Student Volunteer Proposal

By Theresa Fingado, Amber Hamlett, Kelly Ermi, Kaitlan

ODonnell, Erin Smylie, Caroline Tesone & Daniel Walsh

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Background Information & Situation Analysis
SWOT Analysis
Research Plan
Survey Results
Research Findings & Summaries

Background Information & Situation Analysis

During the 1940s, Dr. Elizabeth Boggs, mother of a child with a
developmental disability, founded the Association for Retarded Citizens (Arc).
Boggs knew her child had two options: staying home or living in an
institution. As more parents and residents of Atlantic County became
involved in the Arc, which was affiliated with the New Jersey State ARC, the
organization gained momentum and decided to unite under the name the
Atlantic County Unit of the New Jersey Association for Retarded Children.
From the 1960s to the 1980s, the Arc created new programs to benefit
consumers, hired innovative staff members, and changed their name several
times. In the late 1960s, the newly staffed Arc created their first service
programs: preschool and daycare. Twenty years later, the Arc hired Sharon
Watters, as the first executive director, who started a residential program,
which provided Arc consumers with housing. One year after Watters was
hired; they opened the Rhonda Marie Schroeder group home, which was the
first of eight homes opened during the 80s and early 90s. During the mid80s, the Arc hired Deborah Davies as their third executive director. Davies
earned her Ph. D. in cognitive psychology from Peabody College of Vanderbilt
University and taught psychology at Stockton State College. The following
summer, the Arc held its first fundraiser: shining shoes to raise money on the
Atlantic City boardwalk, which later became a tradition that would continue
each summer for 12 years. In 1990, the agency changed its name for the last
time because they did not like the word retarded in the name. Many felt that
a name change was justified because including the word retarded promoted
the challenge their consumers were trying to overcome. After the debate, the
name, The Arc of Atlantic County, was agreed upon.
The Arc of Atlantic County offers services for anyone with intellectual
and developmental disabilities. Additionally, they offer housing options to
consumers and support more than 175 people throughout Atlantic County.
For many people, living in an Arc home was the first time in their adult life
that they were not living in an institution.
The Arcs mission is to improve the lives of people with intellectual and
developmental disabilities in their community with, direct services,
advocacy, education and prevention activities. The Arc works together with
their consumers and their families to develop and provide housing options,
learning opportunities, recreation, and potential job opportunities. The Arcs
vision for their consumers to live the lives they choose. The Arc conducts

operations with respect, teamwork, integrity, great service, and community

participation.
The Arc of Atlantic County faces major issues raising awareness and
fundraising. Many Atlantic County residents with intellectual and
developmental disabilities do not know about the Arc and the services they
provide. One of the Arcs goals is raise awareness of their programs and
involve more people both consumers and volunteers. Because many Atlantic
County residents are not aware of the Arc and their services, they often
operate without adequate funding. The Arc also struggles with making
connections with community partners such as Stockton University that could
help accomplish their goals. While the Arc does have existing community
partners and business connections, they are looking to increase the number
of community contacts and amount of donations; thus, generating more
connections in the Stockton community will lead to increased awareness and
funding for the Arc.

SWOT Analysis
STRENGTHS (Internal, Organizational)
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Ability to adapt, flexibility for consumers

Strong relationship with state of NJ and United Way
Positive reputation in community
Positive feedback from most consumers themselves
Collected research and data
Quality assurance system in place
MonArc awards ceremony

OPORTUNITIES (External in environment)

o Student volunteers
o Stockton PR partnership (opens more jobs for consumers and
connections at the University)

o Lessons on Internal Communication from experienced students

(PR students can hold workshops for effective internal
communication)
o Partnerships with University for exercise programs for consumers
and employees
o Website improvement from students
o MonArc awards improvement

WEAKNESSES (Internal, Organizational)

Funding is low
Same number of people participate yearly (needs to grow)
Lack of training among employees
Lack of jobs for consumers
Lack of communication within the organization
Workers have minimum skills (high school diploma, little
training/experience)
o Consumers and employees are obese and unhealthy
o Website needs improvement
o
o
o
o
o
o

THREATS (External, in environment)

o
o
o
o
o
o
o

FUNDING IS LOW
Lack of communication
Capacity lacks as services are lost (HR, Administration)
Competition is growing
Casino loss equals less traffic to organizations location
Lacks transportation for both workers and consumers
Expansion means less focus on personal needs

Research Plan
After looking through our initial research as a group, we decided that
our first step to help the Arc of Atlantic County achieve their goals is to raise
the Stockton University communitys awareness of the organization. We are
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planning to raise awareness among the Stockton student population. It is

crucial to determine a general sense of the amount of Stockton students who
know about the Arc and their volunteering and fundraising opportunities.
Also, we plan to target students as potential volunteers because the Arc
willingly accepts volunteers and needs them in order to operate daily.
As a team, we circulated surveys throughout the Stockton student
population. We decided the most efficient way to distribute our surveys was
online. The survey was created on Survey Monkey (See Fig. 1), then shared
by the team members via email and social media sites: Facebook and Twitter.
Our questions were constructed to gauges students general knowledge of
the Arc and identify their willingness to volunteer and fundraise for the
organization. Lastly, the survey served as a tool to raise awareness of the
Arc, their mission, and their services.
In addition to our survey, we conducted interviews with employees of
the Arc and Stockton students. The interviews helped us understand the
needs of the Arc and directly promote the Arc among the students who were
interviewed. Also, we organized a focus group including ten Stockton
students. By distributing surveys, conducting interviews, and holding a focus
group, we gained a clear understanding of the Arcs goals and Stockton
students interest and ability to fulfill those goals.
After the interviews with the Arc, we are aware of the areas that
needed to be included in our research. For example, the main area that
needs our attention is funding. Because the Arc is a non-profit organization,
they are solely funded by donations. As a public relations team, we can
conduct fundraisers at Stockton to raise donations. The Arc will be hosting
their annual fundraiser in the spring, which we plan to help promote among
Stockton students. Also, some members of the Arc produce homemade
candles, which the Arc plans to sell in a store opening after the New Year.
Finally, the store opening is another event we plan to help promote to gain
more customers, raise awareness, and donations.
Through our interview with the Arc staff members and research, we
determined that the Arc must improve their social media accounts, which we
plan to work on. As communication majors, it is our job to understand and
efficiently use social media platforms. We can help the Arc create strategic
posts for each social media account, and other promotional media.
We would also like to bring the Arc to Stockton with a program. After
speaking to two members of The Arc, they both want a theater program.
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When The Arc had a theater program, the consumers loved acting and said
they would want to participate again. If we cannot bring Stocktons theater
program together with The Arc, we are hopeful that Stocktons art program
would be willing to help.
After the team interviewed Stockton students, the data showed that
many students did not know about the Arc; however, they would like to hear
about the Arc on Twitter. Also, the students would also like to see booths,
tables, and flyers around campus to raise awareness, which is something
that our team plans to do. The students said that they would like to
participate in entertaining events that involved art or physical activity, which
supports our idea to start a theater program for Arc consumers and Stockton
student volunteers.

Survey Results

Figure 1: Survey Monkey Questions & Results

50% of students have heard

of the Arc.

100% believe the Arc &

Stockton would make ideal
community partners

100% would be willing to

participate in some kind of
awareness event.

50% said they would be

willing to spread the word of
the Arc over social media.

100% of students believe

they must have better
presence on campus.

75% would rather use social

media compared to e-mail.

Research Findings: Interview and Focus Group

Summaries
Interview 1:
Both students had heard of the Arc of Atlantic County, but only the
first student had volunteered for them. Both students felt that the Arc need
to increase its presence on campus either by becoming a community
partner, holding events on campus, or posting flyers for events. The students
had mixed responses to the Arc on social media. Student One knew the Arc
had Facebook and Twitter pages, while Student Two did not. Also, the
students felt differently about following/spreading awareness for the Arc
through social media. After conducting these interviews, it might be
beneficial for us to focus on holding on-campus events to raise awareness
rather than focusing on the Arcs social media.

Interview 2:
The student was unaware what the Arc of Atlantic County. The student
has volunteered before, but she mentioned that she was not from Atlantic
County, so was not sure. The student said she felt social media would be
beneficial for the Arc to spread the word about events, and that they should
hold more events with Stockton to raise awareness. She has both Facebook
and Twitter accounts and friended the Arc after the interview. If the Arc had
more of a presence on campus and held events she feels Stockton students
would embrace it more. After conducting this interview, we think it is also
best to share their message around campus and plan events to increase the
Arcs presence at Stockton.

Focus Group Summary:

We put a focus group together with ten Stockton students and asked
six questions about to gauge their knowledge of the Arc, interest in
volunteering or fundraising, and general feelings about working with a nonprofit organization. By holding this focus group we also raised awareness of
the Arc and the services they provide.

Focus Group Findings:

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1. 40 percent of Stockton students answered that they did not hear about
the Arc before learning about it in class.
2. 50 percent of Stockton Students answered that they would be willing to
volunteer for the Arc because it would be fun and rewarding.
3. 30 percent of Stockton students are willing to volunteer for on-campus
events because they are convenient to attend.
4. 40 percent of Stockton students are interested in volunteering to help
others, build resumes, and gain a broader understanding of the world.
5. 30 percent of Stockton students DO think volunteer work is important
for various reasons: helping others, resume building, and broadening
your perspective.
6. 40 percent of Stockton students said Twitter is preferred social media.

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