Our 40th fundraising celebration is right around the corner and as we gear up to celebrate and raise funds for the Learning Institute next month, I wanted to share that we have extended a discounted rate to our internal community. Use FAMILY in the code to receive the rate. Let us know if you didn’t get Elika’s email. 

Also, I want to share that if the discounted rate is an obstacle, here are a couple of options:

• Use a future B&E (active consultants) to cover the cost so it’s not an up front cost to you
• We may have donated tickets from individuals and sponsors who will not be able to attend so contact me and I will add your name to the waitlist for available tickets
• We need 3-4 volunteers for the event. If you are willing, we will cover your ticket. 

Contact Nikki Glass at nglass@visions-inc.org if you are interested in any of the above options.

VIDEO MESSAGES: Please don’t forget to record a VISIONS’ memory using Momento. It’s super easy. If you need assistance, contact the office. Just click on the red "Join the Video" button at the bottom and either record your video or upload a video you can make on your phone. Again, let us know if you need assistance. These videos will be used for the event and our socials to promote the wonderful work VISIONS does. 

LODGING: Also as a reminder, rooms were reserved at a discounted rate for the Boston event. Please use the link to reserve your space before September 5, 2024. Rooms are going fast. Some in our community are pooling together to rent Air B&Bs. If there are a few of you, this may be an option. Other hotel discount sites like Meet Boston, Trip Advisor and Booking.com are helpful. If we hear of any in the Boston area who have extra space in their home and you are open to staying with them, let us know. We will connect you as we hear of availability.

Greetings VISIONS family!

I am excited to communicate to you for the first time in this role as Senior Director of Consulting at VISIONS. I want to thank my (and many others') mentor, Val, for our ongoing work together through the years and for the way that she has modeled leadership at VISIONS. As she steps away from a full time position with VISIONS, I still look forward to the ongoing connection she will maintain with certain aspects of VISIONS life.

There is clearly so much happening both in the world and at VISIONS. I am excited to enter this role, contribute to the planning and implementation of the 40th anniversary celebration, be a part of the ongoing creation and installation of the Leadership training portion of the Learning (and Training) Institute, contributing to the continuance of our own model of internally enhancing our practice with learning events (see Jeanne's note), supporting Programs, as well as many other tasks that will come my way. I plan to be an integral part of preserving and enhancing the culture of VISIONS while being open to the 'newness' we all can and will bring (and already are bringing) to the work and to VISIONS. 

In solidarity,

Rick

Consultants are always welcome to Guidelines (including with clients!) 

Just a quick note to say that you’re always welcome to attend Guidelines! Here is a short video overview about who/what/where/when/why, or you can read on below.

Guidelines Workshop Overview - Watch Video

It happens every month on the last Wednesday of the month from 4-5:15pm ET. Here is the info and registration link: https://visions-inc.org/guidelines-workshop/

It is a GREAT place to send prospective clients to try us on. I and other consultants have done this with several clients during the intake process.

It is always lovely to have other VISIONS folks in the room. After we present we open up to questions, and this is a great way to showcase our approach and how we think through problems.

I also mention that this is available to people at the end of trainings, and let them know that it is “pay what you can, free if you want, & all are welcome.”

It’s been a great sales tool. Just let me (Leena) know if you want to come and I’ll ensure you’re added to the calendar invitation!

Thank you to everyone who filled out the Pulse Survey earlier this year. Here are the responses. We did have fewer responses than last year- we’d love for next year to be a record breaking number! 

We also have some responses to our Pulse Survey from last year. On this document there is a one question survey asking about how much work our consultants are expecting from VISIONS. We’d really appreciate it if you could answer this survey as it will give us clearer ideas on the preferences of our community around work load. Here is a link to the survey as well.

We’ve had feedback that people enjoyed seeing the data regarding the trends of our inquiries, proposals and work so we are going to try to include those every once in a while. As a reminder, summers tend to be a little slower on new work so we will see what the graphs show in the next few months. Below are some graphs:

Number of New Inquiries (January 1, 2023 through present)

Number of New Contracts (January 1, 2023 through present)

Inquiries in the Last 120 days and Their Current Status

Hello VISIONS Community!

At July’s CAC (Consultant Advisory Council) meeting, we decided to extend and invitation to join a themed working group to hold the process of ongoing consultant and staff training. This idea is modeled off past subcommittees and the recent Islamophobia and Antisemitism Working Group that formed over the last several years and has been offering trainings on those forms of oppression.

Several themes for training have emerged from many different venues (the retreat, community meetings, surveys, brought to CAC, etc) over the past several years.

Training Themes:

• Gender/trans spectrum (most recently led by Jessie J and Rick P)
• Indigenous issues and land acknowledgement
• Disability
• Islamophobia & Antisemitism (this group is already active and is not seeking new members; although, there has been interest in starting a new working group specifically about Gaza, so please let us know if you’d like to explore this)

Based on your interest, the CAC would like to develop a calendar of themes for the next year or so, in which each theme has anywhere from 3-6 months dedicated to the topic. Each themed phase will have opportunities for presentation/trainings from internal or external facilitators, as well as opportunities to practice and utilize the VISIONS model – ie doing personal work on the topic; planning how to integrate the information you’re learning in your own consulting contexts or work. The monthly Community Meetings on the first Friday are a prime time to gather for these trainings. Sometimes outside trainers are invited in. 

If you are interested in joining one of these working groups, please email Jeanne, CAC Chair at jfirth@visions-inc.org

In Peace,

Jeanne

In case you missed it: View past recent trainings on Islamophobia with Mx Yaffa (recording) and Dr Nevien Shaabneh (written executive summary) on the member portal here.

Strategic Plan

As many of you may already know, VISIONS has recently begun developing our next strategic plan. It has been great to have so much engagement at our community meetings around this plan and impact visioning. In case you missed earlier communication about the process, I will include it again below. 

We’ve engaged Jay Vogt, an incredibly talented external consultant, to support us in the process—he’s familiar with VISIONS as an organization and attended our October PACE last fall. Our current strategic plan was approved in spring 2020 after much collaboration between various stakeholders, and I’m excited for the opportunity to have those of you who are interested engage in this new planning process. We’ve been reviewing various surveys and 1:1 conversations held over the past few years, and I am hopeful this next strategic plan will reflect what many of you have voiced and shared.

Every strategic plan follows a roughly similar arc, AND every strategic plan is entirely unique to the organization.  Here is the arc of VISIONS’ strategic plan:

1. The board affirmed the process and VISIONS' guiding ideas at its spring retreat on April 19. If you are interested in contributing into this process, please let me know.
2. Assessment and discovery have been ongoing for a couple years via various community surveys.
3. Critical strategic issues have emerged from our assessment and discovery, as well as in conversations with the staff and consultants.  The larger internal community has been discussing these topics at community calls (April and May) and will hold two more in June and September. Recordings and notes have been shared for anyone who missed them and would like to participate. I invite you to come and share your insights on the next two calls as well. More details about topics for each month are listed below.
4. The community will come together on the morning of September 27th to set further goals based on the various feedback as part of our anniversary celebration.
5. Teams will be formed around each goal to define objectives, initiatives, and success metrics. (So think about whether any of these strategic issues resonate with you and whether you are interested in getting involved on the committee!).
6. Strategic planning will feed operational planning and budgeting in 2025 (FY26).
7. The board will approve the new strategic plan in April of 2025 for FY26.

As I mentioned above, we’ll be hosting discussion sessions around the various strategic issues that were identified based on your feedback on the several surveys shared with the community over the last few years. These discussions have been occurring and will continue to occur at the next several community meetings (with a small break over the summer). 

Your insights are essential and will direct the content of our next strategic plan! The schedule of community call discussions and themes to be discussed are below. Each call will take place from 4:00-5:30 pm EST (the exception being June, which will include our Town Hall, so it will be scheduled for two hours). Please contact Clarissa if you do not see the invitation on your calendar. 

Strategic Plan Discussion Schedule

• April 5
  • MODEL (11 mentions)
  • How can we best modernize our model (i.e. honor the model, while updating language, etc.)
• May 3
  • COMMUNITY (08 mentions)
    • How can we further strengthen our community to overcome physical distance and foster greater connection?

• CONSULTANTS (07 mentions)
  • How can we further strengthen our consultant pool?

• June 7 - Admin Town Hall (Salesforce, Operations, Personnel, etc., and including pay model strategic issue)
  • PAY (05 mentions)
    • How can we best improve our pay model?

• September 13
  • GROWTH (08 mentions)
    • How can we best grow our consultancy business (in a sustainable way)?
  • PUSHBACK (06 mentions)
    • How can we best respond to the current political climate and the pushback on DEI?

Thank you for all of your input that has brought us to this point in the planning process, and thank you in advance for your continued support and participation that will further lay the foundation for our next 40 years of impact!