New York Cares
Strengthening a volunteer organization in an increasingly crowded marketplace
Since its founding in 1987, New York Cares has grown to become the city's premier volunteer management organization. Each year, New York Cares recruits and mobilizes tens of thousands of volunteers for projects created in collaboration with community partners. These include schools, shelters, parks, cultural institutions and city agencies.
Having last drafted a five-year strategic plan in 1999, the staff and board were ready to initiate a new planning process in 2004. "This was a critical juncture for us," says executive director Ariel Zwang. "Our existing plan had never envisioned 9/11 or its impact on the city economy, the national agenda and our own priorities." And, with other not-for-profit groups entering the corporate volunteer space, she adds, "we had become aware of the need for a stronger brand identity."
Identifying untapped opportunities
In the summer of 2004, New York Cares enlisted TCC Group's assistance in creating a strategic plan that would take the organization through 2010. As a first step, TCC Group consultants conducted a situational analysis, interviewing a broad panel of internal and external stakeholders - staff, board members, funders, partner organizations, and current and past volunteers.
Notwithstanding, New York Cares' reputation for reliability, integrity and professionalism, TCC Group identified areas where even greater impact was possible. For example, while the organization's commitment to delivering high-quality, high-impact programs was unquestioned, there were no explicit and commonly acknowledged standards defining those terms. The situational analysis also identified a number of untapped opportunities to strengthen the organization's programs, brand, and ultimately, its impact by cultivating stronger relationships with volunteers.
A New Focus on Quality and Effectiveness
Based on the findings, and on a comparison study of peer organizations, TCC Group worked with the client's board and staff to draft a new mission statement that better communicated the organization's purpose and detailed its impact in identifying priorities for program development, fundraising, external communications and governance. Over the next four months, TCC Group assisted New York Cares in developing a five-year strategic plan that articulated objectives in four main areas: programs, development, marketing and communications, and governance.
"We came away with a concrete work plan that we could begin executing against immediately," says Zwang. New York Cares has already begun focusing time and resources to build stronger relationships with the organization's volunteer base, which is expected to build the volunteers' commitment to both NY Cares and the nonprofits they assist.
"We have a new understanding of the value of our volunteer base," Zwang said. "And the result has been a stronger, more visibly differentiated brand - among the volunteer community as well as the general public."
