- Reflect on where you have come from
Your preparation for a new year cannot start well without looking at the current year and where you have come from. Look at your accomplishments, your good moments, successes and failures. Remember all the projects you completed that year, and appreciate all you succeeded in accomplishing in the last year.
While you might be tempted to concentrate on your successes, never be afraid to reflect on your missteps. This will help you appreciate your efforts and identify areas you need to improve as you start another year. You can take advantage of tools such as Year Compass, which offers reflection questions to reflect on where you have come from and plan for the future.
- Start a professional journal
A journal helps you note what you plan to do, not to do and reflect on the past. Set plans and goals you want to achieve and use them as a reflection as the year progresses. You can fill it out weekly and monthly and look at places you should improve to make your progress smooth.
- Develop new goals
Now that you have identified your past successes and mistakes, set new goals and targets for the New Year. Concentrate on planning for the steps you will take with your nonprofit for success. With the new goals, you avoid the danger of sticking to the old year’s resolutions. Goals written down are likely to be achieved, and you will not be distracted. You can try to be as detailed as possible by breaking your goals into small, manageable junks and plan how each one will be achieved over the year.
- Make a schedule
Developing goals alone will not translate to success unless you make a schedule for how each of them will be achieved over the year. A schedule elaborates how you will manage your time and ensure all you have planned are attained. Start by developing a general schedule as you prepare for the start of the year. You can then tweak it depending on the month, week or day depending on various aspects like responsibilities and emerging issues. Although a schedule should be clear, it should also be flexible enough to accommodate changes. Ensure your schedule gives you time for fun, family and friends. You also need time to relax, which should be accommodated in your schedule, or you will get overworked, and burnout will creep in.
- Create a budget
Although nonprofits are mostly run with the help of volunteers, you still need a budget to fund your causes and projects. Therefore, your success in the coming year will depend largely on the availability of finances and your ability to manage them well. As such, you need to develop a budget depending on the amount in your accounts or what you believe can be obtained from donors. A budget reduces stress and anxiety and helps you see what your nonprofit needs to achieve from one month to another over the year. Like your schedule, your budget should be flexible enough to accommodate changes that may be required in the new year.
