Mission
The American Council of the Blind strives to increase the independence, security, equality of opportunity, and quality of life, for all blind and visually-impaired people.
The Board Retreat on 23 February 2012 began with a general discussion of the Organizational Assessment that was sent to the President’s List by Mitch a week earlier. (This, alas, did not include all of the staff who were present.) A wide ranging discussion of the Assessment concluded that the content presented an accurate picture of the state of ACB. In particular, the following points were made:
- The Assessment should provide the basis for setting the Strategic Plan’s Goals.
- The website urgently needs work re: appearance, content, user-friendliness, fund raising appeal. In addition, the History section needs radical surgery to tout the accomplishments of ACB over the last 50 years.
- There needs to be a systematic and frequent update of the website.
- There was no mention of ACB’s 50th anniversary anywhere.
- Staff are significantly overworked and often do not have the tools they need to most effectively do the job.
- The demands on the ED are almost impossible to meet.
- There is a significant need for fund raising from sources external to ACB.
- State Affiliates need to be engaged to implement the Strategic Plan.
- ACB radio and the Convention are under-utilized as marketing and professional development tools.
- Some strategy needs to be developed and implemented to attract more young people to ACB.
- ACB is clearly both a membership and a services organization, and it is the services part that will enhance younger membership.
Sometime was then spent on exploring ACB’s Mission Statement. Whereas it was decided that there would not be an attempt at this meeting to rewrite it, the following points were made:
- The phrase all people who are blind might be used rather than just blind people.
- The Mission Statement would benefit from being shortened.
- The word security might be replaced by economic security.
- More action words used would cause the Statement to be more powerful and perhaps appeal more to young people.
- The word access should appear somewhere in the Statement.
- ACB should work to craft a Vision Statement.
In moving to address the general state of ACB, the Board acknowledged that the Organizational Assessment would serve as the Strengths and Weaknesses portion of a SWOT analysis. Hence, it moved on to focus on Opportunities and Threats. The following pertains:
Opportunities
- Better Marketing of ACB on the website & ACB Radio.
- Emphasize that ACB is a truly relevant organization that can speak for its consumers.
- Develop a closer and more harmonious relationship with Affiliates – both state and Special Interest.
- Increase ACB’s advocacy role.
- Acknowledge that ACB’s services are often what funders want – as well as its members.
- Highlight that ACB freely serves all who need information and help through its Hotline.
- Develop more avenues for staff development.
- Explore what additional staff may (be) necessary – look at the overall staff organizational chart.
- Moving towards merging the Minnesota financial office with the Arlington office.
- Making the website more relevant, attractive and a tool for marketing and fund raising.
- Better tell ACB’s story and its proud history over the last 50 years.
- Clearly decide to develop a plan with regard to the Thrift Stores.
- Audio description project.
- Develop the Convention into a much greater training vehicle for members.
Threats
- Secure, adequate funding for operations.
- Over worked and under managed staff.
- Leadership succession in all aspects of ACB.
- The paucity of younger ACB members.
- Moving at a snail’s pace to update the website.
- ACB perceived as a membership organization only.
- The cost of the Convention that precludes many from attending.
- The sad state of ACB’s databases.
- Having poor oversight of IT advances and how they could add value to ACB’s work.
- Lack of Board involvement in fund raising.
- Low staff morale.
- At times confusion prompted by the complexity of the organizational structure.
- A contracting of the nation’s economy.
The Plan
GOAL #1 Strengthen Communications and Marketing of ACB (Chris Gray Task Force Chair)
| Objective #1: Strengthen Website | ||||
| Activities | Responsible Party | Time Frame | Costs | Staff Help Needed |
| A. Convert the old site to Drupal via contract | Carla, Chris & Paul | March 10 to May 10, 2012 | Presently under contract | |
| B. Implement the Drupal sharing model so that multiple people can work on their assigned portions of the site. | ||||
| B.1 Prepare implementation plan | Carla, Chris & Paul | March 10 to April 10 | Volunteer time | |
| B.2 Implement Plan | Chris | April 10 to May 1 2012 | Volunteer time | |
| C. Create a Policy for proofing web materials & provide consistency throughout site | ||||
| C.1 Prepare an implementation policy | Chris, Carla & Paul | 15 May to 1 July 2012 | Volunteer time | |
| C.2 Manage the policy | Sharon, Webmaster | 1 July 2012 - ongoing | Webmaster | Sharon |
| D. Prepare a plan to implement new, cutting-edge elements to the website such as video, more audio, audio navigation, images, slide shows, etc. | Carla, Chris, Paul and webmaster | March 15, 2012 to January 1, 2013 | Volunteer time & webmaster | |
| Objective #2: Strengthening ACB Radio | ||||
| A. Begin collecting vital statistics on each radio stream | Chris & Larry | Begin when possible – 1 day estimate | Volunteer time & Larry’s time | |
| B. Create a framework for weekly & monthly listener statistics | Chris & Marlaina | August 1 2012 to October 1 2012 | Volunteer time | |
| C. Design a strategy to promote ACB activities & programs | Marlaina & Larry | September 1 to December 1, 2012 | Volunteer & Larry’s time | |
| D. Create new content streams including more streams from our affiliates | Marlaina & others | 1 January 2013 to 1 July 2013 | Volunteer time | |
| E. Put sizzle back into ACB Radio | The brains & creativity of Barbara, Brenda, Carla, Chris, Marlaina, Ray, Sharon | Ongoing – perhaps conference call chaired by Chris prior to 1 December 2012 | Volunteer time | Barbara & Sharon |
| F. Create a plan to upgrade ACB Radio to stream on cell phones & tablets | Chris to oversee w/ task force help | Summer of 2012 & ongoing | Volunteer time | |
| G. Create a plan for better marketing of ACB Radio | Chris to oversee w/ task force help | 1 April 2013 after most of the above is done | Volunteer time | Barbara & Sharon |
| Objective #3: Public Relations/Marketing Initiative | ||||
| A. Create a specific marketing & public relations plan across all fronts for ACB for the next 3 years. | Chris to oversee and develop timeline in light of other Objectives | TBD | Volunteer time | |
| B. Rethink press release strategies including a wider distribution service & bring proposal to ACB Board Fall of 2012 | Milliman & others | Commence 1 April 2012 – estimated to take 3 days | Volunteer time | |
| Objective #4: Activate Social Networking for ACB | ||||
| A. Organize a greater presence for ACB on Facebook, Twitter & Linkedin | Chris to oversee & champion | Commence ASAP | Cost of a part time employee | A new hire |
| Objective #5: Get ACB Databases Coordinated & Operational | ||||
| A. Implement databases such that all affiliates can manage their membership certification | Chris and contractor | Commence ASAP | Volunteer & cost of contractor | |
| B. Duplicate printing, reporting & labeling functions in new database to allow for the retirement of the DB-4 database. | Sharon & contractor | Commence ASAP – to take up to 15 months | Contractor | Sharon |
| C. Add affiliate chapters to the database to database. | Chris, task force & contractor | Commence ASAP, done 1 September 2012 | Contractor | |
| D. Create a 3 person committee from affiliates who current use database to coordinate database work. | Chris, Sharon, John McCann + two others | ASAP & ongoing | Volunteer time | Sharon |
| Objective #6: Focus on Convention | ||||
| A. Enhance media opportunities at each convention for special-interest groups and ACB advocacy efforts. | Convention Committee | Institute for 2012 Convention | Minimal | |
GOAL #2: Strengthen ACB Funding Efforts (Marsha Farrow Task Force Chair)
| Activities | Responsible Party | Time Frame | Costs | Staff Help Needed |
| A. Add an Advisory Council of ten influential people to give access to money plus their own money | Board, ED, CFO and Steve | By July 2012 | Staff & Volunteer time | Melanie, Lane & Steve |
| B. Improve public disclosure on the website | Steve and webmaster | By July 2012 | Webmaster’s time | Steve |
| C. Purchase donor management system | Steve and Lane | Begin investigation immediately, purchase in 60 days. | $5K to $30K | Steve and Lane |
| D. Instigate e-appeals | Steve | ASAP | Steve | |
| E. Diversifying funding sources from outside of ACB | Board, Task Force & Steve | Begin work ASAP – then ongoing | Volunteer time | Steve |
GOAL #3: Develop and Implement a Plan to Strengthen paid Staff and Volunteer Help (Kim Charlson Task Force Chair)
| Activities | Responsible Party | Time Frame | Costs | Staff Help Needed |
| A. Educate Board & staff to better understand personnel & administrative procedures within ACB | Board Chair & ED | Ongoing | Some ED & Board Chair time | ED |
| B. Reduce after-hours staff time when staffing committees by reducing staff presence at mtgs. and holding meetings during working hours. | All Committee Chairs | Commence immediately – then ongoing | Committee Chair time | Staff collaboration with Committee Chairs |
| C. Investigate ACB’s current phone system to separate Hotline calls from main system. | Task Force | By July 2012 | Possible part-time person or volunteer | Barbara & Sharon |
| D. Clarify staff autonomy on matters that demand rapid response (e.g. press releases). | Task Force & ED | ASAP | Volunteer time | ED & Eric |
| E. Explore the necessity of additional staff support in the realm of advocacy. | ED and staff make recommendation to the Board | 1 September 2012 | Perhaps an additional staff member | ED and staff |
| F. Develop a training plan for all staff with a line item covering this cost | ED and staff | Begin in the Fall of 2012 & incorporate into 2013 Budget | Approximately $7K | ED & staff |
| G. Do an IT audit of ACB’s offices & construct a plan to regularly upgrade equipment | Staff perhaps with an IT consultant | ASAP and then ongoing | Cost to be calculated per annum. One time consultant fee | ED & staff |
| H. Review present state & upgrade file sharing amongst staff | Staff with an IT consultant | ASAP and then ongoing | IT consultant & perhaps a new server | All staff |
| I. Assess furniture needs and other needs that will upgrade office appearance and efficiency | Task Force | Fall of 2012 to incorporate into 2013 budget | Dependent upon assessment | |
| J. Follow practices and policies with regard to staff performance reviews | Board Chair and ED | ASAP | Time to conduct reviews | ED |
GOAL #4: REVIEW AND RECOMMEND MODIFICATIONS TO THE OVERALL STRUCTURE OF ACB TO MAXIMIZE ITS WORK PERFORMANCE (Paul Edwards Task Force Chair)
NOTE: Since this was a single person task force and since most of the recommendations below are overall organizational in nature, the recommendations are simply listed rather than placed in a Strategic Plan format at this point. They will (and should) be studied by the Board and action on those approved would stem from Board action in the future. In my opinion there are many that could markedly help ACB complete its work more effectively and efficiently. Don Wells
- Implement a practice of holding at least three focused conference calls per year with Affiliate leaders, one of which will be aimed at Special-Interest Affiliates.
- Create a Committee Section on the website on which each committee posts its annual goals. Prior to Convention each post will contain an update report stating progress towards those goals.
- Affiliates are strongly encouraged, as a part of their affiliation with ACB, to annually name a legislative liaison to work with the national office.
- Each Board Member shall be given the responsibility of working with a number of Affiliates so that issues of concern can be brought to the Board and so that national initiative can be communicated to the Affiliates.
- Board and staff shall meet annually to develop a set of at least three priorities that ACB will concentrate on for the next year. These shall be presented at Convention as a part of the President’s Report.
- As a part of this strategic plan, the President shall appoint an Affiliate task force who shall have three responsibilities. First they shall develop a survey that will encourage Affiliates to provide specific notions of what they believe the priorities of this organization ought to be and what specific services they believe should be provided by the national organization. Second, this task force will have the responsibility of analyzing the results of this survey and making recommendations to the Board as to how they should be implemented. Third, this task force should make recommendations to the Board for other permanent measures that will assure ongoing communication and interchange of best practices between the national organization and its Affiliates.
- The Constitution and Bylaws Committee shall explore whether or not our Bylaws and Constitution should be combined into a single document.
- To expedite decisions making, the Board shall develop a means of soliciting input from Affiliates between Conventions so that the supremacy of our membership as decision makers does not limit the Board’s ability to make interim decisions that may differ from those adopted by the Convention.
- Methods need to be explored and developed that will enable members who do not attend Convention to be involved in decisions made there.
- It shall be a priority of this Strategic Plan to see that the secret ballot is implemented ASAP.
Consultant Notes on Plan
- Goal #1 has extensive activities and a challenging timeline. It might be wise for the Task Force to modify some of the proposed timelines and extend the work load over three years.
- Goal #2 has few activities but all have some urgency.
- Goal #3 has extensive staff involvement in its implementation. Present workloads need to be factored in to its timeline.
- As noted above, Goal #4 proposes some over-arching modifications that will take further Board consideration. Not all are urgent and therefore the Board may wish to table (but not ignore) some for future consideration.
- I would earnestly recommend that this plan be reviewed at every Board Meeting and that Task Force Chairs report on the progress on each activity listed.
- I would propose that the next step for the Board/staff is to review this DRAFT and propose changes. These changes might be then incorporated. When the changes have been incorporated, the Board must approve the Plan.
Respectfully submitted,
Don Wells
Consultant
donwellsconsulting@yahoo.com
6 March 2012
This webpage last updated February 28, 2013.