Mission sustainability is as important as financial sustainability, if not more so. Without an Executive Director, we need to set up internal tools and resources to help maintain our focus and provide reflection points throughout the year. One primary tool we use is called ‘Work in Progress’; a 6-week long cycle that the team meets each Monday to speak against. At the end of a cycle, we reflect on what we’ve done, and what we have to do next in order to reach the overarching goals for the year.
During the September P2PU meet up in Toronto, we outlined our organizational goals for 2018, captured below. This will be what the team is reflecting on as we’re planning and prioritizing our work for next year.
Overarching Goals
- Sustained income for team / program
- Evolution of model to support diverse learner audiences in a variety of environments
- Deepening of impact, demonstrated by repeat facilitator/learners and connecting learning circles to other community organizations (school, jobs, etc).
- Clarify and renew P2PU’s vision and strategy
Tactical Goals
- Nurture and grow learning circle community: 200 learning circles, 100 facilitators, 30 systems
- Develop clarity around and support volunteer community and local champions
- Generate sustainability plan: 80–100k consulting money lined up for 2019 budget
- Ensure we are resourced to deliver on projects.
- Host events in Kansas City and Berlin that grow and inspire community
- Ensure more than ½ of Knight community libraries continue to grow learning circles
- Have good plan for 1–2 big grant proposals
- Get learning circles in 2–3 new African countries (Uganda, Zambia, South Africa)
- Review UW and IMLS research and implement changes consistent with findings
- Make larger impact — step from learning circles to the next thing (e.g. robust, localized nonformal programming in a few cities)
- Deploy improved learning circle recipe/handbook tools in learning circles
- Create framework and process for community-led documentation of learning circles
- Develop plan for how course development fit into learning circles
- Improve public visibility/accessibility of community
- Tie European/Canadian growth into consulting
- Articulate and communicate P2PU vision and strategy
- Improve governance strategy to better include community
