The Doors in Your Castle

Picture yourself in the large castle your organization has developed over the ages. It is well built and solid. Today, you discover a new part of the castle. A hallway leads you into an expansive room filled with doors. Each door represents a different future you might pursue. Perhaps, you would like to go to the garden outside, because it is lovely and full of fruit. Or, perhaps you would like to climb high to the turret and see the countryside around you. Or, it might be time to clean out the dungeon.

Finding all of the doors and identifying where they lead is critical to future planning. Finding all the doors in advance helps you to find all the great possibilities. Finding all doors allows you to compare and to contrast different futures—before you follow them. You don’t do this alone. You ask others for their help. Finding all the doors invites others to bring you ideas that may intrigue and entice you.

Finding all of your possible doors the first step of future planning for nonprofit organizations, the “D” in the four-step DOOR process. Read more about D.O.O.R. in this month’s Added Value.