Jack Dempsey, assisted by Martha Blue, gave a 3-year follow-up report to the NAS Board of Directors at their June meeting. This summarizes their presentation. They both worked for McKinsey and Company, and helped to develop the Plan. Jack is now on the NAS Board and Martha is a consultant to the Field Division.

In late 1994, NAS embarked on a comprehensive strategic planning process to chart a course for the next decade. A number of difficult challenges faced NAS at the time:

• Major budget deficits in fiscal years '92, '93, & '94
• Significant staff layoffs
• Friction in the organization -- between chapters and "national," between field staff and headquarters staff, and between divisions of staff
• Damaging resignations from the national board of directors
• An external perception that Audubon was an organization adrift

The strategic planning process kicked off in November of 1994 and was completed in June of 1995 when the Board unanimously adopted the new strategic plan. Many of you probably participated in the process, which included interviews, surveys, and focus groups of over 1,000 Audubon constituents.

The search for a new CEO was coordinated with the strategic planning process, enabling early findings to inform the search and enabling the CEO-elect to put his own stamp on the final strategic plan and its implementation. In fact, John Flicker was officially invested as CEO at the same meeting where the strategic plan was adopted, and implementation began almost immediately.

Now, three years later, several of the same consultants who had been part of the McKinsey & Company's team helping with Audubon's strategic planning have concluded a "10,000 mile checkup." It is not uncommon for McKinsey teams to follow up with clients and evaluate progress. What is unusual is that one of the team (Jack Dempsey) is now a member of NAS's national board and the other (Martha Blue) is an independent consultant working to help implement the strategic plan in the field.

Highlights:
The 1995 Strategic Plan

Vision:

We envision an Audubon that is a strong and diverse network of active conservationists capable of moving people to individual and collective action on all levels, and in all forums to achieve results that improve our lives.

Recommendations:

• Focus efforts and resources on a limited set of priorities directly relating to birds, other wildlife, and their habitats to the continuance and prosperity of humankind, thereby fostering a culture of conservation and an environmental ethic.
• Use ongoing programs and coordinated, targeted campaigns as the vehicle for focusing resources on Audubon Habitats and Audubon Issues.
• Strengthen the distinctive grassroots network and reinforce the partnership between members, chapters, staff, and the Board to promote effective conservation at local, state, regional, and national levels.
• Establish a network of Audubon Centers that become focal points in the community for promoting the culture of conservation...
• Use education as a primary tool...
• Work to influence public policies and private practices as a primary tool...
• Develop a human resource strategy that encourages teamwork and collaboration, emphasizes Audubon values, and makes Audubon a more rewarding and inspiring place to work and to volunteer.
• Integrate all major activities, including Sanctuaries, Science, Communications, and Membership Development to support these recommendations...
• Launch aggressive fundraising and marketing initiatives that allow Audubon to invest in these strategically important activities.
• Align the roles of the Board of Directors with the strategy, as the Board is ultimately accountable for keeping Audubon focused on its mission and strategy.

Audubon's status report is the result of approximately 40 interviews that Jack and Martha conducted with senior management, staff, state and national board members, and local chapter leaders. Each individual was queried about progress on each specific recommendation as well as overall progress.

How Are We Doing?

Overall, Audubon has made great strides since 1995, predominantly in strengthening the organization to support future priorities. The status report indicates that some progress has been made on every recommendation, with significant progress reported on Recommendation 1 (Birds, Wildlife, and Habitat) and Recommendation 3 (the Grassroots Network). None of the recommendations was judged to fall under the rating of "virtually no progress."

What Has Been Our Most Significant Progress?

• Regarding Birds, Wildlife, and Habitat, most interviewees felt that Audubon had returned to its bird conservation roots in meaningful ways. The general communication of being "back to birds" has been effective, and new programs like WatchList, BirdSource, and Important Bird Areas have been key in demonstrating Audubon's commitment to bird conservation. Interviewees cited the addition of Frank Gill to the Science Division as a clear commitment, too.
• Getting Audubon staff out into the field has been perhaps the most visible and energizing success story of the past three years. With 16 state offices and a significant shift in funding from headquarters to field priorities, the organizational changes are clear. More importantly, improved local conservation is occurring! Interviewees reported a number of state-level successes (e.g., New York's passage of the IBA criteria into legislation), as well as improved local capability to take on important issues.
• Six national priority campaigns have grown out of a grassroots-driven recommendation process, and several of the campaigns (e.g., the Everglades) have shown both real conservation progress and fundraising success. The new Upper Mississippi River Campaign was launched from just the kind of regional grassroots cooperation envisioned during the strategic planning process.
• We also have made some progress with Recommendation 4 -- to build a network of Audubon Centers. The Center principles and standards have been agreed to, a "tool kit" for implementation has been completed, and the functioning of a "network" is underway. Local initiatives are also underway to plan several new Centers. Education in general (Recommendation 5) has shown some progress, too. Audubon Adventures has been expanded and upgraded; Birds for a Purpose has been successfully piloted and is now being expanded; and several states have made education a top priority, including California, where a new state Education Director position has been added.
• Recommendations 7 through 10 focus on getting the organization to run more effectively and efficiently. We have a large number of new, talented and high-energy staff, and many long-time staff are feeling a new sense of excitement. There is also a general feeling that teamwork and collaboration are much improved since 1995.
• Activities have been better integrated, per Recommendation 8, with the magazine being perhaps the most prevalent example. New information about Audubon activities, increased focus on birds, wildlife, and habitat, and a stronger link with programs (e.g., the latest issue with Living Oceans) have all made the magazine more a part of Audubon than it has been for years.
• Fundraising has also improved, with the overall National Audubon Society budget increasing from $42 million in 1994 to $52 million in 1998. The national Board of Directors has worked hard at Recommendation 10, and it shows. The Board is more involved and supportive than at any other time in recent history; board, staff, and chapter relations are much stronger; and the Board is more effective in fundraising for Audubon.

Don't We Still Have Work to Do?

Yes, and plenty of it! The status report came complete with opportunities to improve even further. Audubon still needs to work hard to achieve its vision of building a culture of conservation and preserving and conserving birds, other wildlife, and their habitats. The status report indicates that, in going forward, Audubon should:

• Complete building the internal requirements
• Integrate activities around priorities
• Focus much more externally on conservation goals and results

These recommendations reflect the need to measure progress not just in terms of activities (e.g., state offices opened), but in terms of real, tangible conservation, where the natural world is better off today because of specific Audubon programs, actions, and people.

More specific opportunities were identified as they related to each recommendation. For example, regarding Recommendation 1, there is a need to better link bird conservation priorities to the needs of humankind, i.e., better leverage the fact that bird populations are an indicator of overall ecosystem health. We also need to set long-term goals and measurements of the real conservation achievements; for example, how will we determine whether or not we are successfully building a culture of conservation?

In the public policy arena, there is a need to strengthen each of the campaigns in terms of funding, volunteer activism, and, in some cases, staffing. We also need to better integrate our campaigns and programs with Field Offices, Education, Communications, and Science activities, as well as with related state and local campaigns. Another key opportunity regarding this recommendation is to expand the network of volunteer activists and to really get the partnership working between states, chapters, and the policy experts in campaign and D.C. office staffs.

Integration is a key theme of the opportunities going forward. State offices need to be better integrated with other key functions, with shared goals and clear understanding of mutual accountability. We also need to strengthen state offices to ensure that they are functioning well. Further, we need to strengthen and build our chapters in all states, whether a state office has been established there or not.

Building the Audubon Centers network is an important opportunity, and we need to develop some real momentum in this area by developing an aggressive plan to rapidly grow the network, including plans to involve each state office, sanctuary, regional or state-level campaign, and interested chapter. Concurrently, we need to build the support infrastructure for Audubon Centers, to ensure that each new Center doesn't have to "reinvent the wheel" for each new challenge it faces. Like Audubon Centers, Audubon's Education program needs a comprehensive multi-year plan, including strategies, funding needs, and milestones by which to measure progress.

Audubon's human resources strategy also needs work, with primary emphasis on defining, articulating, and communicating Audubon's values as a place to work and volunteer. Having clarified these values, we can then begin to measure our performance as a rewarding and inspiring place to work and volunteer. As part of an overall strategy, we need to establish a senior management team-led process for performance management, professional development, and career planning for staff.

Fundraising opportunities include launching a major capital campaign, strengthening support for Development Directors in the field, and better integrating the Development office with key priorities. In addition, we can leverage the results of the Communication strategy to better define the Audubon "brand" -- who we are and what we stand for. This kind of clarity in communication can improve both traditional fundraising results and results from marketing and licensing activities.

Now that many of the pieces have made so much progress, it is time to start integrating them into a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. We need to examine how our activities, programs, campaigns, and core functions fit together and how we can make them work together most effectively and efficiently. Part of this integration process needs to be improving internal communications and concluding some key work underway regarding an overall Communication strategy and Membership strategy.

Finally, the Board of Directors can continue on its path of improvement by increasing its accountability for progress and being more proactive in helping to ensure success, e.g., communicating more as Audubon spokespeople, focusing on establishing priorities and making tradeoffs. The Board should also take the lead in establishing a simple but effective annual planning process to evaluate progress against last year's goals, set next year's priorities, and establish funding priorities.

Key Remaining Challenges as Prioritized by "10,000 Mile Check-up"

1. Establish clear measures of success (as quantifiable as possible) and semi-annual milestones to achieve.
2. Integrate key activities (i.e., state offices, campaigns, Education, Science) via shared goals and work plans.
3. Build the field support network to ensure sustainability of state offices, chapters, grassroots activists, and Audubon Centers.
4. Substantially improve human resources performance and practices for all staff.
5. Strengthen Development capabilities.
6. Create momentum in Audubon Centers program.
7. Establish an annual planning process to evaluate progress and communicate it -- especially to celebrate successes!

Summary

Looking back, it's hard to believe how far Audubon has come in the past three years. It is clear that the organization as a whole took the strategic plan seriously, and implentation has moved far more quickly than could have been imagined back in 1995. All of the opportunities presented by this state report represent the next phase of implementation and the next giant steps forward toward achieving that compelling vision of Audubon. May the next three years be as successful as the past three!!

For the full presentation that was given to the Board of Directors, as well as a copy of the original strategic plan, please see the web page (not posted yet).