Environmental Volunteers (Palo Alto) –Marketing plan — Promotes the understanding of and responsibility for the environment through hands-on science education that serves 10,000 young students each year in K-8 classrooms in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties with over 400 classroom programs and 150 field trips.

Project Description:

The EV would like the assistance from an HBS Community Partners team to develop a 3-year marketing plan.  The EV’s organizational strategic plan includes the goal of “strengthening the organization’s brand to be magnetic, pervasive, and recognizable by its target audiences, and harnessing our brand to inspire increased volunteer engagement, collaborative partnerships, and community support for our mission.”

We have worked hard to design outstanding, high caliber programs and to build a strong reputation in the community. With a multi-year marketing strategy plan, the EV will be well-positioned to establish itself as a go-to magnet for environmental education for all community members. This includes coordinated management of events, programs, and marketing to fulfill the goals of the organization, as well as coordinated management of donor outreach and cultivation that reflects our new programmatic reach.

As part of our continued efforts to strengthen the EV’s brand and messaging among our target audiences, the board and staff have identified the need to create a three-year marketing plan that supports and furthers our organizational strategic goals. Building on the key messaging and brand evaluation completed with the Taproot Foundation in June 2013, the three-year marketing plan will provide strategies for applying marketing tactics to best reach our target audiences, defined as:

a. Donors

b. Volunteers and docents

c. Teachers and students

d. Parents and community

e. Collaboration partners

The three-year marketing plan will help the EV:

• Recruit more volunteers and leverage the marketing capacity of current volunteers
• Raise more funds from current and new supporters
• Fulfill our organizational strategic plan
• And, most importantly, reach many more kids, families, and adults with our popular natural science education programs that inspire environmental stewardship and a lifelong love of nature and learning.

Accordingly, The EV is at a significant moment in its organizational growth. We have expanded our programming, and now have the capacity to reach new audiences. Yet we have not developed a strategy for our marketing efforts that combines our school programs, summer programs, and EcoCenter offerings. With new attention focused on the EcoCenter and the Environmental Volunteers, it is crucial that we presently develop a three-year marketing plan to maintain a strong public profile in the EcoCenter’s debut years, while maintaining our reputation as a leading provider of environmental education programming to over 500 local classrooms.

A dedicated three-year marketing plan will provide focused strategies for the EV to meet its goal, and to raise interest in the new EcoCenter, communicate our new identity, and successfully combine forty years of school service with our new role as a provider of public programs at the EcoCenter.

Intrigued? Contact us here!