Reference no: EM133209286

Case Study A - Feed the homeless

You are working for a non-profit organisation called MelMeal that is only able to stay running due to volunteers and contributions. It was started by couple Jim and Sheila Hopper, who began the charity after they experienced homelessness for some time. Jim and Sheila oversee all operations and are very active in the daily running and decisions of the organisation.

There are also several other staff including:

- General manager Steven Wilson, who manages all volunteers

- Administrator (including financial) Gemma Piper

- Marketing manager Erin Robbins.

MelMeal does advertise their work via social media advertising, radio adverts and newspaper articles to raise awareness and try and generate monetary donations. As they are a not for profit organisation, they do rely on help from other organisations and individuals.

So far, MelMeal works with the following:
• Local radio stations who allow them to advertise for free
• Facebook, which provides them with an annual allowance for advertising
• The local paper who run a feature on the organisation every year as well as adverts
• Volunteers
• Two large corporate sponsors
• A local graphic designer who creates the digital and print adverts for no charge
• Other homeless charities and organisations.
This organisation works to feed the homeless population of Melbourne all year round. They do by gathering the ingredients for meals, cooking in bulk and then setting up a station in the city where homeless individuals can then visit for a meal and some company. They have been operating since 2005 and have so far provided over 250,000 meals to those in need.

They are currently planning for their Christmas Eve project where they not only provide a three- course meal, but they provide tables and seating with festive decorations and entertainment such as a singer.

The food they are planning to provide this year is as follows:
• Potato and onion soup

• Roast chicken or nut roast with roast potatoes, broccoli, carrots, peas, and gravy

• Plum pudding with ice cream.

They need to start planning for this event and reaching out to the organisations and individuals that they work with to establish budgets, timelines and opportunities for advertising.

Questions

1. The organisation have asked you to source prices for the ingredients in the planned dishes and then provide them with an approximate cost for 250 portions of each dish. They would also like a 'per head' cost for the three- course meal. You may need to source recipes for the dishes to make sure you include costings for all ingredients needed. (Max. 200 words)

2.Jim and Sheila want arrangements to be started for the Christmas event that is being planned. These arrangements include:

Confirmation of contributions from corporate sponsors
Creation of print, digitaland audio adverts
Confirmation of advertising budget
Recruitment of volunteers.

Using the information from Case Study A, create one-two page communication plan that would enable the above tasks to be completed. Make sure you consider:

Which team member is responsible for particular communication activities
Methods and protocols for communicating information
Which stakeholders need what information and their responsibilities within the communication flow
When information is communicated - the frequency of regular forms of communication throughout the life of the project
How sensitive and confidential information is handled taking into account the PrivacyAct 1988
Potential constraints affecting the flow of communication
The resources allocated to communication
Standard forms or templatesfor specific forms of communication
A procedurefor channels of communication hierarchy
Processes for resolving any communication-based conflictsor issues
3. Creat Role play Jim and Sheila have asked you to communicate with sponsors and volunteers regarding the Christmas event. They have asked you to meet in person with the sponsors to explain to them the plan for the Christmas event, the reasons behind it and discuss the funding they may be willing to provide. They have also asked you to create a draft email for volunteers that outlines MelMeal's intentions for the event.

4. Creat Role play Jim and Sheila have asked you to engage with the local community to gain their advice and thoughts on the event. They would specifically like you to seek information and advice on who has already heard of the charity, how to get the community on board and aware of the cause and thirdly, how the event could be themed to make it look and feel inclusiveof everyone.

5. Create a summary of no more than 500 words that explains how you evaluated these communications and what your thoughts are based on the findings of the evaluation. For this activity, other learners may roleplay key personnel and stakeholders to provideinput on the evaluation.