Our team planned a Thanksgiving-themed food drive to support the Westchester Food Pantry. We chose this project because we want to help fight local food insecurity and give it back to the community during the season of gratitude. We planned to collect at most 100 cans of non-perishable food using labeleddonation boxes with flyers and a QR code for people who want to donate money instead. But we surpassed this goal with a total of 222 items of food. After the collection, a team member delivered what was raised to the pantry. This project helped raise awareness and make a positive impact within our community. 

 Westchester Food Pantry’s goal is to provide a reliable source of healthy food assistance for those in need, living in the communities served by the Westchester Food Pantry. They provided us with a list of foods they were looking for and worked with us on when to drop things off, which helped us make sure our project ran smoothly during these busy holiday seasons. Their values include compassion, fostering health, innovation, collaboration, accountability, volunteerism, corporate Citizen, and sustainability. 

 Our objective was to collect a minimum of 100 non-perishable food items in a week. We ended up achieving over double our goal with 222 items and a monetary donation of $10. We were able to achieve this by planning ahead and getting in contact with the right DePaul staff members at an efficient time. We have received donations from the gym, student housing, and other locations on campus. It was also thanks to the donations of individuals in an outside class that we were able to surpass our initial goal. 

The first lesson learned about managing projects would be that as a team it is very important that you communicate consistently. Everyone should be on the same page throughout the entirety of the project in order for everyone to be organized when completing the task objectives or goals. Another lesson learned about managing projects is how to better understand each member’s strengths or restrictions. Being able to be flexible as a team allows the group to divide tasks more efficiently because each member can contribute in their own best way or if uncomfortable, can be assigned to the next person. 

 Our recommendation for future teams doing similar projects is to establish a clear form of communication and deadlines for when things need to be done by. We also recommend allocating some time to allow for any things that were not planned for. Specifically for things such as permits, which may take more time the expected, and to pick up or deliver certain things. It’s also important to market and distribute flyers effectively, as this helps raise awareness, increase participation, and ensure that the event or project reaches the intended audience. We recommend also taking ideas into consideration although they may not be considered the 1st choice. It’s always best to have back-up plans for when things do not go well.  

 Brief Description of the Project

Our project, Beats N’ Bingo, was a one-night fundraising event designed to bring together students, young professionals, and community members for a unique evening that combined high-energy house music and the classic game of Bingo. The event was hosted at King KTV in Chicago’s Chinatown and featured live DJs, multiple rounds of bingo with prizes, and a post-bingo dance party. Tickets were sold for $15 for students and $25 for all other participants, and additional revenue came from raffle ticket sales and open donations. The event was designed, planned, and executed entirely by a six-person student team as part of our Managing Projects and Teams course.

Brief Description of the Charity

The fundraiser supported Bear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation, a Chicago-based nonprofit dedicated to eliminating pediatric cancer and providing critical support to families affected by it. Their “Bear Hugs” program helps ease the financial and emotional burden of families by providing customized experiences and essential needs during treatment. Our goal was to not only raise funds but also to bring awareness to this incredible organization and its impact on local families.

Factual Analysis of Success in Terms of Project Objectives

Our main objectives were to raise funds, secure sponsorships, and deliver an engaging event experience. We exceeded our fundraising target and community engagement goals:

• Total funds raised: Over $1,600, surpassing our initial goal.
• Sponsorships secured: More than 7 local sponsors contributed raffle prizes and in-kind donations.
• Attendance: Approximately 30 attendees, generating strong energy and participation throughout the night.
• Community impact: We successfully increased awareness of Bear Necessities among attendees, with several expressing interest in future involvement.

Overall, the project met and exceeded expectations for both fundraising and execution.

4) Lessons Learned About Managing Projects

Through the Beats N’ Bingo project, our team gained valuable lessons in project management and teamwork:

• Start Early and Plan Ahead: One of the biggest lessons was the importance of starting marketing and outreach efforts as early as possible. Promotion and sponsorship outreach took longer than expected, and earlier planning would have reduced last-minute stress.
• Communication and Accountability: Keeping consistent communication and holding each team member accountable was key to staying on track. We learned the value of applying “healthy pressure”—encouraging teammates to meet deadlines without overwhelming them.
• Adaptability: Despite challenges with venue logistics and timelines, our ability to adapt and redistribute tasks ensured the event stayed on schedule. Flexibility and quick decision-making were vital to our success.

Advice for Future Teams

For future teams planning similar events:

• Begin marketing as soon as possible. The earlier you start promoting your event and contacting sponsors, the smoother your execution will be.
• Establish clear accountability. Assign specific roles, set internal deadlines, and check in regularly to maintain progress.
• Maintain open communication. Weekly updates and honest discussions about challenges keep the entire team aligned.
• Plan for backup options. Have contingency plans for venue, materials, and funding to minimize last-minute disruptions.

These strategies not only prevent scrambling in the final weeks but also strengthen team cohesion and efficiency.

6) Photos

Summary:
Beats N’ Bingo was a creative, community-centered success. We exceeded our fundraising goals, delivered a vibrant experience that united music and philanthropy, and strengthened our skills in leadership, accountability, and project execution.

Project Description 

Our team organized a multiple channel fundraising campaign called “Greens for Good” to support ALS United Chicago. The project consisted of two in-person events; a raffle/bake sale at Five Iron Golf in River North on November 15th and another raffle at Bisa Lina dispensary that ran between November 7th to November 14th. We also made an online donation portal that was accessible from a QR code on our fliers as another source if you could not attend any of the events. The bake sale featured homemade cookies that varied in flavors that were given to participants with a raffle entry. We started it at $5 per raffle ticket and then priced it down to $1 to maximize our engagement. We made two gift baskets for two individual winners at Five Iron Golf and a separate raffle for two glass pieces and a travel case at Bisa Lina Dispensary. We also incorporated the donated items from the venues and ALS United Chicago merchandise on top of all the other items that we contributed as a group. 

About ALS United Chicago 

ALS United Chicago is dedicated to supporting families and caregivers that are affected by ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). The organization takes a collaborative approach to research and provides care to those who are affected by this disease. ALS United Chicago’s goal is not to manage symptoms, but to find a cure. We chose this charity because our group members have family members that are diagnosed with ALS, and we wanted to contribute to raising awareness for a disease that receives limited funding. 

Project Success Analysis  

Overall, we crushed our expectations. We had set three main success metrics. The total funds raised, engagement, and awareness impact. Our best-case scenario was projected to be $1,000 and exceeded it with a total of $1,697 from our fundraiser.  

For engagement, we hoped for our best-case scenario to have 200 participants. We could not track the exact number of participants, but we did estimate around 30 participants came to our in-person event at Five Iron Golf and about 200 participants for the raffle at Bisa Lina Dispensary.  

We were also able to meet our awareness goal. We were able to build a strong relationship with Five Iron Golf and Bisa Lina to secure hosting space, promote the organization we supported, and receive prize donations at their facilities. ALS United Chicago’s marketing director was also super kind and helped us through our journey by providing us with branded merchandise and informational materials for our raffles. 

Lessons Learned About Project Management 

Lesson 1: Detailed Planning Prevents Problems 

When we created our WBS, Gantt chart, and especially our risk management plan, it paid off in many ways. We were able to identify many potential risks before our event and were able to create our contingency plans for each item. We thought of every possible thing that could have gone wrong, like bad weather, allergies, or payment failures and carried extra change if needed at the event. Luckily, our events ran smoothly, and we had very little trouble getting everything sorted. For example, we created allergen labels for our cookies just in case people had nut allergies or could not have any dairy products. Our donation website ran perfectly throughout the duration of our events, and we had to give out very little change to our participants, so we never lost a potential donation. 

Lesson 2: Clear Roles and Communication 

Each member of the group was assigned clear and well-defined responsibilities in our responsibility matrix. This eliminated any confusion about who handled what. We would be actively communicating and holding everyone accountable. We experienced very little conflict and had clear expectations of what had to be done. 

Lesson 3: Multiple Streams Maximize Impact 

We had created three separate revenue streams. Our biggest one was an online portal created through ALS United Chicago’s website, where anyone can donate and participate. While our main events mainly created engagement and raised awareness, almost 90% of our funds came from online donations. This showed us that we should not rely on one type of fundraising method. We were able to create an experience where it can be as simple as clicking on the QR code in the comfort of your home or come and experience the event in person. 

Advice for Future Teams 

Start your risk management planning early. Do not wait until you have finalized every detail. Identify problems as soon as you have your general plan and keep updating your risk assessment as you move forward with the project. Having those contingencies gave us confidence and saved us when things did not go as planned. Do not tunnel vision on one charity or organization. For example, many of them will not get back to you in a timely manner, and deadlines creep up on you when it’s least expected. We did not email only one organization. We emailed around 4 of them and only 2 of them got back to us on time. 10 weeks is a short amount of time, so start creating your plan as soon as possible. 

Price for participation and not maximize profitability. We first started selling our raffles for 5$ and cookies and lowered them to just 1$ to make it easy for everyone to participate. We wanted this low barrier of entry because we wanted to encourage as many people as possible and to engage in our fundraiser. At the end of the day, it’s a fundraiser where we wanted to do good for the community and not worry about maximizing our profits per transaction.  

Lastly, invest time in making your donation pages and fliers. Check to see if the QR code and donation link are working smoothly before your event. Check not only through your phone but also check on other devices like your computer to see if everything looks good. When creating your donation page and fliers, you want them to be eye catching and material that people would want to share on social media. We were able to make promotional material for our Bisa Lina event so the marketing team was able to post it on their social media.  

Photos!

Description of the project  

Our team wanted to focus on making a local impact through our fundraising project. We wanted to fundraise for an organization based in Chicago. Because of this, we hosted a fundraising event in Oz Park to get the community involved and collect monetary, and book donations for Bernie’s Book Bank. Our event was a bookmark decorating, pay-what-you-can bake sale at Oz Park during a community bonfire event that the park hosted. Because of our organization’s nature; being centered around books and kids, it made sense for us to do a family, and more importantly, a kid-friendly activity. We wanted to do something that would allow people to spend some time at our table and draw the attention of others, so we chose bookmark decorating and a bake sale. The bookmark decorating was free, and the bake sale was pay what you can. This might seem counterintuitive for a fundraiser, but we didn’t want to limit our potential donations by assigning specific prices to our goods. Instead, we just reminded anyone interested in buying a baked good where the proceeds were going and had a QR code linked to our donation page on Bernie’s website out on the table. 

Brief description of the charity 

Bernie’s is a nonprofit dedicated to making sure that having books in your home is a luxury all children have access to regardless of what their home looks like. The organization originated from the Chicagoland area, and now operates in Milwaukee and around Florida as well. 

Factual analysis of success in terms of project objectives  

Our goal was to raise $250 in donations and 100 book donations, we were able to raise $320 and collect over 250 books. Not only were we able to collect donations for the project, but we were able to raise a lot of awareness about Bernie’s within the community. Having the bookmark decorating aspect at our event meant people spent longer at our table, and were able to listen to us tell them more about Bernies, or read about it on our trifold. 

Three lessons learned about managing projects  

• One of the biggest lessons that we learned through this project was the importance of having backup plans, and being able to pivot. A lot of our original ideas had to change; our organization, our event location, our number of events. Being flexible and being able to pivot rather than starting over was essential.

• Good communication is the most important thing for a team. Finding out what kind of communication works best between you and your teammates. Putting in shared effort to respond quickly and thoughtfully to each other. 
• The project moves faster than you expect it to. You are on a timeline that the world outside of your team, like the business you’re trying to partner with, is not. So doing everything within your team punctually is important. 

Advice for future teams doing similar projects 

Use this project to do something you’re passionate about. There is so much freedom in what your project, event, scale, demographic, organization, etc can be, so I’d suggest using that to your advantage to get experience, and network, in an area that you’re interested in. 

If you’re taking MGT 303 – Managing Projects and Teams, the charity project will be one of the most hands-on experiences of the class. You’ll partner with a nonprofit, design a real project, and apply project management tools to execute it. When my team completed the assignment, we worked with Nourishing Hope, a Chicago nonprofit fighting food insecurity. Our project didn’t go exactly the way we planned, but the challenges we ran into ended up being the best part of the learning experience.

The assignment seems simple at first: pick a charity, plan a project, carry it out, and present your results. But the real goal is to show how well your team can manage a project which was how you plan, communicate, adapt, handle risks, and work under pressure. You’ll create documents like an implementation plan, a risk management plan, and a final presentation. Your grade depends far more on your process than on how much money you raise.

Our project, “Feed Chicago Together,” was originally focused on running two in-person tabling events on the DePaul Lincoln and Loop Campus. We planned to collect canned goods, encourage student donations, and raise between $1,000 and $1,500 using QR-code flyers. Everything was perfect—until DePaul rejected our tabling request :(. In that moment, our entire project shifted from an in-person event to a digital-only fundraising campaign.

From there, we had to rethink everything. We redesigned our flyers for online sharing and promoted them through Instagram, group chats, direct messages, and our own student networks. We coordinated closely with our contact at Nourishing Hope, who helped us track donations and keep the campaign organized this is the website if you want to check it out (https://give.nourishinghopechi.org/fundraiser/6812599). Weekly team meetings kept everyone aligned as we pushed the project forward.

In the end, we raised around $650, less than our original goal, and we were still able to collect some physical food donations like cans. Still, the project had a good impact, and the amount donated supported many families. More importantly, we learned what real project management feels like dealing with uncertainty, reacting quickly, and adapting to changes outside our control.

Our biggest challenge was not securing event approval early. It taught us that one unverified event can change an entire project. We also realized that digital fundraising is much harder without in-person visibility and requires far more time and outreach. But even with these obstacles, our teamwork, communication, and quick adaptation helped us move forward successfully.

For future students, my advice is simple: get all approvals early, always build a backup plan, and start promoting sooner than you think. Don’t stress if things don’t go perfectly; your grade comes from how you manage the project, document your decisions, and reflect on what you learned.

Our team still created real impact and gained skills that translate directly into real project management roles. If you’re starting your MGT 303 project soon, take our experience as a guide on what not to do lol (JKJK). Prepare early, stay flexible, and learn from every challenge you face that’s what the project is truly about!