Strategic Direction Statement

Strategic Direction 1 Post Fellowship development of Churchill Fellows

Develop stronger connections with Fellow

• We want to improve and maintain connections with, and between, Fellows both during their Fellowship and once they have completed their Fellowships. This is important so that we can encourage their careers and promote their achievements – which will in turn underscore the reputation of the Trust.
• We need to provide incentives for Fellows to stay in touch with the Trust and with each other – examples could be offering Advanced Fellowships after a period has elapsed; connecting them to sponsors; actively disseminating their work (e.g. through TED talks/YouTube as well as more traditional means); and seeking financial and non-financial support from alumni .

Strategic Direction 2 Ensure that Contemporary Issues are addressed in Fellowship Topics

The Trust must be alive and responsive to topical issues in Australian life

• We want to balance our existing broad-based, serendipitous approach to topics whereby applicants come to us with ideas, while at the same time be on the front foot to generate topics that ensure the Trust contributes knowledge and ideas to issues of importance to Australian society and culture.

Strategic Direction 3 Ensure that Fellowships are Awarded to Australians from ‘All Walks of Life’

Ensure a diverse cohort of Fellows

• We want a cohort of Fellows that reflects Australian society from all walks of life (Indigenous, rural/remote, migrants etc).
• We want to give opportunities to Fellows with a variety of qualifications—those from just the ‘school of life’ as well as those with more formal qualifications. And we want to give opportunities for ‘low profile’ and ‘high profile’ candidates to apply and be selected.

Strategic Direction 4 Public Profile of the Trust

Make sure the Trust is well known

• We want to ensure that the full range of opportunities the Trust provides are well known to potential applicants.
• We want to ensure that the achievements and contributions of our Fellows are widely known, respected and attributed to the Trust.

Strategic Direction 5 Refresh Brand ‘Churchill’

Respond to changing public perceptions of Winston Churchill

• We want to reinvigorate and align our branding and promotion of the ‘Churchill Trust’ with contemporary sensibilities and perceptions about Churchill.
• The Churchill persona should remain central to the identity of the Trust, emphasising those values and characteristics that endure across time.

Strategic Direction 6 Ensure Best Practice Operation at all Levels

Refresh our strategic and operational processes

• We need to re-think and refresh the operation of the Board and National Office to get the best out of our directors and staff, including providing more opportunities for the Board to engage more frequently and more strategically.
• We need to keep the effectiveness of our selection processes constantly under consideration
• We need to provide a strategic and operational framework for the work we do, to keep us on top of it and avoid procrastination and time-slippages.
• We need to develop ways to measure and monitor our work and our value proposition.
• We need to challenge ourselves to break out of old ways of doing things and capitalise on contemporary opportunities.