Coming Into Our Own:
Ten Oaks Project Strategic Plan 2011-2014

In 2007, the Ten Oaks Project launched an ambitious plan to guide its efforts, setting goals to grow its capacity to break down barriers, enhance self-esteem, and build leadership and self-confidence for the children and youth of LGBTQ communities. That exercise drew on the important views of the broader Ten Oaks Project family to set strategic priorities, as well as clarify and communicate the mission, vision and values of the organization.

Since that time, the Board of Directors, along with the staff, volunteers, donors, families, and program participants, have acted as stewards to that vision, with careful recalibrations, course corrections, and expansions to keep current with the capacity of the organization and the needs of the community.

Thinking about where we have come since the last full strategic planning process, it is clear how much has happened: we have found a permanent home for the organization, we have invested in our future by hiring an Executive Director, we have substantially grown our program offering with the development of Project Acorn, we have delivered on our mandate to empower youth by having Project Acorn be significantly steered by a Youth Advisory Committee, we have further rooted ourselves in Toronto (including through a new significant fundraising event), and we have grown our donor base and operating funding by over four times since 2007.

To chart the course we lay out here, we have listened closely to the community. We began with intense reflection as a Board of Directors and complemented this with meaningful input from community leaders, from our program users, families, donors, and friends.

Download our 2011-2014 Strategic Plan