I have also mentioned that the National Civic League has a "Do It Yourself" guide to visioning and strategic planning that includes a cost estimate for the visioning process. Here is their data from page 17:
- staffing ($15,000-$25,000)
- facilitation costs ($30,000-$75,000)
- food ($7,500-$15,000)
- printing, copying and office/administrative costs ($4,000-$7,500)
- travel ($1,500-$7,500)
- community meeting-related costs ($4,000-$7,500)
- outreach-related costs ($3,000-$10,000)
- research-related costs ($1,000-$10,000)
- equipment and meeting materials ($2,500-$7,500)
- the final report ($3,500-$15,000)
- the community celebration ($3,500- $10,000)
- Total Cost ($75,500-$190,000)
These costs are based on experience so we ought to pay attention to them. And since costs were one of the reasons that visioning did not get traction in early 2008, then we really ought to pay attention to them.
The good news? Since we are pretty small, the lower cost is probably more realistic for Oak Ridge. The bad news? These figures are pretty much in line with the estimates we got back then, and if it was too much then...
So what are we going to do about this? The Nation Civic League has Fund Raising as one of the key success factors. They are not putting all of these costs onto the backs of taxpayers as long as there are groups interested in supporting the project.
Another source could be volunteers. We are an active community with talented people. Why not recruit and train a pool of facilitators who would support this process, for example? That would attack the largest single cost and there are other categories that local organizations and companies would be willing to support.
The danger in this "DIY" approach is that we are not paying for experience so we would be likely to have more miscues along the way.
Next, I will talk about the 2008 approach versus one based on the National Civic League's model.
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