Strategic Planning and Stakeholder Engagement

As the agency responsible for overseeing and administering federal AmeriCorps funding throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Virginia Service Commission (VSC) is required to develop a state service plan every three years. However, as a new director took the helm in early 2021, VSC wanted its 2022-2024 Virginia State Service Plan to present a clearer vision and chart a bolder course of action – one which could advance not only national service programs like AmeriCorps but also grassroots community volunteerism and overall civic engagement.

To do so, S.I.R. and VSC embarked on a six-month, six-phase planning process centered around hearing from stakeholders through interviews and survey research, while also empowering stakeholders to shape and refine strategic priorities and actions through a series of 11 workshops held throughout every phase of the project.

From the start, it became clear that VSC operates at the heart of a vast network of players representing community nonprofits, local, state, and federal government entities, faith communities, corporate social responsibility offices, secondary and post-secondary educational institutions, healthcare providers, and others. And while these players all share similar goals and passions, S.I.R.’s research revealed an overall lack of alignment and cohesion within this network. In addition, our research demonstrated significant gaps in awareness and understanding regarding local community needs, where gaps and disparities currently exist, how to connect more Virginians with fulfilling opportunities to serve and volunteer, and how to tap program development and funding resources.

To combat this lack of cohesion and understanding, while also meeting our primary goals of driving greater numbers of Virginians to engage national service and volunteer opportunities, we developed a three-year plan guided by three interrelated tenets: Build a Stronger Culture of Service, Volunteerism, and Civic Engagement; Build a More Representative, Integrated, and Aligned Network of Partners; and Build a More Robust Resource and Support Infrastructure.  

To fulfill that vision, VSC again tapped S.I.R. to shepherd two of the most ambitious projects in the organization’s history – the development of a statewide Virginia Community Engagement Index (VCEI) and an organizational rebrand with a revamped communications platform and targeted public-facing awareness and recruitment campaign.  

To develop the VCEI, S.I.R. and Serve Virginia convened a core team of 38 organizations throughout Virginia representing its broad network of partners, as well as national leaders from AmeriCorps and Points of Light. Through a series of meetings with these engaged representatives, we developed an online survey to shine a brighter light on the needs and challenges facing communities throughout Virginia, establish benchmarks for how people in Virginia are engaging in their communities through service, volunteerism, and civic action, and identify targeted strategies to mobilize Virginians to take action to address our greatest needs. 

The results of this study are now being published and leveraged to convene targeted groups of stakeholders by region and by sector to turn these findings into action on the local community level.

In addition, these findings also helped to inform a full organizational rebrand from Virginia Service Commission to Serve Virginia establish itself more strategically as a leading voice and convener for service and volunteerism in the state. 

As part of this rebrand, S.I.R. worked with organizational leadership to develop a modern logo, visual identity, and overall communications architecture, which included a new website and internal and external collateral templates. Similarly, the insights gained from the VCEI study were then used to craft a social media campaign aimed at increasing awareness of opportunities to volunteer and learn more about national service, with targeted pathways for those interested in learning more to connect with their local volunteer centers and other resources curated by Serve Virginia.