Points of Light Strategic Plan Overview FY2012 FY2014 Every day, people of all ages, races, ethnicities and faiths step up and tackle problems in their communities and around the world. Our plan is focused on how we can best support people in their efforts to make the world a better place. Over the next three years, we plan to significantly grow the number of people who volunteer and broaden and deepen the ways people create real and lasting change. In the process, we also aim to define a new kind of volunteerism for the 21 st century volunteering and civic engagement that calls on people to use all of their assets their time and talents, their financial resources and their voice to improve the world. As a leader in the service movement, we will help create a culture and public policy environment in the United States that encourages and supports service and volunteerism. At the same time, we will contribute to the larger civic engagement movement emerging globally. OUR VISION: One day, every person will discover their power to make a difference, creating healthy communities in vibrant, participatory societies. OUR MISSION: We inspire, equip and mobilize people to take action that changes the world. OUR GOALS: By 2015, we aim to: Reach 50 million people annually to raise their awareness and inspire them to make a difference Provide people with access to one million projects and other opportunities to learn new skills and engage in work to improve their communities Mobilize 10 million people each year to use their time, talent, money and voice to create community change If we are successful in achieving these goals, we believe we will also improve civic health and improve social conditions. More specifically we intend to: Play a significant role in improving the civic health of the communities we serve Contribute to measurable change in four focus areas (our 4 Es): education and student performance, environmental sustainability, economic prosperity, and emergency preparedness and recovery in the communities we serve Page 1 of 5
OUR STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS To achieve these goals, we will follow six mutually reinforcing strategic directions: 1. Strengthen our networks to increase their impact 2. Increase volunteer participation through our partnerships 3. Expand access to opportunities through technology 4. Improve the outcomes of our signature programs and projects 5. Foster innovative, high-impact approaches that will engage people more deeply 6. Create a culture of service In addition to these core programmatic strategies, we are committed to strengthening the organizational functions that enable us to deliver on our mission. These include: creating a culture of ongoing evaluation and continuous improvement, developing and retaining a diverse and creative workforce, diversifying our resource base and better aligning our fundraising with our program strategies, and strengthening our information technology systems to support our strategies. Increase Participation through Partnerships Create a Culture of Service Foster Innovative Solutions Improved Civic Health and Social Conditions Expand Access through Technology Improve Outcomes of Signature Programs Strengthen our Networks FY2012 FY2014 Page 2 of 5
STRATEGY 1: OPTIMIZE IMPACT BY STRENGTHENING OUR ENGAGEMENT NETWORKS This strategy is about building and strengthening our Action Networks (HandsOn Network, generationon, AmeriCorps Alums, and Points of Light Corporate Institute (see strategy 2)) to better support their constituents. These networks will become an integrated and unrivalled delivery system for meaningful service and civic opportunities. To strengthen HandsOn Network, our 250 volunteer action centers in communities across the country and around the world, we will better target the specific needs of each center through the development of core operating standards. We will invest in more peer learning and innovation across the network to build and strengthen programming, and provide better technology. By doing so, we aim to increase the number of high quality volunteer projects our affiliates offer to 275,000, recruit and train 60,000 new service leaders, create 30 promising service innovations and take at least half of them to scale across our network. We also plan to expand our global reach to a total of 30 countries, mobilizing and supporting more than 250,000 volunteers outside the U.S. For generationon, our youth service enterprise, we will expand our service-learning and training and recognition programs into 10 percent of the nation s schools, and increase the number of generationon service clubs to 4,000. We will evaluate our programs to demonstrate how service and service-learning curricula affect academic achievement and students civic development. We will also continue to build on our youth leadership successes with more generationon ambassadors and focus energy on integrating the assets of generationon into our other engagement networks, most notably HandsOn Network. Through AmeriCorps Alums, we will leverage the experience and commitment of national service alumni to celebrate the one millionth individual to serve in AmeriCorps in 2014. We will increase the number of high-quality AmeriCorps Alums local chapters to 60, engage thousands in leadership acceleration and professional development, and harness the inspirational stories of individuals in advocating for national service. Finally, we will lift up the voices of AmeriCorps Alums to be a force multiplier to help change policy and advocate for national service programs across the country. STRATEGY 2: INCREASE PARTICIPATION THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS This strategy focuses on building the capacity of business and nonprofit partners to more effectively engage people in service. By investing in key partnerships, we will reach more people and have a greater impact. Points of Light Corporate Institute, part of our Action Networks, helps companies engage their employees and customers in service. Through consulting, technology, innovative partnerships and thought leadership, we aim to help more than 500 companies engage their employees in volunteer service each year. For our nonprofit partners, we will combine our expertise in mobilizing volunteers with the issue expertise and proven models of other nonprofits to create greater impact in our 4 Es (education, economy, environment and emergency preparedness), and demonstrate the centrality of service to meet critical needs in our communities. FY2012 FY2014 Page 3 of 5
STRATEGY 3: EXPAND ACCESS THROUGH NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND APPROACHES This strategy is about using web and mobile-based technologies to engage people more broadly and deeply in volunteering in a way that leverages the work of our affiliate network. Technology is fundamental to our volunteer engagement strategies and is crucial to create greater scale, impact and efficiency. Creating new ways for individuals to engage in quality volunteer opportunities both offline and online will be a key to our success. To accomplish this, we will harness and coordinate nonprofit partnerships and expand our HandsOn Connect and All For Good Plus capabilities. We will deepen volunteers engagement by creating a first-of-its-kind loyalty and rewards program to motivate people to use their time, voice and money to support a variety of causes. Finally, we will make it easier for people to engage by optimizing our accessibility from search engines and expanding the distribution network for All For Good. STRATEGY 4: IMPROVE OUTCOMES THROUGH PROVEN SIGNATURE PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS This strategy is about refining a core set of results-driven programs that address critical needs and build stronger communities. To do this, we are creating a centralized Programs division in our organization to focus on building up our strongest programs and adding new, innovative programs allowing people to use their full set of assets time, talent, voice and money to effect change. This team will also be charged with ensuring our programs are effectively rolled out through all of our Action Networks (listed in Strategy 1 and 2). Our programs and projects are focused in the areas of environment, education, economy, emergency preparedness, and veterans and military families. Examples include: Points of Light s programming for and with veterans and military families provides a blueprint for service leaders to activate others and implement projects in the following areas: employment, K-12 and higher education, behavioral health, housing stability and homelessness assistance, financial/legal issues, family strength, and reintegration. Points of Light disaster services helps individuals prepare for disasters by training affiliates, providing disaster boot camps and webinars, and educating the public to take steps in preparing their homes and communities. After a disaster, we provide funding and resources to affiliates and partner organizations in affected areas, support technology needs to manage volunteers, and work with partners to support volunteer engagement. FY2012 FY2014 Page 4 of 5
STRATEGY 5: ENGAGE MORE PEOPLE MORE DEEPLY BY FOSTERING INNOVATIVE, HIGH-IMPACT APPROACHES This strategy is about identifying and supporting innovative, high-impact, citizen-led approaches to drive positive change. We will identify the best ideas from our Action Networks to share, learn and replicate innovations in communities across the country and the world. We will also inspire and support entrepreneurs to launch early stage civic ventures ventures that inspire, equip and mobilize people to drive positive change by: Launching the nation s first startup accelerator program for nonprofit and for-profit civic ventures to include peer support, mentoring, entrepreneur education, networking and seed-funding Selecting entrepreneurs with early stage ventures to leverage Points of Light s shared and strategic services to increase their ability to scale and grow Exploring high-impact mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures around innovative people-centered models Our goals over the next three years are to train more than 50 entrepreneurs and help launch more than 25 new ideas that ultimately engage more than 200,000 individuals STRATEGY 6: CREATE A CULTURE OF SERVICE This strategy is about creating a culture and public policy environment in the United States that values, encourage and supports voluntary action for all of its citizens. We aim to do this on a national level through high-profile events like the National Conference on Volunteering and Service, signature recognition programs like the Daily Point of Light Award and The Points of Light National Monument, and multi-media campaigns for national days of service like Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and the 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance. At the same time, we will look to create a culture of service community-by-community through our on-the-ground programming. We will focus on our own brand alignment and organizational story to strengthen our position and leadership in the civic space. In terms of public policy, we will strengthen advocacy efforts across our network and play a leadership role in preserving and extending the Corporation for National and Community Service. At the same time, we will embrace a broader policy platform that includes citizenled problem solving. FY2012 FY2014 Page 5 of 5