Time is weird, it can feel both fast and slow all at once. This has felt especially true over the last two years but has always felt true for me when it comes to Resource Generation. Being in the work, it can feel like it takes so long for an idea to become reality. And at the same time, it can feel like in the blink of an eye the leadership of our chapters, staff, and board has changed; it feels so quick how fairly recent developments can become core pieces of what we do, that feel like they’ve always been there.
Our campaign partnerships with the Movement for Black Lives and Center for Popular Democracy, the Redistribution Pledge, our Transformative Investing Principles, a membership over 1,000 strong; none of these existed even five years ago and yet they feel so central to who we are now.
The other thing they share is that our last set of five-year goals and our last strategic plan pointed us towards all of them.
Strategic planning is how we take stock of who we are and name who we want to become. Not in a way that limits or constricts us, but in a way that allows us to move with intention and power, inviting in what serves us and setting boundaries against what doesn’t.
The last time RG embarked on strategic planning was in 2012. The strategic plan we developed then led to our current mission statement and organizing model. And now, ten years later, we’re doing it again.
It feels important to name the moment we’re in, to offer context to all the questions about our work, about how we relate to our changing world. It is important to have the time to affirm who we are, or start the process of making changes, so we can be powerful and aligned in our organizing.
Since last fall we’ve been working with the brilliant Allison and Aarati of Dragonfly Partners to develop our strategic framework and plan. Drawing from conversations with dozens of stakeholders, they identified five conversations to guide us in shaping the next phase of our work.
A Strategic Planning Committee with representation from the board, staff, and the National Member Council has been meeting every other week to move this work forward. So far we’ve had the first two conversations, inviting staff, board, and a representative crew of 40 members.
We’ll have one more conversation each month through June, culminating in a hybrid meeting of the National Member Council, board, and staff. While the process is closed (we’re not sharing out recordings or notes) to maintain a container for trust-building, I invite you to be having conversations with other RGers about your hopes and dreams for our future and for the world we’re fighting for. My inbox is also always open, and while I can’t commit to always having the capacity to meet, or respond at length, I am committed to authentically receiving the perspectives of this community and sharing them with the committee.
I can’t wait for the fall (I know, let’s have spring and summer first!), to be able to share the roadmap for this work and ground together in the path ahead towards our vision.
It’s such a gift to be able to spend this time planning and investing in our future. Having said that, I have to take the opportunity to highlight the importance of the type of redistribution we do. Unrestricted, relational, responsive, and considerate redistribution is what every organization needs. I want all of our campaign partners and movements for justice to be able to take the time to plan.
In just a couple of weeks, we’re going to be launching our spring membership and redistribution pledge drive. Our theme is “Give Big, Give Early,” always, but especially in a year with big political ramifications, funding organizing early gives organizations the best shot at being able to put resources to their most strategic use. While we haven’t officially launched the drive, there’s no reason to not consider giving earlier – and, while we’re at it, giving bigger – to our partners at CPD and M4BL, to RG, and the movement organizations you’re invested in.
