Hope

Project Justification: This project has the potential to help raise additional funds for the Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity for the purpose of helping them to increase the level of support they provide families with terminally ill children. This unique charity helps all those who are being affected by an illness across the UK, and require donations from the general public to continue supporting more families in the coming weeks, months and years.

Project Scope: This project will consist of the planning, development and running of an event in the aim of raising funds for the chosen charity. The project planning and development stages are to be carried out from October 2012 in the light of launching the event in February/March 2013, all depending on the chosen location. Areas of the event will include an Arts Exhibition, as well as music and dance performances from a range of individuals.

Project Deliverables: The project will be focused around the sale of art work created by our clients, in which several artists will be creating art based around the chosen charity. Other participants including musicians and dancers will be a form of entertainment for the customers to enjoy, but will not be the main source of income for this project. Throughout the project, the following materials will be delivered in order to successfully manage the overall project.

• Progress Reports
• Planning and Development Schedule
• Weekly Meeting Notes
• Final Event Report

Project Success: The project success will be measured through the amount of funds raised. Any profit made will be seen as a success.

Constraints: The constraints of this project are determined by the work of project members.

• The successful and timely completion of project tasks in accordance with the project requirements.
• Budget allocation is essential to the success of this project and may require further fundraising and or sponsorship to help fund the project.
• Suitable location for the event to be undertaken in which can cater for all project requirements.

Business Case:

Project Rationale: The aim of this project is to organise a fun and enjoyable event that will raise funds for the chosen charity in order to help finance the support families require whose children are suffering from terminal illnesses. The location being suggested for this event is situated in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, which is on the boarder of North London. Communication with the necessary organisation is currently being undertaken and updates will be provided within regular progress reports. The project will be undertaken by five business management students from the University of Bedfordshire, some of whom have previous experience in organising and running charity events.

Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity require the ongoing support from the general public in order to be able to continuously provide support to the children and families who are affected by a terminal illness. Without donations from such projects, the charity would be unable to provide the level of support necessary, resulting in fewer families gaining the crucial care they so badly need. The benefits of supporting this charity is the ongoing support they can provide to many families across the United Kingdom, making those lives of those suffering that little bit easier and the continuing connections between charity and family.

Project Objectives:

• To determine a suitable event in which can raise sufficient funds for the chosen charity.
•  To come up with the right amount of money needed for the project
•  To identify the right people to fund the project
• To lobby for funds from well wishers
• To prove to the people that the project is for charity

Chosen Project and Alternative Options: Upon initial discussions a number of event ideas were mentioned, in which the project discussed. The project chosen is based around art, which will involve an Arts Exhibition alongside performances from musicians and dancers. This event was selected by the project group due to its feasibility, customer base and the level of donations that can be achieved.

Alternative options suggested in the preliminary stages were a football tournament, an Arts Exhibition, a music show and finally a dance show. Through discussion with project members, it was agreed that a football tournament would raise very little funds due to the limit of people who are able to get involved. Furthermore, it was felt that this sort of event was too common and wouldn’t be enjoyable for all members of the team. However the other three suggestions were liked by the group but again, it was believed that none of these suggestions would raise sufficient funds for the chosen charity if they were to be run individually.  The team therefore decided to combine the three ideas of art, music and dance to form one event.

Benefits of Project: The benefits of running such an event is firstly that certain team members have organised and run similar events in the past, some of which were for charity. This will provide the project with an understanding of what is required and group members can use their experiences to ensure certain issues are avoided where possible. Secondly, there are a great number of talented artists, musicians and dancers out there today that enjoy participating in such events. Participants will be carefully selected and this will be measured by previous experiences individuals have had and the passion they have for what they do in order to ensure we get participants whose talents will help to raise funds for the charity.

Thirdly, the project will be useful in appealing to the people that this organization is solely for charity, but not profit oriented as it has been claimed. Many people have organized for such events in order to benefit. Therefore, such an opportunity will be used to inform the general public on the nature of this project. This will help in creating a good image of this project particularly to the surrounding community which is expected to benefit most.

Constraints: This project comes with some constraints that will need to be managed effectively and action taken when necessary. The constraints that are currently apparent that will or may affect the project are;

• Location: Currently this project is planned to take place in Hertfordshire, near North London. Some team members may not be able to get to the location, but currently all team members have stated they are happy with the selection and do not have any issues at this point in time.
• Budget: Due to the desired location for this project, the budget may become an issue as the cost of the venue could potentially be higher than the initial funding. Fundraising prior to the event may be undertaken as well as the likelihood of looking to gain sponsorship.

Dependencies: This project is dependent on a variety of activities being completed to schedule in order for other activities to be undertaken on time. Such activities are dependent on one another due to the project structure so all team members must ensure they are carrying out their roles accurately and timely so that no area of the project is delayed.

Besides, there should be a proper organization of this project. The role of each and every person should be clearly stated. No one is expected to assume the role of leadership. All the people will be delegated duties based on their expertise, experience and interest. This will help to eliminate any misunderstanding which may confuse them. Hence, the project will run smoothly.

Risks: There are risks associated with a project like this, in which the project team must continuously keep in mind and ensure a contingency plan is in place that will enable action to be taken instantly if and when necessary. The risks that are currently apparent include;

• Under Budget: The funds provided by the project board may be insufficient in which the project will require further funding. This will be down to the project team to raise.
• Overambitious plans: the planners for this project may set unrealistic plans that may be difficult to accomplish. This will put an unnecessary pressure on the concerned parties.
• Poor coordination: there may be uncooperative operations during the implementation of this project. This is true since its success is solely dependent on the commitments of the organizers.

Budget Estimates:

Due to the nature of this event, the required budget is essential to the success of the project. The key cost for this project is in terms of the project venue which could potentially reach a total of around£300.Although this will not be funded completely by the project board, Hope will look to hold fundraising events prior to the actual event to raise the required funds. Furthermore, sponsorship will be a focus of the project team, in order to raise these additional finances.

Another cost that will be incurred by the project team is that of refreshments for the event. This will be a low cost and may therefore be paid for by the project team rather than out of the allocated funds provided. However, it may be that a company would be willing to donate a variety of refreshments as a form of sponsorship. This cost is likely to be around the £30 mark if required to pay.

The projected budget currently for this event is roughly £330 but this cannot be confirmed until the venue has been agreed. Finance requirements are being kept to a minimum although the venue will be our major cost for this project.

Project Team:

The project team is consisted of five Business Management students, some of whom have previously organised and run charity events. Project Manager for this event is Sam Antrobus who arranges and conducts all meetings and ensures activities are completed to schedule. He is seen as the co-ordinator of the group as he delegates tasks effectively to the team, has a vision for the projects goals and is confident in what he does.  Sam is also seen as a resource investigator, alongside his colleague Scott Shipway. Both team members are able to develop contacts and explore a range of opportunities. Scott is an outgoing and enthusiastic individual who has the potential to make the most of key opportunities.

Gemma Punnett is seen as a monitor evaluator as well as a team worker within the group. Her work style enables her to view all available options resulting in accurately judging the potential outcomes and therefore enabling her to make key decisions. Her teamwork skills allow her to effectively co-operate with her peers in which she listens to the team’s opinions and ideas and avoids any form of friction within the group.

Sameer Mansour is seen as a team worker as he listens to group ideas and looks at ways in which those ideas can be put into actions. He co-operates well with his peers and avoids any confrontation with his team members. With a bit of assistance from his team members he has the potential to become a shaper within the group has he is driven to overcome any situations that may obscure the project and has the ability to work within a challenging environment.

The final project team member is Bader Alghusn, who is a strong team-worker and also seen as the plant of the group. His creativeness and free-thinking enables him to generate ideas within the group and make suggestions that the group an act upon. His co-operation and listen skills make him a good team-worker and can help with the day to day organisation of this project.

Lessons Learned:

From previous events run by several members of the project team it is clear that a clear structure is required for the success of this event. If activities are not completed to schedule then it will make it difficult for the event to succeed. Furthermore, a strong relationship needs to be built and developed with the venue provider throughout the event process. Their expertise will be essential to this project so a strong level of communication will be vital. It is important not to over compliment things when planning this event as it will only cause problems further down the line.