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William Foster

Business Planning: What It Is, and Why It Matters

Bridgespan partner William Foster presented "Business Planning: What It Is, and Why It Matters" to the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) 2006 Financial Management Professionals' Conference in Chicago. Back by popular demand his presentation is shared online as part of the LISC "Experts Online" series.

Video Business Planning: What It Is, and Why It Matters
Time: 1h 18m, Windows Media Player

PDF Business Planning: What It Is, and Why It Matters
Bridgespan partner William Foster's PowerPoint presentation for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) "Experts on Line" conference.

William Foster

Partner, The Bridgespan Group

William Foster joined Bridgespan in 2002 and is a partner in the Boston office. He works with direct service organizations and philanthropic foundations on expansion strategy, reorganization efforts, and advocacy initiatives. His clients have been education reform, youth services, community health, and aging-related organizations, including major national affiliate-based networks. William is also deeply involved in the firm's knowledge development, where much of his work focuses on issues related to funding and capital flows in the nonprofit sector. He is the co-author of the Harvard Business Review article, "Should Nonprofits Seek Profits?" and the recent Stanford Social Innovation review article, "How Nonprofits Get Really Big."

Prior to joining Bridgespan, William worked at Bain & Company. He was active in the firm's pro-bono work for the nonprofit sector and helped found Bain's Silicon Valley office. Before Bain, he worked at management consulting firm Corporate Decisions, Inc., and at Goldman Sachs and Company. He has also been an advisor and board member of several nonprofits and helped to plan and launch Silicon Valley's first charter school.

William earned his undergraduate degree in Social Studies from Harvard College and his MBA from Stanford University, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.  

This work by The Bridgespan Group is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license are available on Bridgespan's Terms and Conditions page.

 

Of Interest

Business Planning for Nonprofits: The Organizational and Leadership Benefits 
The Bridgespan Group draws on client experience to illustrate the key components of the business-planning process. They share some practical tips about getting started and also describe a typical written plan.

 

CFOs Delve into Business Planning 
A group of nonprofit finance executives discuss the many facets of business planning, ranging from helpful planning tools to the wrenching decisions that have to be made when a popular program is no longer financially viable.