efforts and helps guide decisions. Unlike a mission statement (which can feel broad) or objectives (which can pile up), the Essential Intent focuses on one high-impact outcome that defines success.
How to Create It:
Ask: If we could be excellent at only one thing this year, what would it be?
Define Success: How will we know when we’re done?
Use the Formula: Verb + Population + Outcome + Date
Examples of Essential Intents
Education & Youth Development:
Increase graduation rates by 5% among high school seniors by June 30.
Recruit 50 volunteer mentors for our after-school program by the end of the fall semester.
Provide 500 laptops to students in low-income areas by December 31.
Health & Human Services:
Reduce wait times for mental health appointments by 20% through virtual services by year-end.
Train 100 staff members in trauma-informed care practices by August 1.
Provide 10,000 meals to food-insecure families by March 31.
Environmental & Conservation:
Restore 50 acres of wetlands by planting 10,000 native plants by November.
Host 12 workshops to educate 500 residents on sustainable water use by year-end.
Reduce citywide waste by 15% through recycling campaigns by Q3.
Funders & Philanthropy:
Award $3 million in grants for racial equity initiatives by July 1.
Partner with 5 new grassroots organizations focused on youth employment by Q2.
Launch a new grantee capacity-building program with 50 participants by year-end.
Government Agencies:
Add 1,000 affordable housing units by the end of the fiscal year.
Increase participation in the public solar energy program by 10% by June 30.
Cut emergency response times by 15% by hiring 30 EMTs by December.
Your Essential Intent becomes the north star that guides your decisions, helping your team focus on what matters most.
Step 2: Even/Over Statements – Navigate Trade-Offs with Confidence
Even with a clear intent, competing priorities will always emerge. Even/Over statements help clarify which values your team will prioritize, ensuring everyone can make decisions in alignment with your strategy.
What It Is:
An Even/Over statement frames two good things, making it clear which one will take priority. These 3-5 core statements guide decision-making throughout the year.
How to Create Them:
Identify Key Trade-Offs: What two important things might compete?
Use the Formula: “We prioritize X, even over Y.”
Develop 3-5 Core Statements: These should reflect your values and priorities for the year.
Examples of Even/Over Statements
Education & Youth Development:
Support student well-being, even over meeting standardized testing benchmarks.
Develop teacher collaboration, even over completing lesson plans faster.
Health & Human Services:
Focus on patient care quality, even over expanding service capacity.
Prioritize staff well-being, even over faster case processing.
Environmental & Conservation:
Protect biodiversity, even over increasing visitor revenue.
Engage local communities, even over meeting national metrics.
Funders & Philanthropy:
Invest in long-term solutions, even over quick, measurable wins.
Support innovation, even over proven models.
Government Agencies:
Engage community voices, even over hitting implementation deadlines.
Focus on equity outcomes, even over efficiency goals.
Even/Over statements empower your team to make consistent decisions without second-guessing, freeing up leadership to focus on high-level priorities.
Step 3: 90-Day Strategy Cycle – Build Momentum through Focused Action
A great plan means nothing without execution. 90-day strategy cycles break big goals into focused, actionable sprints that build momentum and allow space for learning.
What It Is:
A 90-day strategy cycle aligns your team around one core priority for the next quarter, clears the decks of distractions, and uses weekly check-ins to ensure progress.
How to Run a 90-Day Strategy Cycle:
Set the Focus as a Team: Agree on one priority aligned with your Essential Intent.
Clear the Decks: Use a prioritization matrix to remove low-impact tasks. [Insert link to matrix tool].
Hold Weekly Action Meetings: Meet briefly each week to track progress and make adjustments.
Reflect and Reset: At the end of 90 days, review what worked and plan the next cycle.
Example Cycle:
Priority: Launch a youth mentorship program.
First Action: Recruit 20 mentors by month-end.
Weekly Focus: Track mentor outreach and adjust messaging as needed.
End of Cycle: Evaluate program launch and prepare for impact assessment.
This approach ensures your team stays focused, aligned, and adaptable, building momentum without getting bogged down.
Why These Tools Work Together
The Strategy Stack offers a clear, repeatable framework for getting strategy done:
Essential Intent: Defines your north star, aligning the team.
Even/Over Statements: Navigate trade-offs with clarity and consistency.
90-Day Strategy Cycles: Break down big goals into achievable steps, building momentum through action.
Whether you’re starting fresh or need to bring an old plan back to life, The Strategy Stack helps your team focus, adapt, and make progress.
Ready to Get Started?
Join me on November 12th, 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM at the Duluth Main Library for a hands-on workshop to:
Craft your Essential Intent to guide decisions.
Create Even/Over statements to align your team.
Launch your first 90-day strategy cycle to build momentum.
→ Sign up for the workshop [here].
Need more support? Book a Strategy Cycle Sprint—a consulting package to align your team and drive progress over the next 90 days.
→ Book your sprint today [here].
With The Strategy Stack, you’ll have everything you need to align priorities, navigate trade-offs, and make real progress.
Let’s create space and move forward together.
