A project is anything you plan to do that has a particular aim or purpose. So in your charity that might be developing a newsletter (aim: to reach a wider audience), or setting up a youth club (aim: to support a specific group of young people), or moving office (aim: to make your office more accessible). It might be that you are involved in different projects all the time and call them something else, or that your organisation tends to develop them more organically.
There are lots of benefits of ‘organic projects’ – they tend to be driven by recognised need and let’s face it, involve less admin. But you might find that they don’t seem to have a clear end point. Or that you experience “mission creep”, where you end up involved in some work which isn’t what you’re really there for.
Doing some basic planning can really help your projects be more effective and run on time. It can also help with buy in from others because you can articulate more clearly what you’re planning to do. If you have the budget and time to go on a project management course, it could be helpful. But if you’re involved in smaller projects and want something less rigid, these questions can help you cover all the basics.
- What do I want to achieve? This is asking you to define your project – what is the end goal? Try to articulate this in one sentence.
- Why do I want to achieve this? Another way to put this is what is the outcome, or what difference will this have made? This is crucial for helping you plan, helping get others on board, and ensuring the project is worth doing for your charity.
- Is someone else already doing this? Do your research. If you find that a charity three doors down is providing the exact same service, you need to figure out how what you’re offering will be different.
- Is there a need for this? If you’re planning to move office, that might be quick to answer. If however it’s a new service it’s time to do some consultation, asking those you support whether this is something they want. Or if you don’t work with that particular group of people yet, you’ll need to go out and speak to some of them to see if they feel they would benefit from this new project. So for example if you currently provide tea mornings for older people, and are considering expanding to provide a Saturday morning cafe for disengaged young people in the area, you need to chat to some of the young people you are hoping to reach to see if they think it’s a good idea too.
- Who do I need to get involved? Is this a project you can manage on your own, or is there a team you need to involve, or will you require some outside support?
- How will we go about it? This is when you plan ‘objectives’, what are you going to do so that you reach your aim? What practical things need to happen?
- What is the next step? For each objective, write down the very next step you need to take. The task to “set up a cafe” can be pretty overwhelming, but “research local venues” is much more manageable and will get things moving along. Break down tasks into bite sized chunks as far as you can. You might want to use software like Microsoft Project or Teamgantt, but a simple excel spreadsheet or Evernote list will work just as well.
- When will this be completed? Agree with your team what the deadline for the project will be. Look realistically at what you have listed that needs to be done – setting a deadline too soon can be discouraging if it isn’t possible alongside current commitments, but putting a deadline too far in the future can reduce momentum and the needs may have changed by the time you get there.
- How will we know we are making progress? Do you plan to meet once a week to discuss where you’re up to? Will you keep the tasks in a shared format (like Evernote) so that you can all update where you’ve got to online? Decide now how you plan to regularly communicate to check everything is on track and spot any problems early on.
Your planning should ideally be proportionate to the size of your project. If your project is small (e.g. create an information postcard), you can skip some steps and keep answers succinct. If your project is larger, such as setting up a new service, you’ll want to be really thorough as there is a lot more at stake.
Is there a project your charity has attempted in the past and it hasn’t really gone anywhere or achieved what you wanted? Have a look through the questions above – perhaps there was a step that was missed out during the planning? This often tends to be defining the need for the project, setting a deadline, or planning how you will keep track of progress.
If you need any support with any of these steps you can get in touch here to discuss working together to help your project move forward.
Effective Third Sector 