[StrategyPlan] Strategy: answers to Shane

[Kendra Gonzales]

Hi there, 

My responses in yellow below: 

(from Shane) Kendra:

If we intend to have a draft strategy plan for the March Budget General Assembly 
in the plenary packet

Not my intention to have an entire draft strategy plan done by March / next 
Plenary. My intention is an introduction of the general idea and what we have 
collected from the locals so far, and what the state has addressed so far, and 
any combination there of.  VERY premliminary!


, a Jan 31 deadline is reasonable since all of us (or in this case probably 
mostly you)  need to consider and digest the replies to formulate the draft 
strategic plan.---not a short process. 

I agree this is not a short process and so disagree that Jan 31 is reasonable. 
Please trust me when I say that getting responses from local groups in 1 month's 
time is just not a reality. This is ever more broad than County Polling and that 
took at least 3 months of needling, begging, inspiring, cojoling...over and over 
and over and that was a very specific request, whereas this will ignite 
(hopefully!) a whole lot of discussion and debate within the locals. Look how 
long its taking for just the few of us to agree on how to even approach this!. 



 I also deliberately chose the budget deadline because the co-cos should see 
beforehand any suggested innovations that are in their areas and propose a 
budget for them. 

Again, this is very preliminary....there is not enough time to think about 
applying budget lines yet. Our working groups ARE thinking about strategy and 
budget lines right now for 2011/2012, and that is a part of the strategic 
planning process, as it always has been, right? The difference in what we are 
attempting here is asking for direct input from the locals - which, again to 
reiterate is going to take some time. 
 
The Strategic Plan is not going to always be directly tied to funding. Some of 
it is going to be about volunteerism, using free technology (like facebook), 
internal communication, what sort of direction do we generally want to be 
heading, types of campaigns, and so forth. If there is something innovative that 
costs money and comes forward between budgets without any kind of budget line 
from a working group that could be applied to it, then we should have a means to 
address that. Our Bylaws don't address this in full at all and this is in fact 
one of the things that should be on the Strategic Plan!. Also, any innovations 
that are going to cost money should have some funding action attached. Locals 
can raise their own money too.
 

 I suppose the strategic plan could be slated to begin the next budget 
year---that is, 2012--but that is too long to wait in my opinion.

Portions of a Strategic Plan can be applied right away, some of it not until 
later. Lets not think of this in terms of an end product...that doesn't 
really work the best. I'm learning as a non-profit Board member that usually, 
there is planning process like what we're attempting to do now.....an amazing 
document will be created...an "end product"....everyone looks at 
it.....debates.... maybe a final draft is adopted,  then its filed away in a 
drawer and never looked at again. I'm hopeful we can look at this as ever 
evolving and constantly used. We might not want to attempt an official adoption 
per se...getting to THAT point could be endless. Maybe the way to look at this 
is as a tool, a resource, options to consider....a "roadmap"..

What is your specific alternative time line?  

All throughout 2011 and on-going. By the Spring Plenary, there could be a basic 
outline of what we all mostly agree on as the direction we want to head, but the 
details on HOW to get there should be dynamic and allow for flexibility. .

It sounds as if you intend to present the March General Assembly with a draft 
plan cold turkey---something that has much less chance of succeeding.

No...just a basic introduction and outline of what are the most important 
actions that Greens are agreeing on at the local and state levels....so far. 


We need to get people in the locals and Counties thinking immediately so they 
can reply in  a substantive manner.  A month (January) should be long enough to 
be able to answer one question.  

I agree on immediacy to start this process; I would like for an email to go out 
to County Contact no later than the end of December. Its really 3 
questions. But, these are huge questions...
 
How should the GPCA move forward in 2010 / 2011?
How should the GPCA move forward for the next 5 years?
How should the GPCA move forward for the next 10 years?

 
Kendra Gonzales 
www.vccool.org 
www.cagreens.org/ventura 
"All the energy stored in the Earth's reserves of coal, oil, and natural gas
 is matched  by the energy from 20 days of sunshine" ---Union of Concerned 
Scientists 



      
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