Strategic Plan

(03-05-02)

January 1, 2001 – December 31, 2005

Goal Number One

The assets of the Foundation will increase to $25,000,000 by December 31, 2005.

Rationale

On September 30, 2000, the net assets of the Foundation were nearly $13,000,000. The Foundation has doubled its assets from December 31, 1996, when its assets were approximately $6,500,000. The Foundation will again attempt to double its assets in the upcoming five-year period.

Strategy

Without a major gifts campaign, the goal of $25,000,000 can only be achieved with an on-going and intensive marketing campaign and additional funding generated by grant writing to obtain external support from public and private sources.

Goal Number Two

The Foundation will record $25,000,000 in documented planned gifts by December 31, 2005.

Rationale

The Community Foundation is becoming more well-known and respected. Many older individuals, in transferring wealth to the next generation, are making provisions for charitable causes that they wish to support beyond their lifetimes.

Strategy

The Foundation will take the lead in the establishment of a LEAVE A LEGACY program that will be a cooperative effort among professional advisers, fund raising executives, and area non-profit organizations. Its goal will be to increase the number and the size of planned gifts to the community and to the Foundation through an intensive and ongoing marketing campaign.

Goal Number Three

The annual operating costs of the Foundation will be paid by the earnings from the Foundation’s Operating Endowments; from fees charged to component funds of the Foundation; and from sponsorships of the Foundation’s publications, advertising, events, and programs by December 31, 2005.

Rationale

The intent of the originators of the Foundation was to create an endowment fund that would generate sufficient income to pay the operating expenses of the Foundation. Although the recent major gifts campaign increased the operating endowment fund to more than $2,000,000, additional funds are needed.

Strategy

The Foundation board and staff will work with professional advisers and planned giving prospects to convince them of the importance of providing a portion of their gifts to the operating endowment fund. In addition, the Foundation will actively engage sponsors for long-term commitments of sponsorship of the Annual Report, newsletters and brochures, the LEAVE A LEGACY program, the Annual Leadership Lecture, web-site and web-based giving maintenance, and both the Groundhog Day and Art Walk events.

Goal Number Four

The Foundation will consistently and persistently market itself as the vehicle to be used to achieve each donor’s dreams for our community. The Foundation has identified areas of needed community improvements to focus its grantmaking upon over the next five years. The following areas may be supplemented by additional dreams that donors want to achieve:

• Property Development

The Foundation will work to improve the appearance of downtown, the Route 40 corridor into and out of town, and the Putnam area.

• Educational Programs

The Foundation will support educational programs that promote literacy, that enhance achievement by students in all disciplines, and that focus students upon positive choices that further their educational and career goals.

• Scholarship Assistance

The Foundation will assist all students in Zanesville and Muskingum County to gain financial resources for post secondary education. The establishment of a one-stop center for scholarships and financial aid for higher education is one strategy to achieve this goal.

• Health Care for the Uninsured

The Foundation will assist the efforts of public and private health care providers, physicians, and other interested parties in providing access to a free or low-fee medical clinic.

• Community Leadership Development

The Foundation will cooperate with the Chamber of Commerce and others interested in developing the current and next generations of leaders of our community.

• A Regional Association of Grantmakers

The Foundation will convene area grantmakers to exchange information about regional needs, to discuss collaboration on charitable projects, and to listen to the needs of grantseekers.

• Values

The Foundation will support efforts to promote positive values in families and in the community. Among these values are mutual respect, civility, a strong work ethic, and a shared responsibility for our common destiny.

• Culture

The Foundation will support efforts to enrich the cultural life of our community and to ensure that the visual and performing arts touch the lives of every child and every adult in our community.

 

Rationale

The Foundation is a vehicle for donors to realize their dreams for the community. Donors are encouraged, through their giving, to help address the issues, including those listed above, that will improve our community’s quality of life.

Strategy

The role of the Foundation is to act as convener and catalyst in gathering people and resources to address significant issues in our community. The above issues will be the focus of grant competitions from unrestricted funds for the next five years.

Goal Number Five

Within five years, the Foundation, through the efforts of the Foundation Council will more than double the number of donors to its funds from the current level of 1,200 to 2,500.

Rationale

The Foundation is a community foundation in name only if it does not gain widespread recognition and support of its mission of improving the quality of life of our community. The best measure of the Foundation’s impact in the community is in the number of individuals who voluntarily contribute to its component funds and projects.

Strategy

Market. Market. Market. The more people who are reached by the media and personal contact, who are involved in our special events, and who are involved in community projects sponsored or convened by the Foundation, the greater is our donor base.

Goal Number Six

The Foundation Council will establish and manage an active Community Youth Foundation involving youth from all high schools in Muskingum County and Zanesville.

Rationale

The future of our community is dependent upon the quality of our human assets as well as upon the assets that the Foundation builds in its various funds. Involvement of high school students as Directors of a Community Youth Foundation will provide them with service on a board with full responsibility for investing, managing, and distributing funds to improve the quality of life for young people in our community.

Strategy

The Foundation Council will select students from each high school in Zanesville and Muskingum County for the Community Youth Foundation Board and will work with them.

Goal Number Seven

The Foundation’s investment performance will remain in the top half of community foundations of comparable size in the annual survey conducted by The Council on Foundations through the year 2005.

Rationale

The investment performance of the Foundation becomes more critical to the success of its mission as the Foundation gains more assets.

Strategy

The Investment Committee and the Board as a whole will be encouraged to become involved in devising approaches that will maximize the return on our investments while avoiding unnecessary risk. The Investment Committee will set high standards of performance and closely monitor managers of the Foundation’s funds to avoid duplication, unnecessary risk, and deviation from style.