architecture for humanity 5 year strategic plan // yr 15 to 20

Architecture for Humanity Strategic Plan - Year 15-20

5 Year Strategic PlanYear 15 to 20 - Moving from Organization to Institution

a r c h i t e c t u r e f o r h u m a n i t y

Wednesday, September 4, 13


Executive Summary Architecture is often perceived as a luxury. We believe the opposite—that where need is greatest and resources most scarce architecture is essential. Since our founding in 1999, Architecture for Humanity has led by example, building projects around the world that no one else was willing or able to take on and creating lasting change for more than 2 million people.

We are not alone in this work. In recent years many other professionals —both nonprofit and for-profit—have embraced the idea of design for social change. Yet even as more designers enter the field, the need for community design has never been greater.

For the first time in human history, more people live in cities than in rural areas. Today some 867 million people live in substandard living conditions in slums or informal settlements globally, and the world’s urban population is estimated to grow by 200,000 people each day between 2010 and 2015. Even in affluent cities, climate change, increasing vulnerability to disaster, population shifts, rising income inequality and sudden economic shocks, can turn prosperity into poverty seemingly overnight.

Understanding and managing our urban environments is one of the most complex humanitarian challenges the world faces today. This strategic plan is intended to describe how Architecture for Humanity will rise to help meet this challenge.

Architecture for Humanity helps our clients manage all phases of the design and construction process—from the initial idea through implementation. Our clients live in underserved and impoverished communities around the world. We understand that design alone is often not enough to meet their needs. In fact, experience has shown the single greatest barrier our clients face in developing their communities is access to capital. To better help overcome this obstacle while delivering

meaningful architecture, we plan to expand upon our existing services to provide development services that transcend traditional architecture, including enhanced access to construction capital. In doing so, we seek to empower clients, funders, and our network of design and construction professionals to become community builders in their own right.

As Architecture for Humanity continues its rapid growth, the organization must also mature. This plan also describes how we will increase our efficiency and deepen our expertise by: ensuring design excellence; increasing general support fundraising to allow for greater strategic flexibility; focusing on key practice areas and regions; and measuring our impact. All while striving to better communicate the work, mission and passion of Architecture for Humanity.

Through training, practice and a deep sense of optimism, architects see opportunities where others see only a void. This has been the driving principle behind Architecture for Humanity since our founding. It’s why our staff are so committed. Why our design fellows embrace building projects in some of the world’s most challenging environments. And,why thousands of professionals volunteer their time. It is what gets us all up in the morning. Now more than ever Architecture for Humanity is in the position to act on these opportunities to create enduring, sustainable, beautiful change.

We hope you will be a part of it.

Cheers

Cameron Sinclair and Kate Stohr Co-founders

Matt Charney Board President



BUILDING A MORESUSTAINABLE

FUTUREUSING THE POWER OF

DESIGNThrough a global network of building professionals, Architecture for Humanity brings planning, design and construction services to communities in need.

OUR MISSION



OUR PRINCIPLES

Great projects don’t just happen. They are the result of many people working together in good faith with a single purpose. These are the values that we use to guide our process.



OUR PRINCIPLES

Great design starts by choosing to work on meaningful projects. As we grow, we recognized a need to better define a process for determining when a project falls within our mission. To guide our design team, we have we have developed a mission test that helps them evaluate whether or not a project is feasible, Fulfills our mission and requires our support.



OUR PRINCIPLES

Great design depends on effective partnerships. Our projects engage many funders and partners. We are passionate about the power of design to change lives, and we will actively seek to work with clients who share our commitment to inspiring, resilient and sustainable design.



OUR PRINCIPLES

Great design meets and exceeds client expectations. The strategic planning process yielded a set of guiding design principles. Over the next five years we will strive to embrace these design principles in each and every aspect of our projects by developing peer-to-peer mentoring programs and reinforcing these principles throughout our project delivery process.



OUR PRINCIPLES

Great projects make a tangible difference in people’s lives. We believe that successful implementation is as important as innovative and beautiful design. From the initial idea through completion, we are committed to support our partners and clients. Our efforts will be focused on projects we can feasibly realize and that tap the expertise and strengths of designers in key practice areas so that each new client may better benefit from our experience.



OUR PRINCIPLES

Great designers learn from each other. We are committed to sharing our design knowledge and the measurement of our impact. By measuring our impact, we hope to better communicate the value of design.



Within five years Architecture for Humanity will plan, design, and build beautiful, sustainable spaces both shelter and inspire--and in doing so, we will collectively improve the lives of one million people.

OUR VISION



To achieve this plan we have identified five strategic priorities:

Ensure design excellence. Because good design builds community equity. 1

2

3

4

5

Grow general fundraising. In order to increase strategic flexibility and decrease risk.

Measure and communicate our impact. So that we may position the organization to better attract capital partners and talent.

Offer expanded community development services. So that we may better meet the needs of underserved communities and create more opportunities for great design.

Establish lasting community presence. So that we can deepen our impact while continuing to work locally.


We know we will have succeeded if:


Priority 1

Ensure design excellence. Because good design builds community equity.

To do so we will...

- Enable designers to focus on design by investing in operational and reporting systems to reduce time spent on administration. - Inspire and retain the best designers in the world as design fellows, chapter leaders and staff by developing training, retention and recognition programs. - Develop standards and principles for design, case studies of past projects, and enhance knowledge sharing platforms. - Establish a peer design review program that engages design fellows, chapters, staff, board members and advisors to encourage knowledge sharing and the emergence of a community of design experts and mentors. - Ensure chapter projects adhere to the mission and design standards by providing project management training and oversight. - Elevate our Design Fellowship program to be an acclaimed fellowship opportunity for mid-career design and construction professionals, one that creates a lasting network of alumni and supporters. - Honor great design by administering internal design award and recognition programs as well as participating in external design award and recognition programs.

We achieve greater than 90% client satisfaction and post-occupancy evaluation ratings each year for five years.

We recognize that achieving design excellence is about more than aesthetics. It’s about helping our community partners realize their long-term aspirations and building community equity. As a result, we see a continuing need to refine design standards, training programs and quality controls across the organization to ensure that design services meet and exceed community member expectations.



Priority 2

Establish lasting community presence. So that we can deepen our impact while continuing to work locally.

To do so we will...

- Adopt a studio model and program staff around three core practice areas. Align focus of advocacy and programming along lines of core practice areas.

- Establish resources for core practice areas like training programs, professional development opportunities, and tool kits; and train program staff and chapter members in one or more core practice areas.

- Establish regional offices at key strategic locations.

- Define and develop a tiered chapter structure with graduated levels of management, fundraising and project delivery structures. Extend systems to the chapters including fundraising, donor management, bank accounts, online donation tools, project monitoring and evaluation, and training programs.

- Increase fundraising and dues paying membership so that chapter members can support the growth of the chapter network and the organization as a whole.

- Identifying local opportunities and refer work that requires a long-term community presence to chapters in order to be competitive, responsive and financially sustainable.

- Ensure chapter projects adhere to the mission and design standards by providing project management training and oversight.

- Adopt fee-for-service model at the chapter level by defining a revenue sharing model and developing operational systems.

- Recruit experienced professionals to join and lead local chapters


We establish 10 local offices that support full-time staff and are fiscally independent. 70% of our staff and chapter members have recieved training in a core practice area.

Our work is best carried out at the local level— we benefit by maintaining local relationships and an awareness of local issues and opportunities. Working locally also allows us to better oversee design and construction, to monitor our impact over time, and reduces overhead in travel and salary costs. Therefore we intend to shift our resources towards localized rather than centralized growth.

Concurrently to better enable us to deepen our impact, we believe that we should identify and provide training in no more than three core practice areas. This will enable us to develop expertise, identify consistent funding sources, and innovate around these practice areas.



Priority 3

Grow general fundraising. In order to increase strategic flexibility and decrease risk.

To do so we will...

- Develop a fundraising strategy that inspires participation in fundraising campaigns from everyone who is a part of the organization— board members, staff, chapter members, design fellows and volunteers.

- Create a ‘Strategic Growth Fund’ to secure capital contributions needed to allow the organization to invest in critical operational systems and staff.

-Cultivate sustained giving to our annual campaigns from major donors in a broad range of industries in parallel with small donations from individuals in the design and construction industry.

- Invest in experienced fundraising staff and improvements to fundraising systems, such as our donor management database.

- Expand fundraising capacity by recruiting high-net worth individuals to join our board of directors.

- Increase chapter fundraising and dues paying membership so that chapter members can support the growth of the chapter network and the organization as a whole.

- Develop passive income streams from programming such as requesting nominal donations for downloads of design documents from our website, and syndication of our Design Open Mic series.

- Design programs to better fulfill our mission where we see the greatest need by identifying funding sources, writing grants and managing funding relationships.


General support fundraising reaches 30% of total revenues allowing 100% of our program partner funds to go directly to support projects.

Our revenues have grown from $2 million in 2009 to $12 million today. This rapid growth is a product of our successful fee-for-service model by which funding partners pay for the costs of a specific project or program on behalf of our clients in communities in need. However sole reliance upon this model puts pressure on the organization to turn away clients whose projects are underfunded or for which there is no immediately identified funding source. Even with a funding partner identified, many projects require additional funding support in order to deliver design and construction services that ensure quality design and safe construction.

Additionally, the organization’s general fundraising has not kept pace with its growth and now represents only 7% of total income. By increasing fundraising for general support we can ensure the successful completion of all of our projects, and provide the organization with the flexibility and pre-development resources to invest in programs that solve systemic issues facing the built environment. In turn, this will allow us to improve lives where the need is greatest and impact most profound.



Priority 4

Improve Communications. so that we can better display the impact of our work.

To do so we will...

- Translate the passion and founding principles that guide the mission of Architecture for Humanity to the staff, design fellows, chapter members and volunteers inspiring them to contribute as well as advocate on behalf of the organization’s mission.

- Integrate monitoring and evaluation systems throughout our design process to enable us to better understand, track and measure the value of design as a vehicle for dignity, social equity and the development of thriving communities.

- Upgrade our project management platform to embrace internationally recognized evaluation standards (such as the Human Development Index and IATI standards) to more easily communicate the return on investment in design to funders, partners, clients and global agencies.

- Redesign our website and marketing materials to better reflect our brand, values, core practice areas and impact globally, highlighting the “Architecture for Humanity” brand only.

- Integrate the chapters more fully into the organization in order to strengthen brand recognition and better communicate that we are one organization by highlighting successful chapter projects on our website, in local media and beyond

- Position Design Like You Give a Damn Live as a premier practitioners forum and training ground for community design professionals and as an opportunity to introduce strategic partners to our work.

- Maintain commitment to sharing design documents while tracking usage and replication to better understand the reach of our ‘open source’ approach to design.

- Provide language translation tools to our websites, increasing access to global support.


Total revenues increase from $10 million annually to $20 million annually within 5 years

Communicating the impact of our work is critical to sustaining the organization and empowering our partners and clients. Our supporters and partners need to be aware of the range of services we offer, the robustness of our global network, and the impact of our successful projects and programs. Communicating our value is also critical to attracting and retaining talented professionals. Designers create competing organizations, unaware that they can join a chapter or partner with Architecture for Humanity to provide fiscal sponsorship. If we are to succeed we must better communicate our expertise and aggressively position Architecture for Humanity as the leader in community design.



Priority 5

Offer expanded community development services So that we may better meet the needs of underserved communities and create more opportunities for great design solutions.

To do so we will...

- Provide planning, mapping, and development services at the neighborhood-level in conjunction with city agencies consistent with our focus on community-led design. - Recruit staff with expertise in finance, case management and economic development. - Create training programs and tools to assist design and construction professionals in learning about key concepts in economic development, construction financing, case management and real estate. - Develop new service offerings that assist our clients in gaining access to capital and other means of securing construction financing. - Help communities establish design-focused Community Development Corporations (CDCs) that will enable community members to access construction capital in conjunction with design and construction services (“CDC in-a-box” concept). - Develop monitoring and evaluation tools to measure the long-term economic impacts of capital investments in small-scale buildings and infrastructure.


We are able to improve the lives of at least 10,000 people annually who live in under-served communities by providing enhanced access to construction capital.

The single greatest obstacle our community partners and clients continue to face is access to construction capital. Additionally, control over all phases of the design and construction process—from initial idea through implementation—is essential to delivering great projects. We therefore plan to offer community development tools and training that go beyond the traditional boundaries of architecture to empower our network of architects to become community builders in their own right. Rather than competing with local firms or other organizations that provide pro bono design, we plan to focus on generating opportunities for our network of design and construction professionals by providing community development services and enhanced access to construction financing.



Strategic Plan

Competitive Landscape

SWAT Analysis

Strengths Results-oriented, proven track record Engaged chapter network Successful fee-for-service model Inspirational messaging, publications, events; positive media attention Innovative, open source project platform

Weaknesses Challenged to raise general support funds to support operational growth Lack of consistent funding streams, funding sources change year-to-year Autonomous chapters are under-supported, under-leveraged Lack of focus could spread resources too thin Unknown to general public Potential partners/participants unsure how to get involved

Threats Economic downturn negatively affecting fundraising for general support Increased competition from other design nonprofits for mindshare, funding, and designer participation Brand confusion

Opportunities Potential to lead humanitarian design on global scale Increasing demand for sustainable, resilient design Increased use of public-private partnership (PPP) development approach Opportunity to enhance access to construction financing

Competition

Internal • Design fellows, chapter members and volunteers recruited directly • Design fellows, chapter members and volunteers who leave the organization to start their own

External • Local and international design firms (large firms, mid-size firms and sole proprietors) • Other architecture and design/build nonprofits

Potential partners • Nonprofits with complimentary missions • Large non-governmental organizations • Industry and trade associations• Community development corporations

Our Advantage:

Architecture for Humanity is uniquely positioned to provide design services where community engagement is an essential component for success and to support multi-site programs with larger partners that require substantial operational experience to work at scale.



Strategic Plan

Competitive Landscape

Conclusions

1) Because Architecture for Humanity’s strength is its global network of specialized and local expertise, the organization should remain focused on providing professional design and construction management services as a partner, or sub-grantee, to other non-governmental organizations, government agencies and community development organizations, such that our expertise is more complimentary than competitive.

2) To avoid competition with local firms or others interested in providing pro bono design, we will focus on generating opportunities for architects through construction financing and community development.

3) The organization is refining the “mission test” to ensure that we continue to serve those who could not otherwise access design services and guide our team in deciding which projects to undertake.

4] Architecture for Humanity should find ways to partner, collaborate and seek deeper working relationships with like minded organizations. We serve people in need and find way to eliminate replicated services.



Strategic Plan

Resources We Will Need

Architecture for Humanity is a growing organization. It has been transitioning from a founder led organization to one of run with a strong executive leadership and as it takes on new responsibilities and proactively works toward the strategic priorities defined here, it’s spending will increase.

During the strategic planning process, the staff of Architecture for Humanity developed detailed assumptions about staffing, operating and capital expenditures, and other costs the organization will incur as it implements this plan over the next five years.

Based on these projections, we estimate that the organization’s budget might grow to approximately $22 million by 2019 and that we will impact the lives of approximately 1,000,000 million additional people with a team of about 240 professionals.

It should be noted significant progress on the plan outlined above will only be possible upon achieving increased funding for general support and the organization will revisit and adapt this plan many times over the course of the next five years.

Staff and Fellows Revenues Adminstra5on and Fundraising

YR 2012-‐13 75 $12.1M 9%YR 2013-‐14 100 $15M 12%YR 2014-‐15 120 $16M 12%YR 2015-‐16 140 $18M 15%YR 2017-‐18 180 $20M 15%YR 2018-‐19 240 $22M 15%-‐18%



Strategic Plan

Thank You

As these conversations, both formal and informal, took place we were able to distill a clear direction for the organization. It became obvious what mattered most both to all of us and to the communities we serve. We would like to thank all of the people, and in particular our staff, Community Builders and our board of directors, for their insights and thoughtfulness in crafting our plan.

Natassia Academia Tomika Anderson Sarah Bush Brady Marvin Cabrera Eric Cesal Suman Deep Bridget Dodd Kevin Gannon Darren Gill Elizabeth Han Karl Johnson Kris Jong Delphine Luboz Gretchen Mokry Alix Ogilvie Jason Olson Jennifer Mattson Cameron Sinclair Michael Steiner

Kate Stohr Hiromi Tabei Ana Vasconcellos Gaurav Vashist T. Luke Young Frederika Zipp Twyla Parks Dan Shine Christina Weber Sandhya Naidu Jonathan Thomas Molly Stack Martine Theodore Nathaniel Corum Diego Collazos Mark Warren Audrey Galo Zac Taylor Kate Evarts

Steve Meier Diana Bianchini Thao Nguyen Matt Charney Clifford Curry Paul Gabie Clark Manus Scott Mattoon Toshiko Mori Narry Singh Margaret Gould Stewart Niama Jacobs Bobby Chang Jon Kamen Michelle Kauffman Damien Newman Stacy Frost Delight Stone Maria Giudice

James Stuckey Yutaka Taklura Ko Kumabara Ricardo Andres Daza Hoyos Katherine McNeil Britton Rogers Patrick McKenna Alasdair Dixon Matthew Baker Malin Ulmer Garrett Jacobs Steve Dombrowski Jennifer Dunn Katherine Darnstadt William Frontand many, many more.


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