Team RWB Bag Toss

Project Description
Our team decided to host a charity fundraiser Bag Toss Tournament in order to raise awareness in our local communities regarding Team Red, White, and Blue (Team RWB). The event was hosted at American Legion Post 973 in Ravenswood over the Memorial Day weekend. Entrance into the tournament was $10 per participant/ $20 per team, with the winning team receiving a $50 prize and the rest going to the charity. During the event we raised additional funds through a 50/50 raffle. Prior to the event we set up a direct link to Team RWB’s website to collect online donations.

Charity
Team Red, White, and Blue is a non-profit Veterans organization that seeks to enrich the lives of American veterans by connecting them to their community through physical and social activity. Members participate in weekly/bi-weekly local events aimed to promote physical exercise as well as providing a social and support network. Some of the events include but are not limited to running, cycling and other fitness type actives.

Analysis of Success
Our goal was to raise funds for and awareness of Team RWB. Team RWB is the largest veterans organization in the United States though not many vets know about the outreach of this organization. We measured our success in term of how much monetary support we raised. Our initial goal was $500 given the short time frame in which to raise the funds and reviewing what other Team RWB teams have accomplished with previous online donations. Due to the amount of online giving we raised our goal to $1,000. We exceed our modified goal by raising $1,179. Our team is currently the highest grossing online donation team on the RWB website.

Lessons Learned
During the execution of the project, Team Geronimo concurs our primary lessons learned are ensuring the project plan had built in contingencies, delegation / accountability of tasks to meet the overall objective, and communication protocol. The following is a breakdown of each lesson learned:
● P-A-C-E. – This is a military acronym for Primary, Alternate, Contingency and Emergency. the two critical areas to focus on early in the planning process are Charity selection and the venue to host the event. As a group, we focused on one charity and as it turned out the charity was great to work with and supported us throughout the processes. If the selected charity did not work out, we would have needed to scramble to identify and coordinate another charity with little time to spare. Next, securing a venue was paramount. We had a venue picked early and were in negotiations about dates but ultimately didn’t work out. We had to restart our search for a second venue a couple weeks into the planning process. Our second attempt at finding a venue applied the PACE plan and took on a multi-prong approach with three venues to choose from. If we had to do it over, we would have approached multiple venues in parallel at on onset of the project.
● Delegation / Accountability – As a large team of seven, it was important to us to outline tasks assign owners for various major deliverables. We learned quickly, first couple of weeks, we needed a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and responsibility matrix to clearly communicate who was responsible for what. We completed the WBS and the responsibility matrix within a couple of weeks of starting the project. Both documents were refined over time and served as team tools to track accountability.
● Communication – Again, with having a large team, communication becomes very important in order to keep the plans moving forward. We operated with three forms of communication: WhatsApp group chat for day to day communications, group emails for longer conversations and attachments, and Google Docs where we kept all our deliverables. In hindsight we should have also developed a communications plan early in the process to document frequency and which channel was used. We learned quickly and that helped. We could have avoided a few miss-steps in the beginning and end of the project with communication if a comms plan was developed early.

Advice
Set realistic expectations for your project, but don’t be afraid to reach for higher goals
Networking is key, so invite everyone you know
Don’t be afraid to ask for volunteers/donations, etc. The worst they can say is no.
At times when the project becomes stressful, keep in mind that this is a learning experience and you are bringing real support to a worthy cause.

 

Happy Hour for Charity!- Mercy Home for Boys and Girls

Project Description and Charity:

Our team conducted a Happy Hour for Charity event to benefit Mercy Home for Boys and Girls. Our group formed largely due to the fact that we all were interested in conducting a similar type of event. Based on our reviews of previous projects, we felt that holding a happy hour event would be fun and productive way to raise funds and spread awareness for a charity. For this event we had a $40 Wristband that included unlimited wine, beer, & appetizers for 2 hours at Liqrbox in Rivernorth. Once we figured out our venue, we then needed to pick a charity for our project. After briefly discussing a few options, we quickly decided to pick Mercy Home as our charity because one of our members already had a connection to the charity and a relationship with their volunteer coordinator. We felt that this would be a huge benefit to our project. Founded in 1887 and located at 1140 West Jackson in Chicago, Mercy Home for Boys & Girls helps youth escape poverty, abuse, and neglect.

Analysis of Success:

Our goal was to spread awareness and raise money for Mercy Home Boys and Girls. We decided to set the following goals for our project- raise $600 from our happy hour event, raise $500 from our online donation link, have at least 5 of our event guests fill out volunteer forms for Mercy, and spread awareness for the work done by Mercy. We fell a little short on our first two goals by only raising $500 and $300 respectively, but we were able to meet and exceed our other two goals by effectively spreading awareness for Mercy as well as obtaining 15 completed volunteer forms. We may have slightly overestimated our fundraising goals given the early timing of our event and the fact that our team only had four members. It was still rewarding to be able to donate these funds and volunteer forms to Mercy as well as inform them of the awareness we had spread for their cause.

Lessons Learned:

Organization:  Luckily our group was able to coordinate and plan everything without any issues, with that being said it was because we were very organized. Our team was in constant contact through texting, emails, and google docs. It was very easy to have a successful event because we had open communication.

Time: Since our event was early in the quarter it was important for us to communicate and make sure everything was done in a timely manner. Finding a venue and selecting which one we liked had to be done very fast. Everything that we did was time sensitive so it was a good way for us to learn how to manage our time and gets things done efficiently. 

Advice:

  • Work effectively!
  • Make a timeline
  • Set deadlines
  • Communicate efficiently
  • Have a good time!

 

Creative Chicago Reuse Exchange

The Project:

Our team did an event on 5/19 at Emporium Arcade Bar Wicker Park to raise money and awareness for the Creative Chicago Reuse Exchange organization. Attendees donated supplies that were needed by the organization and also made cash donations. We were initially going to raffle tickets to a Cubs game, but we ultimately decided to instead raffle off an RCA tablet and gift cards from Giordanos and Starbucks. Everyone who donated either money or supplies was included in the raffle. We had live entertainment for free (no cover to enter) and also gave away free game tokens.

The Charity:

The Creative Chicago Reuse Exchange is a non-profit organization that focuses on the creative re-use and re-distribution of school/arts supplies. The organization receives the materials mostly from local businesses and distributes them to teachers.

Teachers come from a wide variety of schools, but most are Chicago Public School teachers. The end goal of the organization or the reason they do this is to empower the mind of the youth by promoting creative use of the supplies. The organization frequently hosts swap circles in which teachers can go and get the materials they need for their classrooms.

Factual analysis of success in terms of project objectives:

Our three main objectives were to raise money, awareness and donate supply.   We expected to raise $450 total.  We ended up raising $274 from our raffle at our event, $120 from our online donations, and $30 from the venue based on our RSVP’s.

We also wanted to raise awareness of this organization and their cause.  To promote our event, we created a Facebook event and each member of our group shared it with our networks.  Our Facebook event reached over 2000 people and had about 1000 views.  Also, we were able to raise awareness to everyone who came to emporium who might not have heard of our organization.

Our goal was to donate around 225 items of supplies and we were able to donate about 100 items from the event.  This was lower than we anticipated but we were glad to also be able to donate money.

Goals and Objectives Accomplished
Raise Money (expected $450.00) We raised about $424 from our event, online and the venue
Raise Awareness Reached over 2K people, and had 1,000 views on Facebook event page
Donate Supplies (expected 225 items) We received approximately 120 various school supplies the day of the event
Put on a fun event! About 250 -300 people attended

 

Lessons Learned:

Overall putting together an actual event in a short amount of time makes you put a lot of things into perspective.  Learning to manage risk in the event that one may arise, as well as having a solid contingency plan in place is a must.  Real life things are always happening an example is family emergencies that can happen in a blink of an eye and change your life as you know it.  Contingency plans help combat issues that can and will arise.

Holding regular team meetings are imperative to making sure everyone is on the same page.  Team meetings do not have to be useless.  Our meetings helped keep us on track.  If we had questions and concerns, we would make sure to voice this and either get on a call or follow up via email to make sure that we were in fact on the same page or figure out what needed to be done to get us back on the same page.  Meetings were extremely helpful and a vital part of managing projects.

Of course, there are vital skills that are needed and without them projects would never see fruition and that is Organizational skills, making sure that information is easily accessible for all to access we used google docs to help keep us organized as a team.  Communication skills are also a key component.  Making sure that we effectively communicated with each other is another skill needed for successful project management.  Furthermore, making sure we had clarity on our goals especially from the organization.  The organization that you are assisting may have a different vision, however making sure that you are able to bring things together is very important, even if the vision is different the end goal is the same, and making sure that this was expressed, and trying to tie the organizations vision with ours had its challenges, however in the end we were able to pull it off.   The biggest takeaway from managing projects is to have Fun!  At the end of the day there are a lot of little pieces that go into managing projects.  However, there is fun to be had, putting on events can also be fun, and as you can tell from our photos we were able to have fun while doing a great thing for a phenomenal organization.

Advice for future teams:

The best piece of advice for future groups to pull off a field project is to stay on top of communication. Another piece of advice would be to never underestimate your personal and professional networks. Although our group wanted to complete this field project for the sake of a grade, I highly doubt that the project wouldn’t have been as successful if we did not include outside stakeholders within our own networks to help pull of the event.

 

 

Team 2 – Live Like Roo

Our group organized a series of service events and fundraisers in support of the Live Like Roo Foundation. Our team participated in a service event and fundraiser to help raise awareness and monetary donations for the Live Like Roo Foundation.

Charity

The Live Like Roo Foundation was founded by president Sarah Lauch.  Sarah rescued a dog named Roosevelt (Roo) at Chicago Animal Care and Control. He was an abused dog who was having issues urinating. While getting dental work it was discovered that Roo had cancer, and it was not curable.

Sarah decided to give Roo the life he deserved and set up a bucket list for him.  Unbeknownst to her, Roo’s bucket list went viral and all across the United States people supported Sarah while taking care of Roo. People donated money and items for Roo’s last couple months of life. About five months into to Roo’s new life he sadly passed away.

Sarah saw an opportunity to help families cope with the same feelings she was experiencing.  She decided to start the Live Like Roo Foundation. The foundation provides care packages to the families of dogs who have been diagnosed with cancer.  She also provides families with financial assistance to help offset the cost of medical care for their dog.

Each care package contains a hand-tied fleece blanket, several toys, dog treats, and a McDonald’s gift card (Roo loved McDonald’s cheeseburgers and ice cream). Sarah packages and sends each box herself. Her home is her office for the Live Like Roo Foundation. With the help of the foundation’s board members, volunteer committees, and friends of the organization, Sarah holds fundraisers and service events throughout the year.

Cinco De Tie-O

Our group participated in a service event, “Cinco de Tie-O” at Archie’s Iowa Rockwell Tavern. The event was organized as a way for the charity to quickly tie and prepare fleece blankets that the organization could use for care packages provided to families and their dogs.  Our goal was to assist the organization as volunteers and promote the event. We were tasked with tying fleece blankets, promoting the event, and assisting with “day of” logistics including greeting guests, setting up tying stations, and handing out food to those that participated.

Tennis Ball Campaign

In addition to the service event, we also organized a brand awareness campaign for the charity. We took branded tennis balls (marked with #LiveLikeRoo) and set out to local parks to hand out the tennis balls and talk about the organization.

We distributed the tennis balls at the following Chicagoland locations:

  • Harrison Park
  • Pattawattomie Park/Rogers Park
  • Pooch Park
  • Champaign Bark District
  • Logan Boulevard
  • Lincoln Park/Belmont Dog Beach

In addition to handing out tennis balls, we also ran a social media campaign to raffle off a shirt created by the organization. To win the shirt, participants had to post a picture on social media of their dog and a #LikeLikeRoo tennis ball. Once the campaign ended, we selected a winner and sent the T-Shirt to them.

Fundraising

We had two channels to raise money for the organization – Facebook and the charity website. Each day our group would share our fund-raising campaign asking our friends and family to donate to Live Like Roo via Facebook or on the company site.  Also, we obtained a company match from Cboe Global Markets.

Goals and Achievements:

Our goal was to raise money and awareness for Live Like Roo.   We measured our success by the amount of money we were able to raise and the amount of awareness.

Our starting goals were the following:

  • Raise $500 via Facebook Fundraiser Campaign
  • Raise $250 via the LikeLikeRoo Website
  • Obtain a company match
  • Increase awareness by 20 people
  • Generate Donations at the Cinco de Tie-O Event
  • Attract 10 participants to volunteer at the Cinco de Tie-O Event

Our final achievements were:

  • Raised $1700 dollars via the Facebook Campaign (59 donations and 91 shares)
  • Raised $500 via the LiveLikeRoo Website
  • Obtained at $200 company match
  • Increased awareness by 160 people (Tennis Ball Event + Volunteers)
  • Distributed 250 tennis balls
  • Attracted 10 participants to volunteer at the Cinco de Tie-O Event
Event Expected Cost
(group out of pocket)
Expected Revenue Actual Cost Actual Revenue
Cinco de Tie-O $20 (per group member) $250 N/A $0
Tennis Ball Event N/A N/A N/A N/A
Facebook Fundraiser N/A $500 N/A $1,700
Live Like Roo website fundraiser N/A $250 N/A $500
Company Match N/A TBD N/A $200
GRAND TOTAL $0 $1000 $0 $2,400

 

Lessons Learned & Advice

Time is an integral component to any project: it defines the groups ability to establish requirements and fulfill them. Additionally, more lead time before event allows for a more organized establishment of requirements and goals and, in managing an event, can be a correlated against volunteers​ and resources you are able to pool. Ultimately, it’s important to understand early on in a project that you need time to plan, market and throw your event. Even though we met our goal, we still wish we could have brought more volunteers to the event. The class is short, but people have plans. Make sure to get marketing as soon as possible.

Risk management plan only helps for risks you think about​. You cannot plan for everything but try to think of all the possibilities before they spring up. You will want to get out in front of any potential issues and establish contingencies in the event that certain requirements for your event are not or have to be adjusted to fit what you are to attain in the initial requirement’s place. You should have a Plan B.

In addition to being able to plan ahead for potential gaps and alternatives, it is incredibly important to establish, to fruition, your set of requirements in each phase of the event. The clearer your goals and requirements for the event are established at the onset, the less likely you are to fall prey to something called scope creep, wherein your requirements begin to balloon and get out of manageable control. Establishing your goals and requirements at the start and plotting the required components to achieve those goals and requirements is very important in this way. It allows for your group to work in a controlled and comprehensible environment.

Cubs Charities – Team 4

Project overview: Our project was a fundraising event to support Cubs Charities. It was held on Thursday, May 17, 2018 at Houndstooth Saloon in Wrigleyville. We hosted a happy hour event which included a wristband deal with drinks and appetizers, as well as a raffle with prizes that included Cubs tickets, an AMC movie package, personal training sessions, World Series replica rings, and more. Our goal was to raise $1000 for Cubs Charities while also spreading awareness about the organization.

Charity: Cubs Charities serves the Chicagoland community and has granted more than $20 million to non-profit organizations since 1991. It provides increased access to health and fitness to at risk populations through partnerships with demonstrated results. Some of the non-profit organizations include Big Brothers Big Sisters and Ronald McDonald House.

Factual Analysis: We set monetary and awareness goals. We set a Facebook donation page goal of $1,000.  This was a lofty goal in order to encourage more people to donate and make larger donations.  We were able to raise $650 in online donations. Although we did not meet our goal, we still considered what we raised a success. In addition, we aimed to raise an additional $500 at the event through raffle ticket sales and wristband packages. We raised $325 in ticket sales and $130 from wrist bands, thus coming very close to our goal.  For event attendance, we aimed to have at least 20 people attend our event, and we exceeded this goal with over 30 people in attendance. In total, we raised $1,180. The McCormick Foundation (who works with Cubs Charities) matched half of our proceeds, thus bringing the grand total to $1,770.

Lessons Learned:

Communication is key: Our team communicated frequently via email, Google drive, and text. We constantly kept each other updated on project details to stay on track. Make sure everyone is on the same page so that your project runs smoothly.

Stay organized: We used a work breakdown structure and responsibility matrix to work out the details of the project and keep each other accountable. Everyone had a responsibility and nothing fell threw the cracks that could potentially derail our project. Both of these tools were imperative for our success.

Advice for Future Teams: Secure a venue and charity ASAP! You will be surprised how hard it can be to get in contact with the right person. Try to think of potential risks in mind when considering venue: indoor/outdoor space and weather, “fit” with charity, location, etc.

Reach out to people directly for donations and for their attendance. If you send blast emails and invite your entire Facebook friends list, you’re less likely to get people to donate/attend as opposed to if you reach out to them directly. We wrote a form email that we could all share with our friends, family, and work networks to promote the event and request online donations. Don’t be afraid to reach out for donated items for your raffle: all of our items were donated allowing us to donate all funds we took in.

Have fun! As a group we wanted to plan an event everyone would enjoy and work with a charity and type of event we felt connected to, making planning and the final event a fun night with new friends 🙂

 

 

Cradles to Crayons – Team 3

Description of Project
Our project was composed of three major aspects:

•A 2-hour volunteer event at Cradles to Crayons Chicago’s the Giving Factory. At this volunteer event, volunteers would aid the charity in cleaning and sorting of donated items that would eventually be donated to children in need.

•Donation drive to collect items from friends, family, classmates, and colleagues to support Cradles to Crayons, as well as a direct online item donation through Cradles to Crayons’ Amazon wish list.

•Monetary donation collected through a company-sponsored snack cart donation at one of the team members’ company.

 

Description of Charity
The charity that we chose was Cradles to Crayons, a 501(C)(3) organization that was started in Boston in 2002, expanding to Philadelphia in 2006, and then finally to Chicago in 2016. Cradles to Crayons provides children with the essentials that they need. Donated items are collected through the local community, which volunteers and staff process, clean, and package to be delivered to the children. One of the mottos on the wall at their Giving Factory in Chicago is Quality = Dignity, meaning that children are given items that are in good condition, like-new, and high quality so that they can have dignity when receiving them, despite their circumstances. The packages that are packed at the Giving Factory are then distributed to children in need through different service partners including schools, nonprofit organizations, and state agencies. The items that are most sought out include clothing, shoes, toys, diapers, bedding, towels, books, car seats, and strollers.

 

Factual Analysis
Our team had set four major objectives to measure the success of our project. These goals were:

5 Volunteers
•We surpassed this goal by recruiting a total of 11 volunteers for our volunteer event.

25 Kid Packs packed
We surpassed this goal by 200, for a total of 225 Kid Packs packed. This was the result of several other volunteer groups being present on the day of the volunteer event.

$200 in monetary donations from the snack cart
We surpassed this goal by raising a total of $300 from the snack cart.

100 items donated to Cradles to Crayons
We surpassed this goal with a total of 482 items donated to Cradles to Crayons.

 

Lessons Learned
Our team learned several lessons:

Select a Charity that has support.
Local charities have more favorable support from local venues.
•Find a cause & charity that potential volunteers would be willing to support with time and/or money.

Have a risk management plan from the beginning
There are many potential obstacles that can come up when trying to plan an event to support a charity.
•Be prepared for the unexpected and have a contingency plan or two.

Have a responsibility matrix and communicate within team.
A responsibility matrix ensures the team knows who is responsible for specific tasks that must be done and holds the team members accountable.
•Finding a method of communication that works efficiently for the team can resolve any issues that may come up. Without communication, the team cannot make progress and precious time is lost.

The project manager needs to lead and guide.
The project manager needs to keep everyone on track and accountable for tasks that need to be complete, coordinates different aspects of the project, and most importantly communicates with the team about what needs to get done next in order for the project to progress on schedule.

 

Advice for Future Teams
Don’t fall in love with the team’s first idea, be flexible and open to change because not everything goes the way you want them to.
•Find charities and causes that the entire team can rally around because this will allow the team to put a more active effort in doing the best for the organization by sharing a common goal.
•Manage time well because ten weeks may seem like a long time, but time flies by when you are organizing your project.
•Make sure the team is always communicating and make sure everyone knows what tasks need to be completed and who is responsible for them.
•Have fun and enjoy the process as much as the event.

 

Photos

Team 5 WINGS Fundraiser

Project Details

The charity we choose was WINGS Program Incorporated. This is a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting individuals and families affected by domestic violence in the Chicagoland Metropolitan area. They currently have 47 houses and apartments throughout the Chicago Metropolitan area. WINGS provide resources such as emergency safe housing, transitional housing, food, and clothing as well as counseling and planning services to families. For a client to stay one night at one of the safe houses, it costs $75 per day, per client. WINGS operate two emergency shelters, one which recently opened in the Southwest Chicago area called “WINGS Metro” which is one of the first safe houses to open in Chicago within a decade; we decided to focus on raising funds for this location. To raise money and awareness for WINGS Metro, we decided to hold an event at Hawkeyes Bar & Grill. At the event, we held a raffle where people could win Apple Products and Sox VIP tickets. Representatives from the organization attended the event to advise everyone about the organization. Two weeks prior to the event, we started a GoFundMe page where we accumulated over $1,900. In total, we raised $2,690, which includes 10% of sales made at Hawkeyes Bar & Grill during the event. Our overall goal was to raise $1,200, which we doubled.

Lessons Learned:

Pick a Charity you Buy into: This is a project you will be working on for the next 8-10 weeks and there is nothing better than to contribute to a charity that you’re emotionally invested in! If you pick a charity and quickly find out you and your team are not necessarily invested in it, it is worth it to take extra time to truly figure out what charity will work better.
Communication: It is very important that early on your team figures out the best way of communication and frequency for everyone. Clearly communicate tasks and initiatives so each member is on the same page.

Positivity: This is probably the first time that you and many of your teammates are doing an event of such nature. In all honesty, how you approach this project will either make the group or break it. Yes, you will have disagreements and yes you will all hit walls, but how you approach this situation is what matters. I can’t highlight how important it is to have a positive attitude throughout this project.

Be Open: You enter this project with preset ideas in terms of how you communicate, execute and plan. Be open to new ideas. You will be surprised how much resources your team has, and this could be a learning opportunity for everyone involved.

Advice:
● Have fun!
● You can never have too many contingencies
● Communicate with your team regularly
● If raising money, really communicate with your charity and be very clear on why people should contribute to your charity- talking points help

Team Humboldt – Team #6

Project Proposal

Team Humboldt, a group of 4 super fun individuals, partnered with the Chicago Park District during a Natural Areas Community Stewardship Day on May 19th in the Humboldt Park. We aimed to achieve a service event that supports our cause to enhance outdoor spaces within Chicago city limits, while raising awareness and recruiting volunteers for Chicago Park District’s future events.

Charity

The Chicago Park District is the broad organization responsible for many events such as the Stewardship Day. However, the event itself is primarily hosted by a local community group that is interested in conservation. Their volunteering opportunities can be reached out through the following link: https://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/get-involved.

Analysis of Success

Metrics

Goal

Actual

# of Volunteers

15

17

# of Total Hours Volunteered

30

34

# of Invasive Plants Picked

TBD

2 trash cans, 1 XL size garbage bag

# of Social Media Likes Total

100

376

Contributions from Sponsors

n/a

60 granola bars, 20 bags of chips

Have Fun

Lots of fun

All the fun 🙂

Lessons Learned

  • Building the right team and choosing the right PM: Working with people who have similar visions and ideas are really important. Clicking right away and enjoying each other’s company makes working together fun and easy. It also makes contributions and coordination that much easier. Picking the right person to be the Project Manager is also a key to success.
  • Avoid Scope Creep: At some point in the project some of the team members may throw excessive ideas. Be aware, avoid and focus on your priorities.
  • Communication is Key: Find a platform where all the members can use, that will be easy to collaborate especially to all the deliverables throughout the course. We used Google Drive to upload and edit these documents and emails to keep each other updated.
  • Start Planning ASAP and Have a Plan B: You have a short time to reach out to a charity, find a service event or organize a fundraiser, invite people, think and guarantee a contingency plan etc. Starting early and planning ahead is crucial. If your event is in outdoors like ours, make sure you check weather frequently and have a Plan B and C if needed.

Advice

  • Communication is the key! Find a communication method that works for everyone and keep everyone in the loop.
  • Start early!
  • Know your risks and have a solid contingency plan.
  • Have fun and enjoy the process.