FIRST Five-Year Strategic Plan (2013-2017)

[Conor Ryan]

I hope I'm not the only person that caught the strategic plan that came out July 16th...
http://www.usfirst.org/sites/default...tegic_Plan.pdf

It is a very interesting document to read, gives a lot of insight into what is in store for us over the next few years.. at least from a very top level perspective.

Some key takeaways from the "The path to achieving our vision" section

• Make FRC, the ultimate robotics program, more available, accessible, and sustainable
• Better leverage our four programs to enhance the progression of learning
• Build and strengthen the FIRST leadership team
• Create a more efficient, responsive organization

I really like the last point they mentioned there, but the verbiage in regards to FRC I do not think I have seen in writing before.

In the program growth section the numbers seem pretty constant for FLL and FTC, but JFLL and FTC are supposed to grow by 6 and 3 times their current size!

Also, in the Financials section, there were some very interesting numbers explaining how the money that goes to FIRST works out. I am actually kind of surprised by the budget numbers, some are actually lower than I predicted, but most surprisingly, I didn't actually think it was the most efficient 501c3 Charity in the US, but in actuality, overhead costs are very efficient as proven by this watchdog: http://www.charitynavigator.org/inde...ary&orgid=9402.

And when you compare those statistics to some popular charities: http://www.charitynavigator.org/inde...ail&listid=148, looking pretty great! And this does not include all the teams that raise their own funds, meaning that in fact the organizational impact efficiency is probably a little bit better than the numbers show! (Assuming teams are using all monies raised by teams are used the "right way").

But all in all this was a very interesting document to read. If you are planning on running for a chairman's award its a must read and it tells you what kinds of teams we should be starting up!

Great job HQ!