FEELGOOD STRATEGIC PLAN 2014  

MAXIMIZING OUR CONTRIBUTION FOR THE END OF HUNGER & POVERTY BY 2030

Following is a synopsis of FeelGood’s four-year plan to grow our movement and increase our impact. We summarize FeelGood’s unique value proposition, explore the implications and opportunities of the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, describe how FeelGood is responding with the launch of the Commitment 2030 Fund, and close with our current status and projected impact.

MAXIMIZING OUR CONTRIBUTION FOR THE END OF HUNGER & POVERTY BY 2030

FEELGOOD: MOBILIZING YOUTH FOR THE END OF HUNGER & POVERTY

HUNGER & POVERTY’S EXPANDED CONTEXT; FEELGOOD’S EXPANDED ROLE

THE COMMITMENT 2030 FUND

PROJECTED GROWTH AND IMPACT

APPENDIX: FEELGOOD 101

                                                                                                     

FEELGOOD: MOBILIZING YOUTH FOR THE END OF HUNGER & POVERTY

“My career path at the University of Pittsburgh has been strongly shaped by my involvement with FeelGood. Being invested in FeelGood's mission and being dedicated to social change has influenced my decision to pursue a career in education. After I graduate, I hope to teach English in South America with Fulbright or become an active member of Americorps.” -Tara Nair Picture: Tara Nair, (middle) with teammates Nathan Poloni (left…that’s water!) and Aidan Smith (right) at FeelGood’s Hunger Summit in NYC  

After 10 years working closely with communities of students from more than 24 different colleges and universities, FeelGood has a proven program for mobilizing youth to take concrete, systemic action to end global hunger and poverty. Empowered students form high functioning teams to run non-profit (but profitable) social enterprises—grilled cheese delis—launch campus-wide educational campaigns, and create and execute additional fundraising activities, all to raise money and build public support for organizations with a proven track record of sustainable hunger and poverty eradication.

Beyond the money raised and support mobilized, students also graduate from the program having earned distinction as “changemakers for life:” global citizens ready to respond strategically and compassionately to the world’s most pressing issues.

Essential to each student’s professional and personal development is that they experience becoming a changemaker in community at every scale: locally with their chapter, nationally with the movement, and globally with our partners.

Having developed a successful methodology and program for mobilizing youth on a sustained basis, we are ready to embrace an emerging opportunity to further expand the reach and impact of our program.

                                             

2013-2014 BY THE NUMBERS

                         

The recently announced post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)— endorsed by the World Bank, the United Nations and other major public and private institutions—represent a seminal shift in the world’s approach to ending hunger and poverty. The SDGs acknowledge, for the first time, that ending extreme poverty by 2030 is essential to our collective survival, and only possible within the context of the four pillars of sustainable development: Economic Prosperity, Social Inclusion, Environmental Sustainability, and Good Governance.

This merging of the environmental and social agendas greatly expands the context of the mission to end global hunger and poverty. No longer viewed as primarily a scourge of the developing world, extreme hunger and poverty are now understood to be symptomatic of an obsolete global paradigm of unlimited consumption and growth that now threatens our very survival. What’s needed is a new paradigm based on sustainability and a commitment to the wellbeing of all people and all life. The 17 SDGs provide a clear path toward enacting such a paradigm shift.

Given this rich, expanded context for what is required to end extreme hunger and poverty, FeelGood has an opportunity to extend the reach and impact of our program while remaining true to our core mission. Toward that end we are launching a new initiative: The Commitment 2030 Fund.

HUNGER & POVERTY’S EXPANDED CONTEXT; FEELGOOD’S EXPANDED ROLE

   

Currently, FeelGood students’ fundraising and educational initiatives support two partner organizations focused on eradicating global hunger and poverty: The Hunger Project and CHOICE Humanitarian. Our relationship with these organizations has been symbiotic and synergistic. The inspiring work of our partners has contributed to FeelGood’s success by helping motivate students in our program, and the work of our students has contributed to our partner’s success through their fundraising and awareness-raising initiatives.

Commitment 2030 leverages this model within the expanded context of the Sustainable Development Goals. We are actively recruiting additional partner organizations that together represent an integrated, collaborative, and systemic path toward realizing all 17 of the SDGs. The organizations we recruit comprise what we are calling the Commitment 2030 Fund, and will be the beneficiaries of all fundraising and educational events initiated by our students.

EXPANDING OUR IMPACT

THE COMMITMENT 2030 FUND

"I am continually impressed by the complete and thoughtful understanding FeelGood students have of the complex issue of chronic hunger. This type of critical thinking from students around the country, combined with the passion and ability to creatively mobilize much needed resources, is one of many elements fueling my belief that the end of hunger is within reach." Mary Ellen McNish, Former CEO, The Hunger Project

"I've witnessed the power of the FeelGood program. It fosters the very knowledge and skills we need to meet today's complex global challenges, and to finally realize the dream of a world free

of hunger and poverty." Dr. James Mayfield, Co-Founder, Choice Humanitarian

AFFIRMATION FROM OUR PARTNERS

Based on our experience with our two current partner organizations, we anticipate the larger number of organizations comprising the Commitment 2030 Fund to provide FeelGood a significant avenue for greater growth and impact by extending our reach and our appeal.

GREATER REACH: Since more FeelGood chapters mean more money for the Fund and more public support for its work, all Fund partners are incentivized to actively recruit new FeelGood chapters—spreading the word through their community of supporters. By supporting Fund partners in positioning FeelGood as their official youth engagement program, we believe we will discover the untapped talent and leadership necessary to grow FeelGood.

GREATER APPEAL: The broad scope of issues represented by the organizations in the Fund—ultimately addressing all 17 SDGs—is itself a tool for growth, creating a larger “magnet” for attracting students to our program. Students who may not resonate with one goal (for example, ending hunger), may resonate with another (for example, transitioning to non-carbon-based energy sources). Prior to the SDGs, this would have felt like “watering down” our mission. Now, while students may enter the program through the doors of different issues, FeelGood’s supporting educational curriculum will quickly make clear the interconnectivity of all 17 SDGs, and how the success of one goal is essential to the success of all goals.

BUILDING THE FUND: PROGRESS TO DATE The integrity and reputation of the Fund is crucial to the movement in general, and to the students in particular, as they are the outward-facing ambassadors of the Fund’s work. For this reason all Fund partners, no matter what goal they address, must embody FeelGood’s time-tested principles for effecting lasting, systemic change: address gender equality, mobilize grassroots leadership, partner with local government, practice environmental sustainability, and have a proven track record of cost-effective results.

Our Phase I goal—to be met by the end of July 2014—is to identify and enroll two new Fund partners, which together with our two existing partner organizations brings our total to four. The two organizations we have targeted for Phase I are Water for People (complete water coverage for every family, every school, and every clinic) and The Pachamama Alliance (responsible and sustainable resource management).

FUND ENDORSEMENTS In addition to recruiting Fund partners, we are also recruiting high-profile Fund endorsements as a way to highlight the Fund’s credentials and value. To date, we have endorsements from Universities Fighting World Hunger, United Nations Association of the United States and The Alliance to End Hunger. We are currently seeking additional endorsements and welcome your recommendations.

 

THE FUND AT A GLANCE

Our partnerships with Commitment 2030 Fund partners will position us for exponential chapter growth. Below are our chapter growth projections along with key impact metrics:

SUPPORTING OUR GROWTH

PROJECTED GROWTH AND IMPACT

To support the anticipated growth in FeelGood chapters resulting from the Commitment 2030 Fund, without incurring additional fixed expenses, FeelGood has taken the following steps:

1) Enlisting alumni as start-up chapter support volunteers. Graduated students stay active in the FeelGood movement through our alumni association, FeelGood4Life, taking on various support roles depending on our need and their area of expertise. One area in which alumni are particularly qualified is in mentoring and supporting the startup teams of new FeelGood chapters. Alumni expertise, together with FeelGood’s well-defined start-up process, make them an ideal choice for this role. The program is being launched for the first time this year, beginning with six alumni volunteers this fall (2014).

2) Expanding our use of technology. For the past five years FeelGood has been investing in online technology to more quickly and flexibly meet the resource and training needs of our students, provide incentives and investment capital for their participation, as well as track progress towards fulfilling their annual strategic plans. This investment—which has significantly increased our efficiency—will continue as we expand our online content. We are also in process of designing and developing a new mobile application to make the learning modules and reporting accessible to students the moment they are needed. This app will serve the added benefit of engaging customers.

3) Launching FeelGoodx. Not every student is able to commit the time or has the

university support required to launch and sustain a successful FeelGood chapter. That does not mean, however, that these students are any less passionate. To make sure their passion does not go untapped—and to maximize our impact while minimizing our investment of staff time and resources—we are launching FeelGoodx: A more independent, less resource-intensive alternative to our standard chapter program. Rather than “ending hunger and poverty one grilled cheese at a time,” these students will end world hunger through one-off educational and fundraising events.

4) Campaign support tools. Growth is about more than increasing the number of

FeelGood chapters. It’s also about increasing the fundraising and educational effectiveness of every chapter. Often this means launching initiatives that move beyond the boundaries of the deli. To support these initiatives, we will be offering complementary campaign tools that chapters can use to invite further participation from friends, family and others.

THE COST Below is the four-year budget required to support growing to 130 chapters by 2018. We do not intend to increase our staff in numbers over the next four years. The increases in salaries and related expenses reflect a commitment to livable wages, offering benefits, and honoring an annual 3.5% cost of living increase.

 

FOUR-YEAR BUDGET, FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30

The FeelGood program offers students a path of increasing awareness, engagement, and effectiveness in being changemakers for the end of global hunger and poverty. This path can be described in terms of the following three stages: 1) Wake up, 2) Do something (simple…and systemic), and 3) Do it together.

WAKE UP A student’s first interaction with FeelGood often comes at the FeelGood deli. Lured by the prospect of a delicious grilled cheese, they soon learn that the money that bought them lunch will also help empower people born into conditions of poverty to end their own hunger. Intrigued, a dialogue ensues with a FeelGood volunteer; awareness is raised; and soon they find themselves at their first FeelGood chapter meeting. There they experience a peer-led dialogue that goes deeper into the causes of hunger and poverty, the local and global consequences, and the strategies required to end hunger

I can honestly say that being part of FeelGood has drastically changed my life. At this time two years ago I had no idea that today I would be so passionate about ending world hunger, or that I

would even want to commit the rest of my life to it. FeelGood has unleashed my spirit, and brought me so much joy in knowing I am helping my human family.”

-Amanda Salguero, Columbia FeelGood

APPENDIX: FEELGOOD 101

and poverty sustainably. Now more deeply engaged, the student is ready to become a contributing member of their school’s FeelGood chapter.

DO SOMETHING (SIMPLE...AND SYSTEMIC) The beauty of the FeelGood model is that the action starts simple, making it easy to move from “wake up” to engagement. Initially, students take on a simple deli shift, either as an order-taker, sandwich maker, or conversation initiator. Over time, they assume additional responsibilities, such as helping to create promotional campaigns and special education and fundraising events. Eventually they may step into a chapter leadership role, either as a deli manager, marketing chair, fundraising chair, education chair, recruitment chair, or even chapter president.

Participating in running and managing a deli operation hones the student’s leadership and teamwork skills, as well provides the opportunity to development important business skills in marketing, finance, strategic planning and more. Online learning modules dive deeper into each of these essential skills to support the student’s hands-on learning experience.

At chapter meetings, peer-led learning modules continue to deepen the student’s understanding, as they get further into hunger and poverty’s systemic causes and solutions. This deeper knowledge is reflected in the quality and depth of conversations they initiate at the deli and in the educational campaigns they create.

All of these activities—from volunteering at the deli to participating in online and peer-led learning modules—earn the student and the chapter “cheese points” that can be used as investment capital for their deli operations, or to help cover the costs of attending a FeelGood Peak Experience, such as our annual 5-day Big Cheese Summer Training Institute.

DO IT TOGETHER Offering a process to wake up and respond to the needs of the world is essential, but not enough. Also needed is a community within which students can develop the skills and nurture the relationships that sustain and deepen their participation. Without this sense of community, engagement will be short lived.

FeelGood builds community intentionally at every scale, starting with the students’ local chapter, where shared experiences around a common vision and mission form the basis of lifelong friendships. It then extends nationally as students connect with chapters at other campuses through annual gatherings as well as active engagement with our online networking platform. And finally globally, as students engage with the work of our international partners and form deep connections with the people whom their work supports.