Nonprofit November: A Look at The Bay

From the beginning, The Bay has followed the Leading To Win playbook for nonprofit success.

The Bay has a clear objective and clear Playing to Win strategies. We’ve made the tough decisions and understand the answers to the five important and integrated questions: What is winning? Where to play? How to win? What are our must-have core capabilities and management systems?

We also have strong leadership from ALL the stakeholders who have had to work in partnership to enable a transformative possibility to become reality. The Bay is a civic initiative to transform 53 acres of city-owned land (much of it surface parking lots and abandoned, deteriorating buildings) into a signature, world class public park on beautiful Sarasota Bay that is open and accessible, free and welcoming to the full and rich diversity of the community… now and for generations to come.

Conceptualized in 2014, the first 10 acres of park will open in 2022.

What are the key learnings so far?

The Bay, although a civic initiative led by a series of citizen volunteers and nonprofit organizations (including the Bayfront 20:20 coalition, the Sarasota Bayfront Planning Organization, and now The Bay Park Conservancy), working hand-in-hand with the City of Sarasota, has been run like a business from the beginning — with a clear goal, strategy, business model and a very disciplined management of the cash and resources needed to move the initiative ahead in logical phases.

From the beginning, the answer to what is winning has been clear. We want to transform the most valuable 53 acres of city-owned land into a signature public park for all.

And, the aspiration expressed in the approved master plan for the site has never been compromised. The transformation includes a new performing arts center, and a new public boat launch with day docks, restaurants and retail. The project is financially feasible, operationally doable, environmentally sustainable and, most importantly, exceeds the needs and wants of the community.

The customer, which for us is the park visitor, has always been and will continue to be “the boss.” The first WTP choice is the 53 underdeveloped acres on Sarasota Bay. The most important WTP choice is “the customer” — the park user and the community.

Community engagement and ongoing dialogue have been the key to broad support for the initiative. Thousands follow The Bay’s website, weekly newsletter, and social media channels ranging from Facebook and Instagram to LinkedIn and YouTube. More than 6,000 community members have completed three surveys in four years.

For the first time in Sarasota’s history, five major local foundations have aligned to support The Bay financially from early planning stages. This support has helped catalyze broad support from other family foundations, philanthropists, local businesses, and individual Friends of The Bay.

Partnerships have been a key how to win choice, not only with the community and donors, but also with the City of Sarasota which entered into its first ever long-term public-private partnership with The Bay Park Conservancy (BPC).

The city has contracted with the BPC to be its exclusive design and development partner to build the park, its co-fundraiser from private and other government sources, and its management partner to operate the park as it’s built. Building on this partnership, the Sarasota City and County commissions agreed to enable a tax increment financing district and funding for park capital improvements and the building of a new performing arts center if/when approved.

Following the Central Park Conservancy playbook, the BPC embraced the transformative new public park goal and guiding principles and followed a clear step by step plan from design to implementation to operation to activation, enabled by City Commission and Management approvals, funding to support every phase, and stakeholder leadership to ensure the resources needed to execute with excellence.

A number of different leaders have stepped up all along the way to move this ambitious civic initiative ahead. Sometimes government leaders, such as the mayor or the city manager or a critical member of city staff, step up. Other times, it’s the CEO of a major foundation or board members who tap into their unique capabilities and experience when needed.

The BPC operates like a start-up — with only three full-time staff, and a part-time Founding CEO who all but volunteers his time to further the park.

This park conservancy has created a network of partner providers who come together at the right place at the right time to do the job that needs to be done — urban planners, architects, engineers, local construction and landscaping firms, project managers, communications and marketing agency, environmental advisors, land-use attorney, accountants and auditors and volunteers of all kinds.

The Bay has been an innovative and interesting experiment in community and stakeholder-led conservation of valuable public land, environmental restoration of precious land and water, public park creation and place making, and innovative management and leadership in a public-private partnership.

A public park is a public good for the benefit and use of the public. A well-designed, well-developed, well-activated and well-managed public park will serve a community for decades… even centuries.