The Canoe Group guided collaborative design and event development for the third year of the annual 2011 Oregon Arts Summit. Our work with Oregon Arts Commission staff resulted in over 400 participants at the Oregon Convention Center, in Portland, Oregon on October 5 during the 2011 Oregon Days of Culture.

This year’s theme, The Currency of Connection, brought together local and national experts to address the question: how do arts nonprofits tie our friends more deeply to a network in support of our mission?

The hash tag #orarts11 was used throughout the day to post updates and facilitate conversations between attendees and other arts leaders throughout the state. Attendees were invited to extend their engagement with the Oregon Arts Commission post Summit through their newly launched Facebook page .  These online and other communication strategies were designed, developed and executed by The Canoe Group over a four-month timeline.

About the Oregon Arts Commission
The Oregon Arts Commission was established in 1967 to foster the arts in Oregon and ensure their excellence. Nine Commissioners, appointed by the Governor, determine policies, establish long-range plans, and review applications to grants programs to determine funding levels. In 1993, the Oregon Arts Commission became a division of the Oregon Business Development Department.

When is a strategic plan more than a strategic plan? Salem Audubon Society (SAS) Board and Staff, after multiple attempts to clarify a shared vision for a Salem Nature Center, turned to The Canoe Group to design and facilitate concurrent strategic planning for the nature center project and for the SAS organization.

A particular challenge SAS faced was that multiple potential partners and a wide range of constituents had become invested in various nature center “visions” over six years of dialogue and exploration.

With The Canoe Group’s facilitation, a structured partnership review led the Nature Center planning team to identify project criteria resulting in the selection of The Ankeny National Wildlife refuge as the site for the Nature Center and US Fish & Wildlife Department as the partner agency.

The Nature Center decision was adopted at SAS’s September 2011 annual meeting, and integrated as one of four primary strategic goals in SAS’s 2012 to 2016 strategic plan, the organization is positioned to move forward.

About Salem Audubon Society
The Salem Audubon Society, in Salem, Oregon, is an active chapter of the National Audubon Society, with its shared mission to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife and their habitats. To this end, Salem Audubon Society promotes the enjoyment of birds and environmental stewardship with birding field trips and educational programs, and involves volunteers in education, advocacy and restoration projects.

A long-standing partnership between Hillsboro Community Foundation (HCF) and City of Hillsboro Parks & Recreation Department (HP&R) was solidified with a new Memorandum of Agreement in July 2011 following four months of planning work with The Canoe Group.

HCF, as a community foundation, has been supporting HP&R initiatives with private fundraising for over 25 years. The need to increase philanthropy in Hillsboro was the core of this new initiative. HCF was asked to undertake this goal as a result of the City’s Vision 2020 plan.

Phase Two of the project, integrates expertise provided by Canoe Group partner consultant Dianna Smiley. The HCF Board is considering a variety of planned giving and endowment fundraising structures.

About Hillsboro Community Foundation
The Hillsboro Community Foundation exists to promote and facilitate charitable giving in support of projects and programs that enhance the quality of life in Hillsboro.

The Canoe Group has been selected to provide Strategic Planning services to the Oregon State Capitol Foundation to support their efforts to establish a history center at the Oregon State Capitol.

Public engagement, research and facilitated analysis will bring together input from a wide variety of constituents and leadership groups to determine mission, goals and a phased plan to guide project implementation.

This history center will be partially funded through the sales of Pacific Wonderland license plates, which promote Oregon’s heritage institutions and was initiated by the State Legislature in 2005.

About the Oregon State Capitol Foundation
The Capitol Foundation celebrates contributions to state government for the benefit of all Oregonians by sponsoring events such as Mark O. Hatfield Day, the Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Commemoration and Capitol Memories Reunions. Further, former elected officials, lobbyists and staff are interviewed for the Foundation’s oral history program. The Foundation also publishes quarterly newsletters that provide updates on the State Capitol, historical information and “alumni” news.

In 2005, the Oregon State Legislature called for establishment of a Capitol History Center. The Capitol Foundation will play a role in this effort to preserve for all visitors a graphic view of Oregon’s history.