Virginia Master Naturalist program stakeholders discuss ideas for new program priorities at one
of four strategic planning workshops held in 2013.
Virginia Master Naturalist volunteers, partners, and other program stakeholders can now read about the priorities for the program for 2015-2020 in the Virginia Master Naturalist Strategic Planning Report, which is available at http://www.virginiamasternaturalist.org/program-reports.html. This report is the culmination of dozens of focus group meetings, interviews, and surveys to gather input on our program needs and where we should focus our program development efforts. More than 700 individuals provided input into the plan. While the entire plan is 162 pages long, there is a shorter summary section that highlights the strategic initiatives in focus areas such as chapter support, member retention, and fundraising. We encourage anyone with an interest in the program at the statewide level to give it a read. Special thanks go to VMN volunteer Bruce Blanton (Riverine Chapter), who spent more than 200 hours summarizing the data and writing a majority of the report’s content.
A few of the many strategic priorities identified in the report include:
· Build a set of basic training materials at the state level that can be used flexibly by local chapters to improve and enhance their basic training courses.
· Offer annual leadership development workshop for new chapter board and committee members
· Offer mini-grants to chapters to fund local projects
· Implement a funding initiative to expand the services and activities of the state program office in support of the identified program improvements
We are working to accomplish the priorities achievable with our current program resources, and we are seeking additional funding to allow us to reach other goals. Some of the identified priorities have already been accomplished, including launching a statewide program newsletter, setting up an email subscription service so that volunteers can choose which emails to receive from the state office, and offering monthly continuing education webinars.
A few of the many strategic priorities identified in the report include:
· Build a set of basic training materials at the state level that can be used flexibly by local chapters to improve and enhance their basic training courses.
· Offer annual leadership development workshop for new chapter board and committee members
· Offer mini-grants to chapters to fund local projects
· Implement a funding initiative to expand the services and activities of the state program office in support of the identified program improvements
We are working to accomplish the priorities achievable with our current program resources, and we are seeking additional funding to allow us to reach other goals. Some of the identified priorities have already been accomplished, including launching a statewide program newsletter, setting up an email subscription service so that volunteers can choose which emails to receive from the state office, and offering monthly continuing education webinars.
