Mozilla Foundation strategic plan

This is the home of the Mozilla Foundation's 5-year strategic planning process. (Updated Dec 21, 2015)

Overview -- slide deck summary of our 5-year vision, how it fits in a broader Mozilla context, and H1 2016 plans
Strategic Plan -- long-form version (draft version 0.8 -- completed version coming January 2016)
Mark Surman blog post -- December 2015 update + request for feedback from the Mozilla Foundation's Executive Director

Creating an ambitious leadership and advocacy plan

Defining a more ambitious learning, leadership and advocacy plan was one of the Mozilla Foundation’s main goals for 2015. We have now completed version 0.8 of this plan in summary and long form.

December 2015 update

In October we set out a vision for the next phase of the Mozilla Foundation’s work: fueling the movement that is building the next wave of open into the digital world. Since then, we’ve been digging into the first layer ‘how do we do this?’ detail. We’ve been asking things like:

What issues do we want to focus on first?
How do we connect leaders and rally citizens to build momentum?
How does this movement building work fit into Mozilla’s overall strategy?

We’ve drafted a MoFo 2020 Strategy document to answer to these questions, which we're posting here for comment and feedback.

While this builds on our past work, it is worth noting that there are some important differences from the initial thinking we had earlier in the year. We started out talking about a ‘Mozilla Academy’ or ‘Mozilla Learning’. And we had universal web literacy as our top line social impact goal. Along the way, we realized that web literacy is one important area where our movement building work can impact the world — but that there are other issues where we want and need to have impact as well. The focus on a rolling agenda setting model in the current strategy reflects that realization.

Seeking your comments and feedback

As you’ll see as you look at the planning documents, we are considering the current work as version 0.8. That means that the broad framework is complete and fixed. The next phase will involve:

a) engagement with our community and partners re: how this framework can provide the most value and
b) initial roll out of key parts of the plan to test our thinking by doing. Plans to do this in the first half of 2016 are detailed in the documents.

At this stage, we really want reactions to this next level of detail. What seems compelling? What doesn’t? Where are there connections to the broader movement or to other parts of Mozilla that we’re not making yet? And, most important, are there places that you want to get involved?

The best way to give feedback is as comments on Mark Surman's blog post for now. And we'll have an updated set of new communications channels to support our Leadership and Advocacy work shipping in January.

How we got here

Here's a timeline showing the evolution of our thinking and strategy, with links to supporting documents and context.

Phase 0: committing to a plan

Dec 2014 -- MoFo commits to drafting a long-term strategic plan. Crafting an ambitious learning and community strategy is set as a key 2015 goal, with a common approach and brand for all of Mozilla’s learning efforts.

"Within 10 years there will be five billion citizens of the web. Mozilla wants all of these people to know what the web can do. We want them to have the agency, tools and know-how they need to unlock the full power of the web. We want them to use the web to make their lives better. We want them to be full citizens of the web.

By 2017, we want to build a 'Mozilla Academy:' a global classroom and lab for the citizens of the web. Part community, part academy, people come to Mozilla to unlock the power of the web for themselves, their organizations and the world.”

Sharing the vision at Mozlandia, Portland (video) -- Mozilla All Hands Executive Director Mark Surman describes the vision at Mozilla All Hands in Portland, Dec 2015

Phase 1: defining our strategy

(April - July)

Jan -- "Thinking bigger." Early brainstorming and open consultation begin.

March -- Mozilla board meeting recaps 2014 accomplishments + 2015 plan

April -- Phase 1 of planning work begins in earnest.

"Mozilla needs a more ambitious stance on how we teach the web. The web is at an open vs. closed crossroads; helping people build know-how and agency is key if we want to take the open path.”

June -- "Read, write, participate" as the essence of web literacy. Early feedback from colleagues / partners suggests an emphasis on helping people learn and hone ‘working in the open’ participation skills.

June -- Mozilla Board approves general direction: an interlinked two-part strategy focused on Leadership Development + Advocacy for universal web literacy.

July -- "Web literacy and leadership." Creating a global network of people to teach and advocate.

"What’s become increasingly clear over the last month or so is: a) [leadership development] has become one of our core strengths and b) it is one of the biggest places we could have impact going forward. This has lead us to the conclusion that leadership development should be one of the core elements of our overall learning strategy."

July -- “Advocating for web literacy.” -- We begin to define advocacy as a core strategy for shifting understanding and thinking about the web.

“Mozilla is already doing good work that improves public understanding of the web and promote web literacy. Now we want to have impact at a larger scale.”

July 27 -- Phase one concludes. We summarized our strategy thinking to date as a slide deck for our Board and other internal audiences.

Phase 2: fleshing out Leadership + Advocacy

(Aug - Oct)

Aug -- we strike core working groups to flesh out our strategy: Leadership and Advocacy. Plus an “Impact” working group to help set KPIs and think about measurement and evaluation.

Sep — setting a broader agenda. We decide to expand our scope beyond “web literacy” to include the concept of setting a wider agenda. We make the decision to rename from "Mozilla Learning Network" to "Mozilla Leadership Network."

Oct 2015 -- Mozilla Board approves our strategy. Mark Surman hosts an open town hall summarizing and answering questions about it. Video | Slides

Phase 3: work planning + budgeting

(Oct - Dec)

Oct 2015 -- “Fueling a movement.” We summarize how MoFo’s strategy fits into a broader 5-year vision for all Mozilla.

“We need to tackle big challenges like monopolies and walled gardens, but we also need to add fuel and energy to the next wave of open. This is how we had an impact the first time around with Firefox. It’s what we need to do again.”

Oct / Nov -- program design + H1 2016 work planning begins in earnest. We set top-line 2016 goals, key initiatives and critical dependencies.

Nov -- we finalize KPIs for Leadership (Network Strength) + Advocacy (Active Advocates)

Dec 4: we publish our strategic plan in draft summary and long form.

Dec 17: Mozilla Board approves our draft strategic plan and 2016 budget. A finalized business plan will ship in January.

“Together we will connect leaders, shape the agenda and rally citizens. The Mozilla Leadership Network will provide a magnet, training ground and lab for people working alongside us to ensure the web remains a public resource. And our Advocacy Engine will give Mozilla and its allies the ability to mobilize locally and globally, becoming the world’s biggest, boldest, most effective force standing for the internet.“

MoFo 2020