HERO Board Benchmarking Study
Fall 1998
The Homeless Empowerment Relationship Organization (HERO) of Washtenaw County is a
not-for-profit agency dedicated to the empowerment of people who are homeless or at risk
of being homeless to maintain maximum self-sufficiency.
A team of MBA students is working to benchmark and restructure the HERO Board of
Directors. The recommendation will focus on structure, as well as roles and
responsibilities of the Board through each stage of HERO’s growth. The project
involves interviewing other nonprofit organizations, benchmarking current HERO Board
operations and researching best practices in nonprofit boards.
HERO Marketing Project
Fall 1998 - Winter 1999
The Homeless Empowerment Relationship Organization (HERO) of Washtenaw County is a
not-for-profit agency dedicated to the empowerment of people who are homeless or at risk
of being homeless to maintain maximum self-sufficiency.
HERO resources are currently underutilized by the community due to a lack of program
awareness by key homeless service distribution channels. This marketing strategy
project involves market research to define partner social service channels to target
HERO’s services. A second component of the project involves the development of
a marketing plan to heighten community awareness of the HERO organization and its
capabilities.
HERO Financial Assessment
Fall 1998 - Winter 1999
The Homeless Empowerment Relationship Organization (HERO) of Washtenaw County is a
not-for-profit agency dedicated to the empowerment of people who are homeless or at risk
of being homeless to maintain maximum self-sufficiency.
The Community Consulting team is reviewing the past years’ budgets, level of
service provision, and revenue streams. Data collection is the first phase and
includes collating raw data obtained from HERO and interviews of individuals who
facilitated Pathfinder seminars. This year’s team intends to develop a baseline
for expenditures, revenue, and service provision rates. In addition, the team will
make recommendations on future fundraising, budgeting and tracking efforts that may be
taken up by another team in the coming semester or academic year.
HelpSource Marketing Cost/Benefit Analysis
Fall 1998
HelpSource Child and Family Services is a nonprofit organization offering a range of
family-oriented services to Ann Arbor and the surrounding communities. Once such
service is Adult Day Care, which provides supervised care for elderly adults on a
scheduled basis.
Following up on last year’s marketing analysis conducted by Community Consulting,
this year’s work will resolve remaining tactical issues associated with earlier
findings and HelpSource’s stated objectives. Immediate efforts are focused on a
cost-benefit analysis of a full spectrum of marketing options available to HelpSource for
both short and long term planning.
Neutral Zone Teen Center Space Utilization Project
Fall 1998 - Winter 1999
The Neutral Zone Teen Center recently opened in Ann Arbor. The space that the
center now occupies was completely renovated and now includes significant space for the
teen sin Ann Arbor to congregate. This center also offers many amenities that make
the space unique. It is the type of facility that many organizations, community
groups and individuals would be interested in renting out to host meetings, events, and
other special occasions. At this point, the space typically goes unused outside of
the regular business hours during the late afternoon and evening.
Two general issues have been identified. First, potential users of this facility
currently do not know of its availability. The pertinent question is how can the
center deliver the message to the appropriate audience that the space is available for
outside use. Second, as the facility recently opened, the center has no formal
pricing structure in place. In addition, the center has not investigated the
possibility of generating additional revenue by packaging space use with complementary
services (such as concessions). This objective of this project is to conduct a high
level study of Neutral Zone’s facility usage. The goal is to deliver specific
recommendations detailing how the space can best be used to generate cash flow within the
parameters established by the Neutral Zone and IRS Code 501(c)3.
Neutral Zone Cost Structure / Budgeting / Accounting Project
Fall 1998 - Winter 1999
Neutral Zone is a teen center that recently opened in Ann Arbor. There have been
two general issues identified with respect to accounting and budgeting procedures at
Neutral Zone. The organization needs to improve its accounting policies &
procedures and they need a great deal of assistance preparing monthly, quarterly, and
yearly operating budgets. Thus, the objective of this project is to conduct a high
level study of Neutral Zone’s accounting and financial structure, policies and
procedures. In addition, one of the primary goals of the budgeting process will be
to establish a budget template that the center can use on a ongoing basis to prepare
future budgets. The ultimate goal of this study is to deliver specific
recommendations detailing how the center can implement a viable accounting and budgeting
function.
Neutral Zone Marketing Study
Fall 1998 - Winter 1999
Neutral Zone is a new teen center in Ann Arbor. They aim to offer targeted
services to Ann Arbor teenagers and also offer teens a place that they can use for their
own activities. This particular study will focus on how Neutral Zone should market
the teen center to the Ann Arbor youth in order to increase awareness about opportunities
to use the facility and also achieve sustainable attendance during non-event hours.
This will be accomplished by analyzing the needs of the customers (Ann Arbor teens),
benchmarking similar concepts, and profiling “competitors” who target the same
market with their programs/activities.
Strategy Development for Islandview In-Place Industrial Park
Fall 1998 - Winter 1999
Community Consulting is working to develop a sustainable strategy for development of an
in-place industrial park within the Islandview neighborhood on Detroit’s East
Side. In-place industrial parks seek to revitalize neighborhoods by retaining
existing businesses and attracting new businesses. In cooperation with the Eastside
Industrial Council and Islandview businesses, a Community Consulting team is assessing
current deterrents to business development including crime, infrastructure shortfalls, and
the neighborhood’s appearance. At the same time, the team is investigating
solutions and partnership opportunities which, when implemented, could move the businesses
closer to a viable industrial park plan. The team meets monthly with a coalition of
Islandview businesses, and a final strategy will be presented in early 1999.
