Strategic Plan July2020
written by Lauren Wechsler Horn
Purpose
The purpose of this document is to understand the current environment in which SafeBAE operates, from both an internal capability and external landscape perspective, and how the organization executes to achieve its goals. This document will also serve as a high-level strategic overview and operating plan to guide the activities of SafeBAE over the next 36 months. It is the intention that this codification of the working mission can be referenced and refreshed over the next several months and years
StatementofNeed
Since the founding of SafeBAE five years ago, the mission to end sexual assault among middle and high-school students has become more crucial than ever before. Since the #MeToo reckoning, studies and research have supported what SafeBAE already knew anecdotally through our years of work in secondary schools: peer-to-peer conversations help shift teen culture and change social norms around consent, rape myths, victim empathy, bystander intervention, and Title IX rights and reporting. Across all sexualities, genders, races, abilities, ethnicities, and class levels, sexual violence and relationship abuse among teens is a major public health crisis. No one is immune. The good news is SafeBAE provides free anti-violence educational content and tools. Teens are resourceful, resilient, and quick learners so there is always space for students to adopt new thinking and to engage in safer behavior both online and in person.
MissionStatement
SafeBAE is a survivor-founded, student-led national organization whose mission is to end sexual assault among middle and high school students. As the only national peer-to-peer organization of our kind, we help promote culture change by giving teens the tools to become activists and shift school culture through raising awareness about dating violence, sexual harassment and assault, affirmative consent, safe bystander intervention, survivor care, and their rights under Title IX.
VisionStatement
SafeBAE envisions a cultural transformation in which we shift from rape culture to a culture of consent and dignity Early prevention education will shift the cultural dismissal of sexual violence into a generation of youth who no longer silence survivors, but instead are active bystanders who prevent harassment and assault in real time, before an assault can take place. As this generation enters the workforce, this early education will prevent workplace harassment, domestic violence, and all forms of sexual abuse. Imagine with us for just a moment a world without sexual violence. A world where all bodies can experience sovereignty, without shame, judgement, or fear.
OrganizationalGoals
Raise awareness about sexual assault in middle and high schools
Provide information on student rights to be free from sexual violence under Title IX
Provide education around consent, bystander intervention, and safe relationships in all secondary schools
Engage all students to be a part of the solution using art, activism and social media
Provide students/survivors who have experienced violence with information on their rights, options for justice, and resources for healing. Outreach to school boards across the country to ensure their understanding of obligations under Title IX and provide them best practices for student codes of conduct and department responses
Promote consent education legislation in every state
CoreValues
SafeBAE’s core principles are fundamental to the work we do and we deeply value and embrace the following:
Youth-led
We are dedicated to youth empowerment and leadership. We have flipped the leadership model in our organization since the very beginning Rather than have a traditional adult board with a token Youth Advisory Board, our bylaws secure we maintain a ⅔ Board of Directors, with an adult consultancy advisory board. Our staff, volunteers, ambassadors, and mentees are mostly youth as well.
SurvivorCentered
We prioritize the rights, needs, and wishes of survivors in all our programming and decision making.
Intersectional&Anti-OppressionApproach
Sexual violence is connected to other social justice struggles - issues of LGBTQ equality, racial justice, economic justice, transformative justice, health and wellness, reproductive rights, and immigrant justice - and our education is rooted in an understanding of the larger structures of systemic oppressions that shape our society. Systems of oppression give greater social power to some people over others based on race, gender, sexual orientation, ability, and other aspects of identity. Working towards a future without sexual violence means that we need to respond to a complicated reality that centers the needs of those survivors most marginalized, silenced, and unseen
AbilityandDiversityInclusion
We work to make our content and materials available to all abilities and be representative of many diversities.
GrowthMindset&LearningFocused
We are fully engaged in curiosity, thought, reflection, solution, and action to bring continuous improvement to ourselves and the communities in which we serve
We hold ourselves and our work to the highest of ethical standards. We staunchly safeguard the confidentiality of the youth we work with (if it is their wish). And we uphold integrity, trustworthiness, honesty, transparency, teamwork, and accountability among our Board, Advisory Board, staff, volunteers, partners and youth ambassadors.
DignityforAll FUN!
Although our work is often arduous and uncomfortable, we will always celebrate our successes and have fun. At SafeBAE, we know that these are very difficult topics, so we make every effort to intersperse humor and fun into our programming and events.
CurrentLeadership
We are proud to work in a leadership model where our teens are creating, cultivating, and leading our projects Our model started with our co-founders determining our areas of focus, projects, and campaigns. We have continued in that model as more youth ambassadors join our team and are invited to contribute new ideas for our programming. Each idea green-lit by our board then integrally involves the ambassador who proposed it, with support from our Advisory Board of expert adult allies From funding, writing, casting, and delivery we endeavor to elevate new youth leadership among the newest members of our team. We are dedicated to continue our work in the top level of this youth engagement model:
Organizing and Governing: Youth have a central role in the organizations structure, driving programmatic or strategic decisions. Youth are empowered to be part of share decision making processes and have the opportunity for youth to learn from life experiences and expertise of adults.
Youth–Initiated Leadership: Youth serve as peer leaders in a paid or voluntary capacity. Youth lead activities with their peers or with adults. Adults are involved only in a supporting role.
Youth–Initiated Leadership: Youth serve as peer leaders in a paid or voluntary capacity. Youth lead activities with their peers or with adults. Adults are involved only in a supporting role.
Youth–Initiated Partnership: Youth and adults join together as equals to accomplish programming, plan activities, operate the program, or complete specific tasks.
Adult-Initiated, Shared Decision-Making: Projects or programs are initiated by adults, but the decision-making is shared with you. Attempts were made to use youth -friendly procedures and language.
Informed Dialogue: Youth give ongoing advice on projects or programs designed and run by adults.Youth are informed as to how their input will be used and the outcomes of the decisions made by adults. Youth are involved in evaluation of programming.
Assigned But Informed: Youth are assigned a specific role and informed as As to how and why they are being involved. This includes inconsistent youth involvement or temporary consultations such as focus groups or surveys.
ProposedBoardRole&Responsibilities
Under fiscal sponsorship in our earlier years, our Board functioned informally, but since gaining our independent non-profit status, we have built up the Board to be much larger and more formalized. We continue to maintain a ⅔ youth presence, with diversity of age, region, race, ability, etc. Many of the young board help to decide the direction of our programming, while the adult members of the board are tasked with taking the lead on funding, partnerships, marketing, and guidance We operate in less of the partiarchical style of most boards, encouraging communication and tasks to flow freely between our staff and Board. We are still a small, but growing organization which requires all hands on deck. We have not yet implemented formal chairs or committees, as each member is at liberty to commit to whichever project they are most able to support with their skill set
Landscape
SafeBAE has been operating for approximately five years under a fiscal sponsor, but it became financially independent in February 2020 when it received its own 501(c)3. At the same time, it has also developed other capabilities that might not be mission-critical but are key ingredients to steering a steady and efficient organization. SafeBAE needs to understand all of these capabilities, as it may well be that several should be embedded in the mission. To that point, some other work the organization pursued or capabilities which were developed should be re-evaluated and measured against the mission, the staff’s priorities, and the operating budget. SafeBAE must always be mindful of the obstacles within the organization that could threaten mission success. Examples of obstacles may include skills and talent, staffing capacity, operating processes, the general cost of doing business, etc Understanding these obstacles will assist in keeping to the vision of seeing a world without sexual violence.
UnderstandingtheClimate
At this moment in history, SafeBAE is uniquely positioned and keenly poised to leverage many events to our advantage This is our time!
GenZ Survivor Activism - in the wake of #MeToo and building off the momentum and energy of young environmental activists, the March For Our Lives teens, and the BLM Instagram accounts (@blackat ), SafeBAE has already tapped into the explosion of online youth survivor activists and is at the forefront of ending sexual violence among youth. We are the only organization created by teen survivors and led by youth who are addressing these issues on a national level Scaling-Up Year - 2020-2021 is a year of growth and learning. SafeBAE recently acquired Change The Talk from the National Council of Jewish Women | Los Angeles, and we are also expanding our Board, scaling-up our services, providing more and better free educational content, and are adding more peer-to-peer teen educators to our stable.
COVID-19 - to say the pandemic is challenging and disruptive is an understatement, yet SafeBAE was able to pull-off combining two summits which were supposed to be in-person, and produced one successful virtual summit in April only weeks after the world shut down. This underscores the capacity for SafeBAE to be resilient, resourceful, flexible and collaborative both within our organization and with our partner organizations. We were quickly able to pivot to a virtual capacity which allowed us to reach a larger geographic audience, but looking forward to our next summits, we need to be more deliberate to reach underserved and underresourced youth and those youth with disabilities.
Edgy, Youth-created, Teen-Approved, Free Content - Since its founding, SafeBAE has been dedicated to offering entirely free programs and content to young activists, survivors, students, direct service agencies, parents, caregivers, coaches, teachers, school administrators, and anyone committed to changing the culture. SafeBAE’s Board, BAE Breakers, and Mentees, are the very population we serve so we know who we’re talking to, what we’re talking about, and how to create relatable, authentic materials that will reach them where they are.
Backed by Evidence-Based Research - SafeBAE employs a radical approach daring new ways to achieve our mission; using creative strategies of public education, popular culture, social media, collaborative partnerships, and innovative and important evidence-based research and statistics.
Objectives&KeyStrategies
To the extent that a strategic plan is a 'road map,' our objectives describe the desired 'destination' – where we want to be in 2023. Our strategic objectives translate our long‐ range vision into a more focused, actionable set of outcomes. As shown in the below Strategy Map, our long‐range aspirations are organized into three broad themes:
continuing to grow our School Chapters and youth ambassadors.
Scaling our innovative Youth Consent Summits (in-person or virtually)
Merging art and activism by creating more film content to add to our library of resources
Building our youth following on social media through live interviews, educational and engaging graphic designs with statistics, peer experiences, and youth-led awareness campaigns
Engaging youth in creative and bold actions to raise awareness and bring cultural change
Developing a step-by-step guide to reforming school district sexual assault policies
Offering innovative tech solutions ( through our APP) to reach and engage our audience as well as solve school district obstacles to encouraging reporting
Raise awareness about Title IX
Provide awareness and access to unique and lesser know treatments for healing
Much like other young organizations moving past an initial “start-up” phase, SafeBAE is at a crossroads.
SafeBAE was borne out of the Peabody award-winning Netflix documentary, “Audrie & Daisy,” and since then the organization has been wildly prolific, producing notable high profile successes.
SafeBAE provides all content for free ensuring education and tools reach the maximum number of teens aged 12-18, their caregivers, direct service providers, individual educators, and school administrators/districts. In under five years SafeBAE has produced or co-produced a vast array of PSAs and short videos spanning everything from Title IX rights to sexting to dating after an assault to online bullying and harassment to alcohol and consent to survivor healing, most including teaching guides and talking points.. SafeBAE also engages with hundreds of thousands of teens and other key audiences through our social media platforms, school visits, press, media partnerships, and speaking events In May of 2019 in Portland, ME, SafeBAE produced its pilot Youth Consent Summit, attended by 750 students from 15 local districts.
Each participated in pre/post surveys, in order to gather vital data on our efficacy and improve for future scaling. It was the largest youth-led summit focusing on consent and related topics, to date in the US In the wake of Maine’s success, SafeBAE worked to establish youth leaders and partner organizations in 2 other sites to replicate our unique summit for 2020. We were poised to host May Summits in Arlington, Virginia and again in Maine. As a result of COVID-19 we quickly shifted to combine the two events and held our first virtual summit in April 2020 We still await word about the return to school from Santa Fe, NM where we are slated to host our last 2020 Summit in October. We are, of course, prepared to shift to virtual again or postpone until the following semester in 2021, based on the wishes of the local youth planning committee.Over the next three years SafeBAE will continue to engage in civic engagement activities. We will produce high-impact events, initiatives, and educational content with the goals of teaching teens how to reform school policies and to normalize conversations about ending sexual violence among their peer groups.
Sexual Assault Policy Reform Initiative (SAPRI) - Across the nation we are seeing a swell of teen survivors coming forward on social media to tell their stories of harassment, assaults, and cover-ups in their middle and high-schools. Even before this surge over the past few weeks, SafeBAE identified the need for schools across the US to overhaul (or create) their school district’s sexual assault reform policy, for both the safety of their students and the legal vulnerability of the district. The Initiative’s keystone product will be a student and stakeholder Action Kit and (if funding allows) a fund to support districts in the tools they will need to codify this change.
Youth Consent Summits - we have a foothold and are growing our replication locations, as Covid allows, with each region informing our; best practices for our summit model. We look forward to in-person summits in ME, NM, VA, OK, IN, and NYC when possible. We are also looking forward to partnering with the new collaborative, Survivor Agenda, to join the planning team of their August virtual youth summit.
National Task Force of Youth Leaders and Survivor
Advocates – Another value rooted in the SafeBAE mission is mobilizing young activist participation to become civic leaders. Not only do we embrace lifting and amplifying youth voices, but we are committed to recruiting, cultivating, training, and mentoring young people so they can lead the charge of creating a world free from teen sexual violence. We will start by engaging these youth leaders in helping to draft the Action Kit for our SAPRI Initiative. This will help us to:Build a pipeline of future leaders and activists Boost School chapter growth Engage youth to hold themselves, their peers and their schools accountable to change the culture
Peer-to-Peer Training - In July of 2020, SafeBAE was chosen to absorb the very successful Los Angeles based program, Change the Talk It was formerly a project of NCJW, LA who were seeking an organization capable of scaling the project on a national level. This allows us to expand our programming to include a train the trainer model of early intervention education we have not previously offered In the first phase of our new programming, we will shift the trainings from being entirely in person, to now being an on demand, guided virtual training model. This will allow us to reach more students and to expand the trainings to include more comprehensive materials of varying topics.
Development or Co-Develop Provocative Content
– continue to educate and advocate -- what are barriers that we’re up against? Why so hard to shift rape culture? -- Murky understanding of consent, masculinity, Bringing this understanding to public attention facilitates change among those who might most require change – for example, the entertainment media in their limited portrayal of teen consent (and it’s almost always cis white).
Strategic Coalition & Collaboration Partnerships
- SafeBAE is inherently a collaborative organization. We are open to the creative and innovative ideas from peer groups and other inspiring individuals. SafeBAE brings motivated, action-oriented, survivor-informed, groups together to network in ways that yield concrete benefits for teens and survivors everywhere Like we arranged with Teen Vogue in the past for a media and content partnership, we will continue to seek out organizations who can co-write grants, co-fund projects, co-produce content and events, and bring us into other projects, etc. As we plan for our future summits (both virtual and in person) we will continue to partner with organizations to host break out sessions and promote their hard work on the local level.
Development or Co-Develop Provocative
Content - continue to educate and advocate. What are barriers that we’re up against? Why is it so hard to shift rape culture? Does society have a murky understanding of consent, and masculinity? Bringing this understanding to public attention facilitates change among those who might most require change (EX: the entertainment media in their limited portrayal of teen consent) We provide open source free educational materials including our next educational short film with CBS, hosting a Consent Film Festival, producing "Saving Daisy," all with adjoining resources to further educate viewers on where to access support, more education, and become activists.
Continue to Educate and Advocate on Social Media – At its core, SafeBAE believes the cultural climate must be changed so the public views sexual violence as unacceptable Therefore, a central objective of SafeBAE is to challenge and change stereotypes and norms which are reinforced in teen culture. SafeBAE will continue to use its multiple social media platforms to provide basic facts and statistics about sexual violence and to debunk rape myths related to survivor blaming and shaming. Heightening awareness and providing continual education is a key strategy for SafeBAE
Success Through Technology - in 2109 SafeBAE
began development of an App to help in registrations for our pilot summit. It was an opportunity to not only provide a more seamless collection of their data, but also to test their capacity to engage attendees in ongoing connections. The investment paid off in survey responses and school chapter registrations among the attendees. The current focus is in building out more APP user experiences that will allow all of our followers to have everything we offer right at their fingertips. This includes:
Youth ambassadors and chapter members will have a step by step guide, calendar template, and action ideas to utilize as they create their chapters Direct communication with our team and each other
All of the educational content, action ideas, and support materials we provide.
Offering partnering districts a cost-free, anonymous reporting tool for sexual harassment and assaults in their district Access to national direct service resources
And with each action the APP users take, they build points toward incentive prizes. (from corporate partners at Thrive Causemetics and Hewlett Packard.
IntendedOutcomes& SuccessMeasures
Exactly as the name of the organization states, our perennial mission is to keep teens SAFE Before Anyone Else is harmed In SafeBAE’s estimation, one body felled to violence is one too many. The long-range goal of the organization is to end teen sexual harassment and assault. What SafeBAE intends, however, is that its work will achieve a cultural change, impacting all forms of relational violence among adults as well (workplace harassment, domestic violence, and abuse, etc.).
We identify natural outcomes that include teens being seen as natural young leaders, able to affect policy change and substantial influence in the anti-violence space The immediate work focuses on leadership training, youth activism, as well as mentorship among older and younger youth. Since our inception, our primary source of measuring impact has been the pre/post surveys deployed with all of our programming. Each project or program evaluation is analyzed by our research partners for all benchmarks We continue to update our surveys and evaluate our approach to programming and long term impact on schools and communities. Each evaluation has reflected improvements in student understanding of our key issues, growth in understanding false myths, how to help a survivor, and how to be an active bystander For each issue, we aim to see a minimum of a 20% improvement in understanding of issues and with each data set, work to improve our messaging, delivery and approach.The impact of SafeBAE’s work should be felt and able to be measured at each of the layers above. For example, the public should be able to point to a SafeBAE-inspired cultural change product (e.g., pipeline video, Saving Daisy, Reform Tool Kit), networking opportunities should be directly identified as SafeBAE-sponsored events (e.g., summits), a quantifiable segment of all young survivor efforts should be tied to SafeBAE (e.g., IG accounts), and finally, successful and lasting school policy reform should be the ultimate result of the SAPRI Tool Kit.
MeasurableOutcomes
How many teens we train
How many are able to reform their district's policies
How many complete the tool kit
Attitude shifts pertaining to rape myths, consent, bystander intervention, etc
Number of Summits completed & the number of attendees
School chapter growth
Diversity of our entire team (board, advisors, volunteers, youth ambassadors, etc)
Overall national reach with our programming, projects, and media.
Continue to refine SafeBAE’s bylaws
Assets&Opportunities
As SafeBAE works on its strategic objectives to achieve the long-range intended outcomes, it can draw upon several assets while being aware that it may need to address specific improvement opportunities. The assets range from outputs to inputs and include the following:
Originality
of mission, vision
and
purpose–
SafeBAE has historically made connections that are both innovative and constructive, for example, partnering with Teen Vogue to produce videos which we would not have been able to do otherwise.
Innovation and creativity –
Related to the above, the community of SafeBAE, from its staff to its BAE Breakers (youth ambassadors) to its consultants to its Board members, etc., is without fear of using creative and innovative means to create bold statements and content
Impact and power of research and free content
–Since its inception, SafeBAE has commissioned research and has developed and released a large catalogue of prevention and intervention tools. Small organization with a potential magnet for coverage– Because of the above strengths, plus the high profile of SafeBAE’s founders, SafeBAE was able to gain mileage in many media circles. However, we do understand the importance of identifying and training the new generation of leaders at the organization Young, outstanding volunteer activists– Year over year, SafeBAE has expanded the recruitment of BAE Breakers, mentees, and volunteers who are highlymotivated and action-oriented. We have connected with incredible youth and will continue this cultivation for the next level of SafeBAE leadership.
Money raised
& APP users/engagement
App completed
Connections and Network – SafeBAE possesses an array of like-minded supporters who have not yet been mobilized or tapped for engagement. This is the year we will identify our friends in content development, policy reform, fundraising, publicity and other activities
ProposedStaffRoles&Responsibilities
SafeBAE has historically operated under a collective leadership style, but during this growth period it would benefit from a set of clear roles and responsibilities to achieve its objectives Today SafeBAE staff operates on a highly blended staffing model with full-time staff members, part-time staff members, independent consultants, and teen volunteers. Other consultants are hired onretainer and still others for special purposes. Moving forward, the Board, with staff input, should make recommendations on the most efficient and costeffective measures to shape SafeBAE’s leadership while also upholding its mission-driven culture.
The following is an inventory of current staff support:
Existing Staff – consists of 1 full-time and 5 part-time individuals Consultants – SafeBAE relies on independent & specialized consultants to provide support in all different aspects of our work.
Pro Bono Consultants – are primarily made up of our Adult Ally Advisory Board members.
BAE Breakers (Youth Ambassadors leading school chapters) - These students sign up to create a chapter in their district for the school year. Mentees - work along side staff in area focused departments, in order to learn the landscape and work toward improving all areas of our work.
AREA OF FREEDOM FOR EMPOLYEE
MANAGER MAKES DECISION & ANNOUNCES IT
MANAGER "SELLS" DECISION
MANAGER PRESENTS IDEAS & INVITES QUESTIONS
MANAGER PRESENTS
PROBLEM, GETS SUGGESTIONS, MAKES DECISION MANAGER DEFINES LIMITS, ASKS GROUP TO MAKE DECISION
MANAGER PRESENTS TENTATIVE DECISION SUBJECT TO CHANGE
MANAGER PERMITS EMPLOYEES TO FUNCTION WITHIN LIMITS DEFINED BY SUPERIOR
USE OF AUTHORITY BY MANAGER
AUTOCRATIC FREE REIN PARTICIPATIVE/DEMOCRATIC
TimelinePrioritization,Approach, Objectives,SuccessMeasures
The following table provides a preliminary prioritization of scope and operating objectives for the next three years. Due to the high level of effort required to achieve all objectives simultaneously and with equal robustness, and given limited staff capacity, the objectives have been reduced to the fundamental elements that can be tackled in this 36-month operating period.
OperatingObjectivesforStaff ThroughJuly2023
Strategic Objectives & Focus Areas
Description/ Staff Assigned
Short-term (through July 2021)
Asset audit, rebranding, addition of materials
Return with Maine and Virginia, adding New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Indiana locations.
Policy Reform
Fundraising Plan (while simultaneously applying and doing outreach)
Launch a nationwide campaign to reform policies in all US school districts
We have access to a broader range of funding, with our independent 501c3 and will continue to research foundations that match SafeBAE’s focus We will expand the give/get of adult Board of Directors, return to hosting salon fundraisers, and invest more bandwidth in corporate sponsor outreach
Focus on rebranding to match color palette, renaming, re-cutting of video content
Determine if Santa Fe will be delayed until 2021 semester or proceed with virtual. Combination options?
Work with a team of youth activists, partnered with Graduate Public health students to provide a free action kit to provide to community stakeholders
>Restructure database of contacts
>Segment by government, private foundations, corporate foundations, individual activists & corporate marketing partnerships
> Audit past grantsBring in board contacts
Longerterm (through 2023)
Develop a more comprehensive guide to hosting a summit.
Once policies are reformed, work to provide schools with training tools, awareness campaigns, school chapter engagement, etc
High-Level Success Measures
Virtual
training
Tool kit by September
Continue to add to the training content materials and market to gain more interested peer educators. identify their work after training certification CTT integration
Summits
State
Coalitions & BAE Breaker Management
Steward
Mentees Communications Plan, Marketing & PR
Mobilize youth civic engagement and build a pipeline of future, survivor informed, antiviolence activists
Each will be assigned to an area of interest and learn from their mentor in this field
Develop overall communications strategy that leverages all the work moving forward for the next 12 mo.
Content / Videos
Teen spokespeople
Phone APP
Development of new educational video from CBS, CTT videos, etc
Identify young people on staff & board, media train, develop talking points, and FAQs
Develop multiple user experiences: several summit registrations, Breaker experience, policy reform,
Database audit & alignment for entire organization
All supporter contacts, media, donor, corp sponsor, etc
Recruit and increase school chapters & provide them with virtual idea options for 2020 school year
Teach each mentee as much as possible in the field and develop leadership skills
Social Media calendar Contract a PR pro to help with press about our work
Work to recut CTT videos & finalize CBS script and title
Invite mentees into a next level leadership position, depending on their interests and availability
Our success at making each mentee position fulfilling and meaningful so that others want to join And help mentees find further leadership opportunities
Load all content into Breaker experience and test with new breakers
Starting with donors to launch fall fundraising campaign
Board Governance
Structure & Recruitment·
*Coordinated effort to push out info on social media accounts
*Leadership and organization
*Communications/PR
*Fundraising to supplement $200K
OB
*ID success measures
To formalize a leadership and accountability structure, improve utilization of the Board, streamline key processes, and improve communications.
Formalize leadership structure
*Transition Board into more formal oversight structure, including outlining roles & responsibilities
*Recruit staff for proposed org roles & responsibilities·
*Secure fundraising commitments
*Improve regular communications to key stakeholders·
*Agree on performance measures to improve accountability of staff, appraise and coach
*Board restructuring complete by July ‘21
*$100K raised by ‘2023
SummaryImplementation&Accountability toThisPlan:RollOutandActionSteps
Endeavoring to make this plan operational as soon as possible would recommend the following next steps: Board approval - The Board should review this document. Prior to to approval, there should be a comment period of no less than five business days where Board members can suggest revisions, make recommendations, or ask questions.
Desired Assignments/Responsibilities – The Board Chair and the Executive Committee should contact members of the Board to reaffirm their interests in participating in standing and ad-hoc committees. The Development Committee should be convened first and then the Nominating Committee and Finance and Administration Committee should be addressed, if time is limited.
Member Assignments– Based on individual member input, the Board Transition Chair and Executive Committee should prepare a list of proposed Committee assignments and proposed candidates for those assignments. Members of the Executive Committee and/or the staff should contact and confirm the desirability of these assignments with each Board member.
Operating Plan Dissemination – The Strategic & Operating Plan should be shared with relevant stakeholders as appropriate *NOTE: this is SafeBAE’s first strategic plan so will act as a living document which the staff/board will work from.
Activity Calendar – Staff/team should prepare a detailed, rolling 12-month activity calendar with staff assignments based on the plan. The activities should be slightly flexible, given the “movement-like” operating style of SafeBAE. However, SafeBAE will “stick” to the activity calendar (i e no unforeseen projects, programs, initiatives will be added directly or on the side) without Board approval.
APPENDIX A: SWOTAnalysis
**Boxes are fluid ~ what is an opportunity today can be a threat tomorrow Also, things are not always either/or They can live in more than one box simultaneously.**
Strengths: things that give us advantage over others (what we do well)
> Scalability/acquiring CTT
> board/staff chemistry
> Lean staffTeam morale
> Committed & dedicated team
> Clear mission
> A defined vision
> Define values
Opportunities: elements we can leverage to our advantage (things in our favor)
> New grants & activist donors
> New creative partnerships
> Teen survivor activists
> Companies looking for cause marketing with youth - Old Navy
> Tik Tok, teen social media influencers looking for cause
> Board Absorbing CTT
> Nationwide Partner collaborations
> Gen Z Summit
> Survivor Agenda Youth Summit
Weaknesses: characteristics & issues which place us at a disadvantage relative to others (what we don’t do well)
> Cashflow & financial stability
> Gaps in capabilities/experience
> Public awareness of website/assets
> Board involvement / efficiency > Growing pains / scalability
> Youth spokespeople (walk the walk)
> Competing deadlines & bandwidth
> Processes, systems
> Organization chart/reporting
> Succession plan
Threats: elements in the environment which could cause trouble for us (things not in our favor or possibly unclear)
> COVID/School closures
> elimination/narrowing of funding in our space because of economy
> Funding a youth activist, survivor organization like ours which doesn’t have well-known or attached names, mental health professionals, degreed professionals, researchers, or independent research
> political turnover / election year
> Title IX changes
> ‘Competitor’ moves & partner collaborations
APPENDIX B:BoardStructure
Standing Committee
KEY COMMITTEE RESPONSIBILITIES
Staff Roles
Executive Committee
> Set general direction, sign off on strategic decisions, and ensure clarity with staff of all SafeBAE activities
> Oversee and monitor fit of SafeBAE activities with strategic and operating plan, as necessary
> Appraise performance of the Managing Director
*A Board Chair should be chosen / nominated; s/he sits on EC
Nominating Committee
Development Committee
> Assess Board needs
> Vet Board candidates and forward recommendations to the Executive Committee
> Fundraise & participate in planning and execution
> Generate publicity
Finance & Admin Committee
> Review annual budget and periodic forecasts
> Sign off on fundraising plan and audit
> Provide expertise on SafeBAE’s finances and make recommendations to the Press
> Execute direction of the SafeBAE.
> Determine “programmatic” priorities for the SafeBAE and submit to Board for approval.
> Submit revisions, as necessary, to Board roles and responsibilities.
Recruit and compile list of qualified candidates for Board positions.
Program manage, coordinate, and execute Prepare and provide financials and fundraising plans to Finance Committee for review
Ad Hoc Committees
Key Committee Responsibilities
Key Committee Responsibilities
“Compensation” Committee
Set compensation for staff and consultants
> Provide ideas for research & content
Research & Development
> Research and facilitate, as necessary and if desired
Benchmark compensation
> Propose topics
> Commission and ensure quality based on area of expertise
A more detailed description of each committee follows:
** Please note, at this time, the Research and Development Committee is the most critical group Board committee as we merge with Change The Talk, audit all our assets, and come to realize what we need to do for the next 3 years. We need to call on their fresh eyes during a comprehensive audit of our educational materials. We also need their contacts for production and fundraising.
Executive Committee: The Executive Committee is primarily responsible for assuring that SafeBAE fulfills its primary mission and meets the obligations of funders. The real work of the Executive Committee will be to use the core strategic objectives of the organization as a lens through which to evaluate how relevant an activity is and in what context work should be pursued. It will guide and plan the work of the Board.
Nominating Committee: The Nominating Committee’s primary purpose is the continual updating and refreshing of the Board to ensure that diverse perspectives, abilities and representation are resident among the Board, and that the needs of the Board are met through the recruitment and selection of appropriate individuals.
Development Committee: This committee should be formed specifically to fundraise and create long-term outreach programs for a pipeline of future revenue. It may act as an advisor to the Executive Committee and full Board, and as a reality check for the staff in making choices among possible activities to pursue.
Finance & Administration Committee: The Finance & Administration Committee is necessary to monitor SafeBAE’s inflows and outflows and to oversee its financial condition. This committee will report with recommendations to the full Board.
Compensation Committee: This ad hoc committee will meet to review compensation for the Managing Director, staff, and consultants
Research & Development Committee: This ad hoc committee should be established, to augment and maximize the existing research and assist the staff in pursuing a smart and coherent content agenda that is aligned with SafeBAE mission and long-range intended outcomes Prioritizing this activity at the Board level should ensure that R&D undertaken has a thoughtful purpose and will always be followed by a high-impact release plan to SafeBAE’s constituencies.
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