In late 2024, Astoria Park Conservancy (APC) embarked on an important journey: creating a strategic plan to guide our work from 2025 through 2027. With the guidance and facilitation from Lisa Christian, Align Consulting, our leadership team and APC Board came together during the last quarter of the year to reflect on our past accomplishments, clarify our priorities, and define the path forward.
The result is a dynamic three-year plan centered around four strategic “levers.” Each lever has a dedicated champion from the leadership team, ensuring accountability and focus as we activate these priorities across our programs and operations.
The Four Levers
Lever 1: Visitor Experiences
Create and deliver unique experiences that integrate all APC has to offer — supporting wellness, healing, and community connection. Our goal is for every visitor to feel awe, joy, and a sense of belonging when they step into Astoria.
“The Visitor Experience Lever was created to deliver unique experiences that integrate all APC has to offer to support wellness, healing, and community connection. Our key initiatives are thoughtfully designed so that visitors will feel a sense of belonging and awe after participating in events or programs. We also strive to provide opportunities that will link soaking and experiences in nature to increased health benefits.” –Carolyn Worth
Lever 2: Education
Foster community engagement by enhancing Astoria’s impact and accessibility through stewardship initiatives, educational programming, collaborative partnerships, and outreach.
“Our strategic planning process has reinforced my commitment to aligning our work with community needs. It’s motivated me to expand our educational goals and deepen Astoria’s impact through accessible programming, stewardship efforts, and meaningful partnerships that reflect our shared commitment to learning and connection.” –Bari Bucholz
Lever 3: Natural Resource Conservation
Ensure Astoria Park is managed to improve ecological health and achieve sustainability through research, partnerships, and best practices in operations and management.
“The Natural Resource Conservation lever in Astoria Park Conservancy’s new Strategic Plan exists to ensure our forthcoming park is administered with a focus on improving ecological health and achieving sustainability through in-depth research, strategic partnerships, and advanced operational systems with a focus on management best practices.” –Jeff Moran
Lever 4: Sustained Impact
Ensure APC’s long-term success through sustainable business models, strong facilities, and innovative visitor experiences. This lever helps us continue to evolve as a thriving hot springs and park destination for generations to come.
“Astoria’s sustained impact strategy will ensure the organization’s ability to achieve scalable impact for generations to come. Through carefully planning, innovative thinking, and strong leadership, Astoria will ensure that we continue to exceed benchmarks for operational excellence, visitor satisfaction, and an increased ROI.” –Paige Byron
What Success Looks Like
Our plan sets clear outcomes that guide our work and measure our progress:
- • Aligning health and education impacts with priority community issues
- • 75% of visitors reporting feelings of joy and awe
- • Astoria Park remaining open and operational for all
- • One transformative learning activity per initiative each year
- • Increased diversity of staff, visitors, and partners
- • Growing our donor base by 10% annually
- • Securing at least 60% of our budget through earned revenues
These outcomes reflect our vision of Astoria as a place where wellness, education, and conservation intersect to create lasting community impact.
How We’ll Get There
We know that making strategic decisions often means choosing to focus on some opportunities over others. This plan is designed to be flexible allowing us to pivot, test ideas, and adapt based on what we learn. Every staff member plays a role in bringing these levers to life, with decision-making guided by four key enablers: partnerships, communication, sustainability, and impact management.
Our approach is simple but powerful:
- • Pilot and test new ideas
- • Learn and analyze what works
- • Adapt and refine to improve
Looking Ahead
This strategic plan isn’t just a document, it’s a living guide that helps us align our daily work with our long-term vision. As we move forward, Astoria remains committed to being a place of healing waters, community gathering, and ecological stewardship.
We’re excited to share this next chapter with you and invite you to be part of Astoria’s journey as we grow, adapt, and deepen our impact.
