Case #A Jewish Family & Career Services of Atlanta ( JFCS-Atlanta )

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1 Case #A Jewish Family & Career Services of Atlanta ( JFCS-Atlanta ) Mission Guided by the wisdom and values of its underlying tradition, Jewish Family & Career Services of Atlanta provides health, career, and human services to support and enhance the well-being of individuals and families across all ages, faiths, cultures, and lifestyles. Its vision is to be Greater Atlanta's premier health, career, and human service provider for the Jewish and broader community through professionally delivered services and responsiveness to evolving community needs. The vast array of services and programs serve a diverse population, both Jewish and non-jewish. People come to JFCS-Atlanta knowing the Agency will do its best to help them or to point them in the right direction. The core values of JFCS-Atlanta are: Commitment and integrity Compassion and respect Innovation and collaboration Professionalism Responsiveness to diverse needs JFCS-Atlanta is a community of caring professionals and volunteers. It offers programs, services and resources to strengthen individuals and families of all faiths, cultures, and ages. The Agency provides tools for living. History and Background Jewish Family Services began in 1890 as a refugee-service agency and was incorporated as a nonprofit organization in In 1997 the agency merged with Jewish Vocational Services, creating Jewish Family & Career Services, a nonsectarian human and social service agency. Since its inception, JF&CS has served as a leader in its field, expanding existing services and designing and implementing new services and programs where gaps previously existed. Through strategic partnerships with public and private agencies, JF&CS provides a seamless and comprehensive continuum of care, touching more than 30,000 individuals and families annually. Integrated direct and indirect services at JF&CS are organized into five divisions: Counseling, Careers, Older Adults, Services for Adults with Developmental Disabilities, and Specialty Services such as the Ben Massell Dental Clinic. The JF&CS story includes an invaluable resource: more than 600 volunteers, who enable the organization to deliver more than 35 diverse services throughout the metropolitan area. Providing supports, expertise, and hope, JF&CS strives to give individuals and families the tools needed to be self-sufficient and ultimately thrive. Current total budget amounts to approximately $13 million. 1

2 Client issue Beginning on January 1, 2011, approximately 10,000 baby boomers will retire each day. This rate of retirement will continue through This equates to approximately 3.65 million workers leaving the workforce annually, or nearly 70 million until the last of the baby boomers retires. The generations which followed the baby boomer have paled in size to the Boomers which is causing a large void in the overall workforce. While this phenomenon impacts each and every organization in the United States, whether they be for profit or not for profit, the not for profit sector is more seriously impacted since it relies on passionate leadership who are willing to work at pay scales that are lower than the for profit sector, volunteers who have other pulls on their otherwise full schedules, and donations. To address this issue, JFCS-Atlanta has started down a new path to establish a successful model to engage and recruit young leadership (generally defined as ages 25 to 40). The Agency has begun the process and has developed a name for this group Volunteers in Action (VIA). The goals of this group have generally included: Cultivate new donors from this age group through a grass roots fundraising campaign (small donations from many of new donors). Build a pipeline of vetted and trained talent for future volunteer leaders of the organization. Build JFCS-Atlanta s brand and image as the place to go for hands on meaningful volunteer experiences for young professionals and young families. Increase community awareness of the work JFCS-Atlanta does. Deepen the commitment to community service amongst young adults. JFCS-Atlanta is looking for guidance on how best to reach this target audience to accomplish these goals. Senior staff has considered some options which include the creation of a Junior Board of Directors, a retreat focused on hands on community service, and a crowd funding campaign but has not had the bandwidth to develop a complete plan. Current business model Currently, VIA meets about 6 times a year to conduct service projects which have included volunteering at the local food back, tree planting, and food preparation at a local homeless shelter. Typically, the events bring out 15 to 25 volunteers but staff has noted that it is generally a unique group of individuals. In essence these events represent onetime hands on experience in service. Potential attendees are notified by blasts and through announcements on the Agency s website. Staff admits the current list is meager which creates a limiting factor for attendance. While the events are meant to allow the attendees to have fun, JFCS-Atlanta does not seek to run happy hours. The events must stay within the mission and vision of the Agency. 2

3 Research conducted to date After reviewing multiple models that exist in other agencies throughout the United States, JFCS-Atlanta has settled on a model that involves a cohort training process. Senior staff believes creating a leadership group cohort which have been effectively vetted to their dedication to the process will yield results that are successful and sustainable. While no specific curriculum has been developed for the eventual initial cohort (which also has not been identified as of February 2014), senior staff has determined that the following elements must be present in the curriculum developed: Social opportunities how to develop events that provide for effective social interaction amongst the attendees Hands on service how to create hands on service events which will draw the target audience to attend and participate Leadership training as noted above, the rate of baby boomer retirements is creating a vacuum in leadership positions within the NFP sector, specific skills to include public speaking, meeting logistics, professionalism, etc. Mentoring opportunities how to obtain effective advice and counsel from established leaders in varying sectors with a special emphasis to community and public service. VIA has been allocated a budget allocation for three years beginning with fiscal year ending June Part of the budget allocation includes the hiring of a full time staff member. As of February 2014, the position has not yet been posted but it is expected to be filled by April This position is pivotal to the success of the program since currently the existing staff do not have the bandwidth to dedicate sufficient hours to this program. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) Strengths As one of the better respected NFPs in the Greater Atlanta area, JFCS-Atlanta can likely draw upon its reputation to attract the target population to participate. Leadership of JFCS-Atlanta is committed to the program s success. Population trends within the Greater Atlanta point to an increasing population in the target audience. (Information will be provided about population trends) The program, as with all programs offered by JFCS-Atlanta, will be values based. Weaknesses/Challenges/Threats Dedicated staff person not yet hired. Senior staff noted that defining this position s duties has been a challenge No curriculum has been developed yet and the first cohort is expected to begin in the late Fall 2014 Viewpoint that such a group might not be considered the coolest group in town Recruiting the right first cohort. Senior staff has clearly indicated they are looking for pied pipers in the first cohort. They believe that having the right image in the inaugural cohort will enhance the success of the program. How to overcome the me time element seemingly present in the target audience, i.e., how to convince potential members to spend their spare time being involved in this program. 3

4 How to effectively position the marketing of the program to enhance its success and sustainability. How to keep participants engaged. As noted above, they have noted that attendees to past events have been unique groups of individuals with limited repeat attendees. How to create the giving element in a way that it does not become the overriding focus. It is the goal of the program to create good corporate citizens who have a strong allegiance to being civic minded with the secondary goal of cultivating the concept of giving. Urban sprawl creates a host of challenges and threats to the program s success (see separate section below) While the Agency has successfully overcome a singular identity identification to the Jewish culture, it does straddle this on a daily basis simply because of the Agency s name. While its roots are in the Jewish tradition, senior staff believes that the same traditions are imbedded in any culture or religion. As noted above, the Agency serves 30,000 individuals throughout the Greater Atlanta area, with many of these individuals being non-jewish. Opportunities Engagement of the target audience for long term involvement in the community/public sectors Increased exposure of the Agency to established donors Increased revenue stream as the target audience becomes more engaged and connected to the Agency Atlanta urban sprawl Atlanta has expanded its territorial area through a process known as urban sprawl. Merriam Webster defines urban sprawl as: a situation in which large stores, groups of houses, etc., are built in an area around a city that formerly had few people living in it. In comparison to other major urban areas, the following population density facts are presented: Atlanta 630/Sq Mile (metro) New York 1,876/Sq Mile (metro) Los Angeles 527/Sq Mile (metro) Washington DC 963/Sq Mile (metro) Young professionals live all over the Greater urban Atlanta area. Thanks to affordable housing in the area, Atlanta does not necessarily suffer from young professionals moving to the suburbs, however, due to the definition of the metro/urban area (which totals approximately 132 square miles, the traffic within Greater Atlanta has been reported to be worse than Los Angeles. Due to this, JFCS-Atlanta may need to consider offering programming for the above mentioned training in various locations. The Agency s headquarters are located in what would be considered a suburban area. Given that the timing of the sessions would likely be after work (start time of possibly 630p or 7p), the average commute to the headquarters could be upwards to an hour by car which would likely discourage many potential participants. JFCS-Atlanta will be seeking innovative ideas of how to overcome this one large challenge to the program s success. 4

5 Call for proposals As a result of JFCS-Atlanta s desire to create VIA, the client has issued an RFP for consulting services. You are one of the 6 firms that have been asked to provide them a viable path for creating a successful and sustainable program to engage the target audience. The parameters of the RFP are as follows: a. Since the curriculum has not yet been developed for the first cohort, JFCS- Atlanta is seeking recommendations for curriculum that will be the most attractive to the target population. As noted above, it is essential to create a successful first cohort so the program continues and the Agency can graduate successive cohorts b. Structure of the training. Senior management recognizes the target audience has a different attention span than baby boomers or Gen X. c. Determination of activities that will be best suited to the target audience continued involvement. Since one of the required elements is providing training on effective activities, JFCS-Atlanta will be interested in having activity ideas presented with a detailed explanation why these types of activities will attract the target audience. d. Length of program. Senior management needs assistance in determining both the overall length of the program and the individual length of each session. e. Marketing and recruiting cohort one Suggestions for advertising and building awareness of this new program Detailed strategy for recruiting a diverse mix of vetted participants f. Suggestions for the capstone project to be completed by each graduating cohort Since this program is a leadership program, senior management is seeking ideas that would be viable and worthwhile project that would encapsulate the training suggested. Therefore, the proposal must link the training suggested to the capstone project suggested. g. How the Agency can develop an effective plan for follow up with each graduating cohort and how they would properly engage the cohort members to commit to on-going commitment. h. Since VIA has a need to develop not just a group of good corporate citizens but good corporate citizens that will open their checkbooks, JFCS-Atlanta is very interested in what social media outlets that would be most effective to stimulate giving. Crowd funding is an area of interest to the Agency JFCS-Atlanta only recently did a complete refresh of their entire website, therefore, JFCS-Atlanta is not in need of website redesign. Budget information will be provided so that proposers can ensure their suggestions can be contained within the Agency s budget constraints. All items must be addressed in proposal. 5

6 Judging criteria Each proposal will be judged on the following criteria: a. Quality of curriculum suggested b. Flexibility of training schedule taking into consideration the traffic situation in Greater Atlanta c. Linkage of the activities suggested to the overall mission/vision of JFCS-Atlanta d. Longer is not always better relative to any program determination but the program needs to be of sufficient length to ensure proper training. e. Linkage of the suggested capstone projects to the curriculum suggested f. Effectiveness of the suggestions for on-going commitment by the program graduates g. Creativeness of the suggestions regarding how to obtain donations from the target audience h. All required items are addressed. 6