TAVIP Strategy 2020-2024
Introduction
TAVIP is a self-help group which is constituted both as a charity and a company. It has around 200 members, spends around £25,000 per annum and has assets of around £470,000. It is governed by a Board of seven trustees, three of whom hold the posts of: chairperson, treasurer and company secretary.
Vision
Our vision is that blind and partially sighted people can live in a world where they have equal independent access to technology which must always employ solutions that take account of their access requirements to allow them, in turn, to have the same access as others to goods, services and facilities.
Mission
Our mission is to provide information and fora which empower our members to use items that employ technology.
Values
- Self-help
- Empowering
- Community, (belonging and participatory)
- Passionate about technology
- Collaborative
- Member-led
- Proactive, (flexible and responsive)
Objectives
Objective 1: Increasing the capacity of the organisation
This equates to seeking out particular expertise in issues such as budgeting, strategy and income generation that TAVIP will require if it is to make a step change in the way it currently operates.
Recruiting regular paid assistance to support the organisation’s activities.
Overhauling the infrastructure of the organisation.
This relates to replacing the current website and the auditing and updating of its content. One item of content planned for the future is a training directory.
Objective 2: Increasing diversity
Clearly this objective can be interpreted in numerous ways. For the purposes of this strategy it includes:
Designing into its services the needs of people who use vision enhancement techniques (magnification, contrast and speech) as well as its current approach which majors on sight substitution (speech and Braille).
Making specific efforts to recruit younger members. Whilst the organisation does not hold information on its age profile, it believes its membership is skewed towards the middle and upper end of the age spectrum.
Seeking to increase the representation of people from black and minority ethnic communities in its membership.
Objective 3: Promotion and working in partnership
This would involve giving presentations to specialist schools, colleges, support units for vision impaired pupils, DSA (disabled student advisors) etc and the production of materials aimed at different audiences.
Linking with employers’ organisations to promote the contribution of blind people in the IT sector.
Working in partnership: This would go further than simply attending meetings with others in the sector. It could extend to the mutual publicising of activities and resources of each organisation, collaborating in research, designing projects together etc.
Objective 4: Income generation and sustainability
Whilst the organisation has some reserves, these will not last indefinitely. Thus if it is to gear up its level of activity, it will require an income generation strategy.
Given that income generation often needs a long lead-in time, this should be commenced at the beginning of the strategy period.
Conclusion
The above strategy deals with the direction the Board wishes the organisation to take in the medium term. It should be reviewed at least once during its life – within year three. It needs to be distinguished from a business plan which would spell out how the above objectives could be pursued.