THE KOREA SOCIETY | STRATEGIC PLAN

THE KOREA SOCIETY | STRATEGIC PLAN | 2022 - 2026

THE KOREA SOCIETY

STRATEGIC PLAN

2022 - 2026

(March 5, 2025)

VISION:
The Korea Society seeks to be the recognized leader in promoting closer relations between the peoples of the Republic of Korea and the United States.

MISSION:
The Korea Society is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) organization with individual and corporate members that is dedicated to the promotion of greater awareness and understanding in order to strengthen cooperation between the peoples of the United States and Republic of Korea.

STRATEGIC GOALS:

+ - Goal 1: Policy Programs Click to collapse

In the area of Policy, promote and increase interest, knowledge, and discussion of the importance of Korea and the ROK - U.S. Alliance in order to maintain and strengthen the diplomatic and security relationships, all aspects of which are critical for the future of both countries. .

Priorities:

1) Increase understanding of the importance of the ROK – U.S. Alliance.

2) While prioritizing the security and stability of Northeast Asia, the United States, and beyond, support efforts to promote reconciliation and peaceful reunification, denuclearization, human rights, and economic development in North Korea.

3) Increase understanding of the importance of Korea in its region and beyond.

4) Strengthen and articulate our common democratic values of freedom, human rights, rule of law, and democracy.

Strategies:

1) Develop a better understanding of our key audiences. Prioritize and focus on audiences that are critical to the Society’s mission, vision, and goals.

2) Conduct Public Policy Programs and Roundtables.

3) Conduct an annual Van Fleet Signature Policy program.

4) Engage with the media to highlight key activities.

5) Conduct programs and events to honor and remember Korean War veterans and those who have served and are serving in Korea.

6) Feature current U.S. and Korean policy makers to discuss matters key to the U.S. - ROK Alliance.

7) Collaborate with like-minded partners to expand impact and outreach.

Key Performance Indicators:

1) Influence the influencers” indicator:

- Sustained engagement from government policymakers, think tank experts, researchers and academics, media, and corporate, with key demographics actively engaging, attending in-person programs and consuming digital products.

2) Public Awareness indicator:

- Annual survey shows engagement with policy content enhances audience understanding of the priorities (Alliance, NK, Korea in its region, and Common Values).

- Maintaining annual attendance in-person programs and digital product consumption (i.e., over 5,000 registrations for in-person and livestream view, and over 30,000 cumulative YouTube views and podcast downloads)

+ - Goal 2: Education Programs Click to collapse

In the area of Education, advance educational opportunities and programs for students and educators in order to promote mutual understanding and appreciation as well as develop and sustain the long-lasting ties between our two nations for generations to come.

Priorities:

1) Advance Korean Studies in U.S. schools, colleges, universities, and other entities to promote and cultivate an understanding of Korean culture, history, and the importance of the close relationships between the U.S. and the Republic of Korea.

2) Promote the advancement of Korean language learning, meeting the needs of individuals who wish to develop Korean language skills for both professional and personal interests.

Strategies:

1) Develop a better understanding of our key audiences. Prioritize and focus on audiences that are critical to the Society’s mission, vision, and goals.

2) Conduct post-program surveys of current audiences and execute environmental scans to identify future audiences.

3) Create, maintain, and promote robust and easily accessible educational resources for students, educators and researchers.

4) Offer a range of programming for educators, including the following:

a) Exploring new and future trends in Korean Studies.
b) Learning about “best practices” in delivering Korean Studies programming.
c) Convening Korean studies experts who explore trends in and ways to promote advancement of Korean language in the U.S.

5) Promote the Sherman Family Korea Emerging Scholar Lecture Award Program to advance thought leadership for a new generation of scholars and professionals.

6) Promote the Project Bridge Youth Ambassador program among educators and students in New York and Montana, as well as sponsors in Korea.

7) Promote study abroad to Korea by offering competitive travel grants for underfinanced, undergraduate students.

8) Increase the diversity and number of the Society’s Korean Language Program offerings.

a) Capitalize on the popularity of Korean music and entertainment by offering related courses.
b) Attract geographically diverse audiences.
c) Strengthen current language offerings based on knowledge gained through satisfaction surveys and environmental scans.

9) Develop trainings for a broad spectrum of audiences utilizing varied platforms.

10) Attract sponsor/underwriter funding to support grants, awards, and education-related projects.

Key Performance Indicators:

1) Advance Korean Studies indicator:

a. For Students:
- Increase applications submitted to competitive programs (Project Bridge & Study Abroad) & increase TKS visibility at schools
- Secure adequate funding to double number of Study Abroad Grants & funding awarded annually
- Attract interest from and engagement with student clubs

b. For Teachers, Educators, Researchers and Others:
- Increase number of middle and high school workshops offered locally and attract new virtual audiences
- Increase Lecture attendance
- Significantly increase website ‘hits’ on our digital resources
- Attract at least 5 organizations willing to partner on our resources initiative.

c. For Professionals:
- Increase enrollment in our new Business series among companies
- Generate income that covers costs

2) Korean Language Learning indicator:
- Increase overall enrollment
- Increase participant geographic diversity
- Generate sufficient revenue to cover, at a minimum, all direct expenses, and ideally all indirect

3) Audience, Partner and Donor Development:
- Develop post-program surveys for all programs and strive to achieve a minimum 30% online response rate -Attract new sponsors for our PB Study Tour

+ - Goal 3: Arts and Culture Programs Click to collapse

Promote the diversity and excellence of Korean and Korean-American artists, performers, authors, and other professionals in the broadly defined area of culture.

Priorities:

1) Promote Korea as a global force in art, literature, culinary art, performing arts, entertainment industry, and sports.

2) Foster awareness of Korean and Korean American artists and professionals; promote their contribution to the cultural scenes in New York City and beyond.

Strategies:

1) Develop a better understanding of our key audiences. Prioritize and focus on audiences that are critical to the Society’s mission, vision, and goals.

2) Promote contemporary artists with exhibitions and special online programs, including artist-talk programs and art history lecture series.

3) Design literature programs to be conducted both in the event space and online, featuring Korean-American writers and Korean authors, whose books are translated and published in the U.S.

4) Support touring performers and Korean film releases in the U.S. by promoting the events and conducting interviews both in-person and online.

5) Design lecture series to present traditional Korean culture, including cuisine, fashion, and design, to be delivered by scholars and experts.

6) Develop interview series with Korean-American creatives who are working in the U.S. to promote their career and business.

7) Identify possible partners both in Korea and the U.S. to present more diverse programs with greater impact and increase audience numbers.

8) Increase the network of possible presenters and guests for the program from both Korea, the U.S., and around the world.

9) Identify and cultivate a better understanding of potential program funders who can become critical to the Society’s Mission, Vision, and Goals.

10) Identify possible funders for specific arts and culture programs.

Key Performance Indicators:

1) Program participation indicator:

- Participation and interest to be evaluated through the number of RSVPs and attendance in person and YouTube views (demographic breakdown of general audience and English-Speaking, Younger Generation)

2) Social media indicator:
- Social media outreach expansion to be evaluated via the number of followers and engagement metric from Instagram (demographic breakdown of general audience and English-Speaking, Younger Generation)

3) Korean/Korean-Born/of Korean Descent Artists indicator:
- Survey with past artists and guest speakers regarding the impact TKS program/exhibition had on their career

4) Donor indicator:
- Potential donors show greater awareness/ support of TKS A&C by engaging with the staff and exploring possible funding opportunities

+ - Goal 4: Business and Economics Programs Click to collapse

In the area of Business and Economics Programs bring greater awareness of and focus on business relationships between the U.S. and the Republic of Korea in order to strengthen economic relations.

Priorities:

1) Build a network of connections between the Society and leaders in government, business, finance and other fields having a prominence in the U.S. and ROK economic and financial relationship.

2) Explore and enhance understanding of major issues in the evolving landscape of economic, trade, and technology policies affecting the business partnerships between the U.S. and Korea.

Strategies:

1) Develop a better understanding of our key audiences. Prioritize and focus on audiences that are critical to the Society’s mission, vision, and goals.

2) Liaise and leverage activities with the Policy and Arts & Culture program areas to attract greater interest in and support from the U.S and Korean business communities.

3) Seek new opportunities and relationships with business leaders in U.S. and Korean firms.

4) Conduct high profile programmatic series and explore new areas in the future. Develop specialized program series, namely:

a) Leadership Interview Series
b) Local Leadership in the Global Context
c) Startup Scene Series
d) U.S.-ROK New Economic Paradigm

5) Global Financial Leaders Forum (GFLF): Feature leaders in the Korean and U.S financial community and cooperating with Maekyung Media Group, Korea Finance Society, and Korea Investment Corporation, to provide insight on market trends and analyze investment strategies.

6) Young Professionals’ Network (YPN): Build upon collaborative partnerships with adjacent organizations to provide a platform for learning and growth, professional development opportunities, mentorship, and networking in all business industries for young professionals in The Korea Society’s local, national, and international audience.

7) Conduct and expand outreach programs and the visibility of TKS to prioritized cities and states with an emphasis of attracting an audience from regional business communities.

8) Prioritize attracting speakers who are critical to the Society’s Mission, Vision, and Goals.

Key Performance Indicators:

1) Programming influence indicator:
- increased # of high-level speakers for business and economic programs across programs
- Participation in programs increases among targeted business audiences (i.e., newly emerging financial industries)
- Increased visibility in print and broadcast media (particularly NYC, DC, and Seoul) to demonstrate TKS’s influence on topical issues in the broad economic relationship (e.g., Special Measures Agreement)

2) National Network Expansion indicator
- Increase activity with regional business communities in the southeast US in DC, Georgia and eventually Texas)
- Increase YPN network programming in NYC

+ - Goal 5: Fundraising Click to collapse

Expand and increase consistent and predictable contributions of foundations, corporations, individuals to The Korea Society’s activities and its finances.

Priorities:

1) Attract revenues from U.S. and ROK companies, foundations and individuals to support current and planned activities of the Korea Society.

2) Raise sufficient investment income (fundraising, investments, program, event revenue and membership dues) to fund and expand programs and staff.

Strategies:

1) Ensure that the endowment investment and operational budget policies serve best The Korea Society’s needs.

2) Fundraise in general, but with a focus on special events and Corporate programming.

3) Develop a plan to grow endowment through new contributors.

4) Seek earmarked sponsorship for particular Policy, Arts & Culture and Corporate programs.

5) Conduct a highly profitable Annual Gala Dinner.

6) Conduct other highly profitable special events, namely the Van Fleet Memorial Golf Tournament and the Annual Membership Party.

7) Maintain a high bar on the selection of the Van Fleet Award recipients.

8) Reach out to U.S. companies more actively.

9) Revise the current membership benefits and levels to attract greater membership.

Key Performance Indicators:

1) Revenue Growth and Diversification indicator
- Maintain a diverse funding base and increase annual fundraising - total and across categories (program, events, corporate, etc.) - over average of the previous 2 years

2) Long-term sustainability of operating budget indicator
- Present annual evaluation of income and expenses

3) Maintain optimal performance of endowment
- Monitor annual endowment portfolio

+ - Goal 6: Organizational Capacity Click to collapse

Strengthen and grow TKS to enable it to accomplish the Society’s mission and organizational vision.

Priorities:

1) Grow organizational capacity through hiring and retaining high performing leadership and staff and use of collaborative planning tools and technology.

2) Develop a process and the organizational structure to further enhance the Society’s ability to utilize digital media opportunities. Across all Korea Society departments enhance the understanding and use of social and digital media presence in order to help better promote all of TKS goals and priorities, to reach key audiences and as appropriate, to generate revenue.

3) Increase individual membership.

4) Establish the Van Fleet Advisory council to guide accomplishment of the above goals in fulfillment of the Society’s mission.

5) Maintain an effective Board of Directors

6) Develop a succession plan for key positions.

Strategies:

1) Align salary compensation with other similar budget non profit organizations, expand benefit awareness and education among staff.

2) Work to better understand the opportunities in digital media to enhance the Society’s ability to reach a broader, more influential audience.

3) Maintain robust engagement with traditional print and broadcast media in the U.S. and Korea.

4) Enhance the benefit of membership and explore membership levels and strengthen mechanisms to track and renew membership

5) Establish Advisory Councils to support the BOD and TKS.

6) Develop a list of skills needed on each committee and the BOD. Develop a BOD self evaluation methodology.

7) Develop a succession plan for executive officers of The Korea Society (see Article VII of the Bylaws).

Key Performance Indicators:

1) High performing staff retention indicator :
- Maintain retention of high performing staff
- Increased staff understanding of fairness and constraints in salary and benefits (staff survey)
- Increase utilization of professional development opportunities

2) Media coverage effectiveness indicator:
- Steady increase in traditional media coverage and social media audiences, including subscribers (e.g., YouTube) and followers (e.g., Instagram, Facebook)

3) Individual membership growth indicator
- Increased individual membership

4) President/CEO/Board effectiveness indicator
- President/CEO evaluation by the board shows high functionality as well as expected areas of better performance
- Board self-evaluation developed shows high functionality as well as skills needed to function more effectively

5) Advisory Board creation indicator:
- Board advisory council established to advise on strategy, programs, and membership development (meet 2x/year)
- Van Fleet leadership advisory council established as higher level group of advisors that meet 1x/year to expand our networks and donors