Turning the AAVSO Mission and Vision Into a Strategic Plan

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Turning the AAVSO Mission and Vision Into a
Strategic Plan

• Mike Simonsen
• April 2008

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Why Bother?

• Fundraising
• More than anyone in the organization, I need to
  be able to explain clearly and concisely what we
  do now and why it is important to individuals,
  foundations, and corporations to garner support
• We need to establish priorities to decide which
  new programs/activities to fund
• Some foundations actually require a written
  strategic plan in proposal documentation

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Financial Decisions

• How can council decide how to allocate funds,
  bequests, etc., responsibly and realistically, if
  we dont have a set of clear priorities and a
  plan?
• How will we decide what to keep, add or cut if we
  dont know where we are going and how we will get
  there?
• How do we know how well we are doing if we dont
  know what we are supposed to be doing?

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Because its our job

• after thinking about it, Id rather leave much
  of the generic long-term goals for the Council to
  decide without influence from me, and instead
  give you short-term goals that I am currently
  working towards. These are specifics, not
  general comments, and so will be different than
  what you are considering. They will be modified
  according to Councils wishes.
• Arne Henden
• Short-term AAVSO Vision and Goals, March
  13, 2006
• We never did establish short-term, intermediate
  or long-range goals to guide our decision making
  process and provide guidance to the Director
  after our Futures Session.

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So where do we start?

• Examine the mission and vision statements and see
  if we are living up to either of them, or if are
  they just words on our website.
• Decide what the priorities of the organization
  are for the future.
• Set long range goals.
• Weigh what we are doing against what we should be
  doing.
• Plan for now, next year and five years from now.

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The AAVSO Vision Statement

• The AAVSO seeks to be the world-recognized
  leader in information and data on variable
  stars.
• Three important parts
• World-recognized leader
• Variable star Information
• Variable star Data

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Variable Star Information(world recognized
leader)

• VSX- International Variable Star Index
• Does this mean VSX is a core project in our
  mission or should be?
• Are we out to replace the GCVS as the prime
  source (world recognized leader) for accurate
  information on variable stars?
• Then, should VSX be better supported, staffed,
  funded, executed, prioritized, publicized and
  promoted?
• If not, why do it?

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JAAVSO

• Does this mean JAAVSO should be THE place to
  publish and find information on variable stars?
• Then why dont our Director, President, staff
  PhD, and professional astronomer council members
  publish anything in it?
• How do we change the perception of the Journal so
  it IS the leading variable star publication?
• If we dont, why spend all the money we spend on
  staff time, editing, publishing and mailing?

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AAVSO Newsletter

• AAVSO Newsletter
• Advertised as membership benefit
• Published infrequently
• Black and white
• No variable star information or science news
• Mailed to membership -very expensive
• Costs staff time to publish

• Astronomy Club Newsletters
• Member benefit
• Published monthly
• Color, graphics
• Science news, observing notes, sky charts and
  more
• 99 pdf available online-FREE!
• Free writing content
• Published and written by volunteers- FREE!

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Observing Manuals

• CCD Manual
• Updated several times, most recently 2004
• Needs to be upgraded to more instructive,
  thorough manual
• Online version only
• Needs chart references and explanations updated
  with VSP information
• Needs submission info updated

• Visual Manual
• Updated in 2001
• Many translations now available
• Needs chart references and explanations updated
  with VSP information
• Needs submission info updated

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The LPV Bulletin

• Still published in outdated format
• NEVER published on time
• Expensive, time-sink to produce
• Dubious methodology and results
• We dont even know if the predictions are
  correct. In fact
• We claim not be able to predict the behavior of
  almost half the stars (NMO list)
• The real science by-product of this work,
  Monographs, sits unpublished for 30 years

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• Should we re-consider our publishing practices,
  priorities and investment altogether?
• Rather than publishing CCD Views, Eyepiece
  Views, the twice-yearly newsletter, many
  campaigns, etc., we might consider publishing a
  6-annual-issue magazine much like JRASC, Mercury,
  JBAA, etc. This would be a definite membership
  benefit (dont put it on the web), but comes at
  significant cost. You could sell advertising for
  it, though. It would be the only variable-star
  magazine in the world, and would advertise the
  AAVSO just in itself. I have tasked Mike to find
  out the cost of such a publication and may try a
  pilot issue to see the demand, sometime in the
  next year or two.
• Arne Henden, March 2006
• What else do we need to do to be the
  world-recognized leader in information?

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Variable Star Data(world recognized leader)

• Does this mean we should have all the data?
• If not, then which data are the most important,
  valuable, etc?
• Historical data, survey data, other data like
  spectroscopic data, FITS files?
• How do we work with the surveys coming online?
• How do we fit into the NVO picture?
• Is the comparison star DB valuable? Can it be
  turned into a source of funding?

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Mission Statement

• The AAVSO is an international non-profit
  organization of variable star observers whose
  mission is to observe and analyze variable
  stars to collect and archive observations for
  worldwide access to forge strong collaborations
  and mentoring between amateurs and professionals
  that promote both scientific research and
  education on variable sources and to promote
  international collaboration.

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to observe and analyze variable stars

• Should we provide guidance and direction as to
  which stars to observe?
• Should we provide more (different, better)
  training for our observers?
• Who is analyzing variable stars?
• Where do they publish their results?
• Should we be doing more analysis, research and
  publishing? Wouldnt this help improve the
  perception of AAVSO and the Journal if we did?
• Should we do workshops to teach our members and
  others how to analyze variable star data?

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to collect and archive observations for
worldwide access

• Who is accessing the data and for what?
• Where do they publish their results?
• Do we have the data people want?
• What other data should we have?
• How will we get it?
• How does the world know we have data?

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to forge strong collaborations and mentoring
between amateurs and professionals that promote
both scientific research and education on
variable sources

• How are we forging these relationships?
• Who is doing the work?
• How do these collaborations promote research?
• How will professionals help amateurs promote
  education?
• Do we have any programs in place that do any of
  this?
• Do we need to create new programs to do this?

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to promote international collaboration

• Are we really invested in international
  collaboration?
• Didnt we just have an international meeting?
• How many of our council participated/attended?
• In what ways do we (will we) collaborate with
  other international groups or individuals?
• What can we offer?
• What will we get out of it?
• Why is this important?

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Education and Outreach

• Where does education fit into the AAVSO mission?
• Are we going to commit thought, time, energy,
  staff or money to education now or in the future?
• We need a clear mission and a plan. I dont see
  any professionals collaborating with amateurs to
  promote anything.
• Do we buy into the idea that outreach is a good
  way to connect with the future generation of
  observers, members and supporters?
• What are we doing, and how are we supporting
  outreach?

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What next?

• Decide on our real vision and goals for the
  future
• Prioritize the things we do that will help us get
  there. Do them more and better.
• Change, fix or eliminate the things that do not
  help us get there.
• Set short term goals.
• Set intermediate goals.
• Make a plan for achieving those goals.
• Continuously evaluate the plan and our
  performance, and make course corrections as
  needed.

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• Was that in the plan?
• end