PART I: Beyond the 3-Year Plan - Why Nonprofits Need a 20-Year Lens Now

We’re trained to plan in short bursts: 3-5 year strategies, annual objectives, quarterly KPIs. But what if the problems your organization exists to address can’t be solved, or even fully seen, on that timeline?

That’s where the 20-Year Vision comes in. This strategic lens encourages associations and mission-driven organizations to think beyond quick wins and design for long-term, systemic relevance. In essence: fewer binders. More north stars.

Why now? Because the terrain has changed. Wicked problems, those messy, complex challenges without a single solution or endpoint, have become the norm. Workforce burnout, shifting demographics, scope of practice conflicts, institutional distrust, and access inequities aren’t bumps in the road; they are the road. And we need a map that can handle them.

Earlier in my career, I led engagement strategies at an international cardiovascular organization during a pivotal shift toward team-based care. The association’s strategy was forward-thinking, formally welcoming nonphysician health professionals into its membership structure, and my role focused on building meaningful pathways for engagement, representation, and belonging for this expanding group.

While the intention was clear and well-supported on paper, some of the underlying policies weren’t fully aligned with the strategy. They lacked the flexibility needed to adapt to emerging dynamics, especially the complexities around professional identity and long-standing scope-of-practice debates between nursing and medicine. Growth was steady in the early years, but began to slow in later years, making both expansion and sustained engagement increasingly difficult.

It wasn’t a failure of vision but a reminder that a successful strategy requires more than direction. It needs policies, practices, and culture that can evolve with the people it’s designed to include.

Not because the vision was flawed, but because the questions hadn’t gone deep enough. We were solving the visible problem, not the structural challenge beneath it.

What a 20-Year Vision invites us to do instead:

• Stop leading with urgency and start leading with purpose

• Build flexibility into our frameworks (yes, your plan should adapt)

• Use data and empathy, not assumptions, as strategy inputs

• See strategy as a mirror, not just a map (your members will tell you what matters—if you ask)

Reflection Prompt

·       What “wicked problem” is your organization circling right now?

·       What’s one action you could take this year to lay the groundwork for a 20-year solution?