Building Longterm Strategic Direction for your Think Tank

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Building Long-term Strategic Direction for your
Think Tank

• Chris Derry
• Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions

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Ideas for today

• How to position your institute
• Getting your message out.
• You are the message!

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Why do you exist? (Why should anybody care?)

• What is the main concern? (So what?)
• Who are you and what do you do?
• Once resolved, what will the future be?
• How will you get there?

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Getting your message out

• Stay focused 2 or 3 initiatives
• We cant change their minds
• Clone, dont reinvent.
• Respond to real needs.

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Respond to real needs

• What keeps you awake at night?
• Planning for Kentuckys future.
• Mousetraps stale coffee.
• Open enrollment

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You are the message

• Develop one basic speech.
• Get a speaking coach/video yourself.
• Set big goals.

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Ideas for today

• How to position your institute
• Getting your message out.
• You are the message!

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Isaac Newton

• If I have seen further than others, it is
  because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.

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Were changing the way Kentuckians think about
government.
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Who are you what do you do?

• Were an independent, nonpartisan association of
  writers, speakers and thinkers from across
  Kentucky
• who analyze local and state public policy and
  suggest alternatives more in concert with the
  ideas of our founders.

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Our vision

• That Kentuckians better understand and practice
  the foundations of civil society
• Individual liberty
• Economic freedom
• Personal responsibility
• A respect for the lives and property of others.

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Our mission

• Best practices for a better Kentucky.

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Get focused

• The center for high-performance government
• The center to renew public education

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Get into the media

• Convert complex issues into understandable
  language.
• Meet with managing editors one-on-one.
• Use the op/Ed format to be relevant.
• Reprint other papers op/Eds.

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Clone, dont reinvent

• Kentucky-ize SPN/Atlas ideas.
• Bluegrass Digest
• but your own data still matters.

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Fundraising tips

• Results
• 2003 37,000 from 21 people
• 2004 208,000 from 69 people
• 2005 84,000 from 44 people (April 21)
• Ask for advice (and then money)
• Use CRM software

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Set big goals

• You rarely exceed your expectations
• 40,000 e-mail readers (1 of KY)
• 100,000 members of parent alliances
• 456,000 budget in 2005
• Your board of directors
• Big ideas attract attention

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Recommendation

• Get Brian Tracy to teach you relationship
  building skills.
• Its a marathon, not a sprint.
• Always take the high road.