Strategic Planning - Design For The Future

The purpose of this next meet up is to actually take the first steps in creating our organization - Design For The Future

Design For The Future - a proposal for an organization to support sustainable design
The premise is simple. To create an organization where design minded people can come together and support one another to take action and create a shift in the design industry. This is it... no politics, no labels, its that simple!

Who? (the people we need involved)
- Graphic designers
- Web designers
- Product designers
- Industrial designers
- Fashion designers
- Interior designers
- Architectural designers
- Landscape designers
- Photographers
- Videographers
- Entrepreneurs
- Professionals
- Students

These are the key people responsible for creating a sustainable world. These are the people we need to make Design For the Future successfull

How (steps we need to take to start our organization)
1. Form a Board of Directors.
The optimum number of people who sit on the board should be determined by the needs of the organization. Based on what our organization would like to accomplish, we should decide what special skills and qualities will be required of the individuals on our board. We need to Identify qualified individuals who are supportive of our mission and are willing to give of their talents and time, and maybe even money. A board of 8 to 12 will be created.

2. Start Strategic Planning (the board of directors will be responsible for the following)
? Mission statement (create a first draft)
? Vision (lets be realistic - identifying future technologies that can be used now! etc.)
? Values (what is important to our organization)
? Environmental scan ( our impact on the environment - the economy and social change)
? Issues ( Design - Climate Change - Social awareness - etc)
? Goals (short term and long term)
? Strategies (annual strategic planning updates)
? Objectives (what we aim to accomplish in each project and action we take)
? Responsibilities (operational/management plan.)
? Time lines (for fundraising - budget - goals - etc)
? Marketing ("The Fun Stuff" - Web site - street team - independent filming projects - awareness -etc)
? Budgets (financial plan)
? Fundraising (gathering support - applying for grants - self fundraising)

3. File Articles of Incorporation
Also involves Filing for
? 501(c)(3) status - the most well known type of nonprofit "a charitable nonprofit"
? State and local tax exemption

The fallowing is a definition of sustainable design
(also referred to as "green design", "eco-design", or "design for environment") This is why THIS group was started!
The art of designing physical objects to comply with the principles of economic, social, and ecological sustainability. It ranges from the microcosm of designing small objects for everyday use, through to the macrocosm of designing buildings, cities, and the earth's physical surface. It is a growing trend within the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, engineering, graphic design, industrial design, interior design and fashion design.

THIS IS WHAT WE AIM TO OCCOMPLISH!
The essential aim of sustainable design is to produce places, products and services in a way that reduces use of non-renewable resources, minimizes environmental impact, and relates people with the natural environment. Sustainable design is often viewed as a necessary tool for achieving sustainability. It is related to the more heavy-industry-focused fields of industrial ecology and green chemistry, sharing tools such as life cycle assessment and life cycle energy analysis to judge the environmental impact or "greenness" of various design choices.

WHY!
Sustainable design is a reaction to the global "environmental crisis", i.e., rapid growth of economic activity and human population, depletion of natural resources, damage to ecosystems and loss of biodiversity.[1] Proponents of sustainable design believe that the crisis is in large part caused by conventional design and industrial practices, which disregard the risks and environmental impacts associated with goods and services. Green design is considered a means of reducing or eliminating these impacts while maintaining quality of life by using careful assessment and clever design to substitute less harmful products and processes for conventional ones.