• Cultivate the exchange of scientific information among members
• Broaden and diversify membership
• Encourage members’ participation in the governance of the Society
• Educate the private and public sectors
• Achieve an adequate level of financial reserves

Since the approval of the strategic plan in 1996, the SID’s board and staff have worked diligently and made very good progress in achieving these goals. In May 2002, under the leadership of David R. Bickers, the board decided to review its progress since 1996 and to conduct another strategic planning process to establish new core goals to guide the organization over the next five years. In part, this decision to develop a new strategic plan was based on a series of changes being experienced by the SID.

• Steady increases are occurring in attendance at the annual meetings.
• Submissions to The Journal of Investigative Dermatology have been increasing substantially.
• By contrast, the SID’s low membership retention rate is of growing concern although membership numbers have remained fairly stable since the mid-1980’s.
• The average age of the SID members is 47.4 years and it is projected that in excess of 300 members may retire over the next seven years, possibly leading to an erosion in the number of members.
• The number of physician-scientists in medicine and dermatology is decreasing.
• The number of graduating medical students who state they intend to pursue research careers has been falling significantly over the last fourteen years.
• Most residents can expect to end their training with an average debt of $100,000, making the prospect of continuing training in the basic sciences unattractive.
• The number of physician-scientist first-time NIH grant applicants is predicted to reach critically low numbers by 2004.
• The percentage of biomedical grants awarded to 35-and-under investigators has dropped sharply over the last twenty years.

Taken collectively, these changes were viewed as sufficiently important to warrant the board investing the SID’s human and financial resources in developing a new strategic plan. Consequently, Dr. John A. Yankey, the Leonard W. Mayo Professor at Case Western Reserve University, was engaged as a consultant to assist the board and staff in designing and facilitating the planning process. The staff, including those associated with The Journal of Investigative Dermatology, assembled a variety of reports on the SID’s governance, membership, programming, finances, fundraising, professional affiliations, and governmental relations. Surveys were conducted to obtain members’ perceptions of the SID’s strengths and weaknesses and readers’ perceptions of the journal. Additionally, benchmarking data were assembled to provide information for members of the Strategic Planning Committee to compare certain aspects of the SID’s structure and operations with other organizations.

The Strategic Planning Committee convened in a 1½-day retreat in Cleveland, Ohio, in November 2002 to:

• Refine the SID’s mission statement.
• Craft a new vision statement for the organization.
• Define the SID’s core values (guiding principles).
• Identify the strategic goals to guide the organization over the next five years.
• Determine potential strategies to achieve the strategic goals.

Following the retreat, the SID staff and Dr. Yankey refined the goals and strategies and developed an initial operational plan to implement the strategies. The draft strategic and operational plans were reviewed and refined by the Executive Committee of the SID board, following which they were distributed to the full board and members of the Strategic Planning Committee prior to the Annual Meeting in Miami, Florida. On May 1, 2003, the SID Board of Directors, joined by other members of the Strategic Planning Committee, reviewed the plan, following which the board unanimously approved Vision 2008.

Below are the five primary strategic initiatives to be pursued over the next five years and the Vision 2008 statements of mission, vision, and core values.

Mission
The SID’s refined mission statement.

To advance and promote the sciences relevant to skin health and disease through education, advocacy, and scholarly exchange of scientific information.

Vision
The vision that will guide the SID over the next five years.

The SID will be the pre-eminent organization for the science of skin health and diseases. It will be a leading purveyor of educational programming. It will promote a culture of discovery and serve as the premier forum for the exchange of scientific information relating to dermatologic research. It will build cross-disciplinary bridges to provide catalytic leadership in attaining intellectual, political, and financial support for skin-related scientific investigation. The SID will be—and be viewed as—a significant force in shaping public policy. As a result of recruiting, nurturing, and mentoring the next generation of scientists, it will be a financially robust and self-sustaining organization.

Core Values
The following five core values will serve as guiding principles for the SID as it implements this strategic plan.

Integrity
By this we mean...

• We are dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in all that we undertake.
• We hold ourselves accountable to the highest professional and ethical standards.
• We believe that financial stewardship is an important aspect of our professional and organizational integrity.

Collegiality
By this we mean...

• We value and encourage personal and organizational collaboration.
• We work diligently to create and sustain a spirit of trust and respect in our work with one another.
• We communicate openly with our colleagues.

Shared Beliefs
By this we mean...

• We seek and respect all types of diversity in our professional and organizational relationships and activities.
• We promote and support a culture of mentoring among our members.
• We believe our mission can best be achieved through partnerships with other organizations.

Innovation
By this we mean...

• We constantly search for ways to positively change the status quo.
• We place high value upon new ideas and best practices.
• We believe that creativity should be fostered and rewarded.

Leadership
By this we mean...

• We help our members to continuously acquire new scientific knowledge and research skills.
• We serve as the international leader in the creation and dissemination of knowledge about skin and its diseases.
• We provide catalytic leadership in creating partnerships with other organizations.

Strategic Goals & Strategies

Strategic Goal 1: Stabilize and diversify membership to ensure SID’s future.

Strategies

• Clarify and promote more aggressively the benefits of SID membership.
• Initiate a series of activities to attract the next generation of scientists, clinicians, and residents who will become members.
• Develop tactics to engage greater numbers of members in SID activities.
• Create mentorship programs.
• Explore, and establish as appropriate, strategic alliances with other member organizations.

Strategic Goal 2: Strengthen and expand SID’s educational programming to promote and advance the importance of science.

Strategies

• Ensure that SID’s Annual Meeting provides the best educational forum for the exchange of information.
• Establish clear criteria for determining program expansion.
• Create and/or customize programs targeting current and new sectors of membership, e.g., residents, clinicians, and scientists.
• Initiate an aggressive marketing plan to promote educational programs.
• Implement ongoing evaluation mechanisms to gauge results of educational programming.

Strategic Goal 3: Maintain the JID’s status as the pre-eminent source of research information.

Strategies

• Create a task group to expand publication of state-of-the-art research.
• Assure the JID’s utilization of state-of-the-art electronic capacities.
• Initiate a range of activities to broaden the JID’s readership base.
• Implement steps to enhance revenue streams to the JID.
• Explore a self-publishing model for the JID.

Strategic Goal 4: Strengthen SID’s government relations activities.

Strategies

• Diversify membership of SID Committee on Government and Public Relations.
• Initiate systematic efforts to identify and/or position SID members as members of government funding and regulatory committees.
• Implement steps to create greater awareness of government relations activities for members and constituents.
• Design and implement steps to engage younger SID members in government relations activities.
• Strengthen relations with other advocacy groups such as the AAD and patient groups.

Strategic Goal 5: Develop a five-year financial and operations plan that
attracts funding from public, corporate, and philanthropic sources to maintain SID’s growth and fiscal responsibility.

Strategies

• Engage consulting assistance to develop financial and fundraising plans.
• Strengthen the SID Board’s composition, structure, and operations.
• Clarify the responsibilities of and utilize board Committees—Auditing, Finances and Fund Development—in plan development.
• Strengthen staff’s capacities to effectively manage the SID.
• Establish a Fundraising Committee and a Corporate Advisory Committee to identify, cultivate, and solicit potential donors and sponsors.
• Pursue corporate support for operations via grants, sponsorships, and cause related marketing.
• Develop a major gifts and planned giving program to help grow the SID’s endowment.

The development of Vision 2008 provided additional opportunities for the SID’s board and staff to gain greater understanding of the organization and each other. The process strengthened mutual respect and resulted in renewed commitment to maintain the SID’s position as the pre-eminent organization for the science of skin health and diseases. This plan provides the foundation and framework for moving the SID to the next level in serving its members and the larger public. While the plan will serve as an excellent road map to the future, it needs to be revisited on an annual basis to assure the assumptions underlying it are still accurate. With appropriate modifications and/or adjustments in implementing Vision 2008 over the next five years, there is every reason to believe the SID will become an even stronger, more vibrant organization.