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IWM Corporate Plan 2016–19

Introduction

This Plan sets out our ambition for the coming three years in the context of our long-term

strategic goals. Thinking about what it is to be a museum in the twenty-first century – and for us, I

believe this is about remaining relevant, authoritative, courageous and empathetic – my focus

continues to be on making sure that we embed these core values in everything that IWM does.

We were founded in 1917 during the First World War. The principles that informed our inception

are as relevant now as they were then. ‘The museum was not conceived as a monument of

military glory, but rather as a record of toil and sacrifice . . . of the immeasurable sacrifices and

supreme national effort which . . . as we all hope, laid firm and deep the foundations of a new

and better world’.1 As global citizens, this still resonates today – all of our lives are affected by

conflict and IWM exists to help people explore and understand this impact.

Over the last two years, our focus has been on taking the lead in the cultural commemoration of

the First World War Centenary. This has had a profound and positive impact on our

programming, our partnerships, our understanding of our collections and the way in which we’ve

been able to connect with new audiences and widen our reach. The coming years will see us

consolidate this strengthened position. Following the less drastic outcome of the spending review

in autumn 2015, we are better placed financially and operationally both in terms of our

government funding, which is now well below half of our operating income, and because of

extended operational freedoms. Further funding cuts would have meant major business change

at a point where we are starting to gain traction in building our financial sustainability, and

securing our long-term future, through commercial activity and philanthropic support.

Government maintaining our funding reflects how we represent exceptional value for money in

bringing real and powerful economic and social value to individuals, groups and nations. I want

us to build on this depth of impact and this Plan provides lots of examples of how we will achieve

this through strategic investment in our programmes of work and in our people.

In planning for the future, we’ve made substantial changes to our staffing model, by

strengthening leadership and building a more flexible and creative structure. Looking ahead, this

Plan ensures that we invest the right level of time and resource so that all of our teams are

skilled and confident, proud of their work in the knowledge that what IWM does is making a

difference to people’s lives. Indeed, people connect with us in a wide variety of ways; through

visiting one of our branches, through online engagement, through volunteering, through

becoming a member, in supporting us by making a donation or perhaps by participating in a

learning session. This Plan describes how we will welcome and inspire our visitors; how we will

innovate; how we will continue to reach beyond the boundaries of our museum and website

through partnerships and collaboration; how we will embed change with ambition; how we will

build a resilient organisational culture that is increasingly confident and dynamic; and how we will

use all of this information to build a compelling evidence base for our powerful economic and

social impact now and in the years to come.

Diane Lees CBE, Director-General

1 The Rt Hon Sir Alfred Mond (Chairman) in the opening address of IWM in June 1920

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1. What are we all about?

Imperial War Museums is a global authority on conflict and its impact on people’s lives. We

collect objects and stories that give an insight into people’s experiences of war, we preserve

them for future generations, and we bring them to today’s audiences in the most powerful way

possible at our five branches (IWM London, IWM Duxford, IWM North, Churchill War Rooms and

HMS Belfast) and across our digital channels. By giving a platform to these stories, we aim to

help people understand why we go to war and the effect that conflict has on people’s lives. Our

vision is to be a leader in developing and communicating a deeper understanding of the causes,

course and consequences of war. Using the personal stories and experiences in our unique

collections, our objective is to challenge people of all ages to look at war and conflict from

different perspectives.

Our strategic goals continue to be:

Prioritise our audiences – we create excellent, inspiring and relevant visitor experiences.

As a result, people have a deeper understanding of the causes, course and

consequences of war and its impact on all of our lives

Increase our financial sustainability – we will secure our long-term financial viability and

create an entrepreneurial and dynamic working culture. As a result, we will build our

income and financial flexibility so that we can invest in our offer. We will improve our

financial performance, build our resilience and strengthen IWM as a result

Deliver effective stewardship of our collection – we will develop and care for our

collection through effective management, building expertise, maximising access and

improving storage. As a result, we will ensure our collections and knowledge remain

relevant and accessible for audiences now and for generations to come, not least, by

maintaining the momentum around reviewing and developing our collection

Our collections are vast and rich. We look after them in perpetuity on behalf of the nation. We

aim to make them, together with our branches (some of which are historic sites), accessible to

the widest possible audience through exhibitions, research, digital activity, learning programmes,

tours, handling sessions, filming, lectures and many other different activities. Whilst much of our

public offer is free of charge, some of what we do is charged for. The revenue we generate is

essential to our ongoing operation, particularly in the context of reducing government funding in

real terms. The profit that we make is re-invested into our programmes and activities to ensure

that we continue to deliver our vision and mission.

There is no admission charge to visit IWM London and IWM North. At these branches, which

both cover the full IWM remit (looking at conflict from 1900 to the present day), we offer

permanent exhibitions, updated on a periodic basis, together with an exciting programme of

changing temporary exhibitions. At IWM London, we also offer a separate programme of

temporary exhibitions, some of which are charged for. At Churchill War Rooms, HMS Belfast and

IWM Duxford, we charge for admission. The prices are regularly benchmarked with similar

organisations and we offer concessionary rates (for example, for booked groups). We regularly

undertake market research to inform our programming and to ensure that we are meeting visitor

needs and expectations.

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We offer a wide range of learning services and programmes as well as exciting opportunities for

people to get further behind the scenes. These range from hosting an event with us at one of our

unique venues, to booking a private tour, or even a flight in a historic aircraft at IWM Duxford. We

have an active volunteering programme, where people get directly involved in our work and a

membership scheme for those who want to regularly support us, engage with us, and enjoy the

fantastic benefits we can offer.

We face numerous challenges and risks as well as opportunities and we strive to respond

effectively to all of these. Our planning is informed by, and takes account of, government

priorities, from driving economic growth, to encouraging participation, to sustaining excellence.

2. Our achievements to date

The past year has seen us create excellent, inspiring and relevant visitor experiences across our

branches. Highlights have included the temporary exhibitions Fashion on the Ration and Lee

Miller: A Woman’s War at IWM London and Horrible Histories: Blitzed Brits at IWM North. We

have continued to focus on building loyal and engaged audiences at our branches with a

particular emphasis on providing excellent customer service across all of our activities.

We have continued to lead the First World War Centenary Partnership Programme which now

has over 3,500 member organisations from 57 different countries. Our role in supporting and

coordinating activity across this breadth of partners, enabling wider collaboration and impact, has

been both powerful and rewarding and we look forward to sustaining the legacy of the

Partnership beyond 2018. Since we launched Lives of the First World War in May 2014, this

multi-platform project has enabled thousands of people to become citizen historians, discovering,

sharing and remembering the life stories of millions of men and women who served in uniform

and worked on the home front. Together, we are making connections between our collections,

data held by other museums, libraries and archives around the world. The project has fostered

close partnerships and to date, the site has almost 80,500 members, over 7.6 million Life Stories

are available to search and contribute to, and almost 900,000 facts have been added to the

platform, including photographs, anecdotes and official records.

We have continued to innovate digitally, including a new, responsive website for mobile

technology, our presence on social media channels and through partnership work. Our project to

redevelop the American Air Museum completes in March 2016. The new material we will display

is people-focused, contextual and contemporary, illustrating the central narrative of twentieth and

twenty-first century world affairs. The project has also seen the creation of an interactive archive

of digital images and information recording the stories of the men and women of the US Army Air

Forces (USAAF) who served their country from the UK in the Second World War – that is largely

reliant on crowdsourcing to make links and bring the history to life. Users are encouraged to

browse, edit (tag) and upload their own photographs and memories. In this way, we are

generating incredible material that is directly linked to the displays in the American Air Museum,

making them rich, responsive and personal.

We have made good progress in developing our thinking around the IWM Duxford masterplan

and will have a clear direction of travel by summer 2016. In the meantime, we are improving the

visitor centre at IWM Duxford to make sure that our visitor welcome is of the highest quality. At

IWM London, we have continued to work on the next phase of masterplan delivery, focusing on

the creation of new Second World War and Holocaust Galleries to open in 2020 and 2021

respectively. We were delighted to announce, in autumn 2015, a very generous gift of £5 million

from Pears Foundation towards our new Holocaust Galleries and are enormously grateful for

their ongoing support.

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Learning is at the core of what we do; we introduce new subjects, bring them to life and give

them meaning. We have launched a learning review, looking at education and public

engagement activity across our branches with a view to continuing the best of what we already

do and enhancing it further, with a firm focus on the delivery of clearly defined learning outcomes

and real, long-term impact. In the meantime, we continue to operate our learning services whilst

this review is underway and look to build impactful and sustainable provision over the long term.

In terms of building our financial sustainability, the change programme has helped us to reduce

our fixed costs. Allied to this, the pay and grading review has been a substantial project seeking

to ensure that salary and job levels are set appropriately and equitably across the whole of IWM.

We have started work to engender a cultural shift at IWM to underpin our new staffing structure,

for example, by setting up a Cultural Change Ambassadors Network – a group of staff who are

working together to test new ideas and new ways of working. Strengthened leadership (we have

recruited two new Executive Directors who have joined our Executive Leadership Team) and

improved communication across our branches will help increase transparency and clarity on

decision making.

The outcome of the spending review, with a flat cash settlement for resource funding, does not

change our long-term plans to build financial sustainability by continuing to reduce fixed costs,

increase income and build our flexibility. The extent and condition of our estates and

infrastructure (with a large backlog in maintenance terms) continues to present challenges and

our Estates Strategy, agreed by the Board in 2014, and ongoing lifecycle programming, means

that we focus on the highest priorities and review other activity using a risk-based approach.

Projects undertaken over the past year include planning for the upgrade of vital fire systems at

IWM London, preparation for the re-tendering of our Facilities Management contract, and the

operational delivery of a highly successful, safe Air Show programme at IWM Duxford.

We have continued to build our commercial performance over the last year and are developing

our CRM system to support this work. Major changes last year include shop refits across our

branches, as well as agreeing a new catering partnership operating across IWM Duxford,

Churchill War Rooms and HMS Belfast. We have continued to innovate, for example, opening a

pop-up shop in partnership in Covent Garden, London and will build on this as we seek to

increase our entrepreneurialism. We have focused on customer service standards and

implemented a centralised bookings and customer service team and this has significantly

improved the way in which we manage enquiries, feedback and booking requests.

The delivery of our Contemporary Collecting Strategy has continued, developing the collection so

that it reflects contemporary conflict, for example, working in partnership with the Ministry of

Defence and British service personnel involved in conflict now, to record their personal

experiences. The sheer volume of digital material from recent conflicts provides us with an

unparalleled visual and written record. Collecting tools include online uploads for soldiers,

collecting workshops with units and field trips by IWM staff.

Alongside contemporary collecting, we have now completed the Collections Review process

which began in 2010. We have a more sustainable and dynamic collections management

approach, strategically shaping our collection by identifying key acquisitions, managing the

targeted disposals programme, and progressing art commissioning over the corporate planning

period. A key part of the programme is the sharing of knowledge about the collections for staff to

make best use of our diverse collections through the development of exhibitions, online content

and commercial products and services. We have continued to make great strides in caring for

our collections. The work to upgrade collections storage on the North Side of IWM Duxford

means that an increasing proportion of our collection is held in the correct environmental

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conditions. Our accountability and digitisation activity has continued intensively and our progress

was reflected in our successful renewal of Arts Council England Accreditation status last year.

3. Looking ahead – what will we achieve over this Plan period?

This Corporate Plan describes how, between 2016–17 and 2018–19, work towards our long-term

strategic goals will continue. It lays the foundation for major development at our branches over

the next decade and beyond. By 2030, we will have completed major masterplanning exercises

to upgrade each of our branches and the majority of associated change will have been

implemented. This work will focus on improving the visitor experience and achieving this will also

help us to build our commercial returns through admissions income at the charging branches and

as a result of secondary spend. The learning review currently underway will help us to develop

new, innovative and sector-leading programmes that are effective, impactful and sustainable.

Over the coming years, we will focus on becoming a learning organisation with clearly defined

audiences and high quality, targeted and innovative learning programmes so that by 2030, this

change will be fully embedded and will mean that we have revolutionised our approach to

learning and engagement, prioritising our audiences in all that we do.

One of the key drivers of our change programme is to build our financial sustainability through

changing our ways of working and effectively managing our fixed costs. The structural change

implemented from April 2015 means that we now have a new staffing model with a strengthened

leadership team and centralised teams working across each of our branches. By 2030,

profoundly new ways of working will be our norm; our workforce will be fully flexible and we will

have the right resource in the right place, with salaries commensurate to expertise and

professional skills.

Our commercial ambition is substantial. Along with effectively managing our fixed costs, building

net profit will be a primary lever in ensuring that we are financially sustainable over the long term.

The performance measure table at page 15 illustrates that over a 15-year period, we are seeking

to build our income by a margin. By 2030, our CRM system will be well established, the IWM

membership scheme will be thriving and very well supported, and net profit through commercial

activity (including our corporate events, retail, public catering, licensing and publishing activity)

will be at £10 million per annum.

Along with increasing self-generated income and net profit, we will also continue to deliver our

Estates Strategy. By 2030, we will have addressed our substantial backlog in capital

maintenance, systems and infrastructure projects. We have worked hard over recent years to

improve our knowledge and understanding of the collections we hold and care for. Our

collections management approach is increasingly responsive, such that our world-leading

collection remains relevant to our audiences, dynamic, accessible and usable. By 2030, our

storage masterplan for our collection will be complete and the objects in our care will be in the

right place and stored in the correct environmental conditions.

Over the last five years, our Board of Trustees have signed off a series of strategies that guide

our work towards delivering our organisational objectives; this direction of travel towards our

2030 ambition is reflected in our Corporate Plan. We are focusing in particular on developing our

contemporary collecting approach, building on partnership working models, delivering

incremental commercial growth, building our financial sustainability, and effectively managing our

estate and infrastructure.

This Plan period sees us continue the full transformative change at IWM London – creating new

Second World War and Holocaust galleries – and developing and delivering an audience-centred

masterplan for IWM Duxford. We will also start to develop plans to upgrade IWM North, HMS

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Belfast and Churchill War Rooms. In terms of public engagement, we want to deliver an

increasing depth of engagement, helping to make connections with audiences beyond the

boundaries of our branches. We will deliver holistic and innovative programming that links to our

ongoing research activity and we’ll keep focusing on excellence in all that we do. During this

Corporate Plan period, we will update our Learning Strategy so that we clearly set out how we

will achieve this change in our ways of working. Linked to this, we will continue to build our brand

and profile, in particular, through communicating effectively about the programmes we offer and

the impact we achieve. We will be leaders in our field with a reputation for excellence and

innovation.

Our masterplanning goals are stretching and ambitious. Our success in delivering major capital

change will be contingent on bringing stakeholders, and in particular, funders, with us. Over the

next three years, we will create and embed a clear, targeted Stakeholder Strategy that identifies

the primary influencing and advocacy relationships that support our business and those that we

will nurture at each of our branches. This Strategy will be implemented during year one of this

Plan. We will also build unrestricted giving by focusing our energy on maintaining these important

relationships.

To support organisational cultural change, in the next year we will develop a new Human

Resources Strategy that puts valuing our teams at the heart of what we do and drives the

creation of a collaborative, open and transparent organisational culture. We will embed this new

and confident working culture, following a continuous improvement model, focusing on

leadership, communication and truly embedding our brand values. Alongside a new Training and

Development Strategy (to launch at the beginning of year two of this Plan) that provides our

people and teams with opportunities to develop and learn new skills, meaning that IWM will be a

more creative, responsive and nimble organisation. In terms of how we work, this Plan period will

see us seeking to ensure that every member of staff feels valued and engaged and that our

decision making is transparent and contextualised by a clear and well understood strategic

framework. Embedding our brand values over the coming year will lay the foundations for this

ambition and the new Cultural Change Ambassadors Network will support this important work

over the Plan period.

The next three years sees us lay the foundation for commercial development and change, in

particular, through investment in our Customer Relationship Management system. We will

continue to modernise our business, invest in our Information and Communication Technology

(ICT) infrastructure and will have a fully embedded, creative and ambitious Digital Strategy that

helps us operate in a way that is digital by default. Crucial to this will be the ongoing digitisation

of our collection. This Plan sees us make significant progress in generating digital content for

access and preservation purposes and linking this to a coherent and ambitious Digital Strategy.

This Plan also makes significant provision for the highest priority estate work and we will

continue to invest using this risk-based approach until our lifecycle works are up to date.

Using our three strategic goals, the table below illustrates the activity that we plan to deliver and

the impacts and outcomes we expect.

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4. CP16 activity overview

Prioritise our audiences Impact and outcomes Investment and success measures

Public programming

across all channels

Our exhibitions, events and other programming will be audience-focused. Highlights

include Fashion on the Ration at IWM North, Real to Reel at IWM London and

capitalising on the opening of the American Air Museum at IWM Duxford in March

2016.We will also be displaying two elements of Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red

(the poppies displayed at the Tower of London in 2014) in autumn 2018

We will create excellent,

inspiring and relevant visitor

experiences

People will have a

deeper

understanding of the

causes, course and

consequences of war

and its impact on all

of our lives

We will build and

engage a loyal

audience and

supporters

Our public offer will

be dynamic and

responsive to

audience feedback

We will cement our

profile as an

influential,

internationally

renowned museum

through excellent

product and

customer service of

the highest standard

We are building and

developing our public

engagement and impact in

a targeted way. It is critical

that we remain relevant and

engaging to our users.

To this end, we are making

£3.2 million in additional

priority investment to deliver

this aim in 2016–17 and

£14.9 million over the whole

Plan period. Our progress is

directly linked to the

commercial, partnership,

financial sustainability and

estates strategies agreed

by our Board of Trustees.

Key performance indicators

in 2016–17:

– Visitor numbers across

our branches are 2.6 million

– 99% of visitors will

definitely recommend a visit

to others

Digital development We will continue to build innovative digital products and services that are audience-led,

using a new digital studio to produce dynamic content in-house. We will create a holistic

Digital Strategy to ensure that the impact of this work is maximised

IWM Duxford

masterplan

We will transform the site over the coming years, using the redefined role and remit for

IWM Duxford as our starting point

Transforming IWM

London phase 2

Building on the incredible success of phase 1, we will deliver the next stage of

transformation which includes the new Second World War and Holocaust galleries

Learning Review We will implement the results of our fundamental review of all learning and engagement

activity across IWM, updating our Learning Strategy towards building innovative,

sustainable and impactful programmes for our audiences

Centenary Partnership

Programme

We will continue to support the Partnership Programme. We will plan for the legacy of

the Partnership beyond 2018. Alongside this, we will focus on building and maintaining a

strong network of supporters and influencers

Volunteering Our volunteers provide invaluable support across IWM. Innovative schemes, including If:

Volunteering for Wellbeing at IWM North, will be brought together under a clear strategic

framework that works across all of our branches

Stakeholder Strategy Defining our ambition for IWM as a whole, and by branch, we will ensure that we keep in

touch with our key stakeholders. In this way, we will build a strengthened support base

Upgrading visitor

facilities

At Churchill War Rooms, we will further upgrade the visitor welcome, improving the

admissions area and upgrading the visitor toilets. We will upgrade key interactives in the

Churchill Museum as well as the temporary exhibition Undercover and a new exhibition,

Churchill and the Middle East. At HMS Belfast, we will explore ways to develop the

visitor experience and again, will upgrade key visitor facilities. At IWM North, we are

investing in the Big Picture Show in the Main Exhibition Space and will explore changes

to the visitor welcome as the Quays area surrounding our branch continues to develop.

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CP16 activity overview

Build our financial sustainability Impact and outcomes Investment and success measures

Change programme We are fundamentally changing the way that we work. The first phase of this programme

saw us complete a restructure of the IWM staffing model. We have strengthened leadership

and centralised much of our activity to increase efficiency and effectiveness. We will be

concentrating on building cultural change throughout IWM so that we are joined up and

agile in the way that we work. This will include the creation of a new HR Strategy, Training

and Development Strategy and the ongoing work of our change ambassador network

We will secure our long-

term financial viability and

create a flexible,

entrepreneurial and

dynamic working culture

We will

incrementally

build our net profit

levels

We will build our

income and

financial flexibility

so that we can

continue to invest

in our public offer

over the long term

We will improve

our financial

performance,

build our

resilience and

strengthen IWM

as a result

We continue to reduce our

fixed costs and increase net

contribution from our self-

generated income.

Alongside this, we are

making £2.8 million in

additional priority

investment to deliver this

strategic aim in 2016–17

and £5.5 million over the

Plan period. Our progress is

directly linked to the

commercial, financial

sustainability and estates

strategies agreed by our

Board of Trustees.

Key performance indicators

in 2016–17:

–Commercial net profit is

£4.9 million

– Unrestricted funds raised

are £0.5 million

Customer relationship

management (CRM)

We will continue to work on this new system, which, through phased implementation, will

revolutionise the way we deliver customer service. The system will work across, and join up,

all of our audience-facing online transactions and bring major business gain and efficiencies

Estates Strategy Approved by the Board in 2014, this Strategy sees us focus on improving the visitor

experience, maintaining and improving collections storage facilities and providing suitable

staff accommodation. This will be achieved through effective planning and management of

resource. We are also seeking to release buildings where commercial and other

opportunities arise

Commercial Strategy We will continue to systematically build net profit levels across a broad range of commercial

activity. The new CRM system will be very significant in this work. Alongside this, we will

ensure service levels across all of our activity are excellent and meet audience

expectations. We will build our membership scheme, expanding our support base by

offering compelling benefits. We are also making major investment in our retail spaces and,

in partnership with our contractors, our cafes and public catering offer

Partnerships We will continue to work in partnership to invest in and support the operation of our public

offer through visitor and security services, catering, corporate events and to maximise the

value of our assets

Business

modernisation

We will focus on our highest priorities to maximise the impact we achieve with our resource.

We will invest in our ICT infrastructure and focus on high quality standards and customer

care across all of our activity

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CP16 activity overview

Deliver effective stewardship of our collection Impact and outcomes Investment and

success measures

Collections

Management and

Access Strategy

We will continue to care for our collection and prioritise the things we make accessible to

the widest possible audience. This will include digitization activity to preserve and make

accessible targeted parts of our collection (which exceeds 33.5 million assets in terms of

material that can be digitised). We will also make progress in conserving our collection. This

includes conservation survey work on HMS Belfast (the largest object in our collection) and

on large objects, including aircraft, held at IWM Duxford

We will develop and care

for our collection

We will ensure

our collections

and knowledge

remain relevant

and accessible for

audiences now

and for

generations to

come

Every year we will

work towards

having fully

accessible and

accountable

records and

images of our

collection so that

we can maximise

the value of these

assets

Having made major

progress in reviewing our

collections, we are now

making £1.5 million in

additional priority

investment in 2016–17 to

effectively manage the

collection and £4.9 million

over the whole Plan period.

Progress is directly linked to

the contemporary collecting

and partnership strategies

agreed by our Board of

Trustees.

Key performance indicators

in 2016–17:

– Increase % of collection

digitised for preservation

purposes to 43% and

access purposes to 1%

– Maintain the proportion of

our collection stored in

appropriate environmental

conditions at 22%

IWM Duxford North

Side collections

storage project

We will continue to deliver this phased investment project to significantly upgrade these

storage facilities. 2016–17 will be year five of a ten-year investment plan through to 2022–

23. Building infrastructure and plant is being upgraded on a prioritised basis. We will also

commence work on a wider storage masterplan that examines how we look after our

collections across all of our branches and support the delivery of future major project work

Contemporary

Collecting Strategy

We will ensure that the collection remains dynamic and reflects the changing nature of

warfare, developing it in a highly targeted way

Collections research,

knowledge mapping

and building expertise

We will continue to research and understand our collections, feeding the results of this

activity into our public programming channels. As part of the change programme, we will

build a clear map of where our staff expertise and skills lie. We will focus on building a

stimulating and targeted research programme and build our reputation as a centre of

knowledge

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5. Risks and opportunities

IWM has nine strategic risks and these include financial, reputational and operational risks.

Strategic risk identified by IWM is heightened by a lack of financial flexibility. Whilst our

commercial activity is succeeding in building net profit levels, we must ensure IWM’s financial

sustainability by building our reserves and thus, our financial resilience. Setting the Plan in a

wider economic context, although UK GDP forecasts at the time of writing indicate the

continuation of steady growth in 2016, government finances would come under significant strain

if this were to change. Uncertainty over the EU Referendum could also be a destabilising factor.

The geo-political and economic risks around oil price fluctuations, instability in the Eurozone,

exchange rates and a dynamic global economic position are significant and this is exerting some

downward pressure on all economic forecasting. RPI inflation forecasts are low in the short term,

however, this decade will see increasing inflation and interest rates which will impact on

consumer spending. Construction inflation remains high and is forecast to remain significantly

above RPI levels into the medium term. This may have a negative impact on our masterplanning

activity at both IWM London and IWM Duxford.

Our change programme has set out to address fundamentally outmoded ways of working and at

the same time, reduce our fixed costs. Moving ahead, we have a great opportunity to develop

new ways of working and a new organisational culture that is more flexible, responsive and

collaborative. With strengthened leadership and a new governance model, we can deliver impact

because we are more joined up, coherent and strategic in our approach. As well as avoiding

duplication of effort at each branch, we have also clearly defined corporate functions that support

all of our branches to operate effectively. This includes commercial activity, learning, marketing,

communications, fundraising, facilities management, financial and HR services.

IWM has a huge estate comprising 114 buildings, the majority of which are at IWM Duxford. We

also have a substantial legacy of underinvestment in our plant and infrastructure as we have

continued to take a risk-based approach to investment with our limited funds. Whilst we have

ambitious capital redevelopment projects (including planning the next phase of masterplan

delivery at IWM London and the development of a masterplan for IWM Duxford), we must

balance this with strategic investment in our estate and ICT systems. This includes the important

need to continue to invest in our visitor offer, including the exhibition, facilities and services we

have at Churchill War Rooms, HMS Belfast and IWM North.

As well as funding and financial sustainability and the need to effectively manage our collections

within limited resource, we continue to monitor the risk around a breach of laws, regulations,

standards and security, again in the context of the change programme. Cyber risk has also been

factored into our activity planning as the financial and reputational impact of this risk materialising

would be significant. Alongside this, with a heightened security threat, we are aware of the

potential for major business interruption through terrorism and continue to update and test our

business continuity plan accordingly.

In terms of stewardship of, and access to our collection, the Plan period will see a continued

focus on dealing with our backlog on documentation and digitisation. We will continue to make

progress in upgrading collections storage facilities at IWM Duxford’s North Side so that more of

our collections are held in the correct environmental conditions. We have also set aside funds to

continue the conservation of HMS Belfast.

Regarding business opportunities, we have clearly defined target audiences for each branch and

have developed our programming in line with these visitor segments. Key anniversaries, not least

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the centenary of the First World War, have been major audience development opportunities for

us and alongside this, drive new income streams from retail through licensing and reproduction

rights, PR opportunities, fundraising opportunities and partnerships. IWM will continue to play its

role in building the UK’s economic recovery. We are proud to welcome a third of our visitors from

overseas. We know that our branches have a direct and positive impact on the local economy

surrounding them. We will continue to build our brand and reputation as a nationally and

internationally renowned museum and play our part in inspiring and showcasing the UK’s

creative industries.

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Appendix 1 – Financial strategy

Financial overview

We have created a Plan that balances income and expenditure over a three-year period. Our

trading income increases year on year and by 11 per cent over the Plan period whilst Grant in

Aid is shown at a flat level through to 2018–19. Whilst running costs reflect the impact of inflation

over the Plan period, our salary budget (which remains a substantial proportion of our fixed

costs) remains at c. £17.8 million. Contingency funds total £2.3 million over the three-year period

and this provides us with some flexibility should we need to respond to an unexpected event.

CP16 Financial overview

Figures shown £000s 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 CP16 Total

Income

Trading income 22,666 23,956 25,246 71,868

External funds 4,496 4,563 3,724 12,783

Grant in Aid 19,742 19,742 19,742 59,226

LIBOR 675 580 1,042 2,297

Subtotal 47,579 48,841 49,754 146,174

Expenditure

Running costs 28,987 30,425 31,203 90,615

Salaries 17,800 17,707 17,789 53,296

Contingency 792 709 762 2,263

Subtotal 47,579 48,841 49,754 146,174

Strategic investment

This Plan provides investment to meet our strategic objectives through the delivery of specific,

high priority projects. The breakdown of this investment is shown in the table below. A total of

£25.3 million has been set aside over the next three years. Just under two-thirds of this funding is

channelled towards activity that is audience-focused including our exhibitions and public

programming as well as masterplanning at IWM London and IWM Duxford. With this, we are

seeking to build our public impact year on year.

Work to build our financial sustainability includes investing in our estates and infrastructure as

well as developing new systems that will help us modernise our business. As well as building

commercial return, this will help us manage our fixed cost base (systems and infrastructure)

more effectively. Approximately one fifth of our priority funding is set aside over the Plan period

to support this.

A further fifth of our priority funding goes into improving collections management and this is

underpinned by ongoing core investment. Activity includes collections management and digital

image systems development, documentation and digitisation work, object conservation and

storage development.

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CP16 Strategic investment overview

Figures shown £000s 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 Total %

Prioritise our audiences

Transforming IWM London phase 2 767 3,418 3,402 7,587 30

IWM Duxford masterplan delivery 230 250 750 1,230 5

IWM North exhibitions 443 491 323 1,257 5

Churchill War Rooms exhibitions 165 250 100 515 2

HMS Belfast exhibitions 68 - 112 180 2

IWM London exhibitions 1,284 756 1,269 3,309 13

National and international programmes 173 161 188 522 2

Digital Strategy 85 135 65 285 1

Sub Total 3,215 5,461 6,209 14,885 59

Increase our financial sustainability

Commercial Strategy (incl CRM) 466 465 280 1,211 5

Lifecycle investment 1,652 934 765 3,351 13

ICT investment (incl upgrade of Big Picture Show at IWM North)

525 154 60 739 3

Development 200 - - 200 1

Sub Total 2,843 1,553 1,105 5,501 22

Deliver effective stewardship of our collection

Collections management strategy (incl major investment in HMS Belfast conservation programme)

1,493 1,812 1,656 4,961 19

Sub total 1,493 1,812 1,656 4,961 19

Total 7,551 8,826 8,970 25,347

Commercial activity

IWM has a broad commercial income base including retail, public catering, corporate hospitality

and events, admissions (for special exhibitions, programmes and events), publishing and

collections sales and licensing. Since launching our Commercial Strategy in 2013, we have been

building our net profit levels incrementally. In the current financial year (2015–16) we forecast we

will generate a net profit of £5 million through commercial activity and £8.3 million in admissions

income. Net profit in year one of the Plan (2016–17), is forecast to be £4.9 million and we

estimate that admissions income will be £9.7 million (generated through ticketing to our charging

branches).

IWM’s Commercial Strategy is focused on building customer loyalty. We will achieve this by

having a greater understanding of what motivates our customers and by improving our customer

experience. Our CRM project will form the cornerstone of this work. Over the next three years a

rationalisation of commercial functions will ensure that we remain focused on building profit, that

we operate a flexible and responsive commercial operation and that we build our digital sales

capability.

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CP16 Trading income

Figures shown £000s 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19

Café commission 962 1,055 1,167

Corporate Hospitality 1,620 1,852 1,909

Air shows 1,946 1,935 1,985

Admissions 9,694 10,085 10,594

Education admissions 162 119 136

Fees 1,689 1,916 2,039

Sales (retail, image sales, publishing) 5,170 5,402 5,728

Royalties (collections) 1,021 948 1,029

Other income 402 644 659

Total income 22,666 23,956 25,246

Sensitivity analysis

In performing a sensitivity analysis, we have calculated that any further cuts to Grant in Aid

(exceeding 3 per cent) will rapidly eliminate the financial headroom created by the change

programme where we have successfully re-engineered our finances by reducing fixed costs and

increased self-generated income. Regarding self-generated income, we have a wide portfolio of

income generation activity. Given the increased profile of IWM, this can be considered to be

robust. The implementation of a Customer Relationship Management system will bolster this and

help reduce costs further. Our catering contracts carry minimum guarantees and insurance

protects us against the risk of serious business interruption.

A decline in audience numbers at our charging branches will impact on self-generated income,

for example, a 20 per cent reduction means c. £2 million less in gross income. This will seriously

impact our financial resilience and again, erode the progress we have been able to make through

the delivery of the change programme. Our programming, press and marketing activity, as well

as the continued quality of our product and high levels of visitor satisfaction, mitigate this risk to

some degree.

Annual utility costs would need to increase by between 30 and 40 per cent to eliminate the

c.£700K operational contingency budget we have set aside across each year of CP16. In light of

geopolitical instability, there may continue to be fluctuations in oil prices (although at the time of

writing they are at a significant low), so we will continue to monitor utility costs carefully. Over the

total Plan period, we have set aside £5.7 million to cover our utility costs across our branches.

Construction inflation remains high and this will impact on our ambitious masterplanning across

the IWM estate. At IWM London, we are preparing for the delivery of phase two of our

masterplan to create new Second World War and Holocaust galleries and at IWM Duxford, we

are preparing a masterplan for delivery over the coming years.

In the event of one of more of the factors above materialising and precipitating a major financial

shift, we would look to use contingency funds or re-phase the major projects that are in train.

Longer term, we are seeking to substantially build our reserves and increase our financial

resilience.

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Appendix 2 – performance indicators

We will use these measures to monitor our progress. The table below shows our direction of travel over the next five years.

Summary of our annual performance indicators 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 15 year view

2030–31

Prioritising our audiences

Visitor numbers 2.6million 2.6million 2.7million 3.2million

Web visits 6.5million 6.75million 7.0million 8.0million

% visitors who will definitely recommend a visit to others 99% 99% 99% 99%

Building our financial sustainability

% of our expenditure as fixed costs 67% 65% 64% 60%

Commercial net profit £4.9million £5.0million £5.2million £10million

Unrestricted fundraising income £0.5million £0.5million £0.7million £1.5million

Delivering effective stewardship of our collections

Complete inventory of the collections 99% 100% 100% 100%

Increase % of collection with accountable location records

28% 30% 35% 75%

% of collection content digitised for preservation purposes (where material is sensitive and or at risk of degrading)

2

43% 43%

45% 100%

% of the collection digitised for access purposes (for learning, research, exhibitions and programming)

3

1.1% 1.3% 1.5% 3.4%

% collection stored in appropriate environmental conditions

4

22% 22% 22% 82%

2 The baseline for this figure is 59,500 – this number represents the volume of material IWM has committed to preserving in digital form

3 The baseline for this figure is 31.5million – the number of items in the IWM collection that could be represented by a digital asset

4 These figures are profiled against the updated programme for Transforming IWM London phase 2

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Appendix 3 – CP16 activity plan

Introduction

Whilst this section of our Plan cannot be a comprehensive list of everything that we will do over

the coming three years, it does provide more detail on how we will deliver the strategic change

described above. We will achieve major cultural change through a range of complementary areas

of work, from strengthening leadership and the way that we work and communicate across IWM,

to supporting the Cultural Change Ambassador Network – the group of staff who are working

with colleagues to generate ideas for positive change.

The course of the Plan will see us work increasingly in cross-disciplinary teams and with external

partners to deliver our strategic aims. We will also build on the successful relationship we enjoy

with our outsourced visitor services and security provider and other partners who are key to our

daily operation. We will remain focused on the very highest priority activity.

Our people are essential to this delivery. Every member of staff and every volunteer contributes

to the success of IWM. These teams bring a rich mix of skills and passion for their subject

knowledge and professional expertise. This information presented below will link to the forward

job plans of our staff across IWM.

Aim 1: Prioritise our audiences

We will create excellent, inspiring and relevant visitor experiences.

As a result, people have a deeper understanding of the causes, course and consequences of

war and its impact on all of our lives. We provide excellent customer service across all of our

activity.

The change programme means that we place greater emphasis on our audiences and on

the impact and outcomes of our public engagement activity. We will also be focusing on

improving customer service and the visitor experience across everything we do.

1.1 Public programme across all channels

1.1.1 Conduct our own audience and external market research so that we understand our

visitors and potential visitors and ensure that we remain relevant, competitive and

compelling;

1.1.2 Create targeted and responsive product across multiple channels including exhibitions,

digital content and programmes that draw on our research and expertise and meet the

needs of audiences that we have identified locally, nationally and internationally;

1.1.3 Build relationships with audiences, engaging them in our mission and securing their

commitment to the work of IWM and its future. Ensure our public offer is attractive to key

influencers, building partnerships, especially amongst the Commonwealth community,

with the aim of achieving greater reach and impact;

1.1.4 Test new ideas, for example, the introduction of charging for special exhibitions at IWM

North, and evaluate our activity to ensure that we are achieving our identified audience

outcomes;

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1.1.5 Continue to maximise opportunities to deliver real audience impact during the First World

War Centenary period, for example, the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme in 2016;

1.1.6 Start to build a longer term and holistic public programming approach (using public

engagement ideas generated through the learning and engagement review process);

1.1.7 Ensure that our press, PR and marketing activity continues to support our strategic aims

and objectives.

1.2 Digital development

1.2.1 Create and implement a Digital Strategy responding to user needs, promoting IWM’s

profile and supporting income growth;

1.2.2 Support an increasingly digital culture at IWM so that we modernise the ways in which we

work and are digital by default in the way that we deliver services and activity. Continue

to build and maintain a robust infrastructure in order to support this;

1.2.3 Use evaluation to ensure that we are audience-led in the digital products and services

that we create;

1.2.4 Continue to evolve and extend our digital platforms including our website, presence on

social media channels and activity delivered in partnership with others. We will sustain

Lives of the First World War, an innovative digital archive, for the duration of the

Centenary period and beyond. We will also maintain the new American Air Museum and

War Memorial digital platforms;

1.2.5 Build our commercial digital activity and ensure that our online channels are efficient and

effective;

1.2.6 Continue to innovate in terms of digital learning, including digital social interpretation

models and the integration of publicly generated content.

1.3 IWM Duxford masterplan

1.3.1 Use updated role and remit for IWM Duxford, including interpretative and narrative

approach, agreed by the Board in 2015 as the foundation for building the masterplan for

the site;

1.3.2 Update IWM Duxford masterplan to present to the Board in summer 2016 with a

recommendation for initial phasing for delivering change;

1.3.3 Confirm scope, programme and cost for phase one, agree business case with

stakeholders, develop outline project plan, procurement strategy and fundraising

brochure and campaign;

1.3.4 Commence phase one masterplan delivery in time to mark the centenary of the branch in

2018;

1.3.5 Progress commercial partnership opportunities at IWM Duxford including a hotel

development in line with refreshed corporate hospitality and catering offer;

1.3.6 Maximise benefits of newly opened American Air Museum and redeveloped visitor centre

once completed.

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1.4 Transforming IWM London phase two

1.4.1 Scope includes new Second World War and Holocaust galleries and learning spaces.

Confirm programme and cost for phase two, appoint full team, agree business case with

stakeholders, develop outline project plan, procurement strategy and fundraising

brochure and campaign;

1.4.2 Confirm governance model to support the project, including Board oversight through

appointment of a Trustee Committee;

1.4.3 Align activity across IWM to support phase two content development. This focus will

include supporting the development of relevant commercial opportunities;

1.4.4 Deliver a future-proofed phase two project with content, commercial products and

partnerships ready in time to benefit from completion and launch;

1.4.5 Evaluate phase two, review and update IWM London masterplan.

1.5 Learning review

1.5.1 Complete evaluation and development phases of the learning and engagement review

process. We are seeking to create an innovative, sustainable and world class learning

programme for the future;

1.5.2 Update Learning Strategy to reflect conclusions drawn by the review and changes

resulting;

1.5.3 Deliver the implementation phase during year one of the Plan. This means that by 2018,

the last year of our LIBOR funding to support education services across all branches, we

will have a sustainable and impactful programme for the future.

1.6 Centenary Partnership Programme

1.6.1 Continue to support the Centenary Partnership Programme

1.6.2 Build on the incredible success of the Programme, developing a Stakeholder Strategy

using clear and transparent messaging so that we create and sustain a network of

influencers and supporters

1.6.3 Continue to lead and support the Centenary Partnership Programme through to 2018 and

build its legacy thereafter.

1.7 Volunteering

1.7.1 Build on current levels of volunteer support (activity includes aircraft, military vehicle and

ship conservation through to collections support, Friends of Duxford and IWM

Membership events and recruitment, on gallery interaction and information delivery, radio

station operation and office support);

1.7.2 Continue to support the If: Volunteering for Wellbeing programme which generates

significant social and economic value;

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1.7.3 Consolidate and improve systems and programmes in order to support growth in the

volunteer base and associated satisfaction levels amongst participants and service

users;

1.7.4 Develop a new Volunteering and Engagement Strategy that reflects our ambition.

1.8 Stakeholder Strategy

1.8.1 Develop a strategy that reflects our ambition to develop and maintain a network of

stakeholders across all of our branches;

1.8.2 Identify actions and owners for our branch plans to ensure that we manage our

relationships with key influencers and advocates in an efficient and effective way;

1.8.3 Measure our progress against agreed targets and programmes of activity, for example,

stakeholder communication to support specific future masterplan projects or to maintain

relationships with existing stakeholders who have already helped us achieve our strategic

ambitions (for example, American Air Museum stakeholders at IWM Duxford and

Transforming IWM London phase 1 stakeholders).

1.9 Upgrading visitor facilities

1.9.1 At Churchill War Rooms, we will further upgrade the visitor welcome, improving the

admissions area and upgrading the visitor toilets. We will upgrade key interactives in the

Churchill Museum as well as the temporary exhibition Undercover and a new exhibition,

Churchill and the Middle East. We will create a mini-masterplan for the further

development of this branch;

1.9.2 At HMS Belfast, we will explore ways to develop the visitor experience and again, will

upgrade key visitor facilities. We will create a mini-masterplan for the further development

of this branch;

1.9.3 At IWM North, we are investing in the Big Picture Show in the Main Exhibition Space and

will explore changes to the visitor welcome as the Quays area surrounding our branch

continues to develop.

Aim 2: Increase our financial sustainability

We will secure our long-term financial viability and create a flexible, entrepreneurial and dynamic

working culture.

As a result, we will build our income and financial flexibility so that we can invest in our offer. We

will improve our financial performance, build our resilience and strengthen IWM.

The structural element of the change programme means that we have reduced our fixed

costs. However, we must now ensure that cultural change and new ways of working are

embedded in the teams remaining.

2.1 Change programme

2.1.1 Strengthen our organisation by focusing on the highest priorities, increasing net profit,

controlling costs and effectively managing risks;

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2.1.2 Build an organisational culture that is more flexible, creative and entrepreneurial,

reflecting our brand values to be courageous, authoritative, relevant and empathetic. Part

of this change in culture will mean that silo working is broken down and as a corollary,

respect for professional skills is increased;

2.1.3 Focus on building new ways of working using the benefits of CRM technology to gain

efficiencies and greater effectiveness;

2.1.4 Increase the breadth of skills, experience and knowledge that supports our work, for

example, by developing a clear reward and recognition scheme for our staff and by

encouraging more volunteers and apprentices to join us and support our work;

2.1.5 Strengthen leadership and communication across all levels of our organisation. This will

include using a programme of regular staff surveys to test staff engagement and

progress in achieving change, and improvements to some of our key internal

communication channels including the intranet;

2.1.6 Continue our programme of knowledge mapping and succession planning to ensure that

the knowledge and expertise of our staff is captured;

2.1.7 Create and implement a new HR Strategy that reflects our ambition to ensure that all

staff are valued and engaged;

2.1.8 Review recruitment, selection and induction of new staff with a view to broadening the

profile and diversity of our teams;

2.1.9 Create and implement a new Training and Development Strategy that provides

opportunities for all staff to develop their skills, knowledge and confidence. The

implementation of this strategy will also support succession planning over the long term.

2.2 Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

2.2.1 Continue the implementation of the CRM system (over an extended period) with the

express intention of iterating the system as we roll it out across our business;

2.2.2 Build a greater understanding of our customers so that we can provide excellent service

and improve our commercial performance;

2.2.3 Create targeted product and marketing activity for our customers and visitors;

2.2.4 Increase our business gain, efficiency and effectiveness with greater staff productivity

and more informed, evidence-based decision making.

2.3 Estates Strategy

2.3.1 Prioritise and improve the visitor experience through the effective management of our

properties across all branches;

2.3.2 Safeguard and improve the physical conditions of our collections and estate through a

proportionate, sustainable and risk-based capital investment approach;

2.3.3 Deliver an accommodation strategy that ensures spaces for visitors, staff and tenants are

maintained to an appropriate standard across our branches;

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2.3.4 Manage collections storage so that it is safe, secure, efficient and maintained to

appropriate environmental conditions;

2.3.5 Investigate and implement opportunities for shared services;

2.3.6 Maximise the value of our built assets;

2.3.7 Ensure that our business continuity planning is coordinated, up to date and regularly

tested. This regime will include a continued focus on effectively managing security across

our branches and services.

2.4 Commercial Strategy

2.4.1 Continue to prioritise the incremental and systematic development of commercial

revenue streams and our levels of net profit;

2.4.2 Support the delivery of our Commercial Strategy and maximise the value of our assets

through a responsive and agile digitisation programme;

2.4.3 Create a working environment where entrepreneurialism is supported and encouraged;

2.4.4 Build our membership scheme so that we have a thriving, highly engaged group of

supporters who can enjoy the benefits we are able to offer across our branches;

2.4.5 Focus on the commercial strategy at IWM Duxford which includes the development of a

new hotel, capitalising on the positive impact of the new visitor centre and redeveloped

American Air Museum, air show programme and our pleasure flying business.

2.5 Partnerships

2.5.1 Continue to broker strategic partnerships that further our ambition and bring mutual

benefit to all parties;

2.5.2 Embed partnerships that deliver real impact and seek to increase the reach of

underdeveloped areas of our business through targeted development of partnerships;

2.5.3 Build on partnerships that help us widen our reach and impact;

2.5.4 Work with stakeholders and key influencers across our business to build our brand and

profile;

2.5.5 Deliver an ambitious long-term fundraising plan to support activity across our branches

including a stewardship and engagement programme for our patrons, supporters, and

corporate members, as well as those who have chosen to join our legacy scheme.

2.6 Business modernisation

2.6.1 Focus on our highest priorities and streamline the way in which we deliver activity;

2.6.2 Plan robustly and support our teams to work in more project-based and cross

departmental ways in order to achieve our strategic priorities;

2.6.3 Review our processes and procedures and reduce bureaucracy, in particular, as we

become increasingly digital by default (linked to the development of our new Digital

Strategy);

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2.6.4 Focus on quality standards in terms of both external and internal customers;

2.6.5 Develop new ways of working including the introduction of an Electronic Records

Management Scheme;

2.6.6 Continue to deliver efficient and effective centralised financial services for the IWM

business.

Aim 3: Effective stewardship of our collection

We will develop and care for our collection.

As a result, we will ensure our collections and knowledge remain relevant and accessible for

audiences now and for generations to come.

The change programme ensures that we have the resource to care for, preserve and

display our rich and powerful collections. We will focus on making this collection,

together with the ideas, knowledge and expertise we hold, available to users from all over

the UK and beyond, be that through physical visits to exhibitions and events or via

outreach and digital programmes.

3.1 Collections management, digitisation and access strategy

3.1.1 Continue to address the backlog in collections documentation, progress digitisation

activity and invest in conservation programmes;

3.1.2 Produce a clear collections development strategy and plan, including the completion of

Collections Review activity (around disposal) to rationalise material held as appropriate;

3.1.3 Complete the first stage of our total collections inventory process;

3.1.4 Deliver ongoing systems development;

3.1.5 Focus on prioritising major large and industrial object conservation activity including a

survey of HMS Belfast and a conservation programme for the B1 Victor XH648 at IWM

Duxford;

3.1.6 Work towards the exit from our nitrate film store at Ickleton, with an appropriate partner to

create cost savings and efficiency;

3.1.7 Continue the NATO project which will help us achieve documentation improvements, as

well as supporting digitisation and collections review activity.

3.2 IWM Duxford North Side collections storage project

3.2.1 Continue the delivery of our phased investment programme to transform the collections

storage facilities at IWM Duxford (North Side);

3.2.2 Increase the proportion of collections stored in the correct environmental conditions;

3.2.3 Start work to develop a storage masterplan for IWM as a whole.

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3.3 Contemporary Collecting Strategy

3.3.1 Ensure that the collection remains dynamic and reflects the changing nature of warfare;

3.3.2 Continue to develop the collection in targeted ways that are relevant to our audiences

and support our programming ambitions;

3.3.3 Develop and build on relationships with potential collecting partners and donors of new

material;

3.3.4 Seek external funding to support our strategic collecting ambition.

3.4 Knowledge mapping and building expertise

3.4.1 Advance and share knowledge of our collections and subjects;

3.4.2 Provide intellectual leadership on our subject matter so we remain relevant and

engaging;

3.4.3 Pursue a stimulating and targeted research programme building our reputation as a

centre of knowledge;

3.4.4 Foster staff skills and expertise, and interact with national and international research

communities.