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Strategic Planning for Your Center

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This guide is designed for campus teams planning or refreshing a strategic plan for a Bonner Program and the center or unit that houses it. It draws on the Bonner Network’s experience (including strategic planning with more than 30 campuses), as well as research on effective campus engagement centers. It can be used whether your campus is:

• Launching a new center or Bonner Program
• Integrating civic engagement into a broader institutional plan
• Refreshing an existing plan or preparing for external recognition (e.g., Carnegie Community Engagement Classification)
• Developing long ranges plans for campus-wide integration
• Managing transitions in leadership and staffing to ensure cohesion and clarity in future directions 

Preparing for a Strategic Planning Process

The Bonner Foundation strongly encourages each Bonner Program and its host center to develop a long‑range strategic plan, typically addressing immediate priorities and long-range plans  (a two‑ to seven‑year horizon is common). Bonner Foundation staff can help launch this process by visiting your campus to facilitate an initial planning retreat. A typical planning retreat:

• Lasts 1.5–2 days
• Involves 10–45 participants (in different segments and time commitments)
• Brings together a mix of center staff, broader institutional leaders, students, community partners, faculty, and other stakeholders

The sections below outline key decisions and preparations before you launch the planning process. You will need to make early choices about:

• Scope: Will this plan focus on the Bonner Program, the broader center, or campus‑wide civic and community engagement?
• Timeline: What is your desired completion date? How does this align with institutional planning, budget cycles, accreditation, or Carnegie timelines?
• Participants: Who needs to be in the room for initial retreats and for follow‑up planning meetings?
• Facilitation: Will you use Bonner Foundation staff, a local or campus‑based consultant, your own team, or some combination?

The Bonner Foundation can partner with you to facilitate a launch retreat and help design next steps.

Working with External Facilitators or Consultants

If you are considering external consultants, you will want to get recommendations. Reach out to Bonner Foundation staff for referrals. (We may also happy be able to help.) Ask peer campuses (inside and outside the Bonner Network) for names and feedback. Look for consultants with experience in civic/community engagement and equity‑focused work. Clarify Review and Communication Norms: If the process includes an external review, secure an agreement that center staff will see a draft of any external review report before it is shared more broadly with the institution. Treat this as a non‑negotiable best practice so that center staff can correct any inaccuracies, provide context, and prepare to respond. Make sure to ask questions to ensure that the consultants and facilitators' philosophy aligns with center and institutional values (access, equity, community partnership, student leadership). 

 Ask potential facilitators about:

• Familiarity with your region or institutional type
• Orientation to college access, student development, community partnerships, and institutional change
• Commitment to reciprocity and place‑based work
• Experience with nonprofits and community‑based organizations
• Skill in facilitating across roles and power differences (students, community partners, staff, faculty, senior leaders, trustees)
• The frameworks they use (e.g., visual planning, logic models, appreciative inquiry)
• How they design inclusive processes
• How they handle conflict and power dynamics in mixed‑constituent groups

Clarify Goals and Expectations

Before the process begins, spend time as a core internal team (especially your center staff) clarifying your goals, concerns, and desired outcomes. Then, co‑create shared goals with the consultant or facilitator. Questions to consider internally:

• What specific decisions or products do we need from this process (e.g., a full plan, a refreshed vision, a work plan for the next 18 months)?
• What would success look like for the center, the Bonner Program, and key partners?
• Are there institutional moments we need to connect to (e.g., campaigns, capital projects, new leadership, accreditation)?

Share Context Candidly

To enable a strong process, provide facilitators with:

• Institutional mission, vision, and current strategic priorities
• Organizational structure and dynamics (where the center sits, reporting lines, budget patterns, decision‑making norms)
• Staffing structure and issues (current capacity, open positions, role clarity, professional development needs)
• Current goals and intended outcomes for the center and Bonner Program
• Recent Annual Reports and key data (e.g., participation, retention, community impact, budget trends)

Being candid about tensions and challenges (e.g., resource constraints, leadership transitions, community concerns) allows facilitation and planning to be realistic and constructive.

A Basic Strategic Planning Process

There are many valid approaches to strategic planning. Most include some version of the following stages:

1. Get Ready
• Build a planning team and clarify roles.
• Define scope, timeline, and decision‑making authority.
• Gather relevant data, reports, and background documents.
2. Clarify Mission, Vision, and Values
• Review existing institutional and center statements.
• Articulate or revisit the specific mission, vision, and values for the center and Bonner Program.
3. Assess Context and Situation
• Examine institutional priorities, student demographics, community context, and external trends.
• Analyze strengths, gaps, opportunities, and threats.
4. Agree on Strategic Priorities
• Translate your assessment into several clear strategic focus areas (e.g., student development, community partnerships, curriculum integration, equity and inclusion, institutional positioning).
5. Develop and Write the Plan
• For each priority, define goals, objectives, strategies, and indicators of success.
• Draft a written plan that can be shared and refined with stakeholders.
6. Implement the Plan
• Build detailed work plans and timelines.
• Align budget, staffing, and resource development with priorities.
• Integrate the plan into annual goal‑setting processes.
7. Evaluate and Monitor the Plan
• Identify data sources and feedback mechanisms.
• Review progress regularly and adjust strategies as needed.
• Keep the plan alive as a working tool, not a static document.

The Grove Visual Planning Process

The Bonner Foundation has used the visual planning process, with integration of some activities developed by The Grove Institute (a nonprofit with expertise in this are) with many campuses. This approach uses large‑format visuals and structured exercises to help groups see the whole system, identify patterns, and co‑create a shared path forward. In a typical two‑day planning retreat, facilitated sessions might include:

1. Introduction to Goals, Expectations, and Framework
2. Sharing History (story of the center and Bonner Program, key milestones)
3. Context Map (institutional, community, and societal forces)
4. SWOT Analysis or EEMO2 (Elements of Effectively Managed Organizations)
5. Visioning (what success would look like in 5–10 years)
6. Stakeholder Map (who is involved, affected, or essential)
7. Five Bold Steps (high‑leverage strategies to move from current state to vision)
8. Action Plan / Work Plan (initial steps, owners, and timelines)

Even with a strong launch retreat, teams will need follow‑up meetings over several weeks or months to build out detailed goals, work plans, and assessment strategies.

Best Practices for a Center Strategic Planning Process

Experience across the Bonner Network, combined with scholarship on engagement centers, points to several best practices—for both your process and the resulting plan.

Engage a Broad, Representative Team

A robust process draws on multiple perspectives and builds buy‑in from the beginning. Planning participants often include:

• Senior leaders (president, provost, vice presidents, deans)
• Center and program staff (including Bonner staff)
• Faculty across disciplines and ranks
• Community partners and coalition leaders
• Students (Bonners and non‑Bonners)
• Alumni and, where appropriate, trustees and/or advisory board members

Pay intentional attention to equity, power, and inclusion:

• Ensure community partners and students are not tokenized.
• Provide context and support so all participants can engage fully.
• Create structures (small groups, role‑balanced tables, clear norms) that balance voices.

Use a Clear, Transparent Process

Participants should understand:

• The overall objectives of the planning effort
• The timeline and key milestones
• The major steps and where their input will shape decisions
• Many centers:
• Use a named framework (such as the Grove visual planning process or similar) that includes history‑sharing, context mapping, SWOT/EEMO2, visioning, stakeholder analysis, and “five bold steps” into detailed work plans.
• Engage neutral facilitators who can guide the group, manage time, and invite participation across roles.
• Make explicit how decisions will be made and who has final authority for adopting the plan.

Align with Institutional and System‑Level Strategies

Your center or Bonner Program plan is most powerful when it clearly connects to institutional priorities and external trends. During planning:

• Map center goals to institutional strategic priorities, such as:
• Student retention and success
• Equity and inclusion
• Career readiness and engaged learning
• Community partnerships and regional development
• Institutional reputation and recognitions (including Carnegie Community Engagement Classification)
• Narrative change about the value of higher education
• Engage senior leaders to articulate how the center helps the institution respond to:
• Demographic changes
• Public skepticism and calls for accountability
• Funding challenges
• The need for civic renewal and democratic engagement
• Use shared metrics where possible, including:
• Student success indicators and equity gaps
• Participation rates in Bonner and related programs
• Community impact measures (e.g., partner satisfaction, capacity‑building outcomes)

An ideal outcome is a visible through‑line between objectives in the center’s plan and key planks in the institutional strategic plan.

Invest in Detailed, Implementable Plans

A strong strategic plan is both aspirational and practical. Beyond broad goals, it should spell out:

• Clear objectives and measurable outcomes for each strategic priority
• Time‑bound implementation steps (what will happen in year 1, year 2, year 3)
• Identified leads and collaborators for each major action
• Resource implications (budget, staffing, space, technology, professional development)
• Assessment plans and feedback loops
• This level of specificity typically requires several working sessions after the launch retreat. Teams should:
• Schedule follow‑up meetings in advance.
• Align work plans with budget cycles and grant opportunities.
• Consider forming working groups for key priorities (e.g., student development, partnership strategy, curriculum integration).
• Delegating sections of the plan to relevant working groups or individuals can build ownership and distribute the workload.

Make the Plan Public and Treat It as a Living Document

Once completed, the plan should be actively used, not shelved. Common practices include:

• Posting the full plan or a concise, accessible summary on the center’s website.
• Sharing key elements with advisory boards, community partners, faculty senates, student government, and senior leadership.
• Using the plan to frame:
• Annual reports
• Budget requests and staffing proposals
• Fundraising and grant narratives
• Recognition and award nominations
• Reviewing progress on goals at least annually, asking:
• What goals have advanced?
• Where are we stalled, and why?
• What new opportunities or pressures have emerged?
• What needs to be adjusted in goals, strategies, or metrics?

Public visibility:

• Helps the center claim and document impact
• Strengthens accountability and alignment
• Makes it easier for others across campus and in the community to connect their work to the engagement agenda

Components of a Finished Strategic Plan

A completed written strategic plan can take different forms, but often includes the following components (with page ranges as a rough guide):

1. Introduction (≈1 page)
• Focus and scope of the plan (Bonner Program, center, campus‑wide engagement).
• Overview of the planning process and participants.
• Context for why the plan is being developed now.
2. History and Context (≈2–3 pages)
• Brief history of the institution (often using a pseudonym in public documents), including:
• Size, student demographics, and programs offered
• History of civic/community engagement and the Bonner Program
• Summary of key milestones, prior strategies, and current positioning.
3. Mission, Vision, and Values (≈1–2 pages)
• Statements tailored to the center and Bonner Program, grounded in institutional commitments.
• Articulation of core values such as equity, reciprocity, access, leadership, and place‑based engagement.
4. Goals, Objectives, and Work Plan (≈2–10 pages)
• Strategic goals for the planning period.
• Specific objectives under each goal, framed with “what by when.”
• Outline‑style work plan that indicates major strategies, leads, and timelines.
• A more detailed matrix or Gantt chart may be included in the appendix.
5. Assessment and Learning (≈1–2 pages)
• How progress will be measured (quantitative and qualitative).
• Data sources and evaluation tools (e.g., student surveys, partner feedback, course‑based assessments, BWBRS reports).
• How findings will inform ongoing improvements and decisions.
6. Resource Development and Budgeting (≈1–2 pages)
• Estimated resource needs for implementing the plan (staff, operating funds, student support, space, technology).
• Strategies for securing resources (institutional allocations, grants, fundraising, partnerships).
• Any assumptions or contingencies the plan depends on.
7. Summary and Next Steps (≈1 page)
• Concise overview of the vision and main priorities.
• Immediate next steps for adoption and implementation.
• How the plan will be integrated into institutional structures (e.g., annual planning, cabinet reports, advisory boards).
8. Appendix (length varies)
• Detailed goals and objectives matrix.
• Visuals from the planning process (history maps, context maps, stakeholder charts).
• SWOT/EEMO2 analyses and other planning tools.
• Relevant data tables, survey findings, or other supporting documentation.

See the Campus Examples on next page.