Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to Well Put, a podcast about communications for mission-driven organizations from libretto. I'm Connor Ferguson. Today, I'm joined by a very special guest, Jennifer Norris from the Appalachian Mountain Club.
Speaker: Jennifer, thank you so much for joining us. Happy to be here, Connor. Thanks for having me Absolutely. um Maybe you want to give just a little bit of background on yourself for our listeners before we dive into the meat of today's episode?
Speaker: Sure. ah So I have been the Chief Development Officer of the Appalachian Mountain Club for nine years. We are a Boston-based conservation-minded outdoors organization.
Speaker: We have been around for 150 years. We're celebrating our 150th anniversary this year as the oldest conservation and recreation organization the United States.
Speaker: And I've spent most of my career in fundraising for mission-driven nonprofits, mostly in the space around environmental advocacy, conservation, and um sort of equity. So that is me.
Speaker: Wonderful. Well, so happy to have you here. So ah Jennifer is joining me here today as a sort of reprise of a presentation that the two of us gave at the AFP conference in Boston this year back in March.
Speaker: ah where we spoke on ah Libretto's work with AMC creating a strategic plan digest for the organization as basically the first step in their whole campaign journey. um And so we just wanted to kind of talk a little bit about what that process entailed. um And maybe before we even get into the actual strategic plan itself and how Libretto helped AMC create a vehicle to share that more widely with your community, Jennifer, do you think we could start, if you could paint us a bit of a picture of AMC as an organization when this strategic plan was first developed?
Speaker: Sure. um We have, as I mentioned, been around the block for a while, and we've evolved quite organically over 150 years. We have a really wide ranging mission while we're centered around the around fostering protection, understanding and enjoyment of the outdoors.
Speaker: That work ranges from volunteer-led outdoor activities from Virginia to Maine, conservation policy work, to direct trails work, to working on a whole range of issues on the trails and the the waterways of the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic. to running a whole network of outdoor program centers, lodges, huts, and camps. So it's a tremendously varied a set of activities that can be hard to describe to people and sometimes feels like we're all in that parable of everybody touching a different part of the elephant and believing it's a different animal.
Speaker: And as a fundraiser, it can be hard to talk about the big picture in a way that aye hooks people in and has people who care about the same values as us really understanding the full breadth of our activities.
Speaker: And at the same time as a fundraiser, we all know it takes a while to develop relationships and opportunities with foundations and funders. And so being able to know where we're headed and what our big goals and vision is in a way that's not going to shift over time ah in the intervening 18 months that takes the close of grant opportunity, for example, is really important. So our we actually went through a leadership transition from 21 to 23. Our president who had been with us for a decade ended his tenure at the end of 21. We had an interim leader in 22. early 2023, when our new chief executive officer, Nicole Zussman, started, the very first conversation I had with her, she said, what can I do to make your job easier?
Speaker: And I said, what we need is cogent multi-year strategic plan that it can inspire donors and set direction for the whole organization.
Speaker: I was super grateful that she took that advice in hand, and I'm sure it was relevant just in general as a new CEO coming on board to do some strategic planning. And that furthermore, because we're such a complex organization with so many different voices and so so many different branches, we really needed external help.
Speaker: to develop that plan. and And so the next year, really through 2023, we worked to do a stakeholder analysis. We did a landscape scan to understand where we were unique versus an also doing the same thing as other groups in our space.
Speaker: And um we Ended up in at the end of 2023 with the sort of our new value proposition, which wasn't really new, it was just better articulated, and our four major goals, which are to inspire joyous, meaningful outdoor experiences, cultivate and sustain a robust welcoming community, foster access to the outdoors, and protect critical landscapes for the wellbeing of people in the outdoors.
Speaker: And the next year, we put meat on the bones. We really thought about what are what does success look like by 2030? What are our key performance indicators that would help us gauge the measures of success and engaged our community in developing and fleshing out those goals? So by the end of 24, we really had that plan articulated to ourselves, but it was very much in insider AMC language.
Speaker: That's where i think Labretta really came in. Right. Yes. Yeah. you You provided us with a number of spreadsheets and PowerPoints and presentations that had lots of great lots of great meat on those bones, as you said, but needed sort of a streamlined approach, a tool that could, um as you said, it initially be used to share that story over that 18-month period before you close a grant, for instance. Yeah.
Speaker: So um when you were initially setting out on this work to create a public facing version of this strategic plan, what were your ultimate goals as an organization and also you personally as a fundraiser for this work?
Speaker: Well, I think one of the things I remember, Connor, you and Neil talking about is like we were talking at like 45,000 feet and like at 10 feet. You know, we were talking at like the 10,000 foot level that was like, it's not all. It's one of my donors called that Puppies and Rainbows. Like the world is a better place because of us.
Speaker: Yes, we want that. But like really specifically, where are we trying to make a difference? So we needed some help with thinking through what the right level of detail and aspiration were there to inspire people and for people to be able to say, I see you want to head in a place that I want to head to. Our values are aligned and how you're approaching these issues is aligned with what I want to do. Let's have a conversation of what that looks like, whether that as it is as a donor, or a prospective member, or an ally. and We really needed those tools to kind of talk about who AMC is and what do we want to be when we grow up. I love that idea of where AMC wants to be when you grow up, which is kind of a bold idea for a 150-year-old organization. Some might argue that you're pretty grown up, but this process obviously is something that is always is always ongoing. i mean, you're always in as soon as you close one strategic plan, you're into the next one. And so that idea of being able to um articulate ah a new and fresh vision for 150-year-old organization is...
Speaker: an interesting challenge and also an important one in terms of continuing to engage your donors. Right, and bring new people in as well. One of our goals for our strategic plan is to grow from 90,000 members to 150,000 members in the six years of the plan.
Speaker: And we're not going to do that by doing the same thing that we've always done and talking to the same people in the same way. And it's not that our values or essential mission has changed, it's that the world has changed. And we haven't been around 150 years by virtue of not changing at all.
Speaker: We've obviously had to adapt over time. And what does this moment call for? Right, right. So how did you guys approach this work? Like what was your creative and strategic process when we came knocking on your door to say help?
Speaker: Yeah, well, as as I mentioned, obviously, you you started with all of these spreadsheets and comprehensive lists of activities and KPIs and everything. So ah initially, our approach was realizing that this was both a language challenge and a strategic challenge, that it's both about how do we actually articulate these ideas and how do we kind of slice and dice the ideas such that they powerful palatable and comprehensible to ah to your audience. So our first challenge really was to look at all of the many different activities and figure figure out what are some of the representative samples that are going to ladder up to give
Speaker: ah give clarity and and specificity to those four big strategic plan goals. Because the whole idea is you need to make it feel real in people's minds through those those perfect, tangible little examples. um And I recall... and we will include the ah the link to the action plan ah in the show notes so folks can look at this on their own. But I recall one of the things that was very interesting is this ah concept of what success looks like and painting a picture of
Speaker: the world or the, the, the, the area that AMC covers in 2030 and these little snapshots that we created that we ended up putting on a map on the, on the online action plan ah so that people could kind of page through and see these little events happening at various different locations throughout the Northeast and really imagine in a tangible sense, what success looks like, what activities are actually going to be taking place in these in these locations. um So we had a lot of what, but then we also had to layer on a great amount of why. Why is this important for a 150-year organization to be evolving in this way, to be changing?
Speaker: Why is it important for ah your community to get behind this? As you mentioned, this is ah that part of the the the plan was continuing to grow AMC's membership base, continuing to grow the number of stakeholders and people that you influence and and ah derive value from community. So why is it important to have more people? Why is it important to be doing more of this work?
Speaker: And then the final thing that we were thinking of, of course, and we've kind of alluded to this from the the the fundraising aspect of things is that we wanted to be conscious of how we positioned this initiative, given that the campaign would be following quickly on.
Speaker: We didn't want to steal the campaign's thunder or create confusion. And so I think that was where we ended up landing on the title of the action plan, which we called All Out. um So this gets to that idea of this being a large community effort, everyone has to be involved in this all out. It obviously plays on that outdoors component that AMC really can kind of own as a brand. Your website is outdoors.org. So there's there's a there's a clear connection there. But it also didn't feel like a a campaign name, so to speak. um I don't know, maybe some people would ah would argue that it could could have been used as a campaign name, but we were definitely thinking about that and not wanting to create confusion and also be able to get to the point where we could use that name for the action plan alongside the name of the campaign eventually. um And, you know, we were hoping that libretto would be part of developing the communications for the campaign, which obviously we were very happy to eventually do and keep that continuum from the initial phase of articulating your vision all the way through to developing a case for support.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, one of the things that was so fun to do when we were working with Libretto, and I should say it was sort of a team of me, my campaign director, the the chief growth officer, because marketing communications needs to be clearly, they're going to be using and have been using the all out action plan language from the get go. And our CEO were all really deeply engaged in this process. And the ah I feel like when when Labrador came back and said, here's our four or five you know potential names and playing with those things that we never with our you know I think of myself as being somewhat creative, but certainly not like that, to come up with these names and play with the pros and cons of them. And we did a little like testing with some key people, to see what their reactions were, different names and all out.
Speaker: is both like the the intensity of some people, like you're going all out. and It's also like everybody come out, you know, come outside. And that invitation that we really do want to foster access to the outdoors for everyone, it felt very in line with actually what we were trying to um convey as to our work over these five, six years. And it's interesting because I just had a staff member report back that she had ah an interaction with a member of our community who's not a donor yet, but is a leader within the volunteer community. And he was quoting the all out action plan and the fact that it like
Speaker: yeah The name of it actually stuck with him is such a good sign. so That's, I mean, that's that's more than we could ever hope for, usually, to get a a name like that to to stick with people. And I mean, I think...
Speaker: Obviously, developing names and and great ways to package something from a communication spec perspective is what we do. And so we like to think that it's that it matters and is important. But I think that's a great example of why it actually does make a difference, particularly within the organization, to create a name that that people can really kind of hang their hat on and feel proud of, because then it's easier to refer to. It's easier for them to think about those strategic priorities and return to them because it it feels like it feels like a thing. It doesn't feel like some nebulous ah strategic organizational concept.
Speaker: Right, right. And hopefully some of this work is making sure that every part of our constituency sees themselves in this plan and sees themselves as having a role in moving us forward on those those objectives. So you talked about the name, and I'm curious, since people are listening to this and hopefully, you know, able to access the the story map, but like, we sort of took a moment to try to figure out what was the thing we were going to use to share the high level view and kind of help people understand what our goals are. And it lives on everything.
Speaker: on the web, but like how, how, how do you land it on what we landed on and then maybe describe it a little bit since we're talking and not looking at something.
Speaker: Yeah, well, so as as you mentioned, we landed on on a story map. So the idea being an an interactive online portal where people could scroll through. And, um you know, there's, I would say, a reasonable balance between some ah excellent, vivid photography all of all of the beautiful locations that AMC has located. huts and lodges at, along with some narrative and charts. So there's ah ah both kind of a rational end of things by explaining in words and also an emotional component through the the photography and the imagery. um
Speaker: We wanted something that was easy to kind of quickly page through. It all lives on one one page, so it's not something where people have to navigate through a bunch of different nested web pages, which I think was um was particularly key there. And you know i mentioned before the idea of wanting to have enough specific examples to paint a mental picture without getting overwhelmed by details. The idea was we wanted something that could give an overview, and if there were
Speaker: certain potential donors or constituents or stakeholders who wanted a more detailed picture. Well, all of those KPIs and and ah breakdowns of what each of these priorities was actually going to accomplish, that all existed and that could lead to another conversation later.
Speaker: um But you also mentioned this idea of the the name All Out wanting to encapsulate this idea of everybody being able to see themselves in this plan and more importantly in AMC's community. And so that's why it became important that in addition to explaining the the goals, the priorities, um and and the specific activities involved in the plan, we also included some quotes from different members of the community, volunteers. as I think there's a board member in there, people who have these many different types of connections to AMC, which really helps to humanize this community, show some diversity, and hopefully allow people as they're reading the plan to see a little bit of themselves in AMC as it currently exists and want to therefore be a part of AMC's future.
Speaker: Yeah, I know. I love that you encouraged us to have those testimonials, as it were, talking about different aspects of an invitation to participate and be a part of the plan's activation, and then also representing different components of the community because we have uh people who conceive of amc as being this like super intense people who through hike the appalachian trail and that's a really a quite a minority of the community they definitely exist but there are so many different ways to interact with amc whether it's you don't have to even be a hiker you can be a paddler or you can be someone who likes to watch birds and just be quiet on a park bench and so ah But, you know, want to help with our advocacy. And so the the pictures, I think, and the testimonials really help drive that point home, which in itself is a piece of our strategic plan. So it works well. And I find scrolling through it, which I'm doing as we're talking, yeah and it's got such a nice very variety of different um levels of text versus photos and maps and information. little things to see shifting, but it makes it kind of visually appealing and you don't have to feel like you're sitting down and reading a 20 page strategic plan. right Who does that? Well, I mean, somebody somebody has to at some point, but yes. ah
Speaker: The other thing that I did want to mention also is that, of course, fundraising in the campaign is always in in the back of our minds as we were developing this, but I did think it was particularly ah relevant and and important that the call to action at the very end, once you scrolled all the way down to the bottom of the page, the call to action is about engagement, not philanthropy. We didn't actually include any specific ask in this, and yet...
Speaker: Here we are talking about this action plan as a fundraising vehicle, as a as a tool that is useful for you as a fundraiser. So then my question to you is, since we debuted this action plan, since we debuted All Out, how has this been useful to you and your team from a fundraising perspective?
Speaker: Yeah, I feel like before I answer that, I should probably address this campaign that we've been referring to. So AMC is in the midst of the, what I guess I'd call the leadership phase of a comprehensive campaign.
Speaker: And that campaign is to support the um the all-out action plan. um you know, making good on it and also securing the foundation of AMC's financial picture ah so that we can be in place for the next 158 years. And we were very conscious when we were developing the All Out Action Plan that a comprehensive campaign would naturally follow from it. But for the majority of the community, what we're really asking them to do is to engage
Speaker: in effectuating the plan, not necessarily even as philanthropists, but as volunteers and as members and as ambassadors and as people to get engaged with doing trail work or doing conservation work. so So it felt really important to start with the All Out Action Plan and then While we're doing that work with our leadership, um you know, most major donors and so on right now, eventually we will be unveiling the comprehensive campaign to the broader community, but we're not quite there yet.
Speaker: But even just being able to have something to send prospective donors and funders, which is the link to the All Out Action Plan, is tremendously helpful. so I have, there's a new family foundation that we're hoping to work with, and we have a call in a couple weeks with the philanthropic advisors for that foundation. And I'm not going to presume that they know much about AMC. They've been asked by the family to set up this call. And they can go to our website.
Speaker: But being able to send them the um the link gives us the opportunity to have a general overview from the get go even before we have the conversation. So that's tremendously useful.
Speaker: And then again, as we try to engage the AMC community that exists, having them understand what our wider objectives are and then having them see themselves in that allows us to start in a common language of where we're trying to go and be more strategic and have a longer term plan that puts the context of the daily activities into this broader approach brighter objective, is these shared values that then we can say, okay, if this is where we want to go, you agree this is where we want to go? Okay, here's what we need to do to get there. And then ultimately, here are the resources we need time, talent, treasure, ties to get that done. So it just kind of creates the the framework to have more engaged and aligned community, which is like critical with such a diffuse community. um
Speaker: And I guess the last thing that surprised me were staffing up for the campaign And I put a hyperlink in our job descriptions to the all out action plan. And i have better quality interviews and better quality candidates because people who check that out, they understand where we're trying to go. And the people who are really excited about where we're trying to go based on what they're seeing or make for good ambassadors themselves. And i think that's just been helpful for me in attracting people to join the team.
Speaker: Absolutely. Yeah. Well, and and when when you mentioned that idea of the common language, that really made me think of of your example of the of the volunteer talking about the action plan and actually quoting from it, because there you go. Now now everybody in the organization can be on the same page and can can have that that ah that shared sense of purpose ah behind a ah ah tool like this.
Speaker: Right. And then we get into the details of how are we going to get there and what are the steps and who's doing what. And that's all, that's like really good work to be doing within the organization. And I think the other piece is the boldness of a plan gets people excited, especially potential funders, right? Yeah, I don't want to just be supporting the day to day, they want to see what's the difference my support will make. And if you can say this is we're here now, and we want to get to here and we need these resources to get there, but we have an idea that really opens up great conversation.
Speaker: o So it's a ah ah a tool for bringing your organization all into alignment and having a kind of common language there. It's a an early tool for cultivating leadership donors, for helping start those conversations, ensure that you're that you're on the same page when you finally get to the table and actually can cant can move from there. It's ah surprisingly, and and when you mentioned this, this is something that I had never even occurred to me. It's a recruitment tool for for staff for when you're staffing up for a campaign. it's I mean, a a multifaceted and multi-use ah device for for the organization. so I mean, what would you say to some to ah to somebody in your position, or or who is in your position from a few years ago, who is thinking about figuring out how to socialize a strategic plan, what would you say to them in terms of how to actually make that happen in a way that's effective in at least a few of those ways that I rattled off?
Speaker: Well, I mean, I think first of all, obviously at the base of it, you have to have a plan that is worth sharing. So that's work that happens beforehand, right? That it it's it is rings true to the organization and what their sweet spot is and their value proposition and their unique niche within this you know huge field of NGOs. you know What can AMC do that we're uniquely positioned to do and being able to articulate that before you try to communicate something is super important. But then again, understanding what's that 10,000 foot view that is going to help people see in not all the detail of every departmental plan, but also not just the puppies and rainbows.
Speaker: things that we really want to accomplish and be able to convey it in a way that works for different learners, visual learners, people who like to read, people who feel mostly lead by how they're feeling versus how they are analyzing something. think you need to be able to work for those different kinds of thought processes because everybody comes to things from a different angle.
Speaker: And then at the end of the day, for me, it is a feeling of having some tool that somebody can read it and say, i want to be a part of that. Yeah. Like that is what we want.
Speaker: And what's the communication tool that's going to allow you to have that? Because it's really about opening a conversation or cementing somebody's affiliation with the organization. say yes, that is what I'm about too. And I'm so glad that now I'm a part of this organization.
Speaker: And let's go places together, you know? Yeah. And that's very important for us as as partners in this at Libretto is to to create something that is going to be of use, that is not going to be, you know, ah it's it's not just a pretty thing that that everybody can be like, oh, look at the lovely design and look at the lovely name and look at the lovely photos. It has to be of strategic use and strategic value for you and your team.
Speaker: Yeah, and I think the other thing I would just say is it's interesting because now it's been, what, a year and a half since we unveiled it a little bit more. And I'm aware that the plan for the staff is still very much alive. You know we're doing annual planning and how are we doing and are we meeting the KPIs and what adjustments do we need to make given external factors or things taking longer or being planned?
Speaker: earlier wins than we expected. But we need to continue to do the work of getting this plan and where we're trying to go out, both the victories and the momentum we're creating, and then also just that it's part of this longer, well thought out plan. So it was funny, just a little detail when we had our, when we recently updated our website,
Speaker: the like drop down that had the live link to it temporarily disappeared. And it's like, no, we still need it up there. Like and I still refer to it all the time when I'm copying it for funders. But just like that, you know, it it's so like for internally, you get so sick of something after a while because you feel like you're thinking about it, talking about all the time. But like for the external world, they're not thinking about it at all or they've forgotten it. So how do you keep it alive during the course of a five or six year run.
Speaker: Because otherwise, it's very easy for people to say, well, strategic planning, it takes long time, but and nobody ever looks at it again. Right, right. Well, and I mean, that's something that we have dealt with sometimes at other organizations where like midway through a strategic plan, we might create some sort of piece that is a ah an update on like, well, how are we doing? how are how like Let's revisit all of these goals and see where we're at. We many years ago did this for the national Audubon society where we created mid flight, which was a, the, the, the concept was birds on a plane. It's like, and they had these great illustrations that they commissioned of these like hipster birds on a like airline flight. and And so that was called mid flight. Um, you know, one of those things that only Audubon could, could get away with. Um, but something like that, that, that, uh,
Speaker: has a sense of accountability then too, because it's sort of like, let's revisit these ideas halfway through this plan and, and keep ourselves honest and make sure that we are actually making progress towards these goals as we set them out several years ago.
Speaker: Yeah, I think that's so important because that gives veracity to the whole exercise. And also, you know, people are interested in, well, you have these big lofty goals. Are you actually making progress? And if you are something to celebrate and in instills confidence, and if you're not yet, you need to figure out what do we need to adjust or where do we need to focus to drive that home? Because we said important.
Speaker: Right. Right.
Speaker: Well, Jennifer, it's been so great to reflect on our partnership, which obviously continues. And it's great to parlay that into the the campaign and hopefully more more partnerships in the future.
Speaker: Thank you so much for for joining us before we close out our episodes. We like to talk a little bit about what each of us are loving right now, whether that's a TV show podcast book.
Speaker: I don't know. I've talked about cookbooks in the past. The sky's the limit. So do you want to start us off? What are what are you loving right now? Well, i I have to say that that I don't watch TV all that often, but I mostly read and listen to audio books. But my 13 year old son is a bit inscrutable these days. And yet...
Speaker: He occasionally is so enthusiastic about a series. He's like, mom and dad, you have to sit down and watch this. And sometimes it's not really to my taste. Yeah. But the fact that he wants to spend any time at all with his parents is a win.
Speaker: So we have been watching the crime series. That's an animated series called Invincible. which is, I'm told, a top-rated anime. it's It's not a Marvel character, but it's like it's a superhero who's a teenager and going through all these kinds of trials and tribulations, both in his relationships, his self-identity, and in the wider universe.
Speaker: And so I've been spending an awful lot of time watching that show. I'm on season three. We are told that season four is the best season. And then the next season has not been actually released yet.
Speaker: But tonight when I get home, I will be watching episode three of season three, having already watched the other seasons in the last few weeks. so Wow. Okay. Well, that's, I mean, getting through that many seasons in a few weeks is, that's a commitment.
Speaker: Yes, I will have the warning that there's although it's animated, there's a lot of love and death. So like if you're squeamish, I do not recommend. got it. Got it. How about you?
Speaker: Well, so this is ah this is a funny little thing, but anybody who knows me will know that I'm into writing utensils and particularly fountain pens. I have a fountain pen tattooed on my arm and everything. And yet, recently, i have been into old-fashioned wooden pencils.
Speaker: um like i I got a a sampler of of of a couple of different wooden pencils and... I was like, this is these are cool. So this is it's like a Japanese pencil, HB lead grade and stuff like that. It's a very nostalgic kind of experience to sit there and and sharpen a pencil. i feel like there was... i have memories of the point in in school where we were finally allowed to write with pen. And it felt like this grown-up thing where it was...
Speaker: Oh, only only the little kids have to write with pencil. And in many ways, just kind of never looked back from there and just started writing with pens for ah for for the rest of my life. But actually, there's something very ah almost meditative about ah sharpening a pencil and... ah the smell of the pencil shavings and all of that. And, uh, yeah. And apparently there's, you can, you can go very deep down the rabbit holes of, of wooden pencils. I haven't gone that deep so far, but you know, at least the ones that I've found so far I'm, I'm enjoying. So these are the, uh, the Tombo mono one hundreds, uh, uh, you can buy, um, various online realtor realtors, realtors.
Speaker: online retailers. um But yeah, I don't know it's ah It's a silly little thing, but ah but pencils are fun. I'm up to pencils. I like pencils for to-do lists.
Speaker: And yes i have ah i I have a large batch of Ticonderoga pencils that I got at Costco maybe 10 years ago. They're still keeping me going. And I have a handheld one of those like things that they used to have in schools where you do the dial for the different size pencils and then you hand crank it yeah and i love it it's so much better than an electric pencil sharpener so oh absolutely yeah yeah no electric pencil sharpeners that that uh that ruins the experience Absolutely.
Speaker: Well, thank you again so much for joining us, Jennifer. It was great to catch up and reflect on on the project. And thank you, everyone who's listening, for tuning in. This has been Well Put, a libretto podcast. I'm Connor Ferguson.
Speaker: And if you want to learn more about libretto and what we do, please check libretto-inc. That's Well put.
Speaker: dot com well put Excellent. Right.
