SAGE Strategic Plan: 2013-2015

305 Seventh Avenue, 15th Floor New York, NY 10001 212-741-2247

To read more about SAGE’s new strategic plan, read our summer 2013 issue of SAGEMatters at sageusa.org/sagematters. To see what SAGE accomplished in 2012, read our new annual report at sageusa.org/annualreport.

THE ROAD AHEAD SAGE STRATEGIC PLAN 2013-2015

sageusa.org facebook.com/sageusa twitter.com/sageusa youtube.com/sageusa

ABOUT SAGE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

SAGE (Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders) is the country’s largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) older adults.

Founded in 1978 and headquartered in New York City, SAGE is a national organization that offers supportive services and consumer resources for LGBT older adults and their caregivers, advocates for public policy changes that address the needs of LGBT older people, and provides training for aging providers and LGBT organizations, largely through its National Resource Center on LGBT Aging. With offices in New York City, Washington, DC and Chicago, SAGE coordinates a growing network of 24 local SAGE affiliates in 17 states and the District of Columbia.

SAGE would like to thank the following members of the Strategic Planning Committee for their commitment and contributions to our strategic planning process: David Braff (co-chair), Carol Davidson (co-chair), David Canter, Jerry Chasen, Joy Tomchin and Patricia Wiley, as well as Michael Adams and Gregory Grinley (SAGE staff). We also express our gratitude to Regina Podhorin and Eitan Grunwald from The Leadership Group for steering this strategic planning process, as well as AT Kearney, Beyond Diversity (Pamela Chambers and Robin Parker) and Myles Presley for providing their formidable research and advice during this process.

A note on research and feedback. Between July 2012 and March 2013, SAGE conducted a strategic planning process to guide its direction over the next three years. To inform our thinking, SAGE and its strategic plan consultants conducted an online survey of more than 900 LGBT older people nationwide on their needs and interests, as well as their perspectives on SAGE’s future. Additionally, we held 11 focus groups with LGBT elder constituents and other stakeholders and conducted 46 individual interviews with national leaders in aging and LGBT rights, the health care field, SAGE affiliates, and current and potential donors. SAGE would like to thank all of you who offered your generous feedback, candor and ideas; this plan is the product of your wisdom.

R

oad maps show the destinations, directions and how far we need to travel. Since our inception more than 35 years ago, SAGE has paved roads that take us closer to fully addressing the array of challenges facing a growing demographic of LGBT older adults. The concerns of LGBT older people have gone from invisible to peripheral to a gradual, though not fully realized, acceptance in the aging field and in the LGBT sector. And the public now hears SAGE’s call for LGBT-friendly aging services and for removing the policy barriers that harm our lives as aging LGBT people. In 2012, as SAGE neared the completion of an ambitious five-year plan that took our work to a national scale, we faced a new opportunity: creating a road map that leverages

a burgeoning LGBT aging sector, while concentrating SAGE’s leadership on the savviest innovations in LGBT aging. We know that together we can augment the right strategies to achieve large-scale improvements for millions of LGBT older people. The field has expanded to include more leaders invested in the lives of LGBT elders—an explicit goal in SAGE’s previous strategic plan. This exciting progress requires a different posture moving forward: one that grows SAGE’s national impact, expands best practices in LGBT aging, and models service provision for LGBT elders nationwide. And to get there, we’re focusing on three areas: sustainability, data-driven decisions, and diversity and inclusion.

THE JOURNEY STARTS TODAY—WE PROUDLY PRESENT SAGE’S NEW STRATEGIC PLAN.

FOUNDATIONAL MANDATE: Achieving Operational Excellence

STRATEGIC MANDATE: Maximizing SAGE’s Impact as a Model Service Provider and Advocate These goals represent the core strategic priorities that will preserve and strengthen SAGE’s role in meeting the needs of LGBT older adults across the country.

These first three goals represent the core foundational priorities that will support and create the optimal environment for achieving the strategic mandate.

GOAL 1

GOAL 2

GOAL 3

GOAL 4

GOAL 5

GOAL 6

Increase Financial Sustainability

Make Data-Driven Decisions

Strengthen Diversity and Inclusion

Grow Our National Impact

Expand Best Practices in LGBT Aging

Model Service Provision for LGBT Older Adults

Today’s thriving nonprofits have a keen eye to growing their demand and reach while balancing their revenue sources. Over the next three years, SAGE will focus on expanding the number of people nationwide who support our vision of successful aging for all LGBT older people.

We will more effectively tap into various funding streams—from government sources to individuals, from corporate partnerships to private philanthropy— and we will institute the latest, smartest financial practices to ensure that our critical supports for millions of LGBT older adults last for generations.

A strong data culture helps nonprofits make wiser decisions, assess financial health, measure the impact and effectiveness of their programs, and reach new people with the tailored information they need to plan their futures. Over the next three years, SAGE will partner with key leaders in the aging and long-term care fields, and in the LGBT sector, to evaluate and pinpoint which programs work best among LGBT older people; we’ll then export those evidence-based practices across the country. SAGE will also integrate strong data systems into all of our functions so that we can readily use metrics to grow and succeed. Because when we succeed, our mission succeeds.

SAGE is committed to supporting the full breadth of LGBT older people around the country through the service and training programs we offer and the policy solutions we propose. Inwardlooking, we also know that diversity in the workplace makes good management sense; it promotes fairness, creates opportunities for historically underrepresented communities and increases innovation. Over the next three years, SAGE will integrate diversity and inclusion strategies into all of our internal and external functions. We’ll also develop culturally competent service models that target more vulnerable LGBT elders, and we’ll share this learning with our peers in the aging and LGBT fields.

LGBT elders deserve to age with dignity, financial security and broad community support, no matter where they live.

Over the next three years, SAGE will work with our nationwide network of local affiliates to ensure they have the resources and guidance to transform the lives of LGBT elders in their areas.

We’ll also form strategic alliances with leading organizations in key parts of the country to engage in joint policy advocacy, replicate successful programs, and open up funding streams for LGBT aging programs anywhere in the country. And we’ll grow our presence in a select number of major U.S. cities so that more and more LGBT people learn about the importance of a coordinated national agenda for LGBT aging.

For more than 35 years, SAGE has led the aging and LGBT rights fields in understanding what it means to age successfully as an LGBT older person, and what aging providers, policy makers and LGBT elders can do to support this process. Over the next three years, SAGE will concentrate its national thought leadership on developing and disseminating best practices in LGBT aging, advancing policy agendas that better address the needs of LGBT older people in areas such as housing and veterans’ care (as two examples), forming alliances with other nonprofit leaders that support aging providers and older people, and producing userfriendly consumer resources on how to live well as an older person.

As more people reach retirement age over the next few decades, aging providers will need programs that are impactful, efficient and cost-effective.

Over the next three years, SAGE will adapt our service programs so that they are responsive to trends in the health care sector and in managed long-term care. We will work with our many local affiliates to identify the most effective direct service programs and replicate them nationally. And we will bolster our one-of-a-kind National Resource Center on LGBT Aging to continue training aging providers around the country, while utilizing technology and key partnerships to better target consumers with the information they need to plan for the future.

FOUNDATIONAL MANDATE: Achieving Operational Excellence

STRATEGIC MANDATE: Maximizing SAGE’s Impact as a Model Service Provider and Advocate These goals represent the core strategic priorities that will preserve and strengthen SAGE’s role in meeting the needs of LGBT older adults across the country.

These first three goals represent the core foundational priorities that will support and create the optimal environment for achieving the strategic mandate.

GOAL 1

GOAL 2

GOAL 3

GOAL 4

GOAL 5

GOAL 6

Increase Financial Sustainability

Make Data-Driven Decisions

Strengthen Diversity and Inclusion

Grow Our National Impact

Expand Best Practices in LGBT Aging

Model Service Provision for LGBT Older Adults

Today’s thriving nonprofits have a keen eye to growing their demand and reach while balancing their revenue sources. Over the next three years, SAGE will focus on expanding the number of people nationwide who support our vision of successful aging for all LGBT older people.

We will more effectively tap into various funding streams—from government sources to individuals, from corporate partnerships to private philanthropy— and we will institute the latest, smartest financial practices to ensure that our critical supports for millions of LGBT older adults last for generations.

A strong data culture helps nonprofits make wiser decisions, assess financial health, measure the impact and effectiveness of their programs, and reach new people with the tailored information they need to plan their futures. Over the next three years, SAGE will partner with key leaders in the aging and long-term care fields, and in the LGBT sector, to evaluate and pinpoint which programs work best among LGBT older people; we’ll then export those evidence-based practices across the country. SAGE will also integrate strong data systems into all of our functions so that we can readily use metrics to grow and succeed. Because when we succeed, our mission succeeds.

SAGE is committed to supporting the full breadth of LGBT older people around the country through the service and training programs we offer and the policy solutions we propose. Inwardlooking, we also know that diversity in the workplace makes good management sense; it promotes fairness, creates opportunities for historically underrepresented communities and increases innovation. Over the next three years, SAGE will integrate diversity and inclusion strategies into all of our internal and external functions. We’ll also develop culturally competent service models that target more vulnerable LGBT elders, and we’ll share this learning with our peers in the aging and LGBT fields.

LGBT elders deserve to age with dignity, financial security and broad community support, no matter where they live.

Over the next three years, SAGE will work with our nationwide network of local affiliates to ensure they have the resources and guidance to transform the lives of LGBT elders in their areas.

We’ll also form strategic alliances with leading organizations in key parts of the country to engage in joint policy advocacy, replicate successful programs, and open up funding streams for LGBT aging programs anywhere in the country. And we’ll grow our presence in a select number of major U.S. cities so that more and more LGBT people learn about the importance of a coordinated national agenda for LGBT aging.

For more than 35 years, SAGE has led the aging and LGBT rights fields in understanding what it means to age successfully as an LGBT older person, and what aging providers, policy makers and LGBT elders can do to support this process. Over the next three years, SAGE will concentrate its national thought leadership on developing and disseminating best practices in LGBT aging, advancing policy agendas that better address the needs of LGBT older people in areas such as housing and veterans’ care (as two examples), forming alliances with other nonprofit leaders that support aging providers and older people, and producing userfriendly consumer resources on how to live well as an older person.

As more people reach retirement age over the next few decades, aging providers will need programs that are impactful, efficient and cost-effective.

Over the next three years, SAGE will adapt our service programs so that they are responsive to trends in the health care sector and in managed long-term care. We will work with our many local affiliates to identify the most effective direct service programs and replicate them nationally. And we will bolster our one-of-a-kind National Resource Center on LGBT Aging to continue training aging providers around the country, while utilizing technology and key partnerships to better target consumers with the information they need to plan for the future.

305 Seventh Avenue, 15th Floor New York, NY 10001 212-741-2247

To read more about SAGE’s new strategic plan, read our summer 2013 issue of SAGEMatters at sageusa.org/sagematters. To see what SAGE accomplished in 2012, read our new annual report at sageusa.org/annualreport.

THE ROAD AHEAD SAGE STRATEGIC PLAN 2013-2015

sageusa.org facebook.com/sageusa twitter.com/sageusa youtube.com/sageusa

ABOUT SAGE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

SAGE (Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders) is the country’s largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) older adults.

Founded in 1978 and headquartered in New York City, SAGE is a national organization that offers supportive services and consumer resources for LGBT older adults and their caregivers, advocates for public policy changes that address the needs of LGBT older people, and provides training for aging providers and LGBT organizations, largely through its National Resource Center on LGBT Aging. With offices in New York City, Washington, DC and Chicago, SAGE coordinates a growing network of 24 local SAGE affiliates in 17 states and the District of Columbia.

SAGE would like to thank the following members of the Strategic Planning Committee for their commitment and contributions to our strategic planning process: David Braff (co-chair), Carol Davidson (co-chair), David Canter, Jerry Chasen, Joy Tomchin and Patricia Wiley, as well as Michael Adams and Gregory Grinley (SAGE staff). We also express our gratitude to Regina Podhorin and Eitan Grunwald from The Leadership Group for steering this strategic planning process, as well as AT Kearney, Beyond Diversity (Pamela Chambers and Robin Parker) and Myles Presley for providing their formidable research and advice during this process.

A note on research and feedback. Between July 2012 and March 2013, SAGE conducted a strategic planning process to guide its direction over the next three years. To inform our thinking, SAGE and its strategic plan consultants conducted an online survey of more than 900 LGBT older people nationwide on their needs and interests, as well as their perspectives on SAGE’s future. Additionally, we held 11 focus groups with LGBT elder constituents and other stakeholders and conducted 46 individual interviews with national leaders in aging and LGBT rights, the health care field, SAGE affiliates, and current and potential donors. SAGE would like to thank all of you who offered your generous feedback, candor and ideas; this plan is the product of your wisdom.

R

oad maps show the destinations, directions and how far we need to travel. Since our inception more than 35 years ago, SAGE has paved roads that take us closer to fully addressing the array of challenges facing a growing demographic of LGBT older adults. The concerns of LGBT older people have gone from invisible to peripheral to a gradual, though not fully realized, acceptance in the aging field and in the LGBT sector. And the public now hears SAGE’s call for LGBT-friendly aging services and for removing the policy barriers that harm our lives as aging LGBT people. In 2012, as SAGE neared the completion of an ambitious five-year plan that took our work to a national scale, we faced a new opportunity: creating a road map that leverages

a burgeoning LGBT aging sector, while concentrating SAGE’s leadership on the savviest innovations in LGBT aging. We know that together we can augment the right strategies to achieve large-scale improvements for millions of LGBT older people. The field has expanded to include more leaders invested in the lives of LGBT elders—an explicit goal in SAGE’s previous strategic plan. This exciting progress requires a different posture moving forward: one that grows SAGE’s national impact, expands best practices in LGBT aging, and models service provision for LGBT elders nationwide. And to get there, we’re focusing on three areas: sustainability, data-driven decisions, and diversity and inclusion.

THE JOURNEY STARTS TODAY—WE PROUDLY PRESENT SAGE’S NEW STRATEGIC PLAN.