CBS Boston Thompson Island Pro-Bono Project Fall 2010
On behalf of the CBS Alumni Club of Boston and the CBS Gives Back to Boston Advisory Board, I would like to thank and recognize the following alumni volunteers for participating in the FOURTH pro bono consulting project of the CBS Gives Back to Boston initiative. Collectively, they dedicated 900 hours of their time during this 12-week project in the Fall of 2010:
Please find attached a letter of appreciation from the President of Thompson Island.
The Client
Thompson Island is a beautiful and unique private island that is part of the Boston Harbor National Park. It houses the Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center (TIOBEC) that facilitates the teaching of over 6,000 youth each year and also hosts a range of events and outings.
The island has worked with and benefited Boston-area youth during its long and varied history. It was established as a farm school in 1833 but has since served as a home for neglected children, an Academy, a trade school and most recently as an Outward Bound school. Most of the 6,000 youth TIOBEC serves each year are Boston-area public school students who come to Thompson Island for a hands-on introduction to island-based environmental training. The curriculum for these one-day to two-week classes has been developed to integrate the Massachusetts MCAS curriculum. Thompson Island is regarded as Boston’s "island classroom." For the past 10 years, Thompson Island has very successfully administered youth programs on behalf of the National Park Service. The Green Corps summer program employs 14-16 year olds to work in and learn about the islands and coastal environment. The island is the perfect location due to its proximity to Boston and its safe and manageable size.
The Project
Members of Thompson Island’s Board asked CBS Gives Back to design a green-collar apprenticeship program. Given the island’s deep history in vocational training and environmental awareness, they felt they were uniquely positioned to offer a hands-on jobs training experience to prepare youth for the growing opportunities in the green community. The Gives Back volunteers performed an extensive set of interviews with a wide range of parties. They met with Thompson Island personnel to understand the existing program offerings and the organization’s capabilities and capacities, conducted interviews with organizations active in the Boston Harbor Islands and Boston youth jobs arena to understand funding and placement options, and explored comparative organizations that provide jobs, job skills development, and job placement programs. They also relied on the team’s expertise in the Boston region non-profit and youth development area. Mary Yntema ’96 said "It was a good opportunity to learn more about a fine youth serving organization."
Ron Brumback '76, project co-leader, said: "It was especially gratifying to see that in a limited amount of time ten CBS team members could generate a result that the client seemed to genuinely appreciate and stated they would also make use of beyond our immediate project. Especially instructive to me was the fact that many of the issues and the organizational and management challenges in a not-for-profit organization bear a strong resemblance to those faced by for-profit companies. There are, of course, important differences as well that those of us with for-profit backgrounds need to recognize and respect. Fortunately, our team had several people with not-for-profit experience as well who helped us all appreciate the critical differences. All things considered, the project was a personally rewarding and instructive experience.” Barbara Wipf '00, co-leader and CBS Gives Back to Boston Board Advisor who also volunteered on the Asperger’s Association of New England project, said, "It allowed me to donate something very precious to an organization that appreciated it far more than a simple financial donation."
After extensive discussions internally and externally, the Gives Back team developed a list of criteria against which TIOBEC could apply new programs under consideration and provided their overall recommendations for the project:
After the 12-week project, the 10 volunteer consultants completed a successful final presentation to the full board of directors on December 8, 2010. "We held Columbia’s name high and worked very nicely as a team” said Amit Arora '10. Victoria Coe '85 added, "I feel more connected to the Columbia B-School Alumni and that was a real benefit."
Once again, thank you to Thompson Island and all the volunteers who gave so much of their time, skills and enthusiasm to this successful project. Stay tuned for our FIFTH pro-bono consulting project. We will be seeking new client requests by late Spring.
Sincerely,
Lei-Choon Ong '97
VP of Philanthropy, Columbia Business School Alumni Club of Boston
Chair, Columbia Business School Gives Back to Boston Advisory Board
- Amit Arora, Class of 2010
- Ron Brumback, Class of 1976
- Victoria J. Coe, Class of 1985
- Marilyn Farley, Class of 1989
- Karen Gage, Class of 1997
- Rohit Khettry, Class of 2009
- Deepak Mittal, Class of 2011
- Dale R. Smith, Class of 1984
- Barbara Wipf, Class of 2000
- Mary Yntema, Class of 1996
Please find attached a letter of appreciation from the President of Thompson Island.
The Client
Thompson Island is a beautiful and unique private island that is part of the Boston Harbor National Park. It houses the Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center (TIOBEC) that facilitates the teaching of over 6,000 youth each year and also hosts a range of events and outings.
The island has worked with and benefited Boston-area youth during its long and varied history. It was established as a farm school in 1833 but has since served as a home for neglected children, an Academy, a trade school and most recently as an Outward Bound school. Most of the 6,000 youth TIOBEC serves each year are Boston-area public school students who come to Thompson Island for a hands-on introduction to island-based environmental training. The curriculum for these one-day to two-week classes has been developed to integrate the Massachusetts MCAS curriculum. Thompson Island is regarded as Boston’s "island classroom." For the past 10 years, Thompson Island has very successfully administered youth programs on behalf of the National Park Service. The Green Corps summer program employs 14-16 year olds to work in and learn about the islands and coastal environment. The island is the perfect location due to its proximity to Boston and its safe and manageable size.
The Project
Members of Thompson Island’s Board asked CBS Gives Back to design a green-collar apprenticeship program. Given the island’s deep history in vocational training and environmental awareness, they felt they were uniquely positioned to offer a hands-on jobs training experience to prepare youth for the growing opportunities in the green community. The Gives Back volunteers performed an extensive set of interviews with a wide range of parties. They met with Thompson Island personnel to understand the existing program offerings and the organization’s capabilities and capacities, conducted interviews with organizations active in the Boston Harbor Islands and Boston youth jobs arena to understand funding and placement options, and explored comparative organizations that provide jobs, job skills development, and job placement programs. They also relied on the team’s expertise in the Boston region non-profit and youth development area. Mary Yntema ’96 said "It was a good opportunity to learn more about a fine youth serving organization."
Ron Brumback '76, project co-leader, said: "It was especially gratifying to see that in a limited amount of time ten CBS team members could generate a result that the client seemed to genuinely appreciate and stated they would also make use of beyond our immediate project. Especially instructive to me was the fact that many of the issues and the organizational and management challenges in a not-for-profit organization bear a strong resemblance to those faced by for-profit companies. There are, of course, important differences as well that those of us with for-profit backgrounds need to recognize and respect. Fortunately, our team had several people with not-for-profit experience as well who helped us all appreciate the critical differences. All things considered, the project was a personally rewarding and instructive experience.” Barbara Wipf '00, co-leader and CBS Gives Back to Boston Board Advisor who also volunteered on the Asperger’s Association of New England project, said, "It allowed me to donate something very precious to an organization that appreciated it far more than a simple financial donation."
After extensive discussions internally and externally, the Gives Back team developed a list of criteria against which TIOBEC could apply new programs under consideration and provided their overall recommendations for the project:
- Community need
- Clear strategic rationale (brand enhancing, quality enhancing, capacity expansion, offers diversification, improves financial condition)
- Consistency with mission (either mission-based or mission-supporting)
- Matches the organization’s core capabilities
- Matches the organization’s key differentiating attributes
- Manageable cost impact on the organization (financial and management resources)
After the 12-week project, the 10 volunteer consultants completed a successful final presentation to the full board of directors on December 8, 2010. "We held Columbia’s name high and worked very nicely as a team” said Amit Arora '10. Victoria Coe '85 added, "I feel more connected to the Columbia B-School Alumni and that was a real benefit."
Once again, thank you to Thompson Island and all the volunteers who gave so much of their time, skills and enthusiasm to this successful project. Stay tuned for our FIFTH pro-bono consulting project. We will be seeking new client requests by late Spring.
Sincerely,
Lei-Choon Ong '97
VP of Philanthropy, Columbia Business School Alumni Club of Boston
Chair, Columbia Business School Gives Back to Boston Advisory Board
