Chatsworth Consulting Group
Alliance for Young Artists and Writers
Strategic Planning Process
Affiliate Summary
Overview
The Strategic Planning Committee of the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers (the Alliance) has undertaken a planning process to focus on the future of the organization and determine key priorities for continued growth and success. The planning process began with an Organizational Effectiveness Assessment, conducted by Chatsworth Consulting Group, which included an extensive document review as well as interviews with committee members and other individuals representing various constituencies and resulting in in-depth interviews with 23 stakeholders. 13 were funders, board members, national partners, and teachers, and 12 were Affiliates.
Committee members met for a series of planning sessions to consider the assessment findings, determine the most important priorities and strategic decisions for the Alliance, and develop strategies and goals for addressing these initiatives over the next three to five years. This Affiliate Summary outlines findings from the assessment, as well as outcomes and decisions borne out of the planning. In addition, the beginning strategies and goals for each area of focus areas of the Strategic Plan are listed.
Organizational Effectiveness Assessment
The interviews of the Organizational Effectiveness Assessment explored many facets of the Alliance, including: overall strengths and weaknesses; the mission and vision for the future; the current environment in which the Alliance operates; and the key issues and strategic decisions on which to focus.
Two primary questions arose as critical to the discussions of the future of the Alliance:
1. Is there a larger mission and vision for the Alliance?
- Is the mission strictly to identify and celebrate emerging talented artists and writers via the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards?; or
- Is there a larger mission and vision to validate and support creative expression for students and society at large?
2. What is the long-term funding strategy for the Alliance?
- Does the Alliance’s unique funding model create an obstacle to attracting funding from a broader array of sources?
Findings
The data-gathering revealed stakeholder perspectives on the driving forces propelling the Alliance forward (strengths), restraining forces that the organization and Board have to face in order to move forward effectively (areas of concern), and key strategic decisions, including the two primary questions listed above, that formed the basis for the planning discussions.
Driving forces
Evidence from the feedback and interviews indicated that The Alliance has many strengths to draw on. These strengths serve as driving forces giving the Alliance momentum toward future success. They include:
- The legacy and reputation of the program
- Greatly improved Affiliate operations and relations
- Deep understanding and focus on the core mission
- Strong leadership
- Upward trajectory of the program
Restraining forces
At the same time, there were a number of issues and areas of concern brought up by those interviewed that, if unaddressed, could get in the way of achieving the vision for the organization. These restraining forces include:
- The need to attract more funding
- Differences in how the mission and vision of the organization are viewed
- Gaps in the affiliate network and services provided for Affiliates
- The need to attract students with less opportunity
- Low visibility/profile of the organization
- Impact of organizational changes
- Board development
Key strategic decisions
There were many points raised during the interviews about the most important decisions to tackle during the Board discussions. Most of the points fell within four main areas:
- Agreement on mission and vision
- Long-term funding
– Fund development & Marketing
- Board development
- Managing growth
– Supporting and Strengthening affiliates & Strengthening staff
Discussions and outcomes from the Strategic Planning sessions
The Strategic Planning Committee gathered for working sessions to discuss the findings from the Organizational Effectiveness Assessment and work through key strategic decisions. Strengths were discussed; restraining forces were debated; and key strategic decisions were tackled.
The following summarizes the conversations and decisions reached.
The strategic framework
As part of the planning discussions, it became clear that the overarching strategic focus for this planning work is greater access and equal opportunity for all students. This need – to reach a greater number of students across the country and to expand further to include a more diverse student population, particularly those with less opportunity – had been strongly voiced in nearly all of the Organizational Effectiveness Assessment interviews, and it was revealed as a passion within the Strategic Planning Committee as well. The committee developed specific areas of focus for achieving this vision, which aligned well with the areas of focus, which are:
- Strengthening and supporting the affiliate program;
- Increasing visibility;
- Increasing funding; and
- Developing the Board.
This overarching strategic focus and the resulting targeted areas of focus became the framework for the strategic plan document.
The current mission
The Organizational Effectiveness Assessment (OEA) brought to light differing views of the scope of the Alliance mission – ranging from a mission solely focused on operating the awards program, to one that identifies and celebrates talented students, to a broader mission focused on validating and encouraging arts in society. The planning committee held a free-flowing and creative discussion about the mission and generated ideas and language for a reworked “official” mission statement for the Alliance.
The current mission statement used in materials for the Alliance is:
“The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, a nonprofit organization, identifies teenagers with exceptional artistic and literary talent and brings their remarkable work to a national audience through The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.”
The planning committee agreed that the language needed to be somewhat broader and more encompassing of what the organization represents and strives to do. They are currently reviewing potential revised mission statements.
Areas of focus
Strengthening and Supporting the affiliates
The OEA revealed that the Alliance has made progress in building effective relationships with the affiliates. The planning committee fully acknowledged that the affiliate network is critical to the success of the program.
As part of the Alliance’s plan for managing growth, a stronger, more cohesive, and well-structured and -managed affiliate network plays a central role. To gain a greater understanding of the affiliates and discuss this aspect of the Alliance’s operations, several strategic questions were explored:
- What is the symbiotic power relationship between the Alliance and the affiliates?
- What is the correct structure for the affiliate network? Is there an interim state or regional level needed?
- What do we need to put into place structurally to make sure that we have the best affiliate network possible?
- How can achieving our strategic goals also serve the affiliates’ goals?
Coming out of this discussion, the following ideas were discussed, amongst others:
- Focus on strengthening and clarifying the relationship with affiliates
- Review staffing related to affiliate relations
The strategies and related goals for strengthening the affiliates are as follows:
- We build “national partnerships” with affiliates to enable access and equal opportunity to all qualified students – partnering with affiliates to meet this strategy
Visibility and Marketing
Another theme of the OEA feedback was the perception that the Alliance – and the Scholastic awards to a lesser extent – is hampered by its low profile and lack of visibility and “branding.” The planning committee agreed that marketing needs to be a key area of focus for the Alliance in order to generate the level of visibility and “buzz” needed to achieve the other strategic goals of growth, broader funding, and Board development.
In addition, there is a current window of opportunity with the upcoming 90th anniversary of the Scholastic Awards. The committee brainstormed possibilities for an anniversary focused marketing campaign (“Inspiring creativity for 90 years”).
Board Development
A strong, active, and passionate Board is viewed as another key to the Alliance’s future growth and success. The planning team discussed potential steps to further strengthen the current Board, as well as best practices of boards overall.
Staff/organizational strengthening
Part of the planning committee’s focus included a discussion on needs at the national-staff level in order to implement and facilitate the strategies and actions identified in the planning process.
The strategies and related goals for Staff/organizational strengthening are as follows:
- Strengthen structure, processes, and management to support ongoing change and growth
- Attract, retain, and develop strong staff
Fund development
Discussions about funding for the Alliance cut across many topics during the planning sessions. The committee acknowledged that the ability of the organization and Board to raise funds correlates to the opportunity for growth, expansion, and capacity. Central to the discussions about long-term funding was the role of Scholastic as the Alliance’s founding and major funder – how can the organization leverage its unique funding model to gain greater financial support?
Conclusion
Working from the information provided by the Organizational Effectiveness Assessment, the Strategic Planning Committee spent hours discussing and deliberating their vision for growth for the Alliance, and how best to prepare for and achieve that growth. The Strategic Planning Committee developed a framework for a three-to-five year strategic plan, and have entrusted this plan to the Alliance Executive Director and staff to populate and make actionable. The final plan will outline, for each strategic area, the strategies, goals, and action steps (with deadlines and accountabilities) necessary. This Strategic Plan is viewed as an evolving document – it will be followed and worked with on an on-going basis by the Alliance staff, and reviewed by the Strategic Planning Committee annually. Nearly all of the action items outlined in the complete plan will be accountabilities of the Alliance Executive Director and staff, however, there will be specific items, such as within Board development, that require actions on the part of Board members individually, as well as the Board as a whole.
Key discussion points, outcomes, and decisions included some of the following:
- Meet with marketing expert, Maggie Williams, to gather suggestions and input (Virginia McEnerney has met with Maggie Williams)
- Take advantage of Scholastic’s book fair distribution and reach
- Explore sub-brands, co-brands, or branded scholarships as a funding/marketing initiative
- Consider a logo refresh, perhaps separate from the awards program logo
- Clarify Scholastic’s willingness to more actively endorse the Alliance and fund the organization at a greater level
- Position the awards and the Alliance as key components of Scholastic’s corporate citizenship initiatives
- Leverage celebrity alumni
- Identify pipeline partners
The following concepts were all considered and debated:
- Broadening Board membership
- Introducing term limits
- Increasing Board member engagement
- Establishing clear requirements and expectations such as attendance and financial support
- Initiating Board self-evaluations
- Revising by-laws
Increasing diversity on the Board
The planning team also discussed the possibility of establishing a high-profile award to generate visibility and potentially draw people to the Board. Lastly the planning committee discussed further strengthening the composition of the Board, and outlined the following guidelines for composition:
- Having the needs of the Alliance aligned with the expertise of Board members
- Board members who embrace the vision
- Strong agreement around financial support and “give and/or get”
- Diversity in terms of race, gender, etc.
- Representation of all constituencies – artists/writers, educators, affiliates
- Perhaps a recent award winner, to represent that mindset
The strategies and related goals for Board development are as follows:
- Further strengthen the Board
- Further increase Board member engagement
In discussing needs around strengthening the internal organization and staff, the following discussion points/outcomes/agreements were identified:
- There currently is no marketing person on staff, nor a marketing line in the budget.
- There are currently gaps in staffing mostly in the affiliate area.
There is a gap of metrics overall, and therefore clearly a need to determine and develop metrics that can be codified and measured over time – in order to show evidence of success. These metrics can be the number of entries, number of schools, number of award winners who have gone on to contribute to the arts, etc.
Key discussion points/outcomes/agreements included some of the following:
- Improve annual, development plan – with target funds, markets, strategies, etc.
- Time needs to be spent determining how to raise more from corporations – both those that are Scholastic partners and those that are not.
- There is a need to determine a target five-year budget number.
- More needs to be done for individual donors, foundations, and government money.
- The Scholastic brand can be better leveraged.
- The topic of creating an endowment was discussed and tabled.
- The organization needs a larger Development staff that is paid sufficiently.
