IslandWood Strategic Plan
Fall 2015
This is an exciting time for IslandWood. We are serving 4,000+ students from 90+
schools annually through our flagship School Overnight Program. Over half of these
children receive scholarships to participate in our programs, because they are from lowincome communities. We are also educating an additional 11,000 students in Seattle
through our Homewaters and Brightwater programs.
Many of our dreams for serving kids and teachers are coming true. We’re launching an
innovative urban graduate program; we’re leading the statewide effort around the “No
Child Left Inside” Act which was signed into law recently by the Governor; and we’ve
landed initial cornerstone gifts for our comprehensive campaign.
OVERARCHING THEMES
Two themes are central as we look to the next five years. We will:
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Continue to go deeper with programming on our Bainbridge campus. Seek to expand
and accentuate programs that serve those most in need (e.g. children of migrant
families; military families, urban youth).
Continue extending our work and impact beyond our physical campus. Seek to
expand and accentuate programs that transform the lives of those who can’t visit
our campus (e.g. kids reached through our urban graduate program as well as our
nature passport smartphone app).
This strategic plan is not intended to be an exhaustive document that outlines
everything IslandWood will accomplish. Many of our programs (e.g. School Overnight
Program, EEC Graduate Residency on our Bainbridge campus) are mature and well
developed…and we plan to continually evolve them forward with excellence. With this
in mind, the following are the most important ways we hope IslandWood will advance
during our fiscal year 2015-16.
WHAT ISLANDWOOD WILL DO THIS YEAR
I. Launch Urban Graduate Program: Through a significant seed grant from the Paul G.
Allen Foundation, we’ve designed an innovative urban graduate program. This is the
pilot year of the program, which will help us further reach kids in the city center of
Seattle. As this new program gains traction in Seattle, we will test its ability to scale
beyond our immediate region. We plan to offer extremely deep programming with
these students – providing multiple touch points for each of them throughout the year.
We are also expanding the age groups we typically serve into high school. We are
pleased that this new program is drawing an ethnically diverse set of graduate students.
Graduate students will receive credit from Antioch University, and coursework will
center on preparing educators to work in urban communities.
USP
UEE
EEC
RSP
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II. Integrate Programs: We will continue to better integrate IslandWood’s programs,
breaking down artificial silos that may have existed between them in the past. One area
of focus will be on integrating our various urban programs (School Partnerships,
Homewaters, Brightwater, and the New Urban Grad Program), which have largely been
operating independently with unique identities, staffing, and program delivery models.
The best aspects of each of these programs will be combined under one “IslandWood
Seattle” team. In addition, there are opportunities to better coordinate our efforts
between our Bainbridge campus and our urban programs. For example, our two
graduate programs (Bainbridge-based EEC Grad Program and new Seattle-based Urban
Grad Program) will seek to better share resources and staff.
III. Integrate our Diversity and Inclusion Work: IslandWood deeply values diversity and
inclusion, so that we can remain relevant in a rapidly shifting world and also reflect the
people we serve. Rather than have a separate budget line item for diversity and
inclusion, we wish to fully integrate these efforts into each of our teams. Over the last
year, we have developed a tool that can be used to assess the current state of
diversity/inclusion on each team, and help them advance along a continuum to greater
proficiency in this area. We intend to use this tool with each team over the next year to
advance awareness of the importance of diversity/inclusion, and increase the cultural
capacity of the organization.
IV. Measure Impact: The world in which we operate is evolving at a fast pace, and we
want to ensure that our programs continually improve at delivering on our mission.
Thus, our board and senior management will conduct an annual review of all our
programs – including those that are mature as well as new ones. Through a grant from
the MJ Murdock Trust, we have hired a Director of Impact who is developing an
assessment system with which to review our program outcomes on a regular basis.
V. Get Clear on Breadth: We will more clearly define our expectations and intended
milestones for going “broader” with our work. We will leverage current technology to
support our program delivery (e.g. the Nature Passport App). We will strive to expand
IslandWood’s position as a thought leader – by sharing our knowledge and opinions
with others through writing and public speaking. We will seek to more regularly play a
lead role within the environmental education movement. And, we will continue to
influence state and national legislative efforts around our mission.
HOW ISLANDWOOD WILL ACCOMPLISH THIS WORK
VII. Deliver on “It’s Their Future” Campaign: This is the anchor year for the most
ambitious fundraising effort since IslandWood’s inception. We intend to raise (through
cash and pledges), at least 50% of the $50 million campaign goal by December
2016. The Campaign will transform a very special place into a vital purpose with the
potential to change our future – one child at a time. We are embarking on this
Campaign because after more than a decade of work, we know that what we do makes
a meaningful difference in the lives of the students we touch, and on their communities
and the natural world. Their future (and ours as an organization) is in need of securing
essential short-term and long-term funding to deepen our foundational programs and
extend our reach in the communities where our students live and learn. The Campaign
will feature multi-year pledges to our annual fund; capital improvements on our main
campus; growth in our Scholarship Endowment; and formation of a new Education
Endowment.
VIII. Internalize And Share Consistent Messaging: To support program expansion and
the launch of the Comprehensive Campaign, our staff and board have invested
significant time and resources into telling a cohesive, compelling story about
IslandWood and our work. Our mission over the coming year is to become proficient at
telling our larger story. We will be successful if we can: communicate our mission with
greater urgency and clarity; demonstrate how our work meets the needs of changing
world; and use new storytelling tools to speak persuasively about IslandWood’s impact
on children, communities, and the planet.
IX. Continually Align Resources: As we seek greater support through our
Comprehensive Campaign, it is our duty to steward these dollars efficiently. While our
budget is expanding, we will likely shift some resources that are no longer in our focus
areas to maximize our mission impact. We also seek to begin building a cash reserve of
at least $2 million to help weather storms, have capital to invest in new initiatives, and
eliminate our reliance on a line of credit to manage cash flow throughout the year.
Still to add to this document are:
 A “Painted Picture” of future state of IslandWood with milestones and timeline (How
we’ll know we’ve succeeded)?
 5-year Budget