Presented to GVIAS Meeting on Friday January 23rd, 2010, by Jenn.

Date: November 22, 2009
Location: Tides Renewal Building
In Attendance: Baha, Chris, Frank, Jen, Michael & Ruby
Notes prepared by: Jen

Background:

• Most of the Board’s energy this year has been invested in setting up the administration of what is still a very young organization: accounting practices, budget, insurance, risk management, communications and procedures.

• However it is also clear that GVIAS needs to have a clear strategic plan if we are to achieve any of the lofty goals that we envision for ourselves.  So – we held our first strategic retreat this year so that we could talk about some of the larger issues facing the organization and start down the road of establishing strategic objectives.

• We met for 8 hours on one day which proved to be incredibly productive (even tho’ Disaster Area decided to a Global Warming Party the night before our retreat.).  We all agreed that future Boards should aim to take a 2-day retreat to allow for some downtime, reflection and informal discussion throughout the retreat.

SWOT Analysis Summary

• The objective of a SWOT analysis was to brainstorm the perceived strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of our organization in light of our current goals.
• Strengths and weaknesses are factors internal to the organization while opportunities and threats are factors that are external to the organization.
• Each Board Member came up with 3-5 strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and posted them on the corresponding board.  We then took a look at what the group came up with and discussed the larger themes that arose from the session.
• This analysis then helped to inform our goal setting discussion that followed and identify where resources are most needed.

Take a moment now to ponder what you consider the key strength, weakness, opportunity and threat to GVIAS.

GVIAS SWOT Primary Themes

• Several themes emerged from this process which we would like to share with you.
• As I run through the themes that emerged, consider how you might be able to assist us in capitalizing on our strengths

[read more here]

STRENGTHS

• People (skills, creativity, networking, resourceful, community-minded)
• History/Momentum of Past Events (BITF/Recomp)
• Relationship with Community (We all care greatly about our community and recognize that this is a community effort.)
• BM Culture (common shared experience that we wanted to bring back home; 10 principles)
• Organizational Structure (registration as non-profit society, infrastructure to address legal and financial issues and minimize personal risk)

WEAKNESSES
• Communication (long way to go to increase the flow of communication to and from our membership)
• Website (key tool which needs to be inviting, accessible and user-friendly for everyone)
• Engaging Volunteers (irony that the creation of a society leads to the perception that “someone else will do it”; how do we engage our membership so that the usual suspects don’t burn out)
• Target Membership Outreach (who is our target membership? how do we reach Vancouver burners)

OPPORTUNITIES
• Building Bridges (other local communities)
• Interactive Arts (this is why we’re here!)
• Positive Social Change (impacting our larger community)
• Outreach (untapped community resources)
• Granting Supporting Membership (art grants)
• Other Regionals as Resource (BM LLC, INW)

THREATS
• Fragmentation & Perceptions of Exclusion (overcoming misperceptions and fragmentation)
• Economy (cuts to funding and loss of employment)
• Loss of Venues (YMCA, Squamish Valley)
• Liability / Legal Issues
• Relationships with 3rd Parties (insurers, facilities)
• Erosion of Values (does building brides with other orgs pose a threat to our values - decommodication)
• Other Community Organizations (tainted by assoc.)

Refer to Docs for more detailed report:
http://gvias.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=79&Itemid=53