Company Profile
Established in 1957, the Children’s Foundation is a social profit organization that provides a unique combination of counseling, prevention, and intervention services, as well as collaborative programs that focus on building stronger families and capable children. The Children’s Foundation also works towards violence prevention in the community and assisting children with learning disabilities on an ongoing basis.
Business Problem
In 2010, The Children’s Foundation identified a need to increase awareness of the Foundation and its services. To reach wider and younger audiences in the community, The Board of Governors was considering expanding their communications strategy to the realm of social media. However, the Board was concerned about issues of privacy and confidentiality that come with such public, online forums. Wanting to protect the confidentiality of their clients and the sensitive nature of their work, the Board of Governors sought guidance and recommendations and best practice regarding the use of social media in the social profit sector. Lacking the financial resources and manpower to move this project forward, The Children’s Foundation turned to the Hari B. Varshney Business Career Centre (and the Community Business Project) for help. Their Community Business Project proposal was accepted by the Business Career Centre.
The Community Business Project
The Community Business Project is a volunteer-based initiative designed to give Master of Management – Early Career Masters (MM-ECM) students at the Robert H. Lee Graduate School at the Sauder School of Business an opportunity to apply their newly acquired business skills to community-enriching projects. From November to May each year, teams of 3-4 students work together on business projects with organizations around Vancouver’s Lower Mainland, contributing their fresh and multi-disciplinary perspectives to community-focused initiatives.
The Children’s Foundation’s project captured the attention of Mario Cruz, Oana Toma, and Maria Shipulina, three Sauder MM-ECM students. From November 2010, the team set to work under the direct supervision of Zdeno Rusnak, Program Director and under the guidance of Ms. Elizabeth Demner, President of the Board of Governors, and Mr. Jim McLaughlin, Executive Director of The Children’s Foundation. Over the next five months, the students worked towards creating a report for the Board of Governors with recommendations and solid evidence of the benefits and pitfalls of social media communication for a social profit organization.
Mario, Oana, and Maria collaborated with multiple stakeholders to research and analyze the use of social media by other social profit organizations in the social service sector. Through much primary and secondary research, the team found that social media strategies institutionalized by other organizations in the social profit sector actually raised their image in the community and contributed to increased fund-raising.
Project Outcomes
Mario, Oana, and Maria recommended that the Board incorporate social media platforms into their current communications strategy. The team recommended that the Foundation use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and a blog to connect with parents and children in the community, promote news, and provide psycho-educational advice to those not able to use the facilities and services in-person. They suggested how best to implement these social media platforms, including the creation of a social media policy. At the end of the project, the student team presented their report and recommendations to the Board of Governors with resounding success.
A secondary outcome of the project was the team’s recommendation that The Children’s Foundation re-brand its services and adopt a new name to differentiate itself from the many other similarly named Children’s Foundations.
The Board of Governors was thrilled with the team’s work and, based on their recommendations, now accepts that social media policy and re-branding are vital to the Foundation’s future.
“We were overjoyed by the intellects that were presented to us in these three young people... They challenged our thinking... They did a great job of telling us what was, they did a great job of telling us what is possible, and they gave us great feedback on the kinds of cautions we need to have as we move forward,” Executive Director Jim McLaughlin commented.
Mr. McLaughlin and Ms. Demner were thoroughly impressed by the Sauder team, who they agreed “went far beyond any grade or assignment mark.” The team’s commitment to the Foundation, their passion, eagerness and work ethic, Mr. McLaughlin and Ms. Demner agree, met if not surpassed anything a senior consultant could have provided.
Since the completion of the Community Business Project, the Children’s Foundation has offered Maria, Oana and Mario membership on their Board of Governors. Mr. McLaughlin reconfirms the decision, stating that, “By demonstrating that they had the bravery to challenge a large number of people who have been in this business for a very long time, they have a place at this table and have sufficient presence to really add to the quality of the governance of this organization.” Mario Cruz has since been accepted onto the Board . It is The Children Foundation’s hope that he will bring a fresh, youthful, yet educated and experienced perspective to the Board.
Find out how to get your organization involved in the Community Business Project by clicking here.
Find out more about the Robert H. Lee Graduate School’s Master of Management–Early Career Masters Program by clicking here.