Like most organizations, USA Climbing uses strategic planning as a tool to set and communicate its organizational aspirations, how it plans to achieve them, and the indicators it will use to measure progress. As a national governing body operating in coordination with the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), we use a four-year planning cycle that aligns with the Olympic Games.

Our most recent strategic plan covered the years from 2020 to 2024. The three main goals of that strategic plan were:

• Athlete Development & Well-Being  |  Lead the climbing community in the development and support of athletes with an emphasis on health, safety, and performance. This includes athletes in all four competition series: Elite, Para, Collegiate, and Youth.
• Membership Engagement & Event Optimization  |  Enhance member satisfaction and connection with USA Climbing through clear and compelling engagement opportunities, and exciting, consistent event experiences.
• Organizational Excellence  |  Enhance organizational capabilities and leadership to meet the needs of a growing climbing community.

We are now working to develop our next strategic plan, which will cover the 2025-2028 period. The USA Climbing Board of Directors has established a 12-person Strategic Planning Task Force composed of athletes, coaches, routesetters, gym owners, volunteers, Board members, and staff. Their assignment is to gather and synthesize input from USA Climbing stakeholders and then develop a draft strategic plan for the Board to consider, revise if needed, and adopt by the end of December.

Since May, the Task Force has actively solicited stakeholder ideas and input through a combination of surveys and listening sessions. Approximately 300 individuals completed surveys, and approximately 100 attended in-person or virtual listening sessions that were focused on key stakeholder groups including gym partners, coaches, routesetters, and volunteer Regional Coordinators. In addition, other groups including the joint committee formed by USA Climbing and the Climbing Wall Association, the Youth Series Task Force, the USA Climbing Athletes’ Commission, and existing committees such as Coaching, Routesetting, Athlete Safety, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are also working on issues and ideas that will feed into the development of the strategic plan.

The Task Force presented its initial findings and a proposed outline for the strategic plan to the USA Climbing Board of Directors at its October 26-27 meeting. The Board provided feedback that the Task Force will use to prepare a final draft of the plan for the Board’s consideration in December. The Board is hoping to finalize the strategic plan by the end of the year and publish it in early 2025.

If you have additional comments or suggestions for the Task Force as it completes its work, please email strategic@usaclimbing.org before November 30. We appreciate the engagement we have had thus far with all the stakeholder groups involved in USA Climbing.