Institutional development is about connecting our visions for future services with the realities of revenue and operating structures. Institutional development means setting broad directions for our organizations and knowing how to make progress from where we are now to what we strive to become. SRG members have talked for years about becoming more significant in our communities. It is only recently, though, that we have begun to define goals and activities to address this yearning. Building Stronger Stations In early 1996 SRG adopted broad but specific targets for our collective growth in audience service and nongovernmental financial support, development of new broadcast channels, and the creation of partnerships and collaborations. Each of these goals was framed in terms of expected performance by the end of 2000. As we move through the final year of this planning cycle, there is much to be proud of in our collective progress and important work still to be done. For a look at how we're doing, read Building Stronger Stations. To view this report you need Adobe Acrobat Reader which you may set up as either a plug in to your browser or as a stand alone application. If you do not have this program already installed on your computer, you may get it free by clicking here. Strategic Planning One path to stronger organizations is solid strategic planning. Our broad goal is disciplined strategic planning at SRG members, for SRG as an organization, and for public radio as a field. We outline our thoughts on the subject in Strategic Direction for SRG Major Gifts Several years ago we began developing major gifts programs at SRG member stations. We soon realized that this work contributed much more than new dollars raised. To succeed with major gifts, stations need a clear vision of their future and engaged civic leadership. Susan Harmon places SRG's major gifts work in the context of our broader strategy in Institutional Growth, New Leadership, and Big Gifts. Our first effort in major gifts development was The Leaders Partnership, through which five SRG members increased unrestricted annual gifts of over $1,000 by more than 60 percent. In June 1998 we launched the Major Gifts Initiative to expand this work to another twelve member stations. Long Term Outcome Over time, we expect our work to strengthen SRG members organizationally will move our stations to a position that can be characterized as agile, creative, fleet of foot and well-managed. They should be capable of delivering an array of distinctive services to a significant number of people and of operating in an ambiguous, ever-changing technical and competitive environment.