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2019-20 Strategic Plan: Advancing Mission – Building Sustainability

Following a six-month review of the opportunities and challenges facing the Wood River Women’s Foundation, the Board of Directors recently approved a two-year strategic plan. The purpose of this planning effort was to identify and set high-level, achievable goals that address the WRWF’s near-term organizational priorities. The process was informed by the full WRWF community with input from surveys conducted with membership and local nonprofits, along with engagement by the Board and the President’s Council.
 
The resulting two-part plan, Advancing Mission – Building Sustainability, fully supports our mission of a strong, sustainable and impactful collective giving culture while establishing a framework to ensure future operational and philanthropic success.
 
We are excited to announce that the Strategic Plan was officially completed in November 2021. We began this endeavor to ensure that WRWF meets our governance, fiduciary and operational requirements, both from the perspective of operating as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the state of Idaho, but also to remain relevant and resilient for the long-term.
 
Special thanks go to Terri Bullock, Peggy Grove, Gail Landis, LeeAnn Linderman and Carrie Morrow. This team spent more than two years planning and implementing a purposeful Strategic Plan to assure we have sound Governance policies and practices. An amazing team of dynamic members identified and wrote procedures for every position held to date, and created our new Leadership Development Program.
Strategic Plan 2019/2020

Background

Co-chaired by Terri Bullock, Chair of the Board, and Gail Landis, Governance Committee Chair, the Strategic Planning Task Force collaborated throughout summer, autumn and early winter under the guidance of a professional management consultant. Throughout the process, the committee worked through a series of input mechanisms and information processes including research on best practices for nonprofits, similar work by our sister collective giving organizations and numerous good governance materials.

The planning research showed strong support for our mission and wide participation of our members. This is a wonderful reflection of the dedication and commitment of women in our community to engage in philanthropic work for the benefit of all. The rapid expansion in membership is exciting and, inherently, brings with it a clear need for organizational structure – the building blocks – that will enable us, as volunteers, to consistently deliver on our philanthropic promise.

Initiatives

To achieve the goal of continuing to fulfill and sustain our mission, the plan consists of two initiatives:

1) Leadership Development

Design and implement the Wood River Women’s Foundation Leadership Development Program to foster the identification, recruitment and experiential preparation of rising leaders across the organization.

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The WRWF rate of growth calls for an expanding circle of qualified leaders across the organization. These leaders must be drawn from the growing membership, identified, recruited and familiarized with the WRWF Standards of Governance and Operations.

Many thanks to the below volunteer members who participated in the Task Force

Strategic Plan Task Force

Co-Chairs Terri Bullock and Gail Landis
Kathleen Eder
Peggy Grove, WRWF President
Lynne Heidel
Marcia Liebich

2) Standards of Governance & Operation

Establish and employ the Wood River Women’s Foundation Standards of Governance & Operation to ensure effective operations and sound governance within a volunteer community of mutual support, accountability and transparency.

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As the WRWF continues to grow in membership, scope of interest and size of grant resources, it is imperative that the WRWF ensure consistency of performance year to year, thus ensuring the organization’s ability to fulfill and sustain mission. WRWF Standards of Governance & Operation must be developed to guide the board in its fiduciary, strategic and generative roles, while also fostering operational effectiveness, communication and accountability at all organizational levels.
The work of delivering results will take place over the next two years and will involve all WRWF committees. This plan is intentionally focused on designing and implementing the building blocks that will support our ability to deliver on our mission well into our future. These are critical scaffolding components for an organization that is reliant on volunteers to carry it forward.

Many thanks to the below WRWF Board and President’s Council Members

Participants in strategic planning board retreat

Terri Bullock, WRWF Vice President
Jan DeBard
Sandra Flattery
Margery Friedlander
Peggy Grove, WRWF President
Gail Landis
Terri LeFaivre
Marcia Liebich
Sandy McCullough
Sylvia Miller
Louisa Moats
Barbara Thrasher
Kat Vanden Heuvel
Gina Wolcott
Patti Zebrowski

Strategic Plan Updates

Highlights from the member survey

Last fall, all members were invited to participate in a survey in order to gain a clear and current picture of our membership. The number of responses was terrific – thanks to each of you who took the time to complete the online survey!

Members made it abundantly clear that they are both informed and focused on the WRWF mission with:

99% stating they understand our mission

99%

97% believing the mission is being fulfilled

97%

97% feeling informed on programs

97%
Here are some key takeaways:

We are growing: 66% have been members for five years or less

66%

We are seasoned: 81% of members are age 60 or older

81%

Full-Time: 67% are full-time residents

67%

Part-Time: 33% are part-time

33%

Members are active: 55% consider themselves active

55%

These numbers are about as close to 100% as surveys get, a true confirmation that WRWF members are fully committed and engaged in contributing to the community through the mission of the Foundation.