Transcript The Big Issue” - Strategic Content Alliance blog

The Big Issues
Kevin Guthrie, ITHAKA
Morning Session Talk and Discussion (Outline)
7 May 2010
Plenty of ‘big’ issues
• Fragile and hostile economy
• Government instability in the UK
– UK university budgets to be cut £449 million in 2010-11, with £215 million cuts for
teaching and research funding flat
– Uncertainty about what further cuts a new government might bring
• Government budgets are under duress in the US
– At least 39 US states have reduced funds allocated to higher education
• Endowment investments in decline
– American university endowments registered their worst average returns since 1974
• Philanthropic foundations making smaller grants
– Median annual grant-making for large U.S. foundations dropped $2.1 million in 2009
• What are the consequences for innovation in higher education, cultural
heritage, and related sectors?
The big issues are affecting funders
• For grantors, pain points at every stage in the life cycle of a funded
project:
– Previously funded projects returning to ask for more funding at the
end of their initial grant cycle
– Once the project’s initial grant ends, less funding available for ongoing support from universities, museums, and other host institutions
– More innovative projects are at the door seeking start-up funding
– Long-term risk that projects are not being digitally preserved
Doesn’t Change the Fundamentals:
“Now We Mean It!”
• Ithaka S+R conducted research on online resources in the academic and
cultural heritage sectors in 2008-09
• In a series of twelve case studies, profiled the projects’ histories, costs and
revenues, and sustainability plans
• Identified five key steps for sustaining a digital resource
• This underlined the challenges of trying to make each funded project
sustainable. Is there capacity to respond to a more challenging
environment?
And not just for those who think they invest in
digital resources…
• Not all granting agencies and foundations describe themselves as funders
of digital resources, yet their grantees are creating a wealth of digital
projects
– The museum that receives funding to mount an on-site exhibit and
builds a vast interactive website with hundreds of images
– The television production team that posts online production stills and
transcripts, and launches a discussion board
– The medical research teams who deposit datasets and papers in a
national repository
Sustaining Digital Resources:
An On-the-Ground View of Projects Today (2009)
Sustainability is the ability to
generate or gain access to the
resources—financial or
otherwise—needed to protect and
increase the value of the content
or service for those who use it
What role for funders?
• Our 2009 study addressed sustainability from the project leaders’ point of
view
– What are the steps they took to balance costs and revenues, plan for
future investments in and updates to the resources, build a robust
community of users
• The study did not address the roles funders play
– What does project sustainability look like from the funders’ side?
– What are the steps they can take in this process?
– What are the obstacles?
How do funders interact with the steps we identified? Where do they
help the process, and where might they hinder it?
Five Steps to Sustainability
Empower leadership to define the mission and take
action
Create a strong value proposition
Creatively manage costs
Cultivate diverse sources of revenue
Establish realistic goals and a system of accountability
Empower leadership
• Found that successful projects
have leaders who:
– are strongly dedicated to the
projects
– pursue new opportunities
and risks
– hire talented staff
• What can funders do to help?
– How much control do funders
have over project leadership?
– How can funders build
capacity for entrepreneurship
and innovation in their
grantee project leaders?
Create a strong value proposition
• Project leaders:
– Create a resource that offers
unique value, and understand
that value
– Deeply understand to whom
the resource offers value, and
why
– Continue to add value to the
resource based on an
understanding of users’ needs
• What can funders do to help?
– How can funders help ensure
that value proposition is
clearly articulated?
– Do funders discuss impact?
– How can funders help
strengthen the value
proposition of the projects
they support?
– Do funding guidelines give
resource leaders the freedom
to enrich and invest in the
resource post-grant?
Creatively manage costs
• Project leaders:
– Minimise direct costs
– Secure contributions from the
host institutions
– Outsource to vendors
– Recruit volunteers
– Need accurate and full
accounting of operating costs
• What can funders do to help?
– Our research pointed out that
host institutions may be less
able to provide the in-kind
support that was possible in a
stronger economy.
– Is the model of transitioning a
funded digital project to a
willing host institution still
viable?
– How can funders provide
scaled solutions to lower
costs for all the digital
resources they fund?
Cultivate diverse sources of revenue
• Project leaders:
– Cultivate sources of revenue
to cover both direct costs and
ongoing upgrades
– Experiment with different
revenue models
– Clearly identify the value of
the resource to the target
audiences
– Consider diverse sources of
revenue
• What can funders do to help?
– Do foundations and granting
agencies value the
development of long-term
revenue sources?
– How do funder policies
regarding IP constrain
revenue options for projects?
– How is progress toward
revenue generation evaluated
throughout the grant?
– Do funders require revenue
projections?
Establish realistic goals and accountability
• Project leaders:
– Establish goals and targets
with their host institutions
– Determine balance between
financial and mission goals
– Assess progress
– Connect their broad mission
to quantifiable targets
• What can funders do to help?
– Do funders require the
development of measurable
goals and objectives?
– How are fundees required to
report impact to funders?
– Do fundee impact reports
affect the future funding
practices of grantors? If so,
how?
What questions can funders ask themselves?
• Which types of projects require sustainability?
• How do funders articulate their exit strategies to
projects?
• And just what does sustainability mean?
– Covering just direct costs?
– Covering all operational costs?
– Generating enough to continue resource
development?
Longer-term issues rising to the top
• Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access
final report pointed to continued need for attention to digital preservation
• Highlighted key recommendations for stakeholder groups, including
funders and sponsors of data creation
–
–
–
–
Create preservation mandates when possible
Invest in building capacity for preservation
Provide leadership in training and education for digital preservation
Fund the modeling and testing of domain-specific preservation strategies
• Suggests the importance of a more expansive role for funders over the
lifecycle of a digital project
– Is this a sustainable situation for funders?
For funders, new big issues
In a harsher economic environment for universities, libraries, museums, and
others, difficult questions to answer:
• Which projects need to be “sustained”?
• How can funders and fundees better define what “sustainability” will
require and understand the steps needed to accomplish this?
• How can funders’ policies and practices improve the chances for success
of the projects they fund?
• How can a funder have impact in the Five Key Areas, to help digital
resources survive and thrive?
Thank you.
[email protected]