LCCH strategic plan retreat

Good question. I should have something to say, shouldn't I? I did fill out a pre-survey.

In general, I'm still pretty basic.

What's our core mission? Housing those needing to transition from emergency housing to stable long-term solutions. How do we pay for that? Currently, mostly with federal dollars.

Will our mission change in the foreseeable future? No, I think transitional housing is going to continue to be a need — it could grow or just as possibly shrink, depending on other economic factors relating to employment and housing stock.

If federal funding is cut, how many units of transitional housing are a bare minimum needed in the area, and what would it require in fundraising to do that and/or what options for alternate income would be available? If a sudden infusion of cash came in, how would we add to our core mission delivery system? What is our "blue sky" longer view goal that we'd love to do if current constraints weren't holding us to "business as usual"?

In the collateral areas we've entered — income tax prep, special housing options, developmentally disabled adults — what is the prognosis for income vs. expenses, and do we conduct an ongoing review of how those areas of poverty reduction, self-sufficiency, and community support of stable housing options all work to support our core mission? Under what circumstances would we expand those, or cut them off (if expenditures to maintain those peripheral aims threatened the core mission, primarily)? When is a community-wide "Housing Forum" needed again to promote the idea of a wide range of housing option viability among builders, developers, and community leaders across the county?

And finally: what game changing development could transform our core mission? Either to eliminate it as a need, or to deliver the response more effectively than we currently do for those moving from emergency housing to stable and resilient circumstances? E.g. — a guaranteed living wage? Zero unemployment? A dramatic shift in housing stock either due to new builds or vacancies in existing homes? And a) is there anything we as LCCH can or should be doing to bring that about, or b) how might we prepare for those developments should they occur?

That's my strategic plan vision on a basic level. More particularly for a board — do we have a compelling "case statement" to give potential donors? We have done relatively little donor development in the last 25 years. Is that capacity we should develop, or is federal/state/local funding our main strength and would development work undermine that . . . or is it a direction we need to be privately, quietly pivoting to? It's always easy to say "we should do it all" but practically speaking, choices for an agency of our size have to be made. A major gifts and ongoing annual fund/sustaining giver program of development is a very real change in our institutional culture, and would change many of our community partnership relationships as well. So if that's an area to explore, there are major downsides to consider before just jumping on the "yeah, we should raise major funds soon" bandwagon. I could be convinced, but I'd need to see a better case than I'm aware of currently.

But even if the answer is "no," a good solid attractive "case statement" for LCCH should exist, as donor opportunities do come up and as we do have a very basic annual gifts program. Plus, the landscape could change quickly on us — a "case statement" for giving is never going to go entirely to waste.

Pax,
Jeff Gill
http://www.facebook.com/Knapsack
http://twitter.com/Knapsack

> On Oct 23, 2017, at 4:44 PM, Deb Tegtmeyer <DTegtmeyer@lcchousing.org> wrote:
>
> Anything you want to inject into the conversation tomorrow?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jeff Gill [mailto:knapsack@windstream.net]
> Sent: Monday, October 23, 2017 4:23 PM
> To: Deb Tegtmeyer <DTegtmeyer@lcchousing.org>
> Subject: Re: LCCH retreat tomorrow
>
> Church stuff in Delaware at 10:30, sadly.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Oct 23, 2017, at 11:05 AM, Deb Tegtmeyer <DTegtmeyer@lcchousing.org> wrote:
>>
>> Jeff - are you planning to attend?
>>
>> Or are you otherwise involved in a Church retreat?
>>
>> D
>>
>> Deb Tegtmeyer
>> Executive Director
>> Licking County Coalition for Housing
>> (740)345-1970 x 212
>> dtegtmeyer@lcchousing.org
>>
>>
>>
>> <winmail.dat>
>