“Strengthening Connections”: Adopted by the Board of Directors, September 9, 2014.
Our Strategic Plan over the coming years will enhance our vision and build upon our strengths by strengthening connections in the following four ways:
- A focus on creating more places for connections with congregants and clergy.
- More opportunities to volunteer in meaningful ways.
- A leap forward in digital communication.
- An annual campaign to provide the resources to maintain our congregation year after year.
Click to read our Strategic Plan Goals and Actions 2014. Continue reading about the history of the Strategic Plan below.
How did we get where we are today?
The motive for strategic planning came from identification of projected challenges our congregation will face —demographic, financial, membership. We wanted to use Mount Zion’s resources in the most careful way. A Strategic Plan would serve as a 3-5 year guide for the board and other lay leaders, clergy and staff. A plan might also allow us to attract some potential donors.
We started with the recognition that there were lots of good things already happening at Mount Zion. Our plan would augment or change some areas, but not all. We have a strong foundation with our vision statement and clear directions with our Kivunim. There were some things that we were not going to change at this time.
Then we did some work to understand more about our own membership—who we are, where we live, what we like to do as part of the Mount Zion community. We conducted a survey to assess satisfaction with Mount Zion and identify areas of importance to congregants. Over 330 people responded to our survey.
That information formed a basis for discussions we had at last summer’s Board Retreat. As a result of that retreat, we identified a number of areas for our focus. We continued our discussions in the fall, eventually settling on four areas of concentration. We themed our plan “Strengthening Connections” with four strategic initiatives: Relationships, Participation, Digital Communications, and Giving. We used the input from the Board to generate goal statements for each initiative. Action teams were formed in each area and worked over the winter and spring. The action team leads presented their work at the Annual Meeting in May.
Because of timing of our budget cycle, one of the recommendations from the “Giving” Action Team was voted on separately by the Board. We approved an annual campaign to begin in the fall of 2014. We approved a part time Annual Campaign Coordinator position in our 2014-2015 budget and subsequently hired Jana Robbins as Coordinator.
The Steering Committee then integrated the recommendations of each action team into a whole plan that is phased over the next three years. The integrated plan was presented at the Board Retreat in August. With input from the Retreat, we presented a finalized plan that the Board subsequently approved. The Board is responsible, with the President, President Elect and Executive Committee, to keep us on track with the plan. We can make changes if needed for changing circumstances but we have approved the direction of the plan as stated.
