Last year, finding myself with more time than money, and seeing press reports that our beloved Hudson River Sloop Clearwater was in financial straits, I offered to help however I could. The organization asked me to join a new business model planning task force. Just under a year later, the Clearwater board of directors ratified our Comprehensive Plan, and today the organization announced how it’s Making Full Sail into the next five years.
I’m really proud and grateful to have worked with the luminaries on this task force, and proud of the plan we’ve created. Some of the plan is intensified focus on the basics—financial management, donor stewardship, a strategic attention to major gifts—and some moves are exciting, creative ways to bring more people aboard the Sloop herself. Mission-aligned corporate sponsorship, event charters, pay-what-you-can sails…every time someone new sets foot on the deck, a new supporter is made.
And our River, our region, New York City, and people who believe in conservation and sustainability need Clearwater more than ever, whether they know it or not. Will you haul on a line with us?