We had a terrific Annual Meeting on 3 May. Attendance was up, and the vibe was excellent. It was an honor to have Chief of Naval Operations John Richardson as our keynote speaker, and we congratulate all our award winners, whose acceptance speeches all were especially good. It was a wonderful gathering of Members, Friends, and Supporters.
In case you missed it, here are the key items to report:
The state of the Naval Institute is strong. We continue to make excellent progress on our strategic goals while ensuring we can execute in a sustainable manner. We are in the black for the fifth straight year. Membership finished the year at more than 50,000 Members. We set another record in the Foundation—of which the sole mission is to support the Institute.
The money raised in the Foundation delivers immediate impact. It is the Institute’s investment capital and allows us to pursue initiatives. Of our donations, 85 percent come from individuals. Foundation gifts provide the resources to seize opportunities and underpin our everyday efforts. The Foundation helped us bring back essay contests with vigor—giving us great authors and content—expand the Oral History Program and launch the Memoir Program. Maybe most of all, it has made it possible to digitize and make searchable every contribution to Proceedings since 1874. In addition, we have almost 100,000 items from our unique photo collection digitized.
We are in the final year of our current Strategic Plan, which has propelled the Naval Institute forward on several fronts:
• We have greatly expanded our reach and broadened our engagement.
• We have immensely improved our open, independent forum.
• We have increased active-duty participation.
• We have enhanced an already strong and important conference program.
The naval events and incidents of the past year required the Naval Institute to be at its best. There were myriad topics that required accurate reporting and open independent, nonpartisan commentary.
USNI News continues to put up big numbers. Proceedings is taking on tough topics and providing invaluable commentary—plus, we’re making timely use of Proceedings Today between print editions. The Naval Institute Press is launching its graphic novel initiative this fall under the Dead Reckoning imprint. We are not losing sight of the importance of history and continue to focus on Naval History magazine, the Oral History Program, and the Memoir Program.
It is an important time to have a strong Naval Institute, and we thank our loyal Members for your continued support!
GDIT Will Sponsor Essay Contest
We are delighted to announce that GDIT (General Dynamics Information Technology) has agreed to sponsor a new Naval Institute essay contest: the Midshipmen, Cadets, and Officer Candidate Essay Contest. This contest will serve a much-needed bridging function across the largest accession points for the officer corps of the Sea Services. It will complement the technical focus of future leaders’ undergraduate studies by introducing them to the need to read, think, speak, and write effectively. It will engender positive competition and camaraderie across these rich and diverse professional development paths. Naval Academy midshipmen will see their NROTC brothers and sisters in a new light. And vice versa.
Over the past few years, the Naval Institute has added more than 10,500 future officers as members . . . more than 80 percent of the midshipmen and cadets currently enrolled in all NROTC programs, at the U.S. Naval Academy, and at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. These young members already are using the Institute’s 144 years of digital archives as source material for their coursework. The new essay contest will make naval history and current affairs even more compelling for these future officers.
Join the Maritime Security Dialogue
The Naval Institute will launch this year’s Maritime Security Dialogue series on 4 June. Marine Lieutenant Generals Brian Beaudreault, Robert Hedelund, and Robert Walsh will discuss “Innovation and the Marine Air-Ground Task Force” with Dr. Maren Leed. These important events are conducted at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., and are made possible with support from Huntington Ingalls Industries.