3 Priorities for Avoiding the Potholes on the Road to Recovery

A plan that includes budgets based on +10 percent, flat and -5 percent could avoid a number of surprises such as layoffs and across-the-board salary cuts. This can significantly cut down on stress. No matter what happens, you can just follow the plan. I know this isn't always as easy as it sounds. But, smart planning will help you avoid making rash or reactionary decisions that could be even more costly in the long term.

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the recession officially ended in June 2009. In the spring of last year, government officials and economic barometers suggested that the economy would reasonably recover in coming quarters. Yet unemployment numbers are still too high and the blip of GDP growth we saw in 2010 was reduced by half in the second quarter.

"When you look to 2011, the words to describe the economy are glum, lousy, subpar," Rajeev Dhawan, director of Georgia State University's Economic Forecasting Center, told the Associated Press late last year.

Some nonprofit executives have reluctantly accepted such downbeat forecasts and planned accordingly, calling their tepid numbers “reality-based budgeting.” Real leaders, however, have resisted such temptation and purposely charted a more aggressive course — not blindly, mind you, but carefully and strategically. They see opportunity where others only see problems, and they lay out detailed and crystal-clear plans for exactly how they plan to achieve that growth.

Difficult? Absolutely. Impossible? Hardly, especially with the proper focus, collaboration and, of course, planning. These three keys enable you to effectively achieve your goals, even in uncertain times.

Randy Brewer is CEO of full-service direct-marketing agency and fundraising consultancy Brewer Direct.