PUR

4100, Section 4618

Client: Ronald McDonald House Charities of North Central Florida www.rmhcncf.org/RMH_WEBSITE/ July 22, 2011 Kendall Thomas: ketswim@yahoo.co.uk

Table of Contents

Overview...3 Introduction Client Selection....4 Main Focus 5 Internal Factor Analysis Organizational Perceptions.. 5 Volunteer Policies and Procedures..5-7 External Factor Analysis Stakeholder Analysis.. 7 Environmental Scan....8 Important References8 Situational Analysis9-11 Communication Plan11-12

 Overview The client that we have chosen is Ronald McDonald House Charities of North Central Florida (RMHC of NCF) located at 1600 SW 14th St. Gainesville, FL. The focus of our research and action plan is to increase the number of volunteers who serve Ronald McDonald House Charities of North Central Florida, increase awareness about the organization itself and inform the community on volunteer opportunities and the need for volunteers within the organization. Through background analysis research, we discovered as a nonprofit organization, the agency is responsible for raising 100 percent of its funding. For this reason, it is extremely dependent on volunteers. Furthermore, our research has shown us that many members of the community are under the impression that the RMHC receives all of its funding from McDonalds Corp., which is one of the biggest misconceptions. According to RMHC, McDonalds is a great partner, but they are still dependent on local businesses, local donors, foundations and individual donations to help run the organization. As the only organization in the Greater Gainesville that provides services to families with critically ill children, therefore RMHC have a big responsibility to make sure that the organization has everything it needs to serve the families in need. 3

Introduction Client Selection

Friends of RMH, Inc., was chartered on February 7, 1979, is a nonprofit Florida corporation that served the purpose of establishing a Ronald McDonald House at Shands Teaching Hospital in Gainesville, Florida. Since the organization was unable to find an existing house that was located close to the hospital, it decided to build a brand-new house. On July 8, 1981, it broke ground for the new facility and one year later, on July 8, 1982, the mortgage-free Ronald McDonald House of Gainesville opened its doors with 18 rooms. This was the first house that was specifically built from the ground-up to be a Ronald McDonald House. The Ronald McDonald house of Gainesville now has 30 rooms and operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week with an average occupancy rate of 93 percent. In addition, there is often a waiting list that can range from five to 15 families per day. In 2002, Ronald McDonald House opened the Ronald McDonald Family Room, which is located adjacent to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Shands Childrens Hospital. The room serves more than 7,000 individuals and about 3,500 families each year by providing them with a small kitchen, a private sleeping room with chairs, a telephone, a television and a computer. The room is staffed with caring volunteers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. With the services at the RMHC of Gainesville and the Ronald McDonald Family Room in Shands Hospital, the Ronald McDonald House Charities of North Central Florida has served more than 28,000 families. From across Floridas 67 counties, including 48 other states and 34 foreign countries.

Main Focus

Since this organization relies so heavily on volunteers, it is important for RMHC to establish a solid volunteer base. Throughout our project, we plan to (1) Create advertisements and marketing materials (2) Ensure the community is informed about the volunteer possibilities at RMHC of North Central Florida (3) Help build the volunteer program at RMHC of NCF and establish a consistent volunteer base for the organization (4) Make volunteering with RMHC a topic of discussion in the Gainesville community. Internal Factor Analysis Organization Mission

The mission of Ronald McDonald House Charities is to create, find and support programs that directly improve the health and well being of children. The Ronald McDonald House Charities of North Central Florida provides assistance for families with critically ill children who are being treated at area medical facilities through the Ronald McDonald House of Gainesville and the Ronald McDonald Family Room located in Shands Hospital. Volunteer Opportunities and Process

Long-Term Volunteer Opportunities (40 hours or more) Individual opportunities; requires an application, interview, acceptance, agency orientation and on-the-job training

 House Front Desk Host - handles all front desk business, including: answering phones, interacting with the public and families in the House and facilitating the arrival and departure of the guests. o Time Commitment: 8-16 hr training; minimum 8 hr per month Family Room Host - At Shands Hospital, working as the host in the Ronald McDonald Family Room, making the room as comfortable as possible: providing books and games for the children, putting out snacks and drinks, answering the phone and monitoring the rooms activities. oTime Commitment: Shands volunteer application, two-hour Shands orientation, copy of medical and immunization records, RMH training, three four-hour RMH shadowing/training shifts, minimum 8 hours per month Short-Term/Group Volunteer Opportunities Individual and group opportunities Visiting Chef Dinner Program - Purchase and prepare meals for families staying at the House. Purchase and prepare enough food for 40 to 50 people. Please limit to 10 volunteers Early Bird Breakfast Host - Schedule a morning to fix coffee, juice, muffins or a simple continental breakfast for the families. Cookie/Cake Bakers - Purchase cookies or cake ingredients and prepare the dessert for the families. Help make our house smell like a home. Chore Day Sponsor - Select a morning or afternoon to bring a group of volunteers to tackle the House chores. This will give the families a day off from their chores. Kitchen Angel - Organizing and cleaning the kitchens for families at the House. Lawn and Garden - Come and do whatever job or task we need outside ex. weeding the flowerbeds, washing windows, cleaning tasks, brightening up the house, etc. Monthly Work Group - Your group can work with a staff person on a special House project (2-4 hours) such as grounds clean-up, spring cleaning, landscaping and sprucing up the House. Play Room Angel - Supervise structured/unstructured childrens play time (this must be done as a pair). Group Volunteer Supervisor - Supervise small and large group volunteer projects during evening and weekend hours. Volunteer Process: Have an interest in volunteering 6

Download the volunteer information packet at www.rmhcncf.org Read and review the volunteer information at our website Sign up to attend one of the monthly volunteer orientations Email Hanan Bilal at hbilal@rmhcnf.org to reserve your seat for orientation Complete a volunteer application and bring the completed form to orientation Learn the mission and vision of the agency and ways you can help Decide the area where you would like to volunteer Schedule your volunteer training times to shadow existing volunteers You must complete 16 hours of training for House Front Desk and for 12 hours for the Family Room After completing the appropriate hours you will be ready to begin volunteering Sign in and out at the front desk each time that you volunteer and remember to wear your volunteer name badge External Factor Analysis Stakeholder Analysis

All members of the Gainesville community, families who use the RMHC of NCF services, volunteers and donors are all stakeholders of the organization. In 2010, RMHC of NCFs volunteers contributed 20,956 hours; Ronald McDonald Family Room volunteers contributed 1,755 hours and chef volunteer groups contributed 318 hours. RMHC of NCF currently has 135 active individual volunteers and an average of 45 group volunteers each month. The amount of volunteer financial contribution totaled $430,260. In 2010, there were a total of 566 family visits, which doubled the percentage of families who stayed more than 45 days in 2009. Donation and fundraising totals reached $152,994.83 in 2010. Additionally, soda can tab collections produced $3,500. Happy Meal donations produced $25,000 and canisters in the CO-OP produced about $125,000 in revenue. It costs RMHC of NCF more than $60,000 a year for house utilities and more than $100 a night to provide lodging and

services to each family. The organization only asks families for a $10 donation per night, but no family is ever turned away if they are unable to pay. Environmental Scanning

Volunteers are the primary people that provide direct services at both the Ronald McDonald House and the Ronald McDonald Family Room. The room is located at Shands UF Childrens Hospital on the 10th floor adjacent to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. All volunteers are required to be 18 years or older to volunteer alone. Volunteers under the age of 18 are allowed to volunteer under the direct supervision of an adult volunteer. The volunteer base at RMHC of NCF is very diverse. Volunteers range from children to the elderly, speak over 20 different languages, and consist of all races, religions, sexual orientations and ethnicities. In order to engage volunteers, RMHC markets by using online advertisements, print advertisements, presentations, agency tours, existing volunteer referrals, community partner referrals, employer, college, school referrals and social media referrals. Important References http://www.facebook.com/RMHCNCF http://twitter.com/#!/RMHCNCF http://www.rmhcncf.org/RMH_WEBSITE/

SWOT Analysis Strengths: - Location - Diversity - Friendliness of Staff & Volunteers - Distinction/Exclusiveness Weakness: - People dont take the time to volunteer - Unaware of volunteer opportunities - Lack of advertising One of the strengths of RMHC of NCF is its location. Specifically, having the Ronald McDonald House Family Room on site at Shands, makes it convenient for families to be close to their children and their childrens medical team at all times. Another strength is the diversity of the staff, volunteers, and the different families who utilize the services of RMHC of NCF. An additional strength is the friendliness of the staff and volunteers. Families of critically ill children are often discouraged and stressed. It is important to have a friendly and caring staff in order to lift the families spirits and act as a support system for them during their childrens treatments. RMHC of NCF does an excellent job to ensure that any person representing the organization puts the families best interest at heart and is committed to providing families with the best care and services during their stay. Opportunities: - New ways of getting more volunteers - Increase Participation

Threats: - Misconception that McDonalds provides all of the funding

Additionally, RMHC of NCF is the only agency in the Gainesville area that provides services of its kind to families of critically ill children. Although the organization is very strong, there is always room for improvement within any establishment. Several of the weaknesses that have been identified are that people dont take time to volunteer, the lack of awareness about volunteer opportunities, and a lack of adequate advertising for RMHC. The organization could benefit from more volunteers in its Speakers Bureau, volunteer news writers to send stories to local news in order to generate more awareness, creating volunteer department brochures, and interns and administrative volunteers to help share the organizations mission and values. One of the opportunities that RMHC of NCF should pursue is a new way of getting volunteers. RMHC of NCF has established a wonderful partnership with UF. While it receives volunteers from about 50 areas of UF, it would be beneficial for the organization to cast its net further and generate a bigger pool of volunteers. It would be beneficial for RMHC of NCF to consider partnering with Santa Fe College or local Gainesville high schools. There are always new ways to increase participation as long as the organization is innovative and creative. With the use of new marketing materials, it may be successful in increasing volunteer numbers. One of the biggest threats to RMHC of NCF is the misconception the public has about its affiliation with McDonalds Corp. Many individuals are under the wrong impression that McDonalds Corp. provides all of the funding for Ronald McDonald House Charities. Although both share a name, McDonalds Corp. only contributes a portion to the funding of these charities and the Houses are left to

10

raise the majority of its funding on its own. Additionally, many individuals pair the two together as one entity. Therefore, if they have a negative perception of McDonalds Corp., it can ultimately hurt RMHC of NCF. Communications Plan I. Target Publics I. Volunteers i. College Students at the University of Florida looking for philanthropic opportunities. 1. Fraternity/Sorority members 2. The Center for Student Activities and Involvement 3. Student Government 4. Those interested in community service II. Communication Products I. Media Release, i. Biography highlighting particular volunteer at RMHC of NCF and what he or she has done recently to benefit the Gainesville community II. Public Service Announcement i. Radio PSA: 30-60 seconds, discussing the importance of volunteer work in the community. Will include statistics about how it benefits the community III. Brochure i. The plans for the brochure are to reach prospect volunteers in the city of Gainesville. By explaining what the House of Ronald McDonald does, who they help and the way that volunteers can get involved, the brochure will help recruit new helpers for the nonprofit. ii. By displaying pictures of how the organization works, publics will hopefully be drawn to the visuals and want to become volunteers. In the brochure, we will explain who we are, our contact information, and how the volunteers will help. IV. Facebook Page i. Through Facebook, we will be able to reach a larger audience, not limiting us to the demographics set by Gainesville or the University of Florida. ii. Through Facebook, there can be two-way communication with the publics. We will also be able to share information, and keep everyone who is interested up-to- date with all the events, fundraisers, and anything else going on with the Ronald McDonald House. 11

Page will feature weekly status updates, how to volunteer, photos, featured stories of volunteers, V. Memo i. Addressing each department in RMHC about the importance of increasing volunteers ii. Telling each department specifically what they can do to help to further distance the organization from McDonalds Corp. III. Research I. Focus group of volunteers in local Gainesville chapter a. Focus on issues that may affect them, high school students, community groups, clubs at UF
iii.

12