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H B S A S S o c i At i o n o f B o S t o nC o m m u n i t y A C t i o n P A r t n e r s

Our Mission StatementCAP improves the lives of people in the Boston area by strengthening the non-profits that serve them.

We do this by:

• providing pro bono business consult-ing to non-profit organizations

• providing opportunities for HBS and HKS alumni to channel busi-ness skills into community service

Annual Report 2013

I am delighted to take on the role of Executive Director of Community

Action Partners as we mark our 20th year of service to Boston area non-profits. As a CAP volunteer I saw first-hand the won-derful impact that CAP has on our clients and alumni, and this 20th anniversary gives us a special opportunity to reflect on CAP’s growth and accomplishments over the years.

In 1993, Brooks Fenno (MBA 1962) had the idea to engage alumni with lo-cal non-profits through pro bono busi-ness consulting. As he recounted recently, “The light bulb went off. We’ve got all of these qualified individuals who would like to contribute their time to interesting projects, and a large population of non-profits who could use their skills. So we started knocking on doors.” In partner-ship with the Harvard Business School Alumni Association of Boston (HBSAB) the CAP founders sought local non-profits that would be interested in such services, and then recruited volunteers to staff the projects. And thus CAP was born: early clients included The Appala-chian Mountain Club, Mass Audubon (a client again this year) and the Trustees of the Reservations. Over the years we have expanded our client and volunteer base and welcomed Harvard Kennedy School graduates to our volunteer ranks.

As with so many great things, a “light bulb” idea from a motivated individual turned into a robust organization with a real and lasting impact on the non-profits of the Boston area. Since our founding, over 1,000 HBS and HKS alumni have shared their skills and passion to make a difference. Our volunteers have assisted with strategic planning, marketing assess-ments, operational reviews and many oth-

HBSAB President Chris MacKenzie, CAP Founder Brooks Fenno, and CAP Executive Director Amelia Angella at an event in No-vember 2013 to commemorate CAP’s 20th Anniversary

er business needs for over 200 nonprofit organizations across a broad spectrum of mission areas that include social services, youth and education, health care, arts and culture, and environmental causes.

After 20 years of operation, CAP clients have spanned the entire spectrum of the non-profit sector and our work has im-pacted residents across the Greater Boston community. Our volunteer base is strong and includes both new and returning vol-unteers who graciously contribute their time and expertise. Our volunteers who give so generously get much in return. Reconnecting with fellow alumni, mak-ing new friends, and tackling the many challenges of the non-profit sector are all part of the CAP experience. Most sig-nificantly, CAP has worked with so many organizations that do incredible work for the Boston area, particularly for the most vulnerable populations. We feel privileged to have worked alongside them over the past 20 years to make our community a better place. I want to thank you for your support of our mission and to invite you to stay engaged with us as we embark on our next 20 years of service.

Sincerely, Amelia Angella Executive Director HBS 2001

We truly appreciate the support that the Harvard Business School Association of Boston and Harvard Kennedy School Alum-ni Association of New England clubs have given to Community Action Partners and extend our thanks to our donors who have sustained our mission and work through their generosity. Our deepest gratitude goes to our volunteers who have given their skills, time, and passion to our cli-ents. The impact you have had in our community is tremendous.

CAP by the Numbers 1993-2013

1993 the year cap was started

323 number of engagements

we’ve delivered

1000+ number of alums who have

served as volunteers

217,000 number of volunteer

hours donated

$33 million the value of pro-bono consulting delivered

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Our 2013-2014 Clients ———————————————————————————————————————

A Far Cry is a member-led chamber or-chestra founded in 2007 by a collective of 17 young professional musicians (the Cri-ers) who have developed an innovative structure of rotating leadership both on stage and behind the scenes. A Far Cry has grown considerably over the past six years and is utilizing CAP’s expertise to develop a five-year strategic plan to help ensure the viability of the organization. This project will enable A Far Cry to sustain and ex-pand the audience for its exciting new ap-proach to classical music performance.

Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Boston helps young people build strong character and realize their full potential as respon-sible citizens and leaders. BGCB is work-ing with CAP to enhance their outcomes measurement efforts to include greater re-search and a sustainable strategy for gather-ing data relative to alumni, so that BGCB might serve youth even more effectively in the future.

Caritas Communities seeks to end home-lessness by directly providing affordable housing to the working poor, veterans and the chronically homeless. CAP is helping Caritas create a new strategic plan so it can provide safe and well maintained housing to more people in the future.

Compass Working Capital helps low in-come families escape poverty by provid-ing incentive-based financial coaching and savings programs that empower work-ing, low-income families to build assets, achieve their financial goals, and become financially secure. They are working with CAP to develop a staffing and talent devel-opment model that enables them to meet ambitious growth plans to serve more families while decreasing its costs.

Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary – Mass Audubon strives to promote an awareness of the interdependence of people, land and wildlife through environmental education, stewardship of regionally significant habi-tat, and sustainable agricultural practices. They are working with CAP to develop a deeper qualitative and quantitative under-standing of the market requirements for

Drumlin Farm educational programs for children and families.

The Food Project has built a national model of engaging young people in personal and social change through sustainable agricul-ture. Each year, TFP works with over 150 teenagers and thousands of volunteers to farm on 40 acres in eastern Massachusetts in the towns and cities of Beverly, Boston, Lincoln, and Lynn. The Food Project is working with CAP to develop a five-year strategic plan that will assist in establishing priorities for producing healthy food and providing youth leadership opportunities.

Historic Sites Consortium - The Bostonian Society (Old State House), Museum of Af-rican American History (African Meeting House), Old South Meeting House, and Paul Revere House are among Boston’s leading tourist attractions, contributing greatly to the local economy and historic culture. They receive limited funding from local governments, relying on grants and contributions from donors. Current fund-ing prospects are not sufficient to meet the projected long-term preservation needs of these national treasures and to meet the increasing costs of serving their many visi-tors. The consortium is working with CAP to develop a business plan to better market itself to sources of funding.This plan will assist in the development of specific plans for programs, visitation, and preservation of these important historic sites.

The Leadership Studio at the Harvard School of Public Health produces live we-bcasting events to disseminate public health research and policy recommendations to public health decision makers and others around the world. The Leadership Studio is utilizing CAP’s expertise for a strategic planning process to develop a comprehen-sive long term strategy for evaluating new opportunities, measuring the success of their programming, and achieving finan-cial sustainability.

Operation A.B.L.E. is the only organiza-tion in Massachusetts whose sole mission

TheLeadership Studio

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Our 2013-2014 Clients ———————————————————————————————————————is to get mature workers 45 and older back to work. The CAP team is working with A.B.L.E to enhance their marketing and communication efforts, clarify and bet-ter communicate their brand, vision and mission to all constituents, and to get the word out that ABLE is the “Place to Go” for all mature workers who need assistance in getting back into the workforce.

Read to a Child works to increase children’s success in reading and in life by inspiring adults to read to them regularly. Read to a Child recently went through a rebrand-ing effort and a merger of four separate affiliates into a national organization. As a result, Read to a Child is working with the CAP team on a strategic planning process to determine how to balance their desire to reach every child that needs exposure to reading with the realities of building the organization, infrastructure and sustainable funding.

Rediscovery offers a continuum of services to unaccompanied, homeless high school students and youth aging out of foster care, in order to ensure their successful transi-tion to adulthood. To continue expanding and growing the program. With CAP’s help, Rediscovery is developing a strategy for sustainability that includes attention to policy at the state and federal levels.

The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare is a national nonprofit dedi-cated to strengthening the relationship between patients and families and their clinical caregivers. The Schwartz Center is working with CAP to develop a market-ing strategy and implementation plan that will engage patients and families in their mission. Specifically, this plan will lay out a roadmap – including targeting, position-ing, messaging, and media for building a mainstream movement for compassionate healthcare.

Trinity Boston – Sole Train is one of three direct service programs run by the Trin-

ity Boston Foundation. Sole Train: Boston Runs Together is a free running and men-toring program for at-risk Boston youth. The CAP team is focusing on a growth plan, and specifically on a strategy for po-sitioning and marketing their programs to two main constituencies: the schools in which the program “lives” (including principals, teachers, and students), and foundations which may want to support the program. This plan will enable Sole Train to reach and inspire more youth to realize their full potential and accomplish goals they never thought possible

Understanding Our Differences is a par-ticipatory disability awareness curriculum founded in Newton by parents of children with disabilities to improve mainstream-ing into the public school system. UOD is working with CAP to produce actionable data including a cost analysis of the UOD curriculum and pricing of comparable curricula, analysis of several possible alter-native models for disseminating the cur-riculum and a business plan to implement the chosen strategy to help more families and schools navigate the challenges of mainstreaming.

Women of Means improves the lives of women who are homeless or marginally housed through quality health care, edu-cation and advocacy. A pilot program, the Medical Home Without Walls, has part-nered Women of Means with an account-able care organization to provide primary care and care coordination services to a small group of selected women on site in shelters. Women of Means is working with CAP regarding opportunities to partner with other providers or funders to spread this model.

YouthBuild Boston was founded in 1990 with the goal of providing underserved young people with the support and cre-dentials needed to successfully enter the building trades. YBB has identified an opportunity to develop a weatherization business and is working with CAP on a business plan for this opportunity.

Scholarships to our clients through the HBS Social

Enterprise InitiativeSince 2004, CAP has arranged scholar-ship support for current or past clients to attend. These high performing non-profit executives attend the Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management (SPNM). Each of these scholarships (which are worth over $5,000 each) is offered to the recipients at no charge.

Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management provides the opportunity for senior executives to examine their missions and develop new strategies for the global economy. The program guides nonprofit executive directors and CEOs as they explore proactive methods for mastering nonprofit lead-ership in uncertain times. Participants explore strategic concepts in mission focus, market sensitivity, organizational structure, and performance manage-ment and control. “I am one week out from the Strategic Perspectives in Non-Profit Management and still mining the many les-sons. The experience was extraordinary, and I am still unbundling the components that made it so rich. The faculty created a course that was truly integrated, each course build-ing on the previous, until we reached a final lecture by Prof. Rangan on the Aravind Eye Hospital that was a paradigm shifter for me. It drove home many of the “process” issues we worked on with the CAP team this year. Another feature, of course, were the amaz-ing collection of non-profits from around the world. I’ve made new friends and colleagues, discovered connections from around the globe, and re-discovered a friend from graduate school. As TND heads into a year of strategic planning and possible restructuring, I could not have asked for a better base. I am so grateful for CAP’s gift of this week. Thank you for adding another deep imprint on our work.”

Anne Houston Executive Director,

The Neighborhood Developers

CAP Client Recipients of the 2013 SPNM Scholarship

Susan Getman, President and CEO, The Walker School

Lynne Margherio, CEO Cradles to Crayons

Anne Houston, Executive Director The Neighborhood Developers

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CAP Clients 1993-2012 Community Action Partners has served nearly 200 clients in the Greater Boston Area since our founding.

ACCESSACCION InternationalACCION USAThe Achievement NetworkAcre Family Child CareAgassiz VillageAlliance FrancaiseAmerican Humane Education SocietyAmerican Red Cross of Massachusetts BayAppalachian Mountain ClubArsenal Center for the ArtsArts BostonAsian Task Force Against Domestic ViolenceAssociated Early Education and CareAtlas CommunitiesBeacon Hill VillageThe B.E.L.L. FoundationBenjamin Franklin Institute of TechnologyBig Brothers Big Sisters of Massauchusetts BayBiomedical Science Careers ProgramBlue Hills ObservatoryBoston Architectural CollegeBoston AthenaeumBoston Ballet CompanyBoston Building ResourcesBoston Center for the ArtsThe Boston FoundationThe Boston Foundation for SightThe Bostonian SocietyBoston Natural Areas NetworkBoston Partners in EducationThe Boston Photo CollaborativeBoston Public LibraryBoston Renaissance Charter Public SchoolThe Boston Running ClubBoston Symphony Orchestra VolunteersBoston VA Research InstituteBottom LineBoys & Girls Clubs of BostonThe Brain Tumor SocietyBridge Over Troubled WatersBuilding Materials Resource CenterBrazelton Touchpoints CenterCambridge Family & Children’s ServiceThe Carroll SchoolCenter for Women and EnterpriseCentral Square TheaterChildren’s Advocacy CenterChildren’s Services of RoxburyCitizen SchoolsCitySproutsCity Year

Commonwealth Zoological CorporationCommunity Boating, Inc.Community Rowing, Inc.CONNECT – The Neighborhood Developers Inc.Conservation Law FoundationCrittenton Hastings HouseThe Copley Society of BostonCradles to CrayonsDanforth Museum of ArtDimock Community HealthDiscovering JusticeEarthwatch InstituteEastern Massachusetts Literacy CouncilThe Environmental Careers OrganizationEnvironmental Defense FundThe Esplanade AssociatonFamilies FirstThe Food ProjectGloucester AdventureHarbinger PartnersHealth Care for AllHILLHistoric New EnglandHuntington TheaterInquilinos Boricuas en AcciónInstitute of Contemporary ArtIsabella Stewart Gardner MuseumJewish Women’s ArchiveJudge Baker Children’s CenterJumpstart for Young ChildrenLena Park Community DevelopmentManometMassachusetts Audubon Society, BNCMassachusetts Audubon Society, Drumlin FarmMassachusetts Audubon Society, JFCMassachusetts Alliance on Teen PregnancyMassachusetts Historical SocietyMassachusetts Horticultural SocietyMetropolitan Boston Housing PartnershipMinute Man National Park AssociationMore Than WheelsMore Than WordsMuseum of ScienceNational Consumer Law CenterNational Education for Assistance Dog Services (NEADS)Natl. Foundation for Teaching EntrepreneurshipNational Heritage MuseumNeighborhood of Affordable HousingNeedham Children’s MuseumNewbury CollegeNew England Aquarium

New England Board of Higher EducationNew England Center for ChildrenNew England Healthcare InstituteNew England Wild Flower SocietyNew Profit, Inc.Newton Community Service CenterNewton Wellesley Weston Committee for Community LivingOpen Circle Program, Stone CenterOxfam AmericaPACT ProjectPassimPeabody Essex MuseumPine Manor CollegePlanned Parenthood League of MassachusettsPrimary SourceProject BreadProject PlaceRaising A Reader MAReadBostonRESPONDRiverside Theater WorksRocaRoot CapitalR.O.S.E. FundRoxbury YouthworksSave the Harbor/Save the BaySchwartz Center for Compassionate HealthcareScience Club for GirlsSecond NatureSocial Capital Inc.Somerville Homeless CoalitionSouth Africa PartnersSouth Boston Harbor Academy Charter SchoolSpeakeasy Theater CompanySquashbustersSteps to SuccessSudbury Valley TrusteesTrinity Boston – Sole TrainTrustees of ReservationsUnited South End SettlementsUSS Constitution MuseumVisiting Nurse and Community HealthVinfenYouth Enrichment ServicesWalker Home and SchoolWBURWest Suburban YMCAWomen of MeansWomen’s Educational and Industrial UnionYoung AudiencesYWCA

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CAP Donors 2012 – PresentCAP relies on the generosity of our donors, our board and our volunteers. On a very modest budget of under $40,000, CAP delivers over $3 million annually in consulting services to carefully selected organizations, and they in turn serve our entire community better.

Thank you so much for your generous support!CAP’s Major Benefactors ($1,000 or more)

Board of Governors of the HBSABNancy Budge

Harvard Business School and the Social Enterprise InitiativeHarvard Kennedy School Alumni Association of New England

David HarrisLaura and Robert Hockett

IBMBruce and Holly Johnstone

William and Lynne Morrison Shipp Consulting

Harold and Anna S. Ullian Foundation and the Snider FamilyCharles Zeien

CAP’s Donors ($500 to $999)

CAP’s Donors (up to $499)Anna AbateC.L. AbbottTony AldrichSonny AliHayden AndersonAmelia AngellaFrederick AremuThomas BarnesSusanne BeckDaniel BehrGeorge BermanClark BernardMarco BitranJeanne BushnellAmy CahnersAnamaria CamargoTushara CanekeratneJohn CarrierThomas ChinWilliam ChurchillThomas ClaflinBernard ClarkJulia ClarksonKenneth ColburnDavid CookCharles CoolidgeDennis CorcoranPhilip CrutchfieldCharles E. CuneoPaul DaleyNancy DearmanIphigenia DemetriadesPeter Demuth

Jennifer DoughertyBrooks FennoWilliam FinkJohn FitzgeraldLaura FooteCharles FrenchElizabeth FritzRobert and Cindy GoodofRob GreenlyGary GutJohn HarringtonCarolyn HastingsDon HawleyPeter HealeyMary HerzogAnne HoffmanJames HoyteRobert HuebscherVenkatesh IyerAlison Poorvu JaffePhilip JenksRobb JohnsonThomas KellJennifer KelmBrian KinneySteven KrosNathalie Laidler-KylanderBarbara LarsonRobin LawrenceRussell LeblangRoberta LeisHerbert LernerRobert Listfield

Nancy LoderickKarl LoosRichard LowJessica LutzkerStephen and Kim MaireDanielle ManningCarmela and Walker MartinJ. Michael MaynardKevin and Kate McCareyMegan McLeanDaria McLeanRichard McKerrRobert MelzerSally MurphyHolly MusonRobert NealonJoshua NevinJanet NicholasAnthony NicholasBill NicholsEric NierenbergTim O’BrienAida OdeNeil OlkenDeborah PegeSarah PerrySteve PerrySteve PollackFrederick PritikinHabib RahmanPaul RapisardaKelly RickardsCT Rood

David RosenbloomJeffrey and Elinor Ross Fund Kathryn RoyRichard RubackRobert SavignolRichard and Elisabeth SayreDavid SempleEverett ShoreyJeffrey & Virginia SimonKim Slater SonnabendPaul SniderVincent StantonSteven and Patricia StantonLee SteeleHans StummDick TerryPeter TorkildsenGail TorkildsenMatthew TorreyCharles WainBarbara WallDarice WarehamGarrett WatersPeter WeilDavid WilsonDavid R. WilsonCarolyn WintnerErik WitkowskiAlice WolfXiao-Wei Zhu

Mark AdamczykIrfan AliRandall AtkinRoland BarthBarbara BaumanMagdaline CaradimitropouloSteve Diamond

Barbara FainAnne HayesLisa HicksKen HodgeBarry HorwitzBrian KopperlLaura McTaggart

Hamilton MehlmanJanet NicholasFrank OrlandoWalter PresseyMichael QuinlanPaul RapisardaTod Riedel

Daniel and Jean RossLorna and Jeremiah ShafirJon ShippAnita SpringerDiogo TeixeiraFelix Twaalfhoven

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CAP 2013-2014 volunteers

CAP’s Volunteers at our Fall Orientation in October at HBS

Anna AbateCheryl AbbottMark AdamczykLaurance AllenHayden AndersonGreg AyresSusanne BeckMel BergerMatthew BernerCarissa BlackRichard BlandMary BrowneRuth CareyWilliam ChurchillThomas ClaflinCharles CoolidgeRachel CornCharles CuneoPaul DaleyJehan deFonsekaLandon DickeyAlan EisenbergJudith FaginRichard FisherJohn FitzgeraldLaura Foote

Marcy GefterRobert GoodofMarina GuitchountsWilliam GuthleinAdrian HancockDon HawleyLaura HockettVenkatesh IyerPhilip JenksTom KellMeryl KesslerBrian KopperlSrini KrishnamurthyFred KulasBarbara LarsonRoberta LeisRobert ListfieldNancy LoderickRichard LowMichael MahoneyRichard McKerrMegan McLeanSid MisraHolly MusonJeff NelsonTim O’BrienDeborah Pege

Bruce PosnerJerry Rappaport, JrSarah RichAlice RichmondRobert RodriguezTeg RoodJeffrey RossRobert SavignolEverett ShoreyPaul SniderTracey StarkAlan SteinertChristopher StixSheela SubramanianPeter TorkildsenRoss TrimbyFelix TwaalfhovenBarbara Wall LoboscoChristina WangDarice WarehamMelissa WeiksnarPeter WeilRobie WhiteDavid WilsonCarolyn WintnerAlice Wolf

Our volunteers have a great experience!Over 90% thought their team worked well to-gether and produced high quality results.

91% reported that they had an overall positive experience.

“I met a great team of CAP and client people and feel I contributed to a project that will have a worthwhile impact. This is very rewarding, per-sonally.”

“I enjoy the intellectual challenge of solving a new problem and giving back to a worthwhile organization at the same time.”

“CAP gave me the opportunity to collaborate with a terrific team, an engaged client and to expand my skills.”

Who volunteers?80% are HBS graduates; 20% HKS graduates

More than 55% are employed part-time or full-time

Approximately 55% are repeat volunteers (have volunteered on a previous CAP project)

Nearly 15% have volunteered on 4 or more projects

This year almost a quarter of our volunteers graduated within the past 10 years, another 35% graduated between 11 and 30 years ago and 42% graduated over 30 years ago.

Clients value our work!100% of our clients last year said that they had an overall positive experience and that they would recommend CAP to another organiza-tion.

“Working with CAP was an awesome expe-rience. The CAP team members were experi-enced, professional, and patient. They guided us through each step of the process, and they knew when to push further or hold back on certain topics. Most especially, they took the time to truly get to know us and our process so that they could identify our needs, even the ones that we weren’t voicing. We are so appreciative of the entire CAP team and the project overall. Thank you!”

— Lynn Margherio, CEO Cradles to Crayons

other

6% board governance

8%

business plan

9%

branding & communication

10%

financial sustainability

12%

market assessment

15%

operations

15%

strategic plan/growth plan

27%

CAP Projects Address a Variety of Issues Critical to Non-Profits

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CAP volunteers Laura McTaggart (bib 1083) and Paul Snider (bib 1027) with Sole Train Executive Director Jess Leffler (center) and friends prior to the Blue Hills Brewery 5k run for adult mentors, sup-porters and coaches.

Sole Train: Boston Runs Together, found-ed in 2009 as part of Trinity Boston Foun-dation, is a free running and mentoring program for Boston youth. The program aims to inspire the city’s youth to realize their full potential and accomplish goals they never thought possible as they train for and complete a half-marathon. Sole Train youth learn that even seemingly im-possible goals can be achieved when they identify the necessary steps that need to be taken, attain the appropriate support, and develop self-confidence. Youth then learn to transfer these skills to other areas of their lives and strive to reach their full potential.

In 2012-13, the CAP team completed a landscape analysis to determine what oth-er sports mentoring and youth develop-ment organizations were offering and to examine what the needs are in the Boston Public Schools. Based on their findings, the team developed two models: a growth model for Sole Train as a stand-alone pro-gram in multiple schools and an integrat-ed model that combined multiple Trinity Boston Foundation services in a given school to more strongly impact the school climate and the students with the greatest need. Sole Train returned to CAP this year looking for help developing a growth plan, and a strategy for positioning and market-ing their programs to two main constitu-encies: the schools in which the program “lives” (including principals, teachers, and students), and foundations which may want to support the program.

“I am writing on behalf of the Trinity Boston Foundation Board to extend our enormous gratitude to your CAP team led by Anne Hayes…I know that I speak for the rest of the Board and the staff in saying that the presentation yesterday was distin-guished beyond the expectation of HBS. It

was a strategic overview on two paths each offering clear guidelines, timing and vetted options with other non-profits to improve the impact of our work.

There are children, of course, on the other end of your work who will never know what launched their lives, but I hope that you all can take some satisfaction in knowing that you have changed lives otherwise destined. We hope we have the opportunity to work with you again and would be happy to en-tertain any way we can support your efforts in return. In the meantime, please take a simple ‘thank you’ from all of us for the remarkable work we were “given” from a remarkable team.”

Best regards,Camilla (Mimi) Bennett, Chair

Trinity Boston Foundation

NEADS

NEADS/Dogs for Deaf and Disabled Americans provides independence to people who are deaf or have a disabil-ity through the use of canine assistance. NEADS was started in 1976 to train dogs to alert hearing-impaired owners to im-portant sounds and has since expanded to prepare animals to assist those with other disabilities. So far, it has paired more than 1,400 assistance dogs with clients.

NEADS dogs may go to autistic children, providing them comfort and smoothing the way for social interactions with other children. Others are placed with adults dealing with various physical disabilities, retrieving items for them, opening doors, and more. Some NEADS dogs head to

L-R: Cathy Zemaitis, NEADS Director of Development; John Moon, NEADS Director of Communications; Mark Morley, CAP volunteer; Laura McTaggart; Service dog Rainbow; Barbara Wall Lobosco, CAP volunteer; Service dog Currahee; Adrian Hancock, CAP volunteer; Peter Weil, CAP volunteer; David Wilson, CAP volunteer; Gerry DeRoche, NEADS Executive Director

20 Years of Results — Some Examples

On December 6 2013, CAP was honored at the Annual Fund Awards Reception of the New England Cen-ter for Children, recognizing those who have made significant contribu-tions to NECC.

From right to left: CAP Volunteers Bill Morrison, Marco Farsheed, and Bill Guthlein with David L. Yas of the NECC Board of Advisors. CAP volunteers not shown: Rachel Corn, Anne Hoffman, Gary Waters, and David Wilson.

classrooms and hospitals to do therapy work.

Two years ago, NEADS asked CAP for help improving their production process (this process turns adorable puppies into well-trained assistance dogs in about 18 months). The CAP team’s analysis revealed that dogs from certain breeders completed their training more successfully than oth-ers. By adjusting the sourcing and using only the most successful breeders, NEADS was able to increase their yield (the per-centage of puppies that graduate), reduce “dropouts,“ and produce more dogs ready to be matched with clients.

NEADS returned to CAP in 2012 for as-sistance devising a comprehensive com-munications strategy to keep their exten-sive network of constituents informed and engaged while maintaining the consisten-cy of their brand. The second CAP team completed a positioning analysis, inter-viewed donors, and led workshops which resulted in new “elevator pitch” language, social media improvements, and a new ap-proach to organizational communications.

NEADS’ outstanding work providing as-sistance dogs was recently profiled in the Boston Globe. In late September 2013, Boston Marathon bombing victim and amputee Jessica Kensky was matched with a NEADS dog named Rescue. “When

Trinity Boston Sole Train

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Harvard Business School Association of Boston

Community Action Partners Board of Directors

2013-2014

she saw him for the first time, she almost didn’t recognize the feeling. “Happiness,’’ she said. “It’s been a really long, dark road with so many ups and downs. This was the first time I felt pure happiness. There wasn’t anything else. Just happiness.”… And for the first time since April when this nurse, who had tended seriously ill patients, woke up herself in a hospital bed, Kensky was once again a caregiver.“ Aside from the confidence he’s given me, the independence, he’s changed the mood in the apartment,” Kensky said. “I have a routine now. I have someone to take care of . . . I have someone to think about instead of just dwelling on myself. We’ve only had him a week and it’s like he’s always been with us.” [Source: Lut-trell, S. K. (November 2, 2013). Nonprofit reaches out to bombing victims with an offer of service dogs. The Boston Globe]

CAP is proud to work with extraordi-nary organizations like NEADS. NEADS Executive Director Gerry DeRoche says of his CAP volunteers, “I am hard pressed to express our appreciation…they have been a great intellectual and experiential resource to us. Their investment of time and energy to understand our issues and potential will ul-timately lead to their presentation of recom-mendations and viable solutions. Further they have come to embrace our mission and we are delighted to call them friends of NEADS!”

Historic New England

Amelia Angella, ‘01

Executive Director

Randy Atkin, ‘78

Barbara Bauman, HKS ‘89

Steve Diamond, ‘70

Barbara Fain, HKS ‘87

David Harris, ‘84

Anne Hayes, ‘90

Lisa Hicks, HKS ‘93

Ken Hodge, ‘78

Barry Horwitz, ‘88

Laura McTaggart, ‘97

Hamilton Mehlman, ‘89

Bill Morrison, ‘98, Co-Chair

Frank Orlando, ‘76

Tod Riedel, ‘83

Jon Shipp, ‘89, Co-Chair

Diogo Teixeira, ‘82

And a special thank you to

Paul Snider, a repeat volunteer,

CAP’s photographer, and a key donor

and ambassador for CAP. Historic New England serves the public by preserving and presenting New Eng-land heritage. One of their programs in-volves owning and operating 36 historic sites – mostly house museums. Thirteen of these museums include a small retail

L-R front: Rob Watson (Historic New England), Alice Richmond (CAP Volunteer), Peter Gittle-man (Historic New England); L-R back: Bob Goodof (CAP Volunteer), Jeffrey Ross (CAP Volunteer), Mike Kelly (CAP Volunteer), Bar-bara Mack (CAP Volunteer), Diane Viera (His-toric New England), Barry Horwitz, CAP Board Member. Missing CAP members - Roberta Leis and Peter D’Errico.

shop. Historic New England sought help with their efforts to expand retail rev-enues by improving their e-commerce site. After evaluating the project, the CAP team re-directed the focus to look at overall merchandise sales – both shops and web.

While reviewing data on the shops, the CAP team found something common to nonprofit retail operations. Though the shops provided revenue to Historic New England, they were not contribut-ing a surplus to support their other op-erations. In fact, their costs of operation were exceeding their revenues, and this was compounded by the large amount of product inventory left at the end of the selling season.

The team researched museum retailing to gain some important perspectives on how it differs from traditional retailing, visited and met with most of the mu-seum site managers to discuss their shop, and spent a significant amount of time analyzing the data. Armed with this in-formation, CAP helped the Historic New England team re-envision their shops, understanding that they may not be money-makers for the organization, but can be an important part of the visi-tor experience – a critical focus of their mission.

CAP used the data and this new perspec-tive to significantly reduce the number of SKUs offered, which reduced the costs and complexity of operations and served to make the shops look more focused and consumer-friendly. The team even helped re-set one of the shops, which provided the specific guidance the orga-nization needed to update all the remain-ing shops – using retail merchandising “rules” while spending only a minimal amount. During the season immediately after this project, Historic New England experienced the following results:

• Salesrevenueup15%fortheseason• The number of items purchased up

21% Inventory down 34% and still falling• Shopseasier for staff tomanage, and

require less time and fewer resources

Diane Viera, the Executive Vice President and COO commented “The shops look so much better. They now are a positive ex-tension of the quality experience visitors have on the tours, and are a stronger reflection of our brand”. She called this project “a great success for this season and sustainable going forward.”

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