Once the impetus for change was clear, we wanted to be as inclusive as possible, to consider what our public agency was all about and where we were planning to take it, before we started to plan how to get there. Our new plan focuses on who we serve and how we can best serve that client base with the human and financial resources we can reasonably expect to have in the next year. Where can we expand? Who will be our new clients? Where will we find them? Answering those questions will help us get to where we want to be.

Five years ago, if someone had asked what business we were in, we would have said grants making. Today, we would say we are in the business of investing tax dollars in programs and projects that build Ohio educationally, economically and culturally. We want strategic partnerships with our clients to help them access our products and services more efficiently and realize a higher return on each dollar invested by taxpayers.

We need to make our clients aware that implementing a strategic plan is not a short-term process. When you embark on such a course you must be consistent and willing to stick with the process—and to realize that one year later you may have to make fundamental changes. Strategic planning is the way an organization becomes what it wants to be. Process thinking is new among public service agencies, and we are talking about processes that will help us serve the public in more responsive and responsible ways.

Discover more about our new strategic plan in coming issues of ArtsOhio. We will explain how it will affect grants making and various OAC programs.