Merit School of Music

Merit School of Music has achieved something outstanding and unique among community music schools by creating a dynamic programming pathway that offers its diverse student body sustained access to the highest-quality musical instruction.

This pathway, or continuum, begins with entry points across a network of community-based partner sites (known as Merit Music in Communities) as well as introductory experiences at Merit's West Loop home, the Joy Faith Knapp Music Center. It progresses through intermediate and private instruction and culminates with the audition-based Alice S. Pfaelzer Tuition-free Conservatory.

In its first 40 years, Merit has transformed the lives of tens of thousands of young people. As it looks toward its 50th in 2029, Merit's vision is to become the Chicago-based national model for inclusion and excellence in music education.

To realize this vision, Merit will pursue the following goals growing out of its core values:

INCLUSION & EXCELLENCE: Remove barriers and deliver excellent, sustained musical instruction to an increasingly diverse student body.

GROWTH & SUSTAINABILITY: Expand its financial and organizational capacity to deliver its mission.

AWARENESS & ENGAGEMENT: Increase local and national awareness and civic engagement.

LEARNING, COLLABORATION & SUPPORT: Create an engaging collaborative, nurturing place to learn, work, volunteer, and grow.

INCLUSION & EXCELLENCE
• Provide transportation, subsidized tuition and/or staff resources to aid student recruitment to on-site programs
• Establish mutually beneficial partnerships with other educational and cultural organizations
• Develop and scale student mentoring program to promote college and career readiness
• Sustain and build community and school-based programs in predominantly low-income African-American neighborhoods
• Strengthen existing relationships in target communities and invest appropriately to expand student participation and quality of instruction
• Identify one new school or community partner in a predominantly African-American and low-income neighborhood to offer an intensive, instrumental program by 2020
• Recruit highly-qualified staff, faculty and board members representing our diverse student body
• Refine Merit's curriculum; improve student assessment and data collection practices; modify curriculum and programming accordingly
• Expand professional development for faculty and program staff
• Plan and deliver a biennial tour (regional, national or international) to motivate our most advanced students)
GROWTH & SUSTAINABILITY
• Grow earned revenue
• Maintain a balanced budget with sustained positive cash flow
• Find efficiencies/savings to decrease expenses
• Deepen Board engagement in cultivation, development and stewardship activities
• Engage Civic Advisory Council members, gaining their expertise and helping to build Merit's donor networks/relationships
• Engage consultant to develop case for support and fundraising messages in order to expand donor base
• Develop fundraising events that engage participation by all stakeholder groups, as well as a general public audience
• Restructure and launch a planned giving program
• Announce 40th Anniversary campaign publicly in FY2019
AWARENESS & ENGAGEMENT:
• Create multi-year Marketing and Communications plan
• Increase investment in Merit's Marketing and Communications team as well as advertising and public relations campaigns
• Deepen engagement of key constituent groups in using social media to grow awareness about Merit
• Engage all key constituent groups in effort to attend and invite others to attend major Merit student performances each year
• Deepen relationships with cultural, educational and philanthropic organizations to enhance impact and visibility
• Seek opportunities for Merit to host events that draw leaders in arts, education and philanthropy
• Seek and secure high-visibility, off-site performance opportunities for Merit students
• Maintain active membership in West Loop community organizations with student performances at West Loop community events
LEARNING, COLLABORATION & SUPPORT:
• Celebrate and support tenure and quality of service
• Build community and commitment across Merit
• Support Quality of Life

Together, in accordance with Merit School of Music's strategic plan, Merit's staff, boards, faculty, donors, students, alumni and families will create a future that builds on the school's distinguished past, charting a course toward deeper, more sustained impact.

Merit's efforts are supported by new but deeply experienced senior leadership, a highly skilled and engaged board of trustees, and a deeply committed, highly qualified faculty and network of teaching artists. In addition, Merit's 40-year track record of successful growth, prudent management, and effective, innovative programming has enabled the school to build a strong base of individual and institutional supporters who understand and believe in Merit's core mission as well as its current strategic plan. A significant number of foundations have demonstrated their confidence in Merit's direction and the specifics of its strategic plan by increasing their commitments over the last two years from single-year to multi-year gifts.

Finally, there is the incalculable contribution of the “Merit family" of students, parents, and alumni who are deeply invested in its work—the curriculum, teaching methodology, and overall environment—and contribute at every level, from direct giving, to fundraising, to event planning and staffing, while also embodying the ethos of the institution and transmitting it outward to new students and families, as well as down through multiple generations of their own.

Additional support comes from a wide network of pro bono partners and providers on a project basis. Together, these elements comprise an organization very well positioned to meet the challenges facing all nonprofits in the current fiscal and political environment and to meet and achieve the goals it has set for itself.

The strategic plan was adopted in July 2016. Merit has made progress across a number of fronts:

Merit has established a new partnership between its Merit in Communities program and Chicago Youth Centers, increasing the percentage of African American students participating in programming

Merit has increased the number of children in the Merit in Communities program who receive fully subsidized tuition and transportation to participate in more intensive Merit programs, which aids progress both toward demographic goals as well as the goal of increased participation across multiple programs in Merit's continuum of instruction.

Merit has successfully increased multi-year commitments from several foundations, improving stability and the ability to forecast and plan for the future.

Merit has increased involvement by its Associate Board (young professionals), thereby expanding the number and diversity of its network of individual donors and increasing and diversifying special events which decreases historical dependence on a single annual Spring Gala.

Merit has established a permanent, multi-departmental Data Gathering and Performance (D-GAP) task force which meets monthly to improve data quality and integrity, data collection and analysis, benchmarking, and all processes related to program and student assessment in order to better understand and improve program effectiveness, student retention, and overall student experience across all programs.

Merit completed an all-faculty survey in order to get a clear, picture of Merit's culture and work environment and to better understand faculty interests, needs and concerns. The survey has already resulted in specific professional development events, improved employee recognition, and other improvements.