Our process
In October 2022, California State Parks Foundation started to partner with consultants that would help in this work. Mission Met was the perfect partner to engage with on this journey. Mission Met works to make strategic planning simpler and more effective for mission-driven leaders. They put an emphasis on approaching strategic planning as an on-going and never ending process — not as an event.
We listened to our community to understand our strength and challenges through over 20 interviews and additional survey responses from our staff, our board, California State Parks staff, consultants, and park partners throughout California. The feedback was invaluable with many partners grappling with similar challenges, like climate change and park equity, and expressed appreciation for California State Parks Foundation’s strengths, contributions, and the opportunity to provide feedback.
Through reflection and collaboration we identified focus areas for the next three years. Our staff and board came together to discuss the feedback we receive from our community, our unique role, and priority to move forward. Through this process we identified five focus areas — three programmatic and two operational — that taken together will deepen the impact and capacity of the organization to protect and preserve the California state park system. These are:
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Defending parks: Working with our network of partners to identify looming issues for individual parks and the park system, then crafting effective strategies to defend against threats.
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Developing solutions: Pursuing innovative programs and projects that exemplify solutions to issues facing state parks, and then we scale them statewide, through funding, awareness, and advocacy.
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Building a movement: Building a diverse, inclusive movement of park champions, enabling Californians to engage with, experience and advocate for their state parks.
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Strengthening operational excellence: Improving business planning, processes, staff recruitment, engagement and culture, and the integration of justice, equity, inclusion, and diversity into the fabric of the organization.
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Enhanced governance: The Board of Trustees actively supports and promotes our organizational vision, values and programs, has well-defined roles and responsibilities, and is engaged, diverse, and collaborative.