Update on our strategic planning process
As you may recall, earlier this year the board started a strategic planning process for 2024 – 2026. The goal of the process was to determine how AFP Quad Cites can be the best resource for our local fundraising professionals – YOU!
We worked with Ron Wastyn from Wastyn & Associates who completed the following items:
Held six focus groups attended by 41 individuals to determine current perceptions and future desires for the organization.
Conducted a 25-question survey that 104 individuals completed to validate or alter the perceptions gleaned from the focus group participants.
Results from these items showed the following:
Education and learning opportunities emerged as the major themes. People join AFP and attend its programs to learn more about fund development with networking as a distant second.
They like the learning opportunities presented in the classes, both the introductory class and more advanced classes, and the monthly lunch and learns.
They did not like the half-day or full-day conferences, but rather preferred their learning in 60- to 90-minute chunks.
Those results prompted several in-depth planning strategic planning meetings that the entire board participated in. From those meetngs, we came up with two strategic initiatives:
AFP QC is the premier provider of fundraising education and networking in the Quad Cities.
AFP QC is the champion for the fundraising profession in the Quad Cities.
We identified several objectives from these initiatives that will serve as our north star and drivers to achieve these initiatives for the next 3 years.