strategic_plan_writing_sample

Strategic Plan

May 2016

STRATEGIC PLAN 2016 2

Table of Contents

I. Executive Summary……………….………….………………….........................3

a. Background on the Organization and Strategic Planning Process.…4

b. Organizational Structure and Key Stakeholders………….…….……….5

c. Key Findings from Situational Analysis……………………….….…………7

d. Mission, Vision & Value Statements……………………………………….10

II. Goal One…………………………………………………………………………..11

III. Goal Two……………………………………………………………………..……16

IV. Goal Three…………………………………………………………………………21


BACKGROUND ON THE ORGANIZATION AND

STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS

Kartemquin is a collaborative center for documentary media makers who

seek to inspire and nurture a more engaged and empowered society. The

organization is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit based in Chicago. Kartemquin Films

began making documentaries that examine and critique society through the

stories of real people. For the next 50 years, Kartemquin tackled the most

pressing and toughest issues, probing social power-structures through intimate

stories of compelling emotion. They have built a community of socially-

responsible filmmakers and nurtured new and emerging talent through a

commitment to a collaborative, mentorship-based model of filmmaking

practice. Their model places an emphasis on high ethical standards, particularly

with regards to filmmaker-subject relationships, and in grassroots distribution

through community partnerships.

In five years, the organization grew from four employees to fourteen. A

budget of $800,000 grew to $3.5 million; with 70% of their funding coming from

grants. Because of this rapid growth spurt and erratic transitioning, a strategic

plan outlining organizational goals for the upcoming years became muddled

within the noise at Kartemquin. This uncontrolled growth inevitably led to

Kartemquin’s crisis. The growth had created an unhealthy dynamic within the

workplace, it lacked guidance toward their funding, there was no forecasting

plan, or a clear transitional guide. These problems caused unhappy,

unproductive employees and instability within the organization.

Looking through newly found unfinished drafts of Kartemquin’s

organizational goals and strategic plan; they initially planned to continue

internal development and long-term sustainability. They planned, within a span

of three years, to build the field, support passionate filmmakers creating

provocative new work, and increase organizational capacity to catch up with

recent growth and ensure stability. They were planning on also making decisions

and movement towards a solution for Kartemquin’s long-term physical home.

As a result of the instability, Columbia College students in a senior level

strategic management practicum were contracted to consult and create a

plan for the independent film organization. The first phase of the planning

process consisted learning of Kartemquin and analyzing previous drafted plans

and goals. Next, we interviewed and presented drafts of our proposals and plan

to Jason Stephens, the Board Chairman, and Beth Ryan, a contracted

consultant. Lastly, through our research and analysis we have created a

proposed strategic plan outlining new mission, vision, core values, a SWOT

analysis, and a reworked, in-depth look at Kartemquin’s goals.


KEY FINDINGS FROM SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS

To ensure the implementation of opportunities for innovation, stability,

and diversity across the organization, a situational analysis was conducted to

generate new ideas and goals to reinforce such opportunities. This analysis is a

breakdown of the organization’s strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and

threats which will guide the path on how opportunities should be implemented.

The key goals for Kartemquin to attain that were identified are to create a

supporting, nurturing environment for the Kartemquin community. Second,

ensure adaptation & evolution in films, filmmaker services, and film user relations.

Third, prove sustainability by increasing efficiency, brand exposure and donor

relations.

To attain these goals, we must first pinpoint the organization’s strengths.

Strengths are internal and must be capitalized within the organization. The first

strength Kartemquin needs to capitalize on is their creative and ethical

influence to empower the misinterpretation of different groups of people.

Because of their strong ethical and creative standard, this cultivates strong set of

company culture and core values. This will unify colleagues together by working

for the same cause and values and easing tension. Furthermore, Kartemquin’s

model places an emphasis on high ethical standards which reinforces their

mission and vision of creating a more socially aware society. This strength is

imperative to their actual brand because ethics is their brand; this is what

Kartemquin has to drive toward their target audiences.

Our second goal places an emphasis on location being essential to

Kartemquin’s strength. Chicago is known to be one of the most culturally diverse

and racially separated city. This is the breeding ground for new, provocative

work for aspiring filmmakers seeking to magnify social injustices. As the only

independent film organization in the city of Chicago, it is integral for Kartemquin

to maintain and promote its brand and local events to continue to keep the

community engaged. The city plays a big part on the organization’s brand and

it would help Kartemquin strengthen its brand.

Third strength to capitalize on is Kartemquin’s notoriety as being an award

winning independent film production company. This attracts creative, unique,

and genuine talent. But it doesn’t just attract any talent, it attracts local

Chicago talent and networks full of other local creatives.

Next, opportunities were analyzed. Opportunities are external and are

things to invest in. One of the first opportunities to invest in are other social

enterprises seeking to create a big social impact. Through building and

maintaining client relationships, Kartemquin can reach to other channels of

audiences by creating socially impactful film clips for other socially aware

organizations. In turn, this creates strong business to business relationships and


elevates Kartemquin as a brand through social awareness and transparency

with not only their audiences, but as well as their clients.

A second opportunity presented is through the emergence of a more

socially aware target audience. Through social media advances and trends,

there is a surge of social awareness, voices, and growth of documentary film

media that KTQ can invest upon. This creates content that Kartemquin can

utilize for their own convenience.

Last opportunity is through the growth of transmedia storytelling. Who tells

stories better than documentaries? Utilizing transmedia storytelling reinforces

Kartemquin’s brand of ethics and connects issues in a more cohesive way.

Storytelling also highlights how Kartemquin can be used as an educational

vehicle toward combatting pressing social issues.

Weaknesses were the next internal analysis we conducted. Weaknesses

are things an organization needs to shore-up or otherwise reinforce. As we

mentioned earlier, Kartemquin went through rapid growth and erratic transitions

which were detrimental to the internal structure of the organization. We found

that Kartemquin needs to pull the reins on growth to create a creative flow,

productivity, and communication. Creative flow is a term we coined to describe

how employees wanted to be communicated with each other. Since

Kartemquin essentially has no hierarchy, employees do not want to be

demanded around. Instead, creating creative flow will allow for communication

within the workplace. This way, employees know who to report to without feeling

dominated. As a creative space, Kartemquin does need to establish concrete

processes and guidance to reinforce the idea of creative flow by valuing each

and every employee at Kartemquin.

A strong internal structure leads to responsibility building which will build

structure to streamline projects. Open communication leads to better internal

flow and company culture. The organization needs to prioritize objectives to

build structure, stability, and steps for Kartemquin’s ever-changing company

processes, planning, and guidance. The final idea toward calming the growth

at Kartemquin is to start eliminating the dependence on grants and start

focusing on sustainability. Focusing on sustainability will strengthen the internal

structure of Kartemquin because it is focusing on the organization itself.

The second and last weakness of Kartemquin is their lack of effectiveness on

targeting a broader target audience. A quick way to immediately connect to a

broader audience is through the internet. KTQ must invest in their website and

other social media outlets like Facebook; internet presence has become very

important and impactful. A strong internet presence will reinforce Kartemquin’s

brand and it will generate different target audiences.

Lastly, threats, which are external, were identified. As mentioned before,

funding from grants account for 70% of Kartemquin’s funding. No one knows the

certainty of these grants. Emphasizing sustainability is eminent to the


organization’s structure because this will lead to a certainty on funding. Another

threat identified is Chicago’s tax on films. Although it is said that taxes on films

are cheap here, it doesn’t account for a fluctuation that may occur. The city of

Chicago is in debt and will raise any tax on their own accord, it’s important to

keep this in mind. A third threat is competitors in documentary production/DIY

film making. Over-saturation destroys revenue stream with an abundance of

documentaries getting made, and the importance and education on good

filmmaking gets lost within the noise. In turn, the amount of distributors may

become less available for Kartemquin. Lastly, social media saturation adds to

the loss of a social voice within these online outlets. Social media is viewed as an

important marketing tool but it also has its disadvantages. This is why branding is

critical to Kartemquin because it will overcome all the online noise.

STRENGTHS

•Creatively and ethically empowers the misinterpretaion of different groups of people.

•Location is essential to their organizational strength.

•Award winning independent film production.

OPPORTUNITIES

•Other social enterprises seeking to create a larger social impact.

•Emergence of a more socially aware target market.

•Growth of transmedia storytelling.

WEAKNESSES

•Need to pull the reins on growth to create greative flow, productivity, and communitcation.

•Lack of effectively targeting a broader target market.

THREATS

•Funding issues on grants.

•Chicago's film taxation.

•Competitiors in both documentary production and DIY film making destroys revenue stream

•Social media saturation adds to the loss of social voice within these onlone outlets.


OUR MISSION is to inspire and nurture a collaborative center

for documentary media. We provide awareness on issues of

fair use, ethics, and story & civic discourse to ensure a more

engaged and empowered society.

WE ENVISION ourselves to be a trusted bridge between

communities and the media. We want to become the

trusted voice for people whose lives are directly affected by

social and political change, as well as nurturing emerging

filmmaking voices.

VALUE STATEMENTS

Education: Show the stories of real people while examining

and critiquing society in order to educate and create social

and political changes.

Community: Focusing on people whose lives are most

directly affected by social and political change who are

often overlooked or misrepresented by the media.

Collaboration: Growth of passionate socially responsible

filmmakers with a commitment to a collaborative, mentor-

ship based model of filmmaking practice.

Integrity: We act with honesty and integrity, not

compromising the truth in any of our films.

Unity: We are all one, communicating openly, honestly, and

frequently.

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