by Ted Grossnickle

Since the early 2000s, JGA has hosted “Notes for the Reflective Practitioner” on its website. We’ve hosted some other blogs over the years, but “Notes”- written by Paul Pribbenow, President of Augsburg College, is the longest running.

We’ve had several persons tell us that “Notes” is the thing they most enjoy about our site. We’ve had others tell us they enjoy it exactly because it is so unlike a traditional blog and because it brings us back to careful reflection in a world increasingly wanting or expecting the fast, immediate “first blush” thought.

Paul’s “Notes” usually run somewhere along 7-9 pages and contain references to books he’s recently read, scripture, poetry and has sections entitled: “Reflect On This,” “Practice This,” and “Pay Attention To This.”

Hardly the usual “blog” and hardly a perfect fit for what we are urged to write when we communicate via blog, email, twitter and even standard professional business language today…

With good reason, we must be efficient and very concise nowadays in our communication on the day-to-day matters we are charged with.

But what seems to have gotten lost in the last decade or two is the occasional, careful, thoughtful and reflective time – in conversation and in writing. Time which often causes us to:

• Remember why we started something,
• Rethink why we are still doing something,
• Realize there may be some new way to approach something, or,
• Gain an insight into our life and work that we had missed.

Notes for the Reflective Practitioner makes more sense to me today than it did even a decade ago when Paul started writing them.

It is because the world wants things faster and with less thought that we must regularly find time to slow it down and to think, to reflect and to make connections.

That is at the heart of what I believe JGA does very well with its clients – helping them take stock of the situation, to look ahead, to see patterns and opportunities—- and to remember why they are doing what they do.

Paul has our thanks for his continuing effort to take the time to reflect with – and for – us.

by Ted Grossnickle

It’s no revelation that our very tough economy is causing many nonprofits to have to deal with a range of issues and decisions that are new for them.

As we work with our clients, those of us at JGA occasionally hear something like this:

“Look, we know that there is a right way to do a campaign, but we need funds now. Why not just go out and start campaigning right now?” 

This impulse is one that has organizations willing to ignore:

• the lack of readiness of their donors
• uninformed and disengaged staff or volunteers; and,
• their own half-completed planning and preparation.

The implicit trade off is to sacrifice preparation and “just go raise funds…”

Activity associated with a campaign often seems to suggest progress, to create enthusiasm and excitement and to hold promise of better days and more resources. And we all know that sometimes activity is a terrific camouflage for not dealing with the real issues. It is an understandable impulse.

What we can say in our experience over many years is that the track record for campaigns which had their genesis in a hurried up idea without adequate preparation is lousy. Some of the best known campaign failures are those which got their start in this fatally flawed manner.

A successful campaign must be rooted in:

• a sound business model and strategic plan
• board and staff leadership on the same page with regard to a Case for Support
• volunteers and staff oriented and trained to get the most from prospective donors
• a sense that you are ready for whatever the world may throw at you.

When hit by tough issues or economic hard times, campaigns that have done the right stuff up front respond and respond well and go on to succeed. Properly planned campaigns take the time to get it right so that when the inevitable uncertainties and problems arise, they know what they are doing and have thought about contingencies and can move ahead with dispatch, confidence and some elan’.

We have an old carpenter’s saying here in the JGA culture: “measure twice and cut once.” It’s even more important in bad times than it is in good ones.

Despite the pressure, stick to your guns and do it the right way….

Young Audiences of Indiana
A Case Study: Strategic Planning

 About the Client:

Young Audiences of Indiana (YA) empowers children to achieve their creative and intellectual potential through arts in education. The organization is the oldest and largest provider of arts programming in education in Indiana.

Context:

 Young Audiences experienced a long period of organizational success, but found itself at a crossroads, facing both external and internal challenges to its further development.  Changing curricular and economic forces in schools was having a significant impact on arts programming and education.  Internally, a new executive director and changes is key staff provided an impetus for change.  Staff and board determined that is was an appropriate time to enter into a period of reflection, evaluation, and planning.  With financial support from the Lilly Endowment, Inc. (LEI), Young Audiences of Indiana partnered with Johnson, Grossnickle, and Associates (JGA) to create a formal evaluation of the organization and its programs and to facilitate a strategic planning process focused on financial sustainability and future growth.

Project Objectives:

 The goals of JGA and Young Audiences of Indiana’s collaboration were as follows:

· An overall assessment of YA’s strengths, weaknesses, and areas for organizational improvement.

· A determination of demand and value of YA’s services to students, parents, schools, artists, and funders.

· An assessment of program delivery in: serving youth in a changing school environment, training the next generation of artists to work with kids, providing effective outreach to teachers, and reaching out beyond the Indianapolis area with ongoing programs.

· An integrated strategic planning process that incorporated the findings of the evaluation into YA’s plans for the future.   

JGA Approach:

To create the most successful strategic plan, JGA proposed a two-phased project. The first phase consisted of an initial assessment to frame the appropriate questions and create a methodology for a more formal evaluation of the YA and its position in the community. The second phase consisted of and in-depth strategic planning process involving staff, board, artists, and community members. The process was overseen by an advisory committee of staff and volunteers.

Arising from this process was a strategic plan with six principle goals that challenged Young Audiences of Indiana to:

1. Become the premier advocate and convener of arts in education in Indiana;

2. Form close relationships with schools as a part of a holistic approach towards arts in education;

3. Take a proactive, “sales/customer service” mentality towards marketing their organization;

4. Adjust organizational structure, board development, and staffing to reflect its position as the premier advocate and convener in arts education;

5. Diversify its resource base through the continued evolution of their development program; and

6. Provide professional development to grow arts in education.

All of the goals were ambitious in nature and were the backbone of a strategic plan that was a bold departure from past practices, but true to the historical purpose and mission of Young Audiences of Indiana. JGA also worked with the organization to provide guidance and structure for the implementation and evaluation of the strategic plan to ensure success.

Outcome:

JGA takes great pride in collaborating with Young Audiences of Indiana, and believes that YA was able to create a strategic plan that will allow it to serve grow and expand its services to arts education and arts programming in Indiana. The fruitful partnership has allowed Young Audiences of Indiana to develop a new organizational structure; create a five year projected budget to support its efforts in marketing, advocacy, and program services; and establish clear benchmarks to guide implementation of the strategic plan and evaluation of the results. Young Audiences of Indiana is poised to enjoy continued success in bringing the arts to Indiana’s schools and children.

“Kris Kindelsperger facilitated with great professionalism. He really got to know the workings of our organization from a board and staff perspective. It was very clear from the beginning of the process that our strategic plan would become a useful working document and not just sit on a shelf to gather dust.”

-JoEllen Florio Rossebo
President and CEO, Young Audiences of Indiana