Our Strategic Plan
Updated Fall 2025
Focus Areas
Click the links below to jump to different parts of the plan:
Context Statement
As we move into the future, Write Around Portland’s leadership and staff recognize that destabilizing forces external to the organization will continue to present challenges to future planning. We also know that our work is also more important than ever. In the context of destabilization, the stories we tell about our community remain of vital importance. Stories help us understand our community, our world, and our moment. We have a choice about what stories we adopt, share, listen to, and honor. We firmly believe that Write Around Portland will continue to play a key role in bridging polarization, healing trauma, and strengthening communities for years to come.
Therefore, we wrote our strategic plan to prioritize adaptability while maintaining our values. We are moving away from traditional three-year strategic planning in favor of a plan that will be revisited annually and updated in response to learnings, feedback, and experimentation. This plan is a living document that will change. Our Board of Directors and staff will set the overall vision, and the Board will advise the staff on possible tactics and priorities. It is the staff’s role to continually find ways to move toward our ambitious goals while prioritizing our financial health, values, culture, and — most importantly — our writers.
Though there are many challenges that face small nonprofit organizations – especially those in the arts space – we are more confident than ever that our mission and programs are essential to supporting our community. We express our deepest gratitude for our writers, volunteers, donors, and agency partners as we continue to celebrate respect, writing, and community!
Focus Area #1:
Prioritize diversity, equity, inclusion, and access in our Agency Program
Our programs foster compassion, initiate healing, and strengthen communities. To truly build an equitable program, we need to deliver our programs to BIPOC, immigrant, and refugee communities who have been and continue to be deeply impacted by COVID-19, economic uncertainty, addiction, mental illness, healthcare inequality, mass incarceration, and other entrenched 21st century problems. We will continue to honor, uplift, and prioritize our most vulnerable as we plan our programming priorities in the future.
Currently, we are underserving some priority populations, including immigrants and refugees, and we struggle to partner with culturally specific and rural organizations. We question what barriers are arising that may be turning away these agencies, and we’ll continue examining our practices to prioritize the development of partnerships that are mutually-beneficial, equitable, and non-extractive.
Additionally, we recognize the deep need for creative expression inside prisons and locked facilities, and seek to prioritize this specific population as we plan for the future. However, bureaucracies can make deploying volunteers quite a headache due to long background check processes. We would like to increase staff FTE in order to address the unique needs of prisons and locked facilities, which could include paying facilitators to reduce barriers.
Strategy 1.1: Serve more immigrants, refugees, and BIPOC writers compared to census numbers
| Key Actions | Starting | Owner | Consulted |
| Understand attendance/attrition trends and modify the program based on learnings; filter stats to discover trends and patterns among these populations | In Progress | Executive Director | Program Manager Volunteer Coordinator |
| Update our marketing materials to attract agency partners that serve these populations | Q4 2025 | Executive Director | Program Manager Volunteer Coordinator Marketing Consultant |
| Develop and host an annual agency partner information session for organizations that serve these populations | Q1 2026 | Program Manager | Program & Events Coordinator |
| Develop a stipend program for BIPOC facilitators in the agency program | 2026 or later, as funding allows | Executive Director | Accounting Firm Program Manager Admin Specialist |
| Develop a stipend program for facilitators who can facilitate in target languages (e.g., Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese) | 2026 or later, as funding allows | Executive Director | Accounting Firm Program Manager Admin Specialist |
Strategy 1.2: Communicate what communities we can and can’t serve; offer resources for rural communities we can’t reach
| Key Actions | Starting | Owner | Consulted |
| Establish a service area | In Progress | Executive Director | All Staff |
| Determine what we can offer for communities outside of our service area | Q3 2026 | Executive Director |
Strategy 1.3: Serve more writers who are in prisons or locked facilities
| Key Actions | Starting | Owner | Consulted |
| Add 1.0 FTE Prison Program Coordinator to support facilitators, prison partners, and prison-specific programming. (We cannot grow headcount without larger office space; our lease is up in 2028) | 2028 or later, as funding allows | Chris | Program Manager Grant Writer |
Focus Area #2:
Serve writers who aren’t associated with an agency or whose agency chooses not to partner with us
Write Around’s programming is deeply valued by many participants. In fact, we consistently hear from participants that their experience was profound and lifechanging. However, if folks are not associated with an agency – or if their agency does not partner with us – writers have very few options for engagement. As we look to the future, we want to host more of our own programming to reduce barriers for participation. We’re starting this work by growing programs that already exist – Resonate, Prompt, and Freewrite. But as a result of some refinement in program outcomes, we hope to explore more ideas for bringing more programming to anyone in our community who’d like to write with us. In particular, we see that youth in our community have a great interest in creative writing, and see an opportunity to build a fee-for-service program that serves them while also raising revenue for the organization.
Strategy 2.1: Understand Resonate participants and their needs. Use learnings to identify growth opportunities
| Key Actions | Starting | Owner | Consulted |
| Establish program outcomes for Resonate | Q4 2025 | Program & Events Coordinator | Program Manager Executive Director |
| Update Resonate surveys to begin measuring progress to outcomes | Q1 2026 | Program & Events Coordinator | Executive Director |
| Explore avenues for additional feedback from Resonate participants (e.g., program council, facilitator advisory group, periodic focus groups) | Q3 2026 | Program & Events Coordinator | Executive Director |
| Establish stipends for Resonate facilitators to improve program outcomes and inspire more feedback loops | 2026 or later, when funding allows | Executive Director | Program & Events Coordinator Admin Specialist Accounting Firm |
Strategy 2.2: Revise and expand our Youth Program to create programming that meets the needs of youth
| Key Actions | Starting | Owner | Consulted |
| Utilize updated program outcomes to measure youth satisfaction and understand needs | Q4 2025 | Program Manager | Executive Director |
| Utilize attendance/attrition data to understand youth participation rates | Q4 2025 | Program Manager | Executive Director |
| Continue updating youth curriculum to meet the specific needs of youth | Q1 2026 | Program Manager | Volunteer Coordinator |
| Pilot youth writing circles to gauge interest and gain momentum | Q1 2027 | Executive Director | Program Manager Program & Events Coordinator |
| Add 1.0 FTE Youth Program Coordinator to establish youth camps and writing circles, coordinate youth agency programming, and supervise guided playtime program. (Cannot grow headcount without larger office space; lease is up in 2028.) | 2028 or later, when funding allows | Executive Director | Program Manager Grant Writer |
Strategy 2.3: Offer programming to adult “alumni” who would like to continue writing outside their agency
| Key Actions | Starting | Owner | Consulted |
| Explore the creation of a formal “Program Council” to advise staff. | Q1 2026 | Program Manager | Executive Director Volunteer Coordinator |
| Hire a Salesforce contractor to support integrations that improve communications with alumni | 2026 or later, when funding allows | Executive Director | Program Manager Admin Specialist |
| Depending on interest from participants, add 0.5 FTE Program Coordinator to coordinate single-session writing circles and alumni writing groups for this population. (Cannot grow headcount without larger office space; lease is up in 2028.) | 2028 or later, when funding allows | Executive Director | Program Manager |
Focus Area #3:
Provide meaningful and supportive staff and volunteer experiences.
Write Around Portland has worked hard for decades to provide an exceptional work experience even within the confines of a small team. We want to continue prioritizing staff happiness to continue to increase staff retention, understanding that staff retention leads to better outcomes for our program participants. With our volunteers, we want to continue to review the ways that we recognize and retain volunteers so that we may learn from our amazing volunteers and their experiences within our program.
Strategy 3.1: Continue providing a supportive and congenial staff environment
| Key Actions | Starting | Owner | Consulted |
| Contract with an HR service to support staff and streamline administration | 2026 or later, when funding allows | Executive Director | Admin Specialist |
| Provide TriMet passes for staff | 2026 or later, when funding allows | Executive Director | All staff |
| Cover health insurance premiums at 90% (currently at 85%) | 2026 or later, when funding allows | Executive Director | All staff |
| Cover health insurance premiums for dependents at 50% (currently at 0%) | 2026 or later, when funding allows | Executive Director | All staff |
| Move to a bigger office space when lease is up in 2028 (if team is growing.) | 2028 or later, when funding allows | Executive Director | All staff |
Strategy 3.2: Continue providing high quality volunteer experiences
| Key Actions | Starting | Owner | Consulted |
| Review/update avenues to collect feedback from facilitators and find ways to involve facilitators in curriculum design | Q3 2025 | Volunteer Coordinator | Program Manager |
| Update volunteer and facilitator program to incentivize behaviors and attitudes we would like to see | Q3 2025 | Volunteer Coordinator | Program Manager |
| Recognize long-tenured volunteers and volunteer anniversaries | Q1 2026 | Volunteer Coordinator | Program Manager |
| Adopt volunteer management software to lessen admin burden | 2026 or later, when funding allows | Volunteer Coordinator | Program Manager |
| Revive Volunteer Appreciation event | 2026 or later, when funding allows | Volunteer Coordinator | Program Manager |
Focus Area #4:
Build a literary community and achieve financial sustainability
As with any other nonprofit organization that relies on donations, Write Around Portland must continue to find ways to bring in more donors than it loses each year. And though we feel that Write Around’s programming and values have a wide appeal, the reality is that only a certain subset of people will understand the power and importance of creative writing. Thus, we seek to build out a “literary program” that will help us connect with more writers both locally and nationally. While writers are not generally considered to be a wealthy group of people, we feel that broadening our reach can only benefit us, and that small-dollar donations and monthly giving can support sustainable, year-over-year funding, representing an important funding stream in a diverse portfolio of fundraising activities.
Strategy 4.1: Continue to refine and add to existing fee-for-service offerings
| Key Actions | Starting | Owner | Consulted |
| Establish a Literary Council of published, well-known writers to support the creation of innovative and attractive ticketed programming; elevate profile of the organization and increase awareness | In Progress | Executive Director | Program & Events Coordinator Marketing Consultant |
| Update program outcomes for existing programs (Prompt and Freewrite) | Q1 2026 | Program & Events Coordinator | Executive Director Program Manager |
| Revise Program and Freewrite curriculum and programming as feedback is collected | Q1 2026 | Program & Events Coordinator | Executive Director Program Manager |
| Add youth programming | See previous |
Strategy 4.2: Increase donor retention
| Key Action | Starting | Owner | Consulted |
| Budget to hire a photographer for each program season to capture images for use in marketing/development | 2026 or later, when funding allows | Executive Director | Marketing Consultant Program Manager |
| Make Admin Specialist position full-time to take on development projects that improve retention | 2026 or later, when funding allows | Executive Director | Admin Specialist |
Strategy 4.3: Increase Donor Acquisition
| Key Actions | Starting | Owner | Consulted |
| Hire a Salesforce contractor to support integrations that improve communications with ticketholders | 2026 or later, as funding allows | Executive Director | Program & Events Coordinator Admin Specialist |
| Align brand, brand promise, and case for support | Q4 2025 | Executive Director | Marketing Consultant Grant Writer Program & Events Coordinator Volunteer Coordinator |
| Increase Marketing Consultant’s hours from 5 to 8 hours per week to invest more time in social media | 2026 or later, as funding allows | Executive Director |
Strategy 4.4: Increase major gift revenue
| Key Actions | Starting | Owner | Consulted |
| Create a new planned giving society to encourage estate giving | Q1 2026 | Executive Director | Marketing Consultant |
| Increase Marketing Consultant’s hours from 5 to 8 hours per week to move routine marketing work off of Exective Director’s plate | 2026 or later, as funding allows | Executive Director | |
| Hire a WordPress contractor to keep website updated and utilize plug-ins and software to maximize web usability and presence | 2026 or later, as funding allows | Executive Director | Marketing Consultant |
| Hire a Salesforce contractor to support software integrations that increase efficiency | 2026 or later, as funding allows | Executive Director | Admin Specialist |
Strategy 4.5: Increase monthly and annual giving revenue
| Key Actions | Starting | Owner | Consulted |
| Make Admin Specialist position full-time to support monthly giving society stewardship | 2026 or later, as funding allows | Executive Director | Admin Specialist |
| Increase Marketing Consultant’s hours from 5 to 8 hours per week to impart fresh ideas and sophistication to stewardship | 2026 or later, as funding allows | Executive Director | |
| Hire a Salesforce contractor to increase administrative efficiency, leaving more time for the Admin Specialist to take on stewardship projects | 2026 or later, as funding allows | Executive Director | Admin Specialist |
| Build out a spring fundraising event to attract donors who wouldn’t want to attend a gala | 2026 or later, as funding allows | Executive Director | Program & Events Coordinator |
Glossary
| ADA | Initialism for Americans with Disabilities Act |
| Agency Partner | Organizations we collaborate with to produce our core work. Agency Partners provide the participants and space for our agency workshops to function. They also pay a fee for our service. |
| Agency Program | Workshops that are provided for participants, free of charge, in collaboration with area nonprofits and other organizations |
| Anthology | A book that consists of writing by different authors |
| BFA | Initialism for Bachelor of Fine Arts |
| BIPOC | Acronym for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color |
| Board | Board of Directors |
| Case for Support | A foundational communications document for nonprofits that answers the question, “Why should I donate to your organization?” |
| Development | Another word for fundraising |
| Facilitator | Volunteers who lead our workshops after going through a competitive application process and a 27-hour training with staff |
| Freewrite | Writing without self-editing, set to a specific time limit |
| FTE | Initialism for Full Time Employee, often used to represent adding additional paid hours to an organization |
| MFA | Initialism for Master of Fine Arts |
| Participant | People who participate in our workshops |
| Planned Giving | A way to make a “future gift” to a nonprofit organization through donating a portion of an estate or through other giving vehicles |
| Racial Equity Framework | A tool developed at Write Around Portland to guide assessments of current policies and programs using a racial equity lens |
| Reading | An event where a writer or writers read their work to an audience |
| Resonate | A Write Around Portland program that consists of workshops specifically for BIPOC folks |
| Workshop | Programming at Write Around Portland that consists of freewriting, sharing, and feedback |