USF MBA Students Create Marketing Plan for Local Non-Profit

Reprinted from TBAH E-Newsletter, 7-17-09

On July 7, 2009 five students in Masters of Business Administration program at the University of South Florida presented a comprehensive marketing plan that will improve its communication in the Tampa community.

Kymia, Maria, Mark, Keisha, & Jeff under the instruction of Dr. Barbara Lafferty, who stated “I developed the course to be of service to the community and specifically to be of service to local non-profit organizations. I realize how difficult it is for many NPOs to get professional guidance on their marketing and promotions due to budgetary or other constraints. This class is a wonderful opportunity for our Masters students to work with clients and to learn the nuances of developing a promotions plan to help the organization achieve their objectives. I feel it is definitely a win-win for everyone.”

In spirit of community service, behind the recent community service initiatives passed by the President of the United States these from the University of South Florida have led by example.

The purpose of this project, as stated by students was, “Realizing that non-profit organizations rarely have the means of developing a good, thorough marketing plan to help them successfully raise the awareness and funds necessary for the development of their organization and execution of their programs (as well as attracting participants), the purpose of the project was to develop an integrated marketing communication plan for a local non-profit organization in order to assist them in reaching exactly these kinds of objectives.“

These Colleges of Business students were asked why did they select the Tampa Bay Academy of Hope? Their answer was, “that the Tampa Bay Academy of Hope was selected by our team because Kymia had learned a lot about the organization through her co-worker and friend, Rania Abdulla who is currently a mentor and volunteer with TBAH and has worked with the organization since 1999. We liked the idea of working with an organization that focused on disadvantaged youth. We looked at the website, and we could tell that there was a lot to be developed and discovered with TBAH.”

“As students we gained the opportunity to learn more about the operations of TBAH and the importance of marketing in the world of business, whether it is a for-profit or non-profit organization. We are also happy to have had the opportunity to provide marketing information to such a wonderful organization. We are glad that Tampa Bay has an organization like TBAH to help mold and give support to future professionals of the Bay area.”

In conclusion the students stated: “We hope that our (203 page) marketing plan will have an immediate impact on the whole organization. We hope to have provided realistic and attainable marketing and promotion options that can be brought to fruition by the current TBAH staff and volunteers at the start of TBAH’s 2009 – 2010 fiscal year. Each of the proposed components can be implemented in mass or can be independently executed.”

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