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.

 

 

Junior Council Book Drive – Team 5

Project Description

Our group coordinated a book drive to benefit the patients at the Special Infectious Disease Clinic at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital through the Junior Council. We had two goals when we embarked on our mission. First, to raise as many books as possible for the kids in the Special Infectious Disease clinic of the children’s hospital, ranging from ages 1 to 25, and secondly raising as much awareness as possible for the Junior Council and Lurie Children’s Hospital.

Charity Description

The Junior Council is a 501(c)3 organization comprised of young Chicago-area professionals (75 active members) dedicated to supporting The Special Infectious Disease Clinic at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital.  The Junior Council was originally founded in 1988, following the establishment by Dr. Ram Yogev and Dr. Ellen Gould Chadwick of The Children’s Memorial Hospital’s multidisciplinary HIV program (1987).  The Junior Council supports the hospital’s patient care mission of providing high quality healthcare to every child who needs it, regardless their family’s ability to pay.  To date, The Junior Council has raised over one million dollars for Lurie Children’s Hospital. Patients of the Special Infectious Disease Clinic range in age anywhere from newborns up to 25 years old. Typically, they come from underprivileged socio-economic backgrounds, and many lack strong familial guidance. The Junior Council provide these patients with funds for medical treatments and an Adolescent Outreach Coordinator, as well as a Scholarship program and a volunteer Mentorship Program to help guide the patients through their teenage years and beyond.

Analysis of Success

We initially set a benchmark of 150 books. No one in our group had ever coordinated a book drive, and we did not have an idea of what to expect in donations. We ended up with 300 being the target goal, and a high-end goal of 450 we have collected nearly 360 books to date, with about 50 books that are yet to be collected.

We also raised awareness was raised through a Junior Council official letter being placed on boxes in apartment buildings, and every group member sharing the mission of the Junior Council when they received book donations.

Lessons Learned

  • ALWAYS have a backup plan… if your project experiences a challenge, it can be delayed weeks without a pre-planned alternative.
  • To the greatest extent possible, try to eliminate intermediaries in communication channels – three-way communication can take twice as long.
  • Think carefully about tasks: be specific and detailed, and consider the sub-deliverables involved with each broad deliverable. Considering these items beforehand will save you time.

Advice

  • Agree on a date and time early, and verify that date works for your charity
  • Think through all logistical hoops you may encounter
  • Rely on your own personal networks, they are willing to help more than you think

 

Beauty Is In the Eye Of the Bear-Holder!

Project Description

Our group hosted a fundraising event for our partner organization, Bear Necessities, to support their cause to discover a cure for pediatric cancer. Our team utilized our networks to encourage small businesses, corporations, and private donors to “sponsor” a bear for $250. The sponsors were then encouraged to dress up their bear. Utilizing a Facebook event page, we also had a social media campaign that encouraged those not able to donate $250 to donate smaller monetary amounts through the organization’s website.

Sponsors were then invited to display their bears at the celebration event at Bridget McNeill’s Bar & Kitchen on Thursday, May 17th. The evening consisted of a keynote presentation from the charity’s organization representative, Katie Craig and voting for Best Dressed and Crowd Favorite Bear. Winners received certificates of appreciation from Bear Necessities as a thank you for their contribution.

Charity

 

 

 

Bear Necessities is a Chicago-based non-profit named in memory of the founder’s son, Barret Krupa, who died after a courageous five and a half year battle with Wilms Tumor, a pediatric cancer. Today, Bear Necessities helps fund research to end pediatric cancer and provides immediate support for children and their families battling the disease.

Analysis of Success

Lessons Learned

Planning Is Key

Our team did not want to rely on the reveal event in order to meet our financial goal. So, we decided to implement two campaigns: sponsorship and online fundraising. The bear sponsorship helped us find donors who would commit early and make up a majority of the funds that were raised. And through social media, we were able to reach friends and family that were not able to donate as much but still wanted to contribute towards our campaign.

Keep It Fun

Our team strove to maintain a positive outlook throughout the entire project. The moment one member felt burdened by the work, other members stepped in to relieve some of the stress and burden. We had some members that were more established in the Chicago community who were able to leverage their personal networks, but we had some members who were more willing to contribute towards writing up the deliverables. The responsibility matrix was extremely helpful when trying to allocate the duties amongst us.

Always Be Prepared

Fortunately for us, our contact representative for our charity was easy to reach and transparent about all activity. There were no miscommunications in terms of what the event was for or what we needed from the charity and vice versa. However, if our team needed confirmation on a task that was time sensitive, we made sure to have a backup contact within the organization just in case and a backup plan if we were not granted that confirmation.

Advice

  • Prioritize securing a venue in the beginning
  • Don’t be afraid to leverage personal connections
  • Assign tasks to team members early on
  • Don’t rely on the day-of event for the majority of the fundraising
  • Always have a contingency plan

Photos