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PBS FOUNDATION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT TO THE COMMUNITY

Cheri Carter
May 2006 - May 2007

As part of the preparation for developing this report, I reviewed my calendar from the past year and sat at my desk, amazed at how the time has flown by.  It seems like just yesterday that I was the “newly appointed” Executive Director of the PBS Foundation but this May marks my second anniversary and in many ways, I feel as if I have been part of the public television family all my life.  The Foundation and I have grown together over the past two years and I am so very proud of all that has been accomplished. This report is as much about looking ahead as it is about reflection, because we have exciting plans for the Foundation.  As I look forward, I am confident that we have only just begun.

Strategic Planning
The PBS Foundation’s strategic planning process, initiated in late 2005, is almost complete. The document is a five-year strategy covering the period July 2007 through June 2012 and includes a first- and second-year work plan for the Foundation staff and Board.  The plan also contains a ten-year vision for the Foundation as a supporting organization to PBS.  The Foundation’s Board of Directors has approved a series of six goals and twenty-seven objectives for the next five years. Core goals address the following functional areas are:  fundraising, strategic relationships within PBS, governance, communications, external relationships and Foundation organizational infrastructure.  With assistance from the Station Advisory Council, we have been working with local PBS stations to ensure that their interests are accurately represented in the plan.  And all of this has been done in coordination with the PBS strategic planning process to guarantee alignment and leveraging of both organizations’ resources.

I cannot convey how excited I am to have this strategic plan completed and ready for implementation.  The tremendous work that went into this process by everyone at the Foundation, our Board of Directors, our Station Advisory Council and others is reflective in the depth of the document. 

Paralleling the preparation of the long-term goals was the work on a one-year “Roadmap” which included the activities of the past year.  I am happy to report that over 95% of that plan is complete.

Foundation Leadership
The PBS Foundation is led by its Board of Directors and the Station Advisory Council.  Together, these two entities help shape the goals and activities of the Foundation in concert with the needs articulated by the PBS Board’s Executive Committee. 

Peter Hero, President Emeritus & Senior Advisor to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, continues in his capacity as chair of the PBS Foundation Board and we are always grateful for his inspired guidance and leadership.  Paula Kerger, in her capacities as President of both PBS and the PBS Foundation, as well as an ex-officio member of the Foundation Board, continues to provide valuable insight, support and leadership.

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