Barbara Kaufman

You may recall that our Metro Senior Federation has been engaged in a strategic planning process. We began last fall, identifying a team and getting an outside consultant, Gary Kelsey, to help us with process and focus. Our goal is to have a plan in place by July 1 as we start a new program year.

I think it’s important that we as an organization regularly step back to assess who we are and how we want to transform ourselves to meet new challenges. As some sophisticated planner once said, “If you don’t know where you are going, it doesn’t matter what road you take.”

Things are moving along and I thought I’d just bring you up to date. We began by clarifying our current organizational mission, vision and values. We’ll probably reassess this again towards the end of our process. 

We spent time analyzing our organizational environment. What opportunities have developed that we might take advantage of? What threats have emerged that we need to be aware of?

We also looked at our internal environment. What are the strengths and weakness of the federation? How can we take advantage of our strengths? How can we minimize or transform our weaknesses?

The next step was to create a vision of what we want to look like for the next three years. Who should we serve? What issues should be work on? What programs and benefits should we offer? And, finally, what do we need to accomplish this vision? What staff and volunteers? What funds? What technology? What allies?

Now we are engaged in describing critical issues we must solve in order to achieve the visions we have. This is not so much a matter of stating what we want to do. Rather it’s identifying what we lack to achieve our visions. And what do we lack? The strategic planning committee will be discussing this. For what it’s worth, my list is:

• visibility in the community;
• a planned and staffed program for member recruitment and retention;
• a planned and staffed program for minority membership development;
• a planned giving program;
• sufficient contributions from members and supporters; and
• effective priority setting for issues and programs.

This is my last column as Metro president. It’s been a great four years and I feel honored to have been able to work with you all for this time. Together I believe we’ve come a long, long way.  And under Gil’s leadership, I expect us to continue moving ahead.  Just remember, it takes more than one person or one committee or one board of directors to achieve our goals. It takes all of us working as a team. 

So, go team!