BIG BROTHERS OF GREATER VANCOUVER FOUNDATION Strategic Plan 2020 - 2025
August 1, 2020 - July 31, 2025
TABLE OF CONTENTS Strategic Planning Task Force
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Introduction
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Messages from Trevor O’Reilly (Board Chair) and Valerie Lambert (Executive Director)
What We Do
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Vision, Mission, Values
Strategic Priorities
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Community and Growth Internal Delivery Process People Engagement Financial Sustainability
SOAR Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Aspirations, and Results)
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At Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver Foundation, we believe in the positive impact of mentorship. 1
STRATEGIC PLANNING TASK FORCE Board Members:
Trevor O’Reilly, Board Chair, Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver Foundation (BBGVF) Steven Joe Guyle Tippe
Board Chair, BBGV and Renew Crew Foundation Tony Miles
Chair, Strategic Planning Task Force Gerry Egan
Staff:
Valerie Lambert, Executive Director Mandy Wong, Manager, Development and Marketing Rose Higgins, BBGV, Manager - Research, Inclusion, and Strategy Keltie Dow, Senior Human Resources Generalist Will Chambers, Marketing and Communications Coordinator Wes Martin, Marketing Officer, Volunteer Recruitment Airi Nakamoto, Development Assistant Andree Nash, Events Officer Teresa Quach, Development Officer
STRATEGIC PLAN 2020-2025
Our Strategic Planning process has been a collaborative effort of contributions and ideas from our staff, board members and the wider community. This resulting plan will serve as our guide for the next five years as we continue to focus on intentional and empowering ways to support Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver (BBGV) and the communities and families we serve. We greatly appreciate the hours that went into the development of this Strategic Plan.
Facilitator:
Joanna Whalley
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MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR On behalf of the Board of Directors of Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver Foundation (BBGVF), I am very proud to introduce the new Strategic Plan for the years 2020 to 2025. This plan is the result of many hours of effort on the part of Board Directors and myself under the conscientious leadership of Gerry Egan, Strategic Planning Task Force Chair. The committee was supported by Valerie Lambert, Executive Director and her capable staff. Our process was facilitated by Joanna Whalley who brought her vast experience to the table to help us distill and clarify our thoughts.
INTRODUCTION
The role of Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver Foundation is to provide shared services to Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver (BBGV) and Renew Crew Foundation (RCF). These services include marketing, communications, fundraising, accounting and finance, administration and HR. BBGVF also stewards the financial resources on behalf of the group of agencies. The Board establishes and monitors adherence to strict governance policies. Shortly after we began this work, it became apparent that we were on the verge of a pandemic of uncertain duration and severity. I particularly appreciate the efforts of the team in completing this work on time, notwithstanding the upheaval in the world. The pandemic actually helped us find our voice as we recognized the importance of raising emergency funding and reaching out to our longtime donors in order to maintain our financial security. The Committee began by reviewing the vision, mission and values of the organization to ensure they sufficiently inform and inspire our future direction.
Our vision is: To create a sustainable and strong foundation of funding and volunteers to support mentorship programs that empower children and youth to reach their full potential.
Our mission is: To source and steward sustainable funding, inspire volunteers to contribute their time, and to engage with our community and staff to build awareness about the impact and value of mentorship. As a Board, we participated in and endorsed the values of trust, collaboration and teamwork, growth and innovation and inclusivity. These have changed somewhat from the organization’s previous values. The new values resonated with our entire staff, who participated in our process.
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Our strategic priorities for 2020-2025 evolve around four key areas: Community and Growth (Broadening our Impact), our Internal Delivery Process (Deepen our Impact), People Engagement, and Financial Sustainability. These priorities are unpacked and thoroughly discussed in this text. Each of these priorities includes stretch goals that will challenge our entire team to deliver their very best to our community. Specific strategic directives and key performance indicators (KPI’s) have been identified for each of these five areas. These will continue to be developed over the next five years. We view our Strategic Plan as a living document. As we plan our operations for each of the years 2021 to 2025, we will refine and enhance our KPI’s and even add new ones as conditions evolve. Our new plan also is branded with our new colours and logo. We hope it reflects an optimistic view of the future.
Thank you.
Trevor O’Reilly, CFA Chair, Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver Foundation Board
My daughter has been a Big Buddy in the Teen Mentoring program for 2 yrs, I’m so impressed with your organization’s support of both the Big & Little Buddies. I’ve donated clothes & household items to BB for years also. Thank you for jumping in to action so quickly during the COVID-19 crisis/pandemic to support the Bigs with all the webinars & then getting the mentoring program up & running again virtually! Such flexibility, creativity & dedication!
LONG-TERM IMPACTS INTRODUCTION
I would like to thank my co-directors for the incredible contribution they made to BBGVF in participating in this worthwhile process. I would also like to thank all of our community partners, families, mentors, youth and staff who took the time to give us feedback on our plan. It was critically important and we hope we have reflected your views in full.
- Parent of a Big Buddy
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MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR The Board-led strategic planning process was very comprehensive and inclusive. We consulted widely with literally hundreds of stakeholders who generously took the time to respond to our survey questions, give thoughtful comments and encourage our strategic planning process. New directors representing fresh perspectives participated in the process along with more seasoned directors who were able to bring a longer-term perspective to our discussions. There were also a number of staff representatives on the Task Force committee.
INTRODUCTION
We checked back with the entire staff at key points in the process to ensure that everyone had a chance to engage in the process in some way. All voices were very much valued. To assist us in identifying areas of opportunity and challenge, we engaged in a SOAR analysis in place of our previous SWOT process. This is fully described in the plan and served as the backdrop to our strategic priorities. We have also incorporating our work around Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and anti-racism into every aspect of our operations and this will evolve over the next few years. Notwithstanding the challenges of the past several months, we are excited to be rolling out this new plan. We hope you find it thoughtful, worthy of your feedback and aspirational for the future. Thank you.
Valerie Lambert, CPA, CA, ICD.D Executive Director
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WHAT WE DO Our Vision To create a sustainable and strong foundation of funding and volunteers to support mentorship programs that empower children and youth to reach their full potential.
Our Mission
OUR VALUES THAT GUIDE OUR WORK Trust
We act with integrity and commitment to ensure trust in our organization and programs. We practice efficiency in our work to maximize the stewardship of every donor dollar.
Collaboration and Teamwork
We foster a collaborative and efficient work community to provide creative ideas and business support for the benefit of all staff members.
Growth and Innovation
We develop innovative partnerships and dependable revenue. We inspire generosity amongst our donors, volunteers, and the wider community to ensure the longevity of our mentorship programs.
Inclusivity
We are committed to creating inclusive spaces of belonging where all voices and experiences are welcomed and valued. We commit to take intentional actions towards advancing our commitments to equity, reconciliation and anti-racism across our policy, procedure and practice.
VISION, MISSION, VALUES
To source and steward sustainable funding, inspire volunteers to contribute their time, and to engage with our community and staff to build awareness about the impact and value of mentorship.
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PILLAR 1 COMMUNITY AND GROWTH – BROADEN IMPACT To enhance community impact through building partnerships to ensure more children and youth are matched with mentors through recruitment.
STRATEGIC DIRECTIVES Year One:
BROADEN IMPACT
• Build potential partnerships for volunteer referrals and funding for our programs. • Develop strategy to increase number of completed applications and decrease application withdrawal rates. • Explore potential partnerships for fund development and events such as new areas of sponsorship or major gift donors.
Years Two through Five: • Ensure that partnerships are positive and contribute to the benefit of BBGVF, BBGV, and RCF. • Use data analysis to ensure efficiency with our application process.
Key Performance Indicators: • Increase the number of completed applications. • Increase the number of partnerships.
We’ve had a relationship now for over 10 years and it’s been great. We still stay in touch, I’ve seen him grow and mature. He’s turned into this amazing young man who has a head on his shoulders better than any young man I’ve ever met. - Big Brother
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PILLAR 2 INTERNAL DELIVERY PROCESS – DEEPEN IMPACT Develop stronger relationships with our donors and volunteers. Increase understanding of who we serve, our work, and our impact.
STRATEGIC DIRECTIVES Year One:
Years Two through Five: • Build processes and guidelines for collaboration between BBGV, BBGVF, RCF on marketing and ‘story telling’. • Build positive relationships with our internal network through continuous conversations – donors and volunteers. • Increase communication between BBGV and BBGVF. • Explore options to consolidate internal data for funding opportunities.
Key Performance Indicators: • • • •
Development of marketing strategies and plans. Donor and volunteer awareness. New donors and volunteers. Number of repeat donors.
DEEPEN IMPACT
• Create marketing and communications plans for agency success (recruitment, RCF, fund development). • Develop collaboration strategy to collect local and agency data to help with recruitment, fundraising and grant writing. • Establish new branding across our marketing materials and campaigns.
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PILLAR 3 PEOPLE ENGAGEMENT Prioritize activities and opportunities to attract and retain talented employees and volunteers to aid in the realization of the vision and mission.
STRATEGIC DIRECTIVES Employees Our success is tied to the well-being, accomplishments, and development of BBGVF’s employees. A primary goal is to enhance our culture that supports employees in their involvement in rewarding work with a common purpose.
Year One: •
PEOPLE ENGAGEMENT
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Develop initial stages of a Human Resources strategy aligned to the organizational strategy and plans. Focus on improving engagement and retention through people-focused activities: o Employee Survey analysis and plans. o Career planning: understanding employee goals and opportunities. o Inclusion and anti-racism awareness.
Years Two through Five: • • •
Research and development of priority areas for staff engagement. Build organizational capacity through enhanced training and development for key organizational roles. Improve employee accessibility to employment information.
Key Performance Indicators: • •
Examine employee engagement to develop applicable goals. Examine voluntary turnover to develop applicable goals.
Volunteers To attract and recruit volunteers for BBGV’s programs is integral in order to meet the vision and mission of the organization. A primary goal is to develop a successful volunteer recruitment strategy.
Year One: • •
Analyze data of current volunteer and program needs. Develop strategy for inclusive marketing.
Years Two through Five: • •
Address volunteer and social trends to determine the future direction of volunteer recruitment. Develop a strategy for data management and data analysis.
Key Performance Indicators: • •
Existence of a volunteer recruitment plan. Increased number of volunteers.
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PILLAR 4 FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver Foundation (BBGVF) has the primary responsibility for raising funds to support the mentorship programs offered by Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver (BBGV). This strategic priority addresses the need for the Foundation to diversify our funding sources in order to ensure sustainability and meet growth objectives. Diversification includes the continued development of an individual giving program.
STRATEGIC DIRECTIVES • Establish targets for individual giving both with regard to increasing the number of donors and establishing an overall giving growth plan. • Develop a sustainability plan and five-year projection that examines the net contribution of the Foundation after costs of fundraising and salaries. • Evaluate cost to raise a dollar for all funding programs.
Years Two through Five: • Grow and diversify existing funding sources in accordance with the five-year service projection. • Ensure that funding sources are sustainable and contribute to the benefit of both BBGVF and BBGV. • Rationalize funding programs that do not meet efficiency targets. • New special events and third party partnerships to support with fund development.
Key Performance Indicators: • Increase individual giving. • Diversification of funding.
Well, if I didn’t have my Big Brother, I’d probably be some couch potato, playing video games in a dungeon. I would’ve never left the house because I never would’ve had anyone to go with, I never would’ve had those opportunities... Sometimes you need a push to get out of your bubble, especially when you’re a kid.
FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
Year One:
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SOAR ANALYSIS The model we used to focus on our situational analysis was the SOAR, Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations and Results. It is a model of appreciative inquiry. We chose this in preference to the more traditional SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis because it is more reflective of our strength-based approach to mentorship. In considering our strengths, we identified the following: • • • • • •
Diversity of our staff who bring diverse perspectives and experiences to our work. Efficiency and the willingness to adapt to achieve greater outcomes. Consistent and positive communication. Established name and brand with a legacy of trust. Strong partnerships with our donors and community. Ability to adapt to changing circumstances and community needs.
SOAR ANALYSIS
We identified our opportunities to be the flip side of challenges: • • • • • • •
Supply of volunteers for children/families. Diversity of funding. Staff resources. Training and educations for mentors. Collaboration and partnerships in the community. Inclusive marketing messages. Staff retention strategies.
Our aspirations included: • • • • • • • • •
Collaboration between BBGV and BBGV Foundation. Combining fundraising with volunteer recruitment. Research and knowledge mobilization. Adapting technologies to improve processes. Education and collaboration with our network – mentors, families, donors. Ongoing adult mentor and staff training. Volunteer engagement strategies. Balanced workload for staff. Staff retention strategies.
We will know we have succeeded when we see the following results: • • • • • •
Waitlist reductions for children and families. Increased number of volunteers. Increased number of donors and funding. Increased engagement with our internal network. Effective marketing programs developed. Broad representation of diverse communities as Mentors/Staff/Board members and families.
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