Form a Plan to Accomplish Your Mission

Once you know who you are, it is time to take a moment to articulate the goals and priorities of your organization. This might take the form of a business plan, a strategic plan or just a simple goal planning document that you put together for yourself.

This can be done in a variety of ways. There is not a right way to set priorities and goals, but there are a few things to keep in mind. Think through the following items when setting goals for your organization:

1. What are the key goals for our organization in the next 12 months? What do we want to accomplish? How will we know when we get there?
2. What are the goals for the next 3-5 years?
3. What are our long-term goals?
4. Who needs to be involved in setting goals and priorities? Doing it yourself is fine, but it may be helpful to pull in other stakeholders to help gain buy-in and support for when things change.
5. What are the benefits if we meet our goals? What happens if we don’t meet our goals?

A good way to answer these questions is to use your mission statement as a blueprint.

Your mission as a blueprint

Take a look at your mission statement. Here’s an example:

XYZ Commission’s mission is to promote the production of film, television and digital media for the purpose of job creation, increased tourism and the general growth of business in the region.

If you break this apart, it gives you all the pieces that make up your budget.
1) “to promote….the region”
• You are likely to promote your jurisdiction through marketing efforts.
• This may include:
o Tradeshows
o Advertisements
o Panel or Industry Event Participation
o Brochures
o Direct mail marketing
o DVDs
o Give Aways: T-shirts, hats, bags, etc.
o Fam Tour
o Your Website

Choose the things that you think are critical to your overall marketing efforts. Research which events, festivals, trade shows, special publications make the most sense for you and their specific costs and associated travel costs, if any apply. List and itemize costs for each one.

2) “…for the purpose of job creation….”
• What film training is available for your local people?
• Are there courses that your office can develop or help pay for with an area college?
• Are their government grants for workforce development?
• How much funding will you need?
• Is it recurring funding?
• Will you need it each year?
• Can you get the program going and turn it over to the private sector or educational institutions?

3) “…. increased tourism….”
• How much will it cost you to create or hire someone to create a film tourism map?
• A film tour?
• Do you need to pay for people to run the tour?
• If so, how much?

4) “….general business growth…”
• This can mean so many things but could include:
o Creating a Production Guide for local businesses and keeping it updated.
o Supporting the growth of indigenous filmmaking. This could be the creation of a film fund, finding grants, sponsoring a competition.
o How much do you need for all of this?

5) Next….how many staff members and/or contractors are you going to need to accomplish all of this? How much will they be paid?