Strategic Plan 2012 -- We Need Your Input

Dear HD Community Member:

The Board of Trustees of HDSA has developed a five-year strategic plan that:

• Identifies the areas of importance for the families that HDSA serves
• Defines goals and target objectives for the Society over the next five years; and
• Presents guidance for the plans of work to be developed and implemented by the HDSA staff and volunteers to reach the identified goals.

The Strategic Planning Task Force spent hundreds of hours over 18 months conducting data review, community surveys, and holding discussions with individuals from every constituency of the HD community. They used this information to assess the business of HDSA and develop this Plan for the growth of the Society, so that we can provide more services to families affected by HD and fund more research that can improve our knowledge base on HD and therefore lead us closer to effective therapeutic interventions.

Before the Plan is finalized and implemented, we want to receive input from all interested members of the community.

To do this we are launching a 30 day open comment period beginning today, January 24, 2012, and concluding on February 24.2012. At the end of the open comment period, the Strategic Planning Task Force made up of Board Chairman, Donald Barr, Board members Dr. Jang-Ho Cha, Jamie Graham, Steve Ireland and Steve Seekins and HDSA CEO Louise Vetter will review all of the feedback that has been sent in and edit the Plan appropriately.

To participate in the open comment period, please click here to download the complete Plan and provide your feedback on the online comment form. Please read it carefully, and then share your thoughts, suggestions and questions with us. There is no limit to the length of your response. Please be as specific as possible when making suggestions or commenting on a section of the Plan. This feedback form will be available through 11:59PM, EST, on Friday, February 24, 2012.

Our goal is for as much feedback as possible so we are posting this to the broad HD community at large—not just the HDSA volunteer network. Comments can be submitted anonymously or with your identifying information. It's up to you—all we need is an email address so that we can communicate back with you if we have a question about your feedback. That email address can be anonymous—i.e., catdog@gmail.com—so that we don't know with whom we are communicating. If someone cannot access a computer, please have them call HDSA at 212-242-1968 and we will make arrangements with them to receive a hard copy of the Plan and coordinate alternate ways to provide feedback.

It is important to underscore that the document in front of you is not final. It has been approved by the HDSA Board of Trustees in its draft form, but it will not be finalized until we have gotten your feedback.

Thank you for participating in the review of the HDSA Strategic Plan 2012-2016.. Your help will shape the organization well into the future and strengthen HDSA's ability to improve the lives of everyone affected by Huntington's disease.

Sincerely,

Don Barr, HDSA Chairman of the Board

Louise Vetter, HDSA CEO