Transforming History Cambridge through creative strategic planning
Cambridge Historical Society needed a new strategic plan that would expand its efforts to serve new audiences while maintaining organizational sustainability. Laura Roberts and I proposed an experimental planning process structured around the principles of creative practice. We conducted an audience analysis, interviewed community stakeholders, and benchmarked History Cambridge against other local history organizations. Then we designed a series of creative activities to develop a transformational vision for History Cambridge’s future and imagine new ways for the organization to serve Cambridge.
The resulting plan was strong in identity, values, and goals and flexible enough to adapt as audience needs and community opportunities presented themselves. It set up 2021-2023 as a prototyping phase, enabling History Cambridge to continue to iterate and refine the plan as these prototypes yielded additional insights. Then in 2024, with their newly-built muscles for internal strategic planning, the History Cambridge staff and board updated the plan for 2024-2027.
Read the 2021-2023 plan and the updated 2024-2027 plan.
“Rainey is an amazing human and a dream to work with. Four years later, we still draw on what we learned during our strategic planning process every day.” —Marieke Van Damme, Executive Director, History Cambridge