Four-Year Strategic Plan - 1 January 2006 – 31 December 2009 [Printer Friendly Version - PDF - 2.33 MB]

VISION

The Naval Postgraduate School Foundation, Inc. (NPSFI) creates programs and services that reinforce Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) initiatives toward:

• being the world leader in naval and defense-related graduate education and research, and
• preparing the intellectual leaders of tomorrow’s national and international security organizations.

MISSION

The Foundation encourages the pursuit of educational excellence at NPS. To do so, NPSFI solicits, receives, and administers funds, securities, and gifts-in-kind in order to provide the School with support for its academic programs and facilities. The Foundation actively develops relationships,
seeks resources, increases public awareness, and assists in developing a productive alumni program.

BACKGROUND

A. NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL

Established in 1909 and located in Monterey since 1952, NPS is the Navy’s primary source of graduate education for its officers. NPS is the world’s largest and most prestigious defense-oriented graduate institution. More than 1600 students including commissioned officers from all US military services and nearly 60 countries are currently pursuing graduate degrees. A fully-accredited university, NPS specializes in advanced education at the Master’s Degree level through resident courses and distance learning, and awards a limited number of Doctorates. The School offers an array of programs for continuous learning and executive education. Academic programs provide a unique interdisciplinary defense focus on
science, engineering, technology, policy, operations, management, and international relations, not available in the private sector.

The School prides itself on its ability to maintain the highest academic requirements from over 150 different organizations. Faculty and student research concentrates on creative problem-solving for defense-related topics and provides a major source of analytical capability for the Navy and the Defense Department. The School is remarkably agile, creating new curricula on short notice to meet the needs of the armed services and other government agencies.

Most importantly, NPS is its graduates. NPS alumni have made and are continuing to make a difference, filling important military, government, and corporate leadership positions worldwide. A large percentage of active duty Flag Officers are
graduates of NPS. Thirty-four astronauts are NPS alumni, the most from any single institution in the world; and international alumni at the senior policy level are invaluable to the coalition-building process.

“A View to the Future,” the Naval Postgraduate School’s Strategic Plan, describes the clear vision for the future. NPS will con-tinue to provide cutting-edge academic, research, and continuing-education programs for military officers and defense
civilians from around the world at every stage in their careers. NPS will be nationally recognized as among the top graduate-level educational institutions in the Nation. NPS also looks to partner with industry and academia to produce flexible, integrated, interdisciplinary, and systems-oriented education.

B. NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL FOUNDATION, INC.

The NPS Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501 (c) 3 organization (Tax ID 23-7098729) through which private donations are made available to NPS. As with all educational institutions, private support is necessary to achieve standards above the
sustaining level of public funding. Just like at West Point and Annapolis, the basic NPS budget must be augmented from additional educational experience consistent with the level expected of the country’s finest institutions of higher learning.

Since its founding in 1970, NPSFI has established programs on behalf of NPS. The Foundation recently initiated an aggressive plan to raise funds for the School in order to ensure that high-quality education at NPS will continue to improve.Along with fundraising, the Foundation will help NPS achieve additional visibility both locally and nationally.

In carrying out its mission, the Foundation:

• provides academic awards for deserving students;
• recognizes distinguished faculty;
• facilitates faculty research;
• sponsors conferences, lectures, and seminars;
• upgrades facilities and equipment, labs and classrooms;
• promotes NPS visibility and community involvement;
• assists with historic preservation, library programs, museum displays, and student recreational opportunities;
• sponsors a distinguished speaker program;
• supports international students and programs;
• endows faculty chairs;
• funds student and faculty events;
• provides discretionary funds for NPS leadership.

Additionally, the Foundation intends to:

• endow deans, directorships, and chairs; and
• provide scholarship/tuition aid for

THE STRATEGIC PLAN

This plan is designed to guide the activities of the Foundation for the four-year period 2006-2009. It outlines five primary goals by which the Foundation will enhance its ability to provide financial and nonmonetary support to the School.

Private support of higher education has long been recognized as important in achieving the mission of educating students of this Nation. The vast majority of leading public universities engage in major fundraising initiatives because federal and state appropriations for higher education have not kept pace with increasing technology and rising costs.

Military academic institutions also face significant financial challenges. Notwithstanding recent growth in resources for the war on terrorism, the defense budget has been cut significantly during the past decade. Of necessity, larger percentages of the reduced budget have been allocated to operational readiness; therefore, foundations that help each of the Military-service academies are raising private funds to enable their institutions to provide the best possible education. The Naval Postgraduate School Foundation is determined to increase its level of support in order to enhance the educational experience of NPS students and the contribution of the School to national defense. This plan charts the Foundation’s future course.

Five major goals have been identified, along with a series of specific objectives designed to promote their achievement:

GOAL 1

Increase support to Naval Postgraduate School in order for the School to provide its students with the best defense focused education possible.

OBJECTIVES

• Promote, identify and reward academic excellence for faculty and students.
• Outfit NPS laboratories with cutting-edge equipment. Increase assistance for academic programs and conferences in support of faculty and students.
• Encourage classroom modernization.
• Expand faculty and student recognition events.
• Provide programs and facilities which enrich the educational, cultural, recreational and spiritual experience for the entire campus.
• Increase support for alumni relations.
• Assist in funding the Distinguished Speaker Program.

GOAL 2

Develop a staffing plan to support NPSFI activities and provide continuity of leadership.

Staff growth will be necessary to keep pace with the goal to increase Foundation monetary assets, to expand the Transformation Center, and to service a rapidly-growing membership.

OBJECTIVES

• Increase the Foundation staff to have in place by 2009 the following: A Foundation President; a Director of Development; a Director of Operations; a Director of Communications; a Director of Administrative Support, and one
  Database Manager: a total of 6 people.
• Develop a program to recruit volunteers from alumni, students, spouses, and the local community with the goal of having 20 or more volunteers in 2007 who will assist in various special fundraising events, membership development and alumni relationships.

GOAL 3

Expand the NPSFI membership program.

A significant aspect of creating a successful foundation is the active support and enthusiasm of a growing and involved membership. The basis for strong and vibrant membership must start with alumni, students, faculty, and staff.

Foundation-sponsored or supported events present opportunities to gain new Members. Guests who attend special events—an evening lecture series, commencement ceremonies, research symposia, special briefings, and tours—learn about the School and are likely to be motivated to join in supporting the Foundation’s work.

OBJECTIVES

• Expand total Foundation Membership to 2,000 by 2009.
• Expand student membership to 700 by 2009 with the goal of gaining 250 new student Memberships each year (150 regular student Members and 100 life student Members).
• Expand faculty and staff memberships to 200 by 2009.
• Expand corporate memberships to 30 by 2009.
• Expand general memberships to 320 by 2009.
• Reenergize alumni relations (with NPS support) and expand alumni memberships to 750 by 2009.
• Expand NPSFI Member events and increase NPS and NPSFI interactions to include quarterly events with NPSFI members and NPS students and faculty.
• Match up the best and brightest NPS students with major donors. Have these students extend invitations to major donors to unique events that further engage their interests in the School’s research activity (e.g. UAV test flights, summer and winter games, etc).
• Have major donors act as mentors and as community hosts who can engage students in the wide range of special events locally.
• Maintain continuous communications; e-mail on special events; expand distribution of the Foundation’s semi-annual newsletter; CVN overnight and VIP visits; receptions in Members’ homes, etc.

GOAL 4

Expand the NPSFI Transformation Center.

The Transformation Center promotes a rapid means of moving research to the war fighter and to all who support a forward-looking
defense. The goal is to couple the NPS research engine of the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) and other government research entities with the production and development capabilities of corporate America.

Transformation Center membership provides a fast, flexible mechanism for identifying, accessing, developing, and licensing innovative research that supports the Fleet, the Department of the Navy, the Department of Defense, and other national-security elements.

OBJECTIVES

• Develop research partnerships with corporations that generate revenue of one-million dollars per year.
• Increase visibility of DoD/NPS research directions and DoD requirements.
• Assist in applying new-technology solutions to DoD requirements.
• Facilitate two-way technology transfers.
• Encourage the transfer of federally-funded technologies to the private sector.
• Produce promotional materials and establish relationships within NPS that will expedite efforts to initiate contacts of future prospects.
• Build and fund a professional staff and administrative support staff for the Transformation Center by 2009.
• Increase TC membership to 15 in 2006, 25 in 2007, 35 in 2008, and 50 in 2009.

GOAL 5

Increase the monetary assets of the Foundation in order to have firm financial reserves in place to enable the Foundation to
continue to contribute to the success of NPS.

OBJECTIVES

• Create an experience-rich environment for our Members who might then consider
  bequests to the Foundation.
• Increase visibility in the NPSFI Planned Giving Program with the goal of having
  five planned giving benefactors in 2009.
• Initiate a Capital Campaign in January 2007 with the goal of having an unrestricted endowment of $12,000,000 in place in 2009. Board of Trustees would select a Chair for the Capital Campaign and identify Campaign solicitors no later than October 2006.
• Recruit two lead donors for 50% of the targeted amount for the Capital Campaign. Approach a select group of individuals for 25% of the targeted amount for the Capital Campaign.
• Approach other NPSFI Members for the remaining 25% of the targeted amount for the Capital Campaign.
• Encourage matching gifts from NPSFI Members and employers of NPSFI Members.

If you would like more information please contact us at:

Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Foundation, Inc.
P.O. Box 8626
Monterey, California 93940
[T] 831.656.2339
[F] 831.656.7566
[E] info@npsfoundation.org

Tax ID # 23-8098729