ORCA Strategic Plan
A. Strategic Goals
ORCA will:
1)Become a community for quiet recreation composed of individuals, community groups, professional and commercial organizations.
2)Advocate to levels of governmentfor the infrastructure and policies that support universal access forenvironmentally responsible quiet recreation opportunities in all public spaces, urban through to wilderness.
3)Become financially sustainable.
B. General Strategies to Achieve Strategic Goals
ORCA will:
1)Identify and enroll individuals and organizations as members of a non-profit organization.
2)Research and disseminate the economic and social benefits of quiet recreation to governments, land managers, and the general public.
3)Conduct research that guides and informs the strategic goals of ORCA in accordance with its stated beliefs and values.
4)Raise the core funding required to sustain the organization through membership fees and fundraising activities.
5)Acquiregrants to assist in launching the organization and to fund specific projects that advance the vision of the association.
6)Build collaborative relationships with other organizations and governments to advance common goals that relate to increased participation in, and quality of experience for, quiet recreation.
7)Advance strategies to assist participants in particular activities to respect the interests of other trail users, and to increase awareness of environmental responsibilities.
Short and Medium Term Goals
C. Short Term Goals (6 months)
ORCA will:
1)Establish a viable organizational structure that will be able to implement our strategic initiatives.
2)Conduct a successful membership drive.
3)Participate constructively in the ongoing land use planning being conducted by Alberta’s Ministry of Environment and Parks.
4)Establish a formal relationship with the ‘Calgary Outdoor Literacy Network’ such that it comes under the ORCA umbrella.
5)Acquire capacity building funding from Alberta’s Community Initiatives Program (CIP).
6)Acquire membership fees, commercial sponsorships, and donations sufficient to provide matching funding for a Community Initiatives Program (CIP) application. [1]
D. Medium Term Goals (24 months)
ORCA will:
1)Have established a revenue stream sufficient to support core administrative functions.
2)Establish an annual report informed by a review process.
3)Have successfully lobbied for a commitment by the Alberta government to provide a legal disposition for ‘approved’ and/or recognized tails.[2]
4)Have an ongoing program to increase participant awareness of social and environmental responsibilities.
5)ORCAis able to foster a sense of community amongst members that is anchored in shared values and interests, and that those individuals and organizations recognize ORCA to be an effective advocate for those values and interests.
[1] Maximum finding under CIP is $75,000
[2] A legal disposition provides protection for approved assets on Crown Land such that other stakeholder must negotiate any changes to those assets with the asset holder. Under the current process an ‘approved trail’ will likely entail a responsibility for the Province to ensure that the trail is designed and kept to a high standard which may tend to limit the number of trails designated as ‘approved’. Consequently, we would also want to have many other less developed trails ‘recognized’ and protected under a description less onerous to the state.