A new proposal that calls for establishing long-range strategic planning with a shared vision of the BCA is gaining momentum and moving forward.
BCA Vice President John Arima, who unveiled the Vision and Strategic Planning Committee at the Dec. 3 National Board meeting, reported what’s new with an update at the Feb. 25 National Council meeting, hosted virtually by the Coast District. Arima is overseeing the new committee. (See “New Vision, Strategic Plan Panel Is Unveiled,” January 2023, Wheel of Dharma)
The next steps, he said, will be forming the committee’s membership and defining the committee’s charter. Arima said he’s already been contacted by several Sangha members who are interested in serving on the committee.
The initial draft of the charter will be completed by mid-March, he said, after which it will be sent to district councils, affiliate organizations, the ministers association, and “every organization that is part of or even tangentially part of BCA.”
Based on the timeline, the target is to have a mid-April completion of the charter and the roster of the new committee finished by early May, Arima said.
He said he also wants to do a “visioning exercise,” which he defined as “a process to get all BCA stakeholders’ shared values.” To that end, he’s contacted some nonprofit evaluation service providers and independent contractors engaged in this line of work.
“I’m defining a scope of work of holding virtual workshops so that we can get everybody in BCA from Eastern District, Mountain States (District) … everyone we need to get the input from,” he said. “That way, we can utilize these values through this visioning exercise and then take that data, analyze it, and come up with a proposed vision statement for the BCA.
“Once we do that, then we really have the foundation to go forward with planning, for the long term,” he said.
Arima said the goal is to have the proposal for the visioning exercise put forth by the June National Board meeting.
The two main purposes of the committee are: updating and maintaining the shared vision of BCA; and developing and maintaining three-, five-, and 10-year strategic plans for the BCA.
He said the committee’s work will apply to be paid through an allocation from the Dharma Forward campaign.
BCA Treasurer Jeffery Matsuoka praised Arima’s work on the committee and said having a long-range plan would benefit the BCA’s budget process.
“Right now, we sort of go year by year, and just try to keep the lights on, so to speak,” Matsuoka said. “But it would be really great if our budget processes would be guided by more of a long-term strategic vision. That would really help us as far as how best to use monies to get the maximum value for long-term growth and sustainability.”
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