Strategic Plan

SGS leadership in 2023 established five main “pillars” or strategic focus areas, with the following goals defined:

Membership
Diversify membership

  • Set goals of additional #’s of members in specific categories
  • Campaign to current Active Members about specific goals to diversify membership

Improve value of membership

  • Describe value added member benefits

Improve pathway to membership

  • Increase Associate Member engagement
  • Broaden mentorship program
  • Improve communications for proposing new members
  • Continue outreach to prospects and applicants

Collaboration with related organizations

  • Continue exploring options with ACS
  • Identify potential collaborations with other orgs.

Visibility
Establish SGS brand awareness

  • Pictorial of “what is an SGS Member”
  • Publicize vetting process for membership
  • Improve public facing search for members
  • Make SGS deliverables (i.e. SRG, CoRPS publications) and collaboration with other organizations more visible
  • Establish listserv/communities to discuss difficult cases

Use Social Media as a tool for education and visibility

  • Create a schedule for continuous posts on Social Media
  • Define the content to be provided on Social Media (such as “surgical tips online”)

Finance
Professionalization of financial services

  • Identify and contract investment management company for SGS investments, Segregation of tasks

Increase Donations

  • Continue to develop a culture of giving
  • Investigate Planned/Estate Giving, Patient Giving, Intellectual Property Giving
  • Explore ways to make it easier to donate

Review Management and Utilization of Donated Funds

  • Create task force to identify possible paradigm shift on usage of money annually, e.g. % or dollar

Revitalize Fund Development Committee, explore need for creating a foundation

  • Investigate financial impact for creation of a foundation
  • Identify new chair for Fund Development Committee

Investigate additional grants for education and research projects

  • Identify top three companies/foundations to approach for potential grants

Education
Provide education to meet needs of surgeons across career

  • Assess the existing programs and identify gaps (audience/topics)
  • Develop new program(s) to address the gap(s)

Reexamine Annual Scientific Meeting existing offerings to determine if change is needed

  • Update current categories for abstracts and target call for abstracts to support educational objectives
  • Needs assessment/survey from members, meetings attendees to determine changes

Research
Promote excellence in research

  • Investigate final course established by SASGOG to assess needs and gaps
  • Explore components for a new excellence in research course (manual, web based, live, audience – longitudinal, methods)

Develop SGS research goals

  • Identify goals including areas for focus such as diversity/inclusion, JEDI, implementation science, etc.
  • Target SRG, CoRPS and abstract submissions to meet the research goals
  • Create awards for focus areas

Development Research Mentorship Program

  • Develop pathway to begin research in FPRN® and continue to CoRPS, if accepted
  • Prepare plan to get Life members more actively involved in mentorship program