July 30, 2012
In 2012, The McKnight Foundation’s board of directors and staff developed a strategic framework to guide our work during the upcoming three years. Rather than a traditional “strategic plan” that might detail specific activities to be pursued over a specified time frame, this framework offers a sense of how we will approach our work — grounded in proactive responsiveness and adaptive leadership, balancing our long-term commitments with flexibility to take advantage of unexpected opportunities.
The Strategic Framework articulates our board and staff’s shared understanding about the values, mission, and approach that will guide the Foundation over the next three years. It is meant to provide coherence across the organization while honoring the diversity of program goals and structures. We consider this a dynamic guide, and intend to update it as needed to ensure relevance to current contexts.
Our colleagues, partners, and community members play an important role in our Strategic Framework. Beyond the goals of transparency and accountability, we are sharing this Framework because we believe building understanding helps us all to work more effectively together. It is through daily collaboration with hundreds of key partners in Minnesota and around the world that The McKnight Foundation pursues its mission and achieves its core objectives.
Our goal is to help people to more fully understand McKnight’s philanthropic approach and perspective. Please let us know what you think.
