If your group is to be effective, everyone needs some idea of what your group is there for and what it hopes to achieve. Making an action plan for your group may seem a bit daunting, but it is really quite a simple exercise. Whether or not you decide to write a formal action plan, it is important to ask yourself the sorts of questions outlined below to give your group a sense of direction. Involve as many people in the group as you can, and make plans that are realistic. Review those plans over the next few months to see how the group is meeting the targets it set for itself. Having such a plan of action also means that you can start to work out how much money the group will need to raise in the year ahead. BTCV's Group Review might help you with this sort of activity. Developing an action plan - step by step - Where are we now?
List what the group has done over the last year, unless you're a new group. How many volunteers take part in projects and how much money has been raised and spent? - What have we got to do in the year ahead?
Many groups have long-term responsibilities, such as managing sites or finishing projects. Write these into the plan at the start and make sure you have enough people and resources to meet these obligations. - Where would we like to be by this time next year?
Developing a vision is always a good idea. Get the whole group to come up with ideas. Perhaps you want simply to have finished your major project or perhaps you want a group with a hundred members. - Refine your vision - work out what you think you really can achieve.
The visioning process may throw up all sorts of ideas. Some will be more realistic than others. Choose the ones that can be done and, most importantly, that people want to do. - Set priorities.
To achieve your chosen aims you'll need a month by month plan, eg if we want to have done X by March, then we must have started Y by November. - Work out what it will cost and agree that with the group.
If everyone agrees that this is what they want the group to do, then they are more likely to help make it happen. - Raise the money, find the people, and get to work.
This is the difficult bit! - Monitor your progress.
If you fall behind on the plan, don't get depressed, or pretend it isn't happening. Get the group together, review the priorities and look at ways to make sure that your main aims can still be achieved.
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