Farallon Institute is looking for help to plan and oversee strategic planning for the organization. We are looking for volunteers that have experience leading strategic planning efforts for non-profits and have a good understanding of non-profit management. The ideal candidate would also have experience working with organizations that are primarily funded by government and foundation grants.

I envision that the majority of time spent on the project will be spent laying out a 6-12 month roadmap to achieve the strategic plan. This would include working with the leadership of Farallon Institute to plan a timetable of meetings, develop content for those meetings, and ensure leadership has a good plan to follow. Once this is complete, I think that monthly check-ins on progress throughout the duration of the planning would be helpful. Facilitation and engagement in monthly strategic planning meetings are also possible, but a much more time-consuming engagement and dependent on volunteer time limitations and interests.

Farallon Institute is a 15-year-old non-profit focused on ensuring ocean habitats and ecosystems are sustainably managed. At our core, Farallon Institute is a collection of scientists that focus on all aspects of the ocean (climate, food-webs, top predators). We write grants to foundations and government organizations and do original research on climate, oceans, and fisheries to ensure ocean health for years to come.

Farallon Institute is a founder-led organization that has steadily grown our number of staff members, our number of projects and budgets, and our impact in the realm of ocean research and conservation. The biggest challenge that Farallon Institute will likely face in the next five years will be the retirement of our founder and scientific leader. Engaging with strategic planning at this moment in time will allow us to plan for that transition and ensure the greatest stability for the organization. Additionally, with the growth of Farallon Institute over the past years, there is a great need to ensure that we have appropriate systems in place to support an organization of our size. Growth is something that often “just happens,” and we want to ensure that we have the capacity to grow Farallon Institute in a strategic way over the next five years.

Farallon Institute staff are excited about the possibility of engaging in Strategic Planning over the course of 2023. Farallon Institute Executive Director has given a presentation to the entire staff outlining the need for Strategic Planning, which was enthusiastically received by all staff. Key staff members have engaged with the Taproot Foundation webinar on non-profit strategic planning (originally aired May 2022) so that we are all starting in a similar place and mindset. Time has been set aside monthly on the Farallon Institute calendar for strategic planning events.