Corporation transitions community relations program

Challenge

Within a matter of months at a major Twin Cities corporation, there was a complete turnover of the top management staff and community relations team. None of the new employees wanted to sustain one of the corporation’s key community relations programs, but they were unsure of the impact of ending it.

The main questions were:

• Should the corporation continue the old program?
• If not, how could they end the program without causing a stir in the community? 

Access Philanthropy was asked to survey key stakeholders, appraise the value of the program to these stakeholders and evaluate the worth of the program to intended beneficiaries. We were also asked to offer options for extending, altering and concluding program operations.

Methods

Within two months, Access Philanthropy conducted several internal and external stakeholder interviews. We also compared the program’s outcomes to those of similarly positioned organizations in other states. Lastly, we evaluated the benefits and costs of extension, alteration or termination options.

Results

The research results aligned with the corporate manager’s initial determination that the program could provide little benefit to the company or its employee-volunteers.

The corporation chose to extend the program for six months to transfer the program’s basic operations to another grantmaking entity. This entity planned to conduct a thorough evaluation of the program’s outcomes, and to hold a “celebration” for internal and external stakeholders.