Disclaimer: All data, context, and discussion included in the following mock dashboard are fictional and are for educational and illustrative purposes only.
Mock Marine Station
Developing strategic capacity towards reinvigoration of community outreach and education at the state’s premier marine station.
Mission
Connect people to the ocean by generating and sharing knowledge of coastal and marine ecosystems and the human communities that are part of them.
Vision
As we look ahead to our next 50 years, we envision that the Mock Marine Station will continue to be an internationally recognized center for marine research, education, and engagement. The Mock Marine Station will enable scientific discovery and help sustain coastal communities, ecosystems, and economies in Maine and beyond.
Values
Access, Community, Communication, Diversity, Excellence, Respect, Sustainability.
Figure 1. Illustrates a general decline in annual donations overtime, inclusive of 2020 barring one large foundation gift in support of an individual program.
In 2020 Mock Marine Station was able to increase overall charitable gifts to support experiential programs offered by the station.
Looking more closely at annual donations by type of donor, gifts decreased in all categories over the previous three years, except in the foundation category, thanks to a single large foundation gift to support a specific partnership program.
Based on this data and station need, a goal has been set to increase the value of donations to support community outreach and education by 6% annually through 2025. The station plans to achieve this initial goal by dedicating greater staff time to development tasks.
Figure 2. Illustrates stagnation of individual donors, with a strong decrease in 2020 likely due to the global pandemic.
While 2018 and 2019 saw an increase over 2017, 2020 saw a sharp decline in individual donors. Though not confirmed it is likely that decreased giving was in part due to economic uncertainty, and decreased station programmatic activity due to COVID-19.
With recovery from the pandemic beginning in 2021 it is anticipated that individual donors should normalize by 2022. However, with a goal identified to increase donation funding by 6% annually through 2025 to support community outreach and education programs, a goal of 6% annual increase has been set by the organization, which will be achieved by allocating more staff time to development tasks.
Figure 3. Illustrates, with exception of 2020, an annual increase in participants served by the station.
There has been steady activity in serving University and SBS students, while increasing other participants served annually, primary with off-season and off-site programming by station associated staff.
There was an annual increase until 2020 when only a small fraction of participants were served due to COVID-19 resulting in the cessation of programming at the station until summer 2021.
Figure 4. Illustrates that a large percentage of station staff time is spent on administrative functions. 2020 saw an increase in time spent on data management due to time spent in identifying a solution to remove the need for repetitive and redundant data entry and management.
An excessive amount of time is spent by station administrative staff on data management due to not having adequate software or staffing to manage various data needs of a organization with unique needs.
By 2022 the DMC hopes to reduce time spent managing data to no more than 15% of administrative staff time so that the DMC can grow communication, programmatic and development functions.
The station believes that to achieve this goal it is imperative that the organization identify and invest in a software package that will simplify and automate many data management tasks.
Moving the Mock Marine Station into the future
One of the largest challenges facing the Mock Marine Station is a very limited administrative staff of just four: Director, Laboratory Manager, Programs & Communications Manager, Administrative Assistant. The organization is limited in its ability to achieve its mission due to limited staff time that can be directed towards the development of funding sources and programming.
Supporting these tasks requires the management of diverse data sources which cannot be adequately achieved within the current systems and staffing structure. To achieve the targets outlined in this report it is imperative that a solution is found to reduce the staff time allocated to data management so that this time can be rededicated to donor and program development allowing Mock Marine Station to reinvigorate community outreach and education delivered by the organization.
Time spent on data management tasks can be reduced by over 60%, through the implementation of a custom-designed software package to meet the unique needs of the station. By reorienting this staff time towards program and donor development it is anticipated that the organization can expect a 7:1 return on investment during the next five years resulting in over $550,000 in new revenue.