Recognising Business

Recognising Business Supporting the Community

“Can we afford not to?”

In Partnership with Project Background

The Team

Matthew Iceton Second Year: Economics BSc  Likes public speaking  Problem solving  Enjoys Sport especially triathlon  Dislikes public transport

Jessica Long First year: Business Management BSc  Likes to be analytical  Enjoys Maths  Pays attention to detail  Hates spelling and grammar

Georgina Craig First year: International Business Management with French BSc  French  Traveling  Marketing  Hates brussels sprouts

Kate Phipps First year: Business Management with Communications BSc  Likes taking the initiative  Being independent  Shopping  Dislikes Public speaking

Phuc Te First year: Computer Science Bsc  Providing intuitive solutions  Passion for technology  Thinking outside the box  Complexity The Client

Mission Statement

"To provide inspiration, leadership and support to the voluntary and community sector in the Borough of Telford and Wrekin. Our aim is to help build a growing voluntary and community sector which values the diversity of its communities and to which citizens can make a contribution from which all will benefit."

Important Features

 Lottery funded organisation. Needs additional sources of funding.

 Working with organisations that impact the community like: Jobcentre Plus and small charities.

 Has an interest in social media for promotion highlighted by Sue Williams

 Due to the recent economic climate, there has been shortage of funding

Focus of Organisation

 Development, support and advice to meet the needs of the voluntary and community sector of the Borough of Telford & Wrekin

 Provision of support to groups seeking to recruit and retain volunteers and information

 One-to-one support and participation in the commissioning of disability services

Ideas For Requirements

Community business awards would be focused on businesses, which focus on giving back to the community with the support of volunteers (either from staff and other resources).

Cooperation with large businesses and companies such as Asda, who are willing to provide additional support to the community will be important. This will allow maximum impact upon the community and will encourage small businesses to adopt this Community Business award. Taking into account the differences in local requirements in the Telford and Wrekin area and national initiatives will be crucial when identifying how a successful national community award has been setup and structured.

Need to talk to stakeholders of awards, local businesses and charities, to gain a perspective on what they really want the award to represent to them and create an additional income stream. The Problem

CVS are a not-for-profit organisation which relies heavily on donations and sponsorships in order to survive. In the poor current economic climate this has been especially difficult for them and a major problem. Fortunately they have received a significant amount of funding from the lottery in the past but sadly, this financial assistance is ending in September 2013 and July 2014. This can be reapplied for, but there is no guarantee of the funding being continued in the future. There are a huge amount of charities within Telford and Wrekin that depend on the services that CVS provide and who benefit from the support given. However, CVS only charge a tiny fee of £6 a year to the charities to secure membership and allow access to all of the help they have on offer. As a result of a strict board of volunteers they have found it difficult to increase this charge which would have been hugely useful in increasing cash flow. Consequently, they need an innovative and sustainable way of generating a revenue stream. There are obviously many ways that this can be done, but the one solution that CVS wanted to focus on was a scheme that they have created. This is called the Telford Pulling Together scheme which is already relatively successful. As a result of this, it has now been built on with a local award which aims to reward businesses (equally both large and small) for their involvement in community work and for their participation in corporate social responsibility.

The problems that have arisen during the set up and initial introduction of the award are what we have been asked to solve/look at. These problems have come in the form of three main questions:

1. “How can the award be made desirable and businesses be made proud to have it?” 2. “How to sell the award to businesses?” 3. “How to launch the award to the community?” In addition to these questions, CVS also were quite concerned as to how businesses within the local community felt about the idea of this award, and consequently another problem is to gauge the reaction of its target audience as if this is not positive, actually launching this award will be of little use to CVS in order to satisfy its main aim of generating revenues.

This award has been under discussion for a significant amount of time now, and ultimately needs an injection of ideas from a fresh consultancy team to actually get it started and to make it marketable. Due to time constraints, CVS have prioritized questions 1 & 2 to be focused on during this week, as well as the market research. Approach

We began with some preliminary research before meeting the client. Research was done into CVS, the ‘Telford Pulling Together,’ scheme and other similarly established awards.

A consultation session was held with the client to establish the detail behind the award and the exact brief.

The problem was broken down into three questions:

“How do we make the award desirable to companies?” “How do we sell the award to companies?” “How should the award be launched (with the suggestion of a launch event)”?

The first step was to undertake a session of ideas sharing for each of the questions exploring a large range of options.

The ideas were then presented to the client who then identified the key priorities they would like us to expand on, due to our time constraint.

It became apparent that the client wanted us to focus mainly on the first two questions and to also perform some market research, so it was decided to spend the time available focusing on this. We have also included the list of proposals for the third question within the report.

We expanded on the ideas that the client said they preferred for the first two questions. Further details and methods of implementation were explored with the pros, cons and costs detailed. We gathered information to put into a report.

Once these questions were analyzed further we continued exploring them in more depth, relating them back to our original task and the questions set out by the client.

We undertook the required market research by calling companies and seeking their feedback about our award proposals. The results were recorded and reviewed. We also highlighted concepts from our discussion that we would recommend to the client as being the most valuable to the implementation of the award.

Key Recommendations

We considered lots of options (see appendix A)

From our work we have the following key recommendations: -

Details on other options can be found in Appendix.

The Problem Making the Pulling Together Award Desirable

Online Interface, through our ideas and findings we have decided that to really make the award desirable it is essential to have an Online Interface. This is because it provides support accessibility and ease, our three key objectives. These are also things that companies highlighted during our market research as concepts that would make the award more desirable.

How to sell the Pulling Together Award

Slick consistent branding across all levels of the scheme was highlighted firstly in our ideas but then confirmed by the companies that we spoke to as being a major factor in making the award marketable. Those companies already involved in CSR needed little selling of the idea, but liked the idea that their community work would be formally recognized and rewarded.

Market Research

There was definite interest by companies that were already involved in CSR. They were keen to highlight that the process would need to be easy and not a hindrance as they were short on time to allocate solely to this area. Companies with no current interest were harder to broach the subject, but wanted further information once we explained the concept in more depth and how it could benefit them. Appendix A - Making the Pulling Together Award Desirable

Mentor opportunities 1. Charity Champion This is a designated role within an organization for which they take a lead in organizing and liaising charity matters. This could be in-house, such as informing colleagues of local opportunities. Educating others of the help they can provide within the community. This could also be between organisations where champions communicate with each other, offering help or ideas. This could provide a networking opportunity for the organizations as well as an opportunity to collaborate on ways in helping the community. This creates a single point of contact. What this does is it gets rid of noise, allowing information to be targeted to one individual who understands and is knowledgeable of the situation. The Champion idea allows the load to be spread but at the same time a remains focused and creates an easy structured process for businesses. The Champion system (one individual for one charity) cultivates an emotional attachment to the desired charity, hopefully providing extra incentive for a successful partnership. We believe the idea of a charity/community champion greatly simplifies the information and organization process for businesses and charities and would enhance desirability because of this. A possible downside is that due to it being one person’s role there becomes disconnection for the rest of the staff and who may be less inclined to be involved.

2. Speed learning As an idea this constitutes gatherings of organisations, a bit like the current ‘breakfast meetings’ where organisations can easily and quickly discuss ideas and opportunities with many others in a short space of time. There can also be established ground rules (such as charities not immediately asking for money). The conventional comfortable environment should lead to the growth in collaborations and connectivity between organisations. Knowledge can be easily shared between organisations together in one place. The barter or brokerage of non-monetary help can set up at these meetings at a later stage. We believe there is desirability in that these meetings will foster a collective community spirit. This will be highlighted through everyone sharing similar goals. There is little admin required for this to take by place by CVS. Education and advice can begin to take place at these meetings, making them desirable to attend. A possible downside is that it needs initial momentum to take place; it requires organisations to attend these meetings. 3. Recognizing efforts in helping other businesses achieve the award

Collaborations with large organisations within the Telford and Wrekin area will be an essential part of the success of the (TPT) Community Award. Due to the limited resources of Telford and Wrekin CVS, other sources of resources will be needed to found. Large organisations within the area can provide the knowledge and expertise of improving businesses to support their local community commendably.

Telford and Wrekin CVS will need to leverage the time and resources large organisations can provide. The award can provide a framework for both large organisations to help medium and smaller businesses within the Telford and Wrekin to fulfil the criteria of the (TPT) Community Award.

Training benefits

The benefits of including training within the award

Telford and Wrekin CVS is known for delivering training of the highest quality to volunteering sector organisations. A Service can be provided to local businesses enabling them to support their local community commendably.

Providing training with the Telford Pulling Together (TPT) Community Award can make the award more desirable and marketable. In addition training will provide further guidance to local businesses for obtaining high standards of the (TPT) Community Award.

Introductory Session /Training

Providing introductory sessions and training can be a lead introduction of how the (TPT) Community Award can benefit local businesses to contribute and support the local community. This is a suitable approach of raising awareness of the award and providing details of the real benefits of the (TPT) Community Award to local businesses and Telford and Wrekin community.

Advantages of training are that it adds value to the scheme through a sense of monetary value being awarded to the training received. This is through the voucher scheme they will be given for their initial training session. The training will also boost awareness and knowledge of what the scheme consists of as well as simplifying the process. This is in turn will help to structure the award and can act as a form of enticement for organisations. Could be time consuming as CVS will need to allocate time and resources to setting up and implementing the sessions. Bronze/Silver/Gold levels of training

Different levels of attainments in the (TPT) Community Award will be provided to incentivize local businesses to obtain high standards in supporting their local community. The size of the business will be taken into account when candidates considered for the award.

The advantages of the tiered award scheme are that it makes the award progressive and doesn’t limit it once an initial award has been gained as there are further milestones to achieve. Furthermore this adds an element of competitiveness and consequently motivation amongst staff and organisations undertaking the award. A sense of membership is another benefit of training as it is compulsory; additionally the actual training sessions themselves are an opportunity for networking and assistance. A factor that could be off-putting to organisations is that even after undertaking the training, and paying for it, there is no guarantee that they will actually receive the award unless they do the community work expected of them.

1. Timeline of the award

By providing a training structure companies can be guided through the award process. The timeline begins with an introductory training sessions and then companies can attend three further sessions (held monthly) over the year making it achievable to reach gold within a year. By having this structure companies can be aware of their progress and to feel positive about it. It also helps companies to create a timeline, or plan so that they can set/meet goals and be proactive in getting the award. It also makes it easier for CVS to predict revenue streams because they can be aware of what stage each company is at in the process. A negative to the timeline idea could be that it makes the process slightly inflexible and could make companies feel a sense of pressure to always be progressing.

2. Technology based training

This is an extension of the training scheme. This type of training is most helpful to those companies who have little time to attend the training sessions. It would include a collection of online advice and ‘how to,’ videos relating to things such as ‘how to use the online portal,’ to ‘how to organise a pub quiz.’ This could be done through YouTube and be available on the online portal. Videos may be created by CVS or by other companies on the scheme, the idea being to create a ‘sharing,’ environment. This makes information highly accessible and improves the ease of completing the award. It encourages interaction between all the parties involved, to help create a sharing environment. It is also up to date with the current technological environment. A negative may be that through using technology the emotional engagement and interaction achieved through face-to-face training sessions is lost. Also, some companies may also prefer not to use technology and therefore may feel excluded. Online brokerage

This is central to making the award successful; the idea is to create an online portal, which businesses log on to using a unique access code. In order to access information the portal will be exclusive to businesses working towards the award, but open to all charities (registered charity number needed or other ID process).

The portal will have an introductory page and then four main ‘tabs’ leading to four key sources of information.

The first tab will lead to a list of needs or wants that charities have uploaded to the portal, for example ‘Severn Hospice need four worker to landscape the garden.’ This allows companies quick, easy access to what is needed by the community.

The second tab is the reverse. Companies can post up their specific skills on offer, for example ‘Capgemini can offer 20 people for one day of manual labour.’ This allows charities to contact companies useful to them. This also emphasizes the idea that companies are useful for more than just cash donations.

The third tab leads to a selection of posts by both companies and charities of events and ideas that they have found successful. This can be thought of as a blog. Again this encourages the sharing of information and also allows companies to publish their work to the community, perhaps sparking competition.

The fourth tab allows companies to record their work. This means they can review their progress in meeting award requirements, in order to achieve each level.

There are some key benefits to this idea. Firstly it improves the ease of completing the award. Secondly it is an effective way of matching wants and needs to benefit all parties in a ‘cutting edge,’ technological way. Thirdly it provides companies with a visual image of their progress and the ability to see others progress. Finally, it helps create the idea that by joining the award you enter a community in itself of idea sharing through a centralized online portal.

Possible downsides include issues around privacy and the willingness of companies to share their ideas (competitive edge). The portal will also need constant monitoring and maintenance to make sure its up to date. Appendix B – How to sell the Pulling Together Award

Slogan

As a method of making the award highly recognisable and distinct we have created an adaptable slogan and designed this in the form of stickers that can be located in cars/shops etc. This flexible slogan has many potential uses and the design of it is brand-consistent with the ethos and house style of all of CVS and the Telford Pulling Together scheme’s other publications. The slogan is “Can we afford not to…” and provides leverage for all of the different activities that can be undertaken by organisations to achieve points towards the overall award. This is great as it is short and memorable which is crucial in capturing and maintaining people’s attention and interest. As just a few examples, the slogan could be altered in the following ways: -“Can we afford not to support Severn Hospice?” -“Can we afford not to get the award?” -“Can we afford not to spend a day at Telford Primary School?”

Using “we” is a collective pronoun that creates a sense of belonging and identity within the community of organisations that are undertaking the award. It also highlights the link between the local community and businesses/organisations. However, although it’s huge versatility is useful it also runs the risk of misuse, as people may create inappropriate endings to our slogan which are irrelevant to the award. The creation of a slogan has been free but is vital in securing a lasting reputation and will provide branding across all levels to allow a successful, consistent campaign to be implemented.

Endorsement There are a few ways we feel that the award could be endorsed. Firstly, an endorsement from Telford & Wrekin council could be crucial in gaining respect, trust and credibility from the community of Telford. The specific endorsement we would hope to receive from the council is that organisations involved in the award would be added to a “recommended” list as this would be a huge incentive for them. CVS already have close links with the council so this is fairly realistic as long as we could find a way to prove that this agreement would be mutually beneficial and that the council would also gain value from collaborating with the award scheme. A way we feel that this could be done is that by joining in with the award scheme, the councils’ image itself will be improved and the community may feel a sense that the council actually cares about them. Eventually, it is hoped that as the council are responsible for hiring people for jobs, they could actually only use organisations off of their new recommended list as this would be incredibly motivating to organisations who were considering joining the award (although we have recognized that not all businesses currently do any work at all for the council). A benefit of the council endorsing the award is that they actually have power to choose winners of the tenders, and this makes them influential within the local community. However, there is slight stigma with the council and there is a small chance that people don’t trust the council, which will create a negative affect if they are associated with the award. Furthermore, the council has already established supply chains so they may not wish to involve new businesses if they are happy with the service they receive from their current contractors.

Another potential endorsement that has been considered is from local Telford and Wrekin MPs such as Mark Pritchard and David Wright. Similarly to endorsement from the council, this will bring credibility to the award which is vital in it being received well by the community and ultimately to its success. It is also a way of increasing the publicity that the award sees which can only be positive as we want it to reach out to as large of a scope of people as possible. This will inevitably help CVS achieve their main ambition of increasing revenue and securing funding. Again, there are challenges presented with this idea, namely the question of how do we actually get them to agree to endorse the award? We also considered whether the community would trust the MPs as it is not always a given that MPs have a good relationship/reputation within the locality, however David Wright has been an MP since 1997 so we feel that he must have a significant amount of respect amongst the local citizens.

There are also a few groups we feel could endorse this award, including Chamber of commerce, Rotary and Masons. Initially, these seemed like great ideas however once we considered the huge cost of joining these groups we feel it may not be as effective as first thought, and the monetary costs may outweigh any potential benefits. Access is almost definitely impossible without actually joining the groups so it is unlikely we’d be able to avoid these costs if we wish for their assistance. However there’s a great deal of benefits so this is a strategy that needs careful consideration depending on any budgets/funding available for setting up the award. Again, providing the award with credibility is the main advantage these groups could bring. Furthermore, the huge amount of connections and networks they are able to reach would be essential in maximizing promotion of the award and increasing local knowledge. They also have a website and plenty of knowledge that could be useful in helping with the set up and introduction of the award. The costs incurred will be high in this instance.

Stickers This is an idea for a series of window stickers for the participating companies to display their achievement. For simplicity, CVS could start with four designs: a generic “I can’t afford not to (be part of the Telford Pulling Together Scheme?)” (as shown in example below) and 3 other stickers for recognition of achieving the three levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold. These are long lasting ways for companies to visually display their pride to be either on the scheme or to have achieved one/many levels throughout the years. It is very easy for CVS to implement this method as it can easily be carried out in house and at low cost. The brand along with the slogan also has a lot of scope to develop with ideas such as “Can we afford not to?” and thus very adaptable. This method will gain community awareness and links in with the band image.

It does however run the risk of looking too cheap and giving off the wrong vibe- this and be prevented by creating a more classic design and better quality printing. In addition, the award stickers will need to be dated to prevent companies claiming the have the award despite being achieved in previous years.

Process (support and ease/ structure) The process is the outline of how the award is delivered and accessible. Having a clear designated process and structure to the award will enable a clear format and will result in happy users. In making the program of the award easier for businesses will prevent any discouragement around community work that may have previously arisen form excessive paper work, admin and lack of knowledge. They can thus feel supported by the network and have a feel of integration with the community. It also will facilitate easier moderating for CVS and will enable them to track to progress of the participants, this will make their planning easier such as events, training and knowledge of income flows.

However, this could be rather inflexible for participants of the scheme and will incur a large amount of admin at start up. Appendix C - Market Research

Appendix D – All our ideas

Desirability  Undesirable not to have  Competitive edge  Giving something back to the customers  Business rewards though team building  Network organisations  Employment, providing work experience  Training benefit from joining  Its not just cash  Online interface to skill match  Support, process made easy  Accessibility for all sizes, types  List of charity needs, matched with ‘Craig’s list’ idea Selling it  Community knowledge  Awareness  Social media  Commerce groups ‘pulling together’  Email/ direct contact/flyers  Press release  Slogan/mission statement  Sponsorship  Endorsement (council)  Stickers  Volunteering event  Process (support, ease)  Business advisors  Pitch the award

Launch event  Barter/ auction  Family fun day  Leaflets/flyers  Literature  Announcements in local news paper/TV/radio  Large event: o Ball o Gala dinner  Fundraising charity day  Team building day for businesses on community projects

N.B. a denotes interest from our client and denotes disapproval