The Louis August Jonas Foundation, LAJF, wants to ensure that our alumni, the parents, friends, and supporters know how we are progressing as an organization. LAJF’s main priorities are Camp Rising Sun, our sustainability, and our Alumni. Our board is derived of many committees to work towards our goals keeping our priorities in mind. Below you will hear from the Strategic Planning Committee. The strategic planning process results in a strategic plan, a document that articulates both the decisions made about the organization's goals and the ways in which the organization will achieve those goals. The strategic plan is intended to guide the organization's leaders in their decision-making moving forward.

Happy New Year from the SPC – the Strategic Planning Committee.

It may have been awhile since you thought about our committee – or, more importantly, about the five-year strategic plan the committee created and the foundation approved and implemented starting in 2016. We thought we’d might remind you about the plan in a series of blog posts, starting with this one. Of course, if you want to review the plan in its entirety, you can always do so here .

But before we get into the plan’s details in later posts, let’s begin by talking about why the plan exists in the first place and what its main goals are.

The current plan emerged after the LAJF board decided not to re-open Red Hook by the of summer 2016 because costs were projected to be much higher than originally expected. Still, there was a strong desire to chart a financial course with such a goal in mind. In short, the plan is that path.

The Strategic Plan summary:

• Five-year plan to attain financial stability (October 2016- 2021)

• Reduce draw on investment portfolio

• Increase alumni engagement

• Return to two simultaneous seven-week programs

• Re-open Red Hook

But the plan’s objective goes beyond just having two campsites up and running with separate seven-week programs for 60 boys and 60 girls. It’s also about sustainability – meaning making sure Camp Rising Sun can survive into the next century. The plan seeks to do that through maintaining the quality of the program, improving facilities, increasing alumni engagement and, of course, driving a culture of supporting the foundation (and by support, we don’t just mean financial – time and talent count as well).

In formulating the plan, the SPC worked with the LAJF staff and key committees (Alumni Relations, Governance, Fundraising, Finance & Investment, Building & Grounds and Program). Just as no man or woman is an island, no committee can stand alone, especially when preparing a document of this importance.

In our next posts, we’ll look at the plan’s financial aspects and the idea of “doing no harm” – as in keeping LAJF running smoothly and efficiently in the present while looking to the future at the same time.

But first, a question: Do you think camp always needs a strategic plan in place? And if so, is a committee the best way to ensure the creation of the plan?  Please send us your answers here.