strategic planfy2015–2017

strategic planfy2015–2017

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contents

1 letter from the dean

5 executive summary

6 mission

9 vision

10 ministry 1: national church

15 ministry 2: national treasure

18 ministry 3: cathedral church

23 ministry 4: convener

26 process forward

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1 Earthquake damage to the apse pinnacles, 2013

It is both personally and professionally fulfilling to serve as the tenth dean of Washington National Cathedral. I received the call to come here in the summer of 2012, but my experience of and relationship with the Cathedral go back to my first visit as a seminarian in 1975. Over the course of my working life in the church I have come to the Cathedral Close dozens of times—for services, major events, and courses at the College of Preachers. Seeing the Cathedral both from a distance and up close, I have come to have a deep appreciation for the unique role Washington National Cathedral plays in the life of our country. We are both a Gothic structure and a living faith community. We host presidential prayer services, state funerals, school commencements, and chapel services. We gather a worshiping community every day and Sunday, we convene conversations about faith and public life across ideological and religious lines, we advocate for Gospel values in the public square, and we also manage to welcome hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. We are a complex institution living out a historic and evolving mission of local, national, and international service.

So we are much more than a building. But the physical space of the Cathedral is the source of the authority for all we do. When I arrived in late 2012, the Cathedral and its extended community were still reeling from the damage caused to the structure by the earthquake just over a year before. In the

letter from the deansubsequent months I have come to see how beloved the Cathedral building is by so many both locally and around the country. We are well underway in Phase 1 of our restoration project, and we

are beginning to raise the funds to complete Phase 2. The exterior scaffolding will be with us awhile, but the interior space will soon be restored to its full inner transcendence and beauty.

This version of our strategic plan is actually not a new plan but a revision of the one adopted three years ago. My predecessor and the Chapter articulated a vision and set of goals that build on the work of Cathedral leaders over the course of our 107-year history. This plan offered a fresh view of Washington National Cathedral’s calling and ministry in the areas of music, worship, spiritual refreshment, and the embrace of our role as a convener of conversation and work about faith and public life.

As the Chapter, the staff, and I have revisited this plan, we have become more aware of certain trends in American religious and social life that we now believe should play a more central role in Washington National Cathedral’s life and ministry. For a variety of reasons, rising generations find institutional religion less compelling and trustworthy

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than did their predecessors. The Cathedral’s founding vision, organized around spirituality, education, and social justice, has seemed to us a compelling warrant for the work we will do in the next several decades. We believe that Washington National Cathedral has a vital role as it gathers people across political, religious, and ideological lines around conversation and action that advance the public good.

Religious institutions no longer have quite the sway they once held in our national life, but Washington National Cathedral is unique. There is no place in America like it. Because of our history and setting, we continue to find ourselves listened to when Americans want to address the faith implications of important national moments. The Cathedral’s programmatic life will continue to focus on vital, consensual concerns—our Veterans Initiative; our growing sense of the importance of the Cathedral as a venue for the visual and performing arts; the growing realization of the importance of the Cathedral as a pilgrimage site where Americans can experience the monuments, museums, and memorials around us and reflect with us on the connection between faithfulness and citizenship.

It would be arrogant for us to suggest that we can do this all on our own. We are a big building, but—compared to universities, schools, and major nonprofits—we are a relatively small organization. We will increasingly live out our mission in collaborative partnerships with educational, religious, and nonprofit institutions. And we will continue to call upon not only the collaboration and good will but also the financial support of those who love the building, its worship and mission, and its role in American religious and public life.

Washington National Cathedral stands at the mid point in several creative tensions. We are an Episcopal institution (the functioning cathedral of the Diocese of Washington) and a locus for ecumenical and interfaith ministry. We are a national symbol and a local community. We are committed to preserving the depth

and beauty of our architectural, musical, and liturgical heritage and representing the fullness and diversity of both American culture and international Anglican worship. These tensions are creative and not disabling. They give us the energy we need faithfully to live out and proclaim the Gospel in the public square in the twenty-first century and beyond.

As we embrace these tensions and engage these challenges, I believe that Washington National Cathedral can be a model for churches around the country and the world. There is so much we love about this Cathedral that is vital and precious. There is so much we must do to make the things we love available and relevant to the generations both rising and yet unborn. We are an entry point for so many visitors who come to us with no church upbringing or home. We are called to use the Cathedral, its history, and its living witness as a way for them to step into not only our life but into the life of the Gospel as well.

I continue to be deeply grateful for all who love, serve, and support Washington National Cathedral. From the bishop and diocese and the schools on the Close to our governing boards (our Chapter and Foundation board) and staff, virtually everything we do is the product of so many loving and generous hands. Our donors and volunteers make our ministry possible and gracious. Please read this plan with an open mind and an open heart. You will find it, as I do, both inspiring and daunting. But a mission less audacious would not be faithful to the vision of those who gathered more than 121 years ago to establish this Cathedral. That vision continues to inspire and to serve as the measuring stick for all that has come after. I invite you into this vision, and into its service and support, as Washington National Cathedral seeks to serve and bless the city, the nation, and the world.

Dean Gary Hall in dialogue with His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, 2014

gary hallcathedral dean

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5 The carvings on the rood beam, dividing the great choir from the nave, with apse windows behind

In 2010, Washington National Cathedral embarked with urgency on an effort to discern the possible contours for its second century as a prominent center for faith in the nation’s capital and charted the first steps toward long-term financial sustainability. Those intensive processes resulted in a visionary and practical document in the summer of 2011, the Cathedral’s first Strategic Plan, which guided the operational activities of this historic organization for the subsequent three years.

This new plan takes the organization into 2017 and offers a more focused consideration of the issues touched on in the first plan. The mission statement of the Cathedral has been opened and the vision statement made clearer, reconciling the institution’s extraordinary power and potential with its current abilities and needs. The term “ministries” replaces “goals” in order to acknowledge the Cathedral’s long history and current success in offering key resources to the nation. The term “goals” now refers to aspects of the ministries that the Cathedral seeks to develop or uphold.

The objectives that support the goals are listed in the order that they might occur on a timeline, given the right level of resources. Among the objectives, there are three that rise up as the dean’s strategic priorities. They are as follows:

executive summarySTRATEGIC PRIORITIES1 revenue and sustainability - building up fundraising efforts, coordination, and results; enhancing the visitor experience and the way visitors contribute to the Cathedral; and finding new, repeatable revenue streams among the activities that the Cathedral already knows well.

2 programs – continue to grow activities honoring and supporting veterans; work on and implement a plan for the Cathedral College as a concept and as the central programming facility; and expand the use of the Cathedral as a venue for the arts.

3 congregation – increase their participation in and support of the Cathedral’s daily life; increase the size of the congregation; and increase their overall involvement in outreach opportunities.

This strategic plan is designed to help the Cathedral meet demographic changes of the future and the evolving needs for sacred space. This plan celebrates the many vital aspects of the Cathedral’s life and work and the much-needed, irreplaceable treasure that Washington National Cathedral is: a resource called to live out its mission for centuries to come.

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Washington National Cathedral is dedicated to serve as a house of prayer for all people and a spiritual home for the nation.

mission

Washington National Cathedral was established to hold a special role in the nation’s life and continues to answer that call. As it does so it commits to the ancient vision, fervently proclaimed by Jesus in the Gospels, of a building open to all who seek a place of prayer and barred to no particular religious tradition or sect. It fills the role in the United States of the great cathedral churches of Europe in providing a center at which the public might convene and an anchor for the many communities that grow alongside it.

The name of the Cathedral as an organization, Washington National Cathedral, is also deeply significant. Early in its history, calls to construct the building cited the need for a Washington Cathedral as well as a National Cathedral: the “church for National purposes” sketched into the famous L’Enfant Plan for the District of

Columbia as well as a center of faith for the City of Washington and the diocese. The Cathedral continues to acknowledge and honor its place in these multiple spheres.

The Cathedral is therefore dedicated to service in four ways:

1 as a national church, dedicated to serving the country and its many faith traditions;

2 as a national treasure, dedicated to serving visitors and pilgrims;

3 as the Cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, dedicated to serving the diocese, the three schools on the Cathedral Close, and its worshiping community; and

4 as a convener, dedicated to create programming to bring people together in conversation and partnership.

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The National Cathedral seeks to be a catalyst for spiritual harmony in our nation, reconciliation among faiths, and compassion in the world.

vision

Washington National Cathedral’s mission of serving all people while at the same time honoring the needs of the nation gives it opportunities not available to other cultural organizations or institutions affiliated with the church. It is exemplary, providing a touchstone for what the church can accomplish, as well as exceptional: much that might be hoped for from the church in the next century can happen uniquely here. This intention is best honored by a commitment to transformative work that helps to extend the Cathedral’s reach and influence in a world where religion’s limitations are sometimes thought to outweigh its benefits.

The Cathedral’s ministry is grounded in our conviction that God is at work among us to bring about greater spiritual well being in America as well as greater understanding between religious traditions. In faithfulness to God’s reconciling mission, the Cathedral seeks to serve as a positive example for holy places everywhere. It accomplishes this work by serving as a catalyst, sparking dialogue and precipitating constructive action, increasingly on a church-wide or even national scale. Some of the most important work builds on the Cathedral’s power to invite us all to experience the grace and mystery of God. The Cathedral thus recommits to extending a welcome to all people who might come to call it home.

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The Cathedral serves as a sacred place where the country gathers to pray, commemorate, celebrate, and mourn.

national church

The Cathedral’s founders established it to have special significance for American public life, constructing it as a deeply symbolic focal point on the skyline of the capital city. Its towers survey the monuments where Americans pause to remember specific individuals, communities, and moments in history. It also overlooks the houses of government where the country’s path is chartered, implemented, and brought into alignment with founding principles of law. The Cathedral’s location away from yet in view of these sites gives it a perspective by which their many stories and activities blend into one shared history and one common life. Moments for joy, sorrow, and solemnity are recognized here in the context of a greater story, in a space made holy not only by prayer but also the deep aspirations of generations who gathered here, hoping and planning for a different and better world.

The coming years will see the Cathedral seek investment in its resources to build on its pastoral

leadership to the nation as well as to become a more welcoming portal into Christianity and a life enriched by faith. It will find innovative ways to provide spiritual guidance and introduce the Cathedral to new, diverse audiences.

The country chooses to turn to the Cathedral. It gathers here when new developments in the course of events seem to carry extraordinary weight, to say something striking about our shared experience or destiny. Individuals turn here in even greater numbers to seek clarity and guidance in a lively and reverent atmosphere, which characterizes this place. The words offered to the nation from its pulpit—whether they offer resolve, caution, condolence, or jubilation—are grounded in a faith that places each person at God’s expansive table, speaking to those aspects of our nature that can hear a deeper wisdom and move past division and loss.

President Barack Obama delivers the eulogy for Senator Daniel Inouye, 2012

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12President George W. Bush eulogizing President Gerald Ford, 2007

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GOAL 3 Foster affinity for the life of the Cathedral with constituents across the nation.

a Engage new communities in the Cathedral’s work and mission.

b Nurture and strengthen relationships with new and existing constituents to increase participation and support.

c Build upon fundraising efforts and coordination while identifying new and repeatable revenue streams.

GOAL 1 Provide pastoral leadership to our nation at significant moments in our nation’s life.

a Respond quickly and efficiently to current events using established criteria, processes, and resources.

b Develop integrated offerings of worship, music, arts, prayer, and programming.

c Commemorate a cycle of national holidays and observances that reflect the breadth and diversity of the faith of the American people.

GOAL 2 Offer visitors of all faiths and backgrounds opportunities to explore spirituality and experience the Divine.

a Provide guidance for people on their spiritual journeys by expanding offerings in prayer practices, reflections, and pilgrimages through the Cathedral Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage (ccpp).

b Build awareness of the Cathedral as an open and safe space for people seeking quiet reflection and prayer.

c Create and implement online resources to assist spiritual journeys and mutual interfaith understanding.

d Invite more leaders from other faith traditions to participate in worship services.

e Consider spaces at the Cathedral for a designated interfaith chapel.

f Explore possibilities for a chapel that is open and accessible for extended hours.

The Cathedral Choir of Men, Boys, and Girls provides musical support for liturgy and

performs at concerts throughout the year

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The Cathedral is a national treasure and an architectural masterpiece offering inspiration and a sense of wonder.

national treasure

In addition to the historic calling and sacred nature of its work, the Cathedral engages the spirit and the senses. Its sheer size, scale, and overall grandeur present an astonishing work of—and for—permanence in a world of constant change, obsolescence, and decay. The Cathedral building is very much an archive of American history seen through the lens of faith and high ideals and described in a medieval fashion through its windows, stone carvings, ironwork, and tapestries. Within and without, in magnificently appointed chapels and expansive grounds, the Cathedral creates an atmosphere of stability and refreshment highly appreciated and sorely needed in a major city.

Over the coming years, it will expand its hospitality to individuals and organizations that may view it as an appropriate site for celebration and discussion. It aims to make new and meaningful improvements to the experience of visitors, partners, and supporters nationwide. It will ensure that policies and procedures have been established that will enable generous friends and noteworthy individuals to be remembered here. Equally vital for the Cathedral’s status as a national treasure are the needs of the building itself. Conservation, restoration, and preservation must be planned in balance with ongoing maintenance work. Along with capital upgrades to underutilized spaces, a robust program of building stewardship will ensure the Cathedral’s ability to kindle both compassion and creativity.

Restoration work on nave clerestory windows, 2014

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GOAL 1Strengthen stewardship of the fabric and fine art of the Cathedral’s buildings, grounds, and collections to serve as inspiration for visitors and worshipers.

a Prioritize and improve implementation of ongoing preservation and maintenance work.

b Complete phase one earthquake repairs.

c Initialize plans for remaining earthquake and deferred maintenance work.

d Create and publicize a comprehensive policy for columbarium interments and crypt burials.

e Plan and begin implementation of organ restoration/expansion.

f Digitize and conserve archival collections: photographs, historic documents, drawings, and artifacts.

g Protect and amplify the Cathedral’s brand identity through communications best practices, a comprehensive brand management strategy, and quality distribution.

h Finalize and implement plan for fire and life safety upgrades.

i Identify and implement improved sustainable practices resulting in more energy efficient building performance.

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GOAL 2Enhance the overall visitor experience and increase visitation numbers.

a Offer visitors the opportunity online and onsite to learn more about Christianity, the Episcopal Church, and the life of the Cathedral.

b Increase variety and quantity of specialty tours.

c Create and implement improved informational and wayfinding signage throughout Cathedral facilities and grounds.

d Develop educational programming for visitors onsite and online with national reach and relevance.

e Build a café to enhance the visiting experience for sightseers, worshipers, event-goers, the Close-wide community, and neighbors.

f Increase quality of keepsakes and sales items, in general, at gift shops.

GOAL 3Establish the Cathedral as a top D.C.–area venue for concerts, exhibits, and the arts.

a Conduct market research on audiences for concerts, exhibits, and arts programming.

b Bring in exhibits that amplify the Cathedral’s programming and display creativity, beauty, and artistic contemplation.

c Design concerts to increase attendance, reach more diverse audiences, and generate revenue.

d Develop onsite and online experiences that celebrate and promote the building arts, artisans, and craftsmen that have made the Cathedral unique.

GOAL 4Establish the Cathedral as a premiere special event and wedding location in Washington, D.C., to draw new audiences and widen awareness among corporate and philanthropic entities.

a Create guidelines, event templates, a web presence, and a sales office.

b Develop and implement policy and plans to increase the number of weddings inside the Cathedral and on the grounds.

c Generate a new revenue stream supporting operations and special projects.

The nave ceiling vaulting and boss stones

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Washington National Cathedral is the Cathedral of the Diocese of Washington, the spiritual home for three schools on the Cathedral Close, and a vibrant worshiping Christian community in the Episcopal tradition, welcoming people of all faiths.

cathedral church

Washington National Cathedral is proud to be the Cathedral Church of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, comprising 89 congregations in the District of Columbia and four Maryland counties. It is where the diocese gathers for sacred events, such as ordinations, confirmation services, and the consecration of its bishops. The bishop of the diocese presides at services on high holy days and other sacred occasions, and many leaders, clergy and lay, look to the Cathedral for inspiration. The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church also has a seat inside the building.

The Cathedral also serves as the spiritual home for the students, faculty, and staff of the three Cathedral schools, who worship regularly in the Cathedral. They begin and end each academic year in the Cathedral, and in its sacred space students celebrate their accomplishments and find solace in times of trial. Through the chorister program, students on the

Close offer their musical gifts in Cathedral worship and receive an exemplary musical education.

At the heart of the Cathedral’s life is daily worship of God, which provides spiritual nourishment to multitudes. The Cathedral’s congregation gathers on Sunday morning to break bread together, hear God’s word, and experience the power of God’s promise. The Cathedral Chapter has signaled its strong support for the congregation to continue its special welcoming and grounding role as an important first-line group of ambassadors, an anchor for the Cathedral’s worshiping life. Investments in this central aspect of Cathedral life during the next three years will give further weight and momentum to the Cathedral’s broader vision for serving as both the seat of its diocese and a symbolic home for the national and global Episcopal Church: a confluence of institutional relationships supporting vitality, dialogue, and transformation.

Annual Carols by Candlelight Christmas Eve service, 2012

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GOAL 1Through worship, music, and the arts, engage people across divisions of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and religious affiliation to be a true crossroads in the landscape of our nation’s faith.

a Increase attendance to daily and Sunday services.

b Enhance and refine worship and music offerings to engage a more diverse group of worshipers.

c Sustain the pattern of the Daily Office in creative ways.

d Expand the liturgical music and arts programs.

GOAL 2Increase the participation of the Cathedral’s congregation as a partner in the Cathedral’s strategic priorities.

a Explore engagement of the Cathedral congregation in Chapter governance.

b Create and implement a plan for the congregation’s increased participation and support the life of the Cathedral and its ministries.

c Expand the size of the congregation as well as members’ breadth and depth of engagement.

d Grow Cathedral congregation involvement in outreach opportunities.

GOAL 3Identify how the Cathedral can serve most effectively the schools on the Close, the Diocese of Washington, the Episcopal Church, and the Anglican Communion.

a Identify additional ways the Cathedral can lead specific efforts, offer itself as a resource, and be a partner.

b Continue to find opportunities for collaboration between the Cathedral, the schools on the Close, and the Diocese of Washington.

c Strengthen the Cathedral’s significance as a center for liturgical innovation by creating new opportunities to serve the Diocese of Washington, the national Episcopal Church, and the Anglican Communion.

The boy and girl choristers are students enrolled at St. Albans School

and National Cathedral School for Girls

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The Cathedral is a leader in proclaiming the Gospel in the public square and in convening people of all faiths to examine and respond to important issues of peace, justice, and reconciliation in our world.

convener

The Cathedral’s programs have had global reach, and its ministries to the marginalized and those in need involve the entire Cathedral Close as they extend to every corner of the District of Columbia and the nation. They honor a vision for the Cathedral to serve as a center for continual learning and intellectual enrichment—not only about the mission field of the Church but also those causes and concerns shared by all people of good will, regardless of faith, throughout the world.

Cathedral programs have long invited the public to consider major issues of the times, yet the institution’s ability to provide space to sustain these conversations has been limited. The Cathedral College complex offers the promising possibility as a home for ongoing initiatives, with room for growth over the coming years. The

Cathedral College must first and foremost be a concept: an urgently needed new programmatic identity, administrative platform, and operational plan for executing a vision for programs of sustained duration and necessary depth that will both supplement and constitute part of the Cathedral’s major catalytic work.

The Cathedral’s visibility, reach, and effectiveness will only increase through renewed and new partnerships with schools, foundations, government agencies, and nongovernmental organizations in ways that aid and complement its work. The Cathedral seeks to build programming that enables an ongoing exchange of ideas and continues the successful work meeting the needs of and raising awareness about the people and populations who bear the brunt of inequality and prejudice.

The Hon. Togo D. West, Jr., Veterans Day, 2013

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D Increase interfaith partnerships and dialogue.

e Liaise with schools and other organizations on the campus to improve communication and partnership across the Close.

f Continue and build upon partnerships with local outreach groups and religious organizations.

GOAL 3

Use the convening platform of the Cathedral to engage national and international leaders to foster interfaith understanding and create practical opportunities to address pressing national and global issues.

A Expand programming that raises awareness of marginalized groups within society both nationally and internationally.

B Host leaders with major public, political, religious, and cultural authority at the Cathedral to discuss issues of the times, expanding the Cathedral’s role as a convener.

GOAL 4

Build on the Cathedral’s long-standing commitment to social justice through increasing ministries to the oppressed, marginalized, and poor.

A Improve visibility of ministries to alert individuals and patrons of volunteer service opportunities.

B Develop a sustainable plan for outreach utilizing volunteers.

C Expand outreach to include city-wide government and non-profit partnerships as well as programs run by the Cathedral that fit into its unique role as a convener.

d Create a vision for developing national and international outreach programs.

GOAL 1

Create an identity for the Cathedral College as a conceptual center for programming.

A Develop an onsite and online plan to implement the programmatic vision of the Cathedral.

B Create a plan to ensure fiscal sustainability of the College complex as the physical center of Cathedral programming.

C Advance programming around veterans’ holidays, specifically Memorial Day and Veterans Day, to honor those who have served and sacrificed.

d Plan and implement year-round programming for veterans to offer spiritual refreshment and education for the civilian public about veterans’ issues.

e Establish the Cathedral as a pilgrimage destination to bring in new constituencies from around the nation and the world.

f Continue to develop the Cathedral’s national and international pilgrimages.

GOAL 2 Identify and develop relationships with nonprofits, governmental organizations, and companies that will partner with the Cathedral to reach new constituencies and help to achieve its programmatic and financial goals.

A Research and identify potential organizations for programmatic partnerships.

B Create guidelines for partnerships and co-hosted events, exhibits, and publicity.

C Implement partnerships and determine how to grow their engagement and scope for future events and projects.

25 Cathedral Scholars with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, date?

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process forward

The Cathedral will take this plan and operationalize it by laying all of the objectives across a timeline; they cannot be completed simultaneously, but many can be run in parallel. The resulting “roadmap” will illustrate where on a three-year timeline each objective will begin and the approximate duration of each effort. In addition, Cathedral staff will conduct gap analysis exercises to determine the resources needed to begin and complete each objective. If the resources are not available when the work to achieve an objective is scheduled to begin, staff will modify the roadmap to reflect the change in plans and proceed accordingly.

Senior managers have been identified to lead each of the objectives, and other managers have been identified who need to be informed about the progress. Performance metrics will be established

to determine over the next three years what has been completed and what hasn’t, and to help make the necessary adjustments to the roadmap, as needed. This process will help Dean Hall and his managers maintain a high level of accountability.

Periodic reports will be prepared for Chapter review. With this process, priorities can be added, removed, or otherwise modified iteratively. The board and senior management can then make operational adjustments as the organization analyzes and evaluates progress along the way.

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29photography 

Donovan Marks • Craig Stapert • Colin Winterbottom

printed june 2014

(fsc logo placed by printer)

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