A newly released strategic plan clarifies Washington National Cathedral’s mission and vision and sets out a process to move the cathedral, which has recently and historically faced fiscal setbacks, onto firmer financial footing.

This is the second time in recent years that the cathedral has conducted a process of discernment, Dean Samuel T. Lloyd told a group gathered for a June 8 town hall meeting in the cathedral’s Perry Auditorium. A report titled A New Century, A New Calling was published in 2006, just ahead of the financial crisis that hit the cathedral hard in 2007 and 2008 (“a year I’d like to forget,” said the dean). The new plan refines this initial effort and addresses the financial component in greater detail.

To secure the cathedral’s long-term financial stability, a series of capital campaigns will be launched in the coming years with the goal of  building an endowment, Lloyd said. The target is to raise $400 million by 2037.

The cathedral has been an expensive operation from the outset, he said, noting that over the years it has faced “financial crisis after financial crisis.” Construction started and stopped as funds ebbed and flowed. But since Sept. 29, 1990, when the last stone was lowered into place on the West tower, the focus has shifted from “building the building” to being “attentive stewards of the building” and “building the life within this building.”

To that end, the cathedral has engaged for the past six months in a fast-paced process of strategic planning with Sapient, a consulting group, said Kathleen Cox, the cathedral’s executive director and chief operating officer.

Interviews and visioning sessions were conducted with stakeholders – key members of the cathedral community including staff, Bishop John Bryson Chane, Cathedral Chapter members and past presidents of the National Cathedral Association. A process of benchmarking set out to compare the cathedral with other cathedrals in the United States and overseas and also with other religious and cultural institutions.

Cathedral leadership and chapter members drafted new mission and vision statements.

Lloyd said the cathedral’s vision statement was arrived at quickly: “to be the spiritual home for the nation.” The mission statement, which took longer to refine, states that the cathedral will serve as “a catalyst for spiritual harmony in our nation, renewal in the churches, reconciliation among faiths and compassion in our world.”

“The operative word is catalyst,” Lloyd said. “Getting things that are different to chime with each other, to make beautiful music with each other.”

With that done, four strategic goals were identified: To be a sacred place, welcoming the country to pray, celebrate, and mourn; to be a historic landmark and national treasure symbolizing the role of faith in America; to be a living, Christian community in the Episcopal tradition, welcoming people of all faiths; and to be a leader in convening people of all faiths to examine and respond to important issues in the world.

With each goal, accompanying objectives and short and long term tactics were identified. A “gap analysis” was conducted to pinpoint shortfalls in existing resources. And an implementation roadmap was drawn up, which includes strategies for measuring progress.

“We hope it will provide more accountability,” Cox said, describing the roadmap as a “useful tool in keeping us all focused collectively on the kinds of things we should be focused on.”

One area of focus is the visitor experience, said Rob Sokol, director of strategic programs.

“How do we take what we already have and build it up a little bit?” he asked, explaining that during the process four types of cathedral visitors were identified: destination visitors (tourists); K-12 educational visitors; cathedral supporters; and high level donors.

“We want to engage these people,” Sokol said.

During the benchmarking process, the cathedral’s visitor experience was compared with that of 30 organizations such as the Spy Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. A team attended visitor orientations at each place and rated each organization on its physical site, digital offerings, service and the quality of exhibits.

The visitor experience was broken into phases and studied – pre-visit, during visit and post-visit – and gift shop and membership offerings were analyzed.  

In light of these findings some changes are being considered, among them a pre-arrival orientation for visitors who have just a short time to explore. This would break the visit into separate “experiences” tailored to individual preferences, i.e. nave, crypt, towers and gift shop.

Sokol noted that despite the cathedral’s impressive physical presence, when visitors were surveyed “it was always a person who made the biggest impression… not the building, as expected.”

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