The Kelley School of Business at Indiana University held its second virtual Impact Competition in 2021, with the entire judging panel, all student teams, and Kelley's Impact Competition Coordinator, Shawna Meyer-Niederman, attending via Zoom. The judges were wowed by all of the solutions presented by the team, and every student team expressed their passion for the nonprofit partner's community work, many even voicing their desire to help the organization in some way, even if they didn't win.
Partner: In 2021, the Kelley Institute for Social Impact partnered with the Community Justice and Mediation Center (CJAM) in Bloomington, IN, an organization that works to harness the power of community to promote justice, healing, and restoration. They offer restorative justice training and mediation, community mediation, restorative justice services, and school mediation to their local community.
Impact Competition Challenge: Present solutions to help CJAM educate the community about its services, recruit diverse volunteers, and make the case management system more efficient.
Winning Team's Solution: A Round-Up Rent donation program, enhanced marketing efforts, and a diversity committee. After the competition, the student team created a marketing video for CJAM that serves to educate people about the mission of the organization, the simplicity of what they offer, and how to access their services.
→ View the Winning Pitch Deck
→ Read the "Get To Know the Team" slide sent to landlords
→ Check out the 1-page flier about the "Round-Up Rent Program"
→ Read the Duplication Plan for how this idea can continue for years to come
→ Watch the Animated Marketing Video created as part of the solution implementation:
Student Feedback:
"The IC feels like a real-world situation--it's almost like we're professional consultants for the non-profit. In school, assignments are straightforward, there's a rubric and set instructions. But in the real world, there are no instructions, and it's really inspiring how CJAM is looking to us to make the call and make decisions regarding how to move forward with our project."
"I feel even more prepared going into my job after college now after this experience of overcoming challenges, pushing through some things that were a little tough, and actually making an impact. We're consulting for a nonprofit that doesn't have the resources they need to do their great work, which makes it even more rewarding because they really appreciate every time we get on the call with them and everything we're doing."
(Header image of students c/o Kelley School of Business at Indiana University
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