Creating Your Strategic Plan: A Workbook for Public and Nonprofit Organizations, Third Edition

Resource C

Snow Card Guidelines

The snow card (or affinity diagram) process starts with brainstorming and then goes beyond it by having participants organize the brainstormed ideas into clusters that share a common theme or subject matter. Guidelines for engaging in the snow card process are as follows:

1. Bring a single problem or issue into the group.
2. Have individuals in the group brainstorm as many ideas as possible and record them on individual worksheets.
3. Ask individuals to pick out their five “best items” and to transcribe each one onto its own snow card—half of an 8-1/2 by 11 inch sheet of paper, a 5 by 7 inch card, or a large Post-it note.
4. Shuffle the cards; then tape them to a wall in categories. The group should determine the categories ...