Aspiring to a Plan - And Achieving It

Owen Stearns

As a brand new student loan conversion foundation focused on educational issues in Maine, MELMAC faced significant public scrutiny following their conversion. While their mandate was broad they were required to undertake a needs assessment as a condition of their conversion. Wendy Ault, Executive Director of MELMAC, described herself and the Board as also interested in doing a “study of studies, because we wanted to make sure we weren’t repeating anything that was currently happening.”

However, given the wide range of educational issues in Maine, there was not yet a clear sense of what a needs assessment would reveal – or how it would drive a strategic plan. According to Ault, "We were very new to the whole process, but early on we didn’t anticipate that we would come out of this with a niche, an actual strategic plan. We didn’t realize the possibilities beyond doing a needs assessment and study of studies.”

In this 2004 interview, Ault discusses how working with FSG helped the foundation to find its role.

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