In truth, long-range planning should be part of every organization's functions. It not only can help anticipate problems before they happen, but can accelerate the growth of the organization. Long-range planning concerns itself with evaluating where your organization is today, setting goals as to where it wants to be at some target date in the future and how it will achieve these goals. The functions to be evaluated will vary. Long-range planning must be much more than an informal discussion about what the society ought to be doing in the years ahead.
Good planning has to follow a very orderly and formal process.
PLAN A long-range plan is much more than a statement of the philosophies of the organization and how it should operate. A plan should include a number of years in the future. The goals should be broad enough and visionary enough that they will take some time to complete. It is a common misconception that a long-range plan, once written, is locked into place and not changed. It should, in fact, be flexible and changeable.