Strategic Plan

To address today's challenges and deliver on its mission, the Television Academy Foundation will act with urgency in its work around four key priorities over the next five years (2025–2030):

Evolve with the Industry: The Foundation aims to provide unprecedented access and opportunities to emerging talent by reimagining and realigning its programs. By embracing evolving technology and industry change, including the creator economy, TVAF will ensure its initiatives remain relevant and impactful.

Cultivate Strategic Partnerships: The Foundation will champion a culture of collaboration by committing to deepening existing relationships and going beyond its traditional partnerships, ensuring mutually beneficial alliances that enhance its work and extend its reach.

Raise Our Visibility: TVAF will achieve greater impact through broad recognition and participation in its programs. Elevating the public profile of the Foundation as a leader in the industry is an imperative of our strategic plan.

Grow Our Revenue Base: The Foundation will support financial growth and resilience, allowing it to be ambitious and entrepreneurial by exploring new financial opportunities.

The strategic initiatives defined for each priority are purposefully multi-dimensional and overlapping. In this way, our work will reinforce itself. The activities outlined for each initiative are intended as initial examples. We will continue to add or shift activity over the coming years as needs change.

In this historic moment of uncertainty and change, the Television Academy Foundation must evolve. Its goal is not simply to remain relevant, but rather to expand its role as a trusted resource, facilitator and convenor. To achieve this, we asked key questions about how we currently support emerging professionals, and how we can better leverage our resources to deepen that relationship for greater impact. Our goal is to provide unprecedented access and opportunities to emerging talent. To accomplish that, we are reimagining and enhancing programs and creating greater synergy among the Foundation's various programs.

Our signature internship program, for example, has developed a reputation as a best-in-class initiative. But industry careers are changing. In addition to learning specific skills, there is a greater need to learn to be innovative and entrepreneurial. We also know thatpeople feel less connected -- to each other, to our history, and to other professionals who may have successfully navigated today's challenges. Our programs address these issues and provide new avenues for exploration for emerging professionals.

Signature Initiatives

• Initiative #1: Expand the Internship and the College Television Awards Experience.

• Initiative #2: Address a transforming entertainment industry by implementing new categories and criteria for internships, College Television Awards, Interviews, and public programs.

• Initiative #3: More closely integrate Foundation programs in ways that respond to a changing industry and provide deeper support to emerging talent.

• Initiative #4: Prioritize professional development opportunities for staff.

The Television Academy Foundation is a small but mighty team, consisting of 14 staff members and supplemented by important support from the Television Academy, as well as outside independent contractors. The critical partnership with the Academy is key to the Foundation's success.

The Foundation is committed to strengthening its core partnership with the Academy and its members and to exploring additional collaborations that will multiply our impact. Our goals for strategic partnerships include greater access to industry decision-makers, transformational and sustainable gifts, and influence on statewide policy and initiatives affecting workforce development for the industry.

Signature Initiatives

• Initiative #1: Deepen relationship between Foundation staff and Board and the Academy through intentional collaboration.

• Initiative #2: Initiate three to five multi-year strategic partnerships.

• Initiative #3: Support Board-led advocacy effort to influence statewide and national educational policy to increase funding for workforce development programs in the entertainment industry.

While the Television Academy Foundation's impact on the field has been profound, the Foundation remains relatively obscure to many industry professionals and has limited visibility with the general public. Various groups often cite the relevancy of one program or another: Industry legends are eager to participate in Interviews, leaders know they get stellar internship candidates from the Foundation, college educators depend on the College Television Awards as a pinnacle event for film students. However, rarely does someone comprehend the full scope of Foundation programming and support.

We seek to change that to ensure we are serving as a resource for a broad and diverse audience, as well as to attract new donors and revenue streams that advance our work.

Signature Initiatives

• Initiative #1: Raise the visibility of the Foundation at the Emmys.

• Initiative #2: Increase the Foundation presence at Academy member events.

• Initiative #3: Create an Ambassadors program.

The Foundation has a stable operating model. However, fundraising has remained flat over the past five years, and potential revenue streams remain untapped. This has hampered our ability to take advantage of key opportunities. If the Foundation is to deepen its commitment to emerging professionals and to development of its staff, additional resources are imperative.

Signature Initiatives

• Initiative #1: Create a more robust fundraising and engagement program.

• Initiative #2: Assess the possibility of white-labeling Foundation programs.

• Initiative #3: Evaluate the Interviews for revenue opportunities.

The thoughtful and successful implementation of this plan will require input and participation from a wide group of individuals, including Foundation staff and Board members, Academy staff and members, alumni, peer groups, current students, educators, and more.

Our most important successes will be measured in the deeper relationships we form, the existential impact we see on emerging professionals' lives, and in how our teams work together. When the Foundation becomes the go-to resource for emerging professionals, we will have achieved our goals.

The Television Academy Foundation stands poised to be a critical central resource during this time of change in the industry and beyond. With a commitment to supporting emerging professionals in creative new ways, the Foundation will emerge as a leader in inspiring tomorrow's Emmy winners.