Skaneateles Festival
PROJECT: Strategic Planning and Capacity Building (2024–2025)
/ CHALLENGE
For more than 40 years, the Skaneateles Festival has brought world-class music to the Finger Lakes. With strong community support and a reputation for excellence, the Festival sought a new strategic plan to guide its next chapter. The Board and staff needed to address challenges including venue limitations, a loyal audience base that skews older, stretched staffing capacity, and the need to clarify the Board’s role for long-term sustainability.
/ SOLUTION
A&O was engaged to design and facilitate a capacity assessment and strategic planning process grounded in the Nonprofit Lifecycles model by Susan Kenny Stevens. The process included a document review, stakeholder surveys (board, staff, donors, musicians, volunteers, and audience), and interviews with key stakeholders. A&O facilitated a board retreat to identify emerging priorities, refine the Festival’s mission and vision, and develop actionable goals. Planning addressed board governance, audience growth and diversification, program innovation, venue improvements, and resource development.
“The [A&O] team was wonderful to work with. We benefited greatly from their experience and guidance, and they were very receptive to our preferences and goals throughout the process. Through surveys, stakeholder interviews, document review, planning meetings and a well-facilitated retreat, they led a process that clarified our priorities and charted a clear path forward. The result was a strategic plan that feels both ambitious and achievable. The credibility of the process, A&O’s strong engagement with our board and the solidity of the resulting plan brought strong buy-in from our board and staff. I would happily recommend A&O to any organization looking for expert guidance and meaningful results. ”
/ OUTCOME
The Festival gained a three-year strategic roadmap to strengthen its ability to deliver on its mission. Outcomes include clarified governance roles, strategies for audience diversification, a framework for addressing venue and staffing needs, and actionable fundraising goals. The plan positions Skaneateles Festival to sustain its artistic excellence while adapting to changing community, audience, and organizational needs.