Project Plan for the Promotion of a Charity Marathon in Hatfield and St Albans
Norman Sharpe
23rd April 2008
1. Project Introduction Africa Alert is a well known charity undertaking many fund raising projects to raise funds for famine relief in Africa and to raise awareness of the situation in Africa and how charities such as Africa Alert can provide aid and can bring hope to the people living there. One of the fun raising projects is to organise a Charity Marathon in the Hatfield area. The project described in this document is a plan for carrying out the marketing of the charity marathon. It forms a sub-project required by the total event. Other projects such as organising the event and managing the event on the day are described as separate projects elsewhere.
2. Business Objectives Africa Alert carries out many events to raise funds. Its main objectives are as follows: 1) Raise funds for famine relief. 2) Increase awareness of Africa Relief and the work that it does 3) Increase awareness of the many problems in Africa. 4) Carry out its fund raising activities in an environmentally and ethically responsible manner This project will meet these objectives by raising funds by charging competitors entry fees, collecting donations from spectators on the day, obtaining sponsorship from major companies and charging for advertising during the event. It will increase awareness of the event by describing what Africa Alert does during the radio slots and on the internet pages which advertise the event. Great care will be taken with the event to reduce transport costs and ensure that the event has appropriate support services to ensure the safety of competitors and spectators and to minimise the disturbance to local people and businesses.
3. Project Objectives These objectives apply just to the marketing of the event. 1) Raise £10,000 in competitors’ entrance fees 2) To recruit 5 male and 5 female elite runners for the event 3) To attract 5,000 spectators for the event. 4) To obtain sponsorship and advertising to raise £20,000 5) To use newspapers, radio and the internet to publicise the event and Africa Alert 1
4. Project Scope As already stated, this project only covers the marketing of the Charity Event so the scope is obviously restricted to the activities required to do this. These activities cover:
1) Recruiting competitors and elite runners. 2) Locating and signing sponsors and advertisers. 3) Publicising the event
Recruiting competitors and elite runners The activities that will be included for this will be to locate the elite runners to sign them to compete in the event. The recruitment of competitors will involve developing a website to advertise the event and allow competitors to register on line and to provide facilities on-line for the competitors’ friends and family to sponsor them through, for example, www.justgiving.com . Locating and signing sponsors The activities that will be included for this will be to determine the sponsors and advertisers most likely to want to be involved in this event and to contact these and agree their involvement. Publicising the event As well as using the Internet to publicise the event, local newspapers and radio will be used to raise awareness of competitors and spectators. Posters and flyers will also be produced and distributed throughout the local area. This will require two stages first there would be general publicity about the date of the event and approximate route and second more detailed publicity giving the exact route and spectator points along with the names of the elite runners .
5. Feasibility Study The entry fee will be set at £10 so to achieve the £10,000 will require that 1000 competitors register. Given that the London Marathon has a maximum of 35,000 and many would-be entrants not being able to secure a place, this would appear to 2
be a very achievable target. In previous marathons of this scale the use of elite runners hasn’t been attempted so this area is unknown. However for a good cause such as this and offering appearance money of £250 and prize money of £1,000 for the winning lady and man, it is felt that recruiting the ten people is achievable. Even if we fall short of this number and, say, only manage to recruit three men and three ladies this should not have a significant impact on the number of spectators attending or on the radio and press coverage that is given. The weather is the main concern with regard to the number of spectators that will attend and that is something that can’t be controlled. However the event is being held in mid-May when the temperature should be fairly mild and the route will pass by several public houses and many of these will have marquees to provide shelter from the rain. This will mitigate the effect of poor weather to some extent but spectator numbers could be considerably lower than expected if poor weather is forecast. In the past, we have always had good support from sponsors and advertisers. The nature of the charity means they are always very supportive. The use of elite runners and the increased use of press and radio coverage should ensure that our target is achieved.
6. Financial Summary This financial summary has not covered in detail the complete event as costs associated with preparing the event and running it on the day have not been analysed thoroughly. Similarly, the income from street collections on the day or sponsor money collected by competitors has also not been analysed. However, a guideline estimate has been given. The expected income and expenditure for the promotion of the event are given below:
Promotion Income Competitors’ entry fees£10,000 Event Sponsors £10,000 Event Advertisers £5,000 Total £25,000 Expenditure Elite Runners £4,500 Promotional Expenses £12,500 Total £17,000 Surplus£8,000 Preparing and Running Event Income 3
Street Collections
£6,000
(say 3000 people at £2 each not all
will give) Competitor Sponsors £25,000 Total £31,000 Expenditure Event £20,000 Surplus£11,000
(1000 sponsors at £25 each)
7. Project Breakdown Structures The project breakdown structures specify the work that needs to be done, the materials that need to be purchased and the costs that will be incurred. It uses a hierarchical structure to show these items. It provides a convenient method to identify all the items required to carry out the project. The Work Breakdown structure shows the tasks that need to be done to complete the project. The Product Breakdown structure shows the materials and other expenses that will be incurred by the project. The Cost Breakdown structure shows how the costs will be allocated.
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8. Organisational Structure Africa Alert is organised as shown in the following diagram: Fund Raising Marketin g
Specialist
Events Manager
Projects Manager
Finance Manager
PM #3
Accountant
Specialist Web
Specialist
Specialist
Specialist Their projects use a matrix structure where the project manager uses staff from the different departments as required but the staff report administratively to their departmental manager. The reporting problems of matrix management are not seen within the organisation as this is the normal way of working. This is a particularly appropriate structure because staff members are not usually full time or involved for any length of time on any particular project.
The actual project reporting is shown in this diagram: Project Manager
Marketin g
Marketing Specialist
Marketing Specialist
Web Specialis
Accountant #1
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The responsibilities of each member on this project is shown below. Project Manager:
Responsible for all aspects of the project and allocating work to the team members.
Marketing Manager: Responsible for the content of the marketing material and providing advice on suitable sponsors and media. Marketing Specialist 1: Will contact sponsors and elite runners, prepare suitable contracts and liaise to ensure payment is received. Marketing Specialist 2: Will arrange preparation of publicity material, arrange media slots and arrange distribution of publicity material such as posters and flyers. Web Specialist:
Will be responsible for developing the website, arranging the hosting and preparing a list of competitors.
Accountant:
Will provide the bookkeeping functions for the project. Raise any invoices and cheques required and provide management reports of the income and expenses against budget.
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9. Cost Estimates Materials Publicity Printed Material
£250
Flyers
£200
Posters
£200
Radio Adverts
£750
Newspaper Adverts
£250
Web-site Hosting
£500
Other Travel Expenses
£500
Entertainment
£750
Payment to Elite Runners
£4,500
Total
£7,900
Labour The details of the labour required can be seen from the resources sheet. A summary is given below: Project Manager
75 hours at £40 per hour
£3,000
Marketing Manager24 hours at £40 per hour
£960
Marketing Specialist 1
84 hours at £20 per hour
£1,680
Marketing Specialist 2
84 hours at £20 per hour
£1,680
Web Designer
40 hours at £30 per hour
£1,200
Accountant
22 weeks at £20 per hour
£440 11
Labour Total
£8,960
Overall Total £16,860
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10. Risk Analysis In this section we look at the risks associated with not achieving the project objectives as outlined in the project introduction. Some of these risks have also been mentioned in the feasibility study.
Risk
Problems with website prevent competitors registering
Consequence
Too few competitors would have severe impact on the income for the event
Impact (I)
Likelihoo d (L)
IxL
(1 - 5)
(1 – 5)
5
2
10
Unable to sell advertising space
Loss of income
3
3
9
Bad weather reduces number of spectators
Loss of donations collected on day
4
2
8
Promotional campaign unsuccessful
Too few spectators. Awareness of charity not increased
4
2
8
Unable to recruit any elite runners
Fewer spectators leading to loss of donations. Advertisers reduce their contribution
3
2
6
Unable to recruit sufficient sponsors
Loss of income
3
2
6
Unable to get 1000 competitors
Loss of entrance fees. Loss of advertisement income
3
2
6
Advertising costs greater than expected
Reduction charity
3
2
6
in
surplus
for
As can be seen the likelihood of the risks above occurring is quite low and the majority of them only reduce the income for aspects of the promotion. The fact that income is coming from several sources does mean that the risk to the charity 13
income is spread. However having identified the risks it is now appropriate to indicate how they will be managed.
Risk
Managem ent Techniqu e
Explanation
Website problems
Reduce and Contingen cy plan
Use experienced website providers. Have telephone alternative available
Can’t sell advertising
Contingen cy plan
If there are problems have an specialist agency available to assist
Bad weather
Reduce
Arrange with organisers and public houses to have shelter available with entertainment
Promotion campaign unsuccessful
Contingen cy plan
If there are problems have an specialist agency available to assist
Unable to recruit elite runners
Ignore
Even if unable to recruit 10 elite runners, even just having 4 should not impact the income too severely
Unable to recruit sponsors
Contingen cy plan
If there are problems have an specialist agency available to assist
Unable to get 1000 competitors
Reduce
If competitors are not being recruited as quickly as expected we could increase the advertising or reduce entrance fee.
Advertising costs higher than expected
Ignore
The costing has been done very carefully. If unexpected cost occur we will have to reduce the total expenditure or have a reduced surplus
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11. Gantt Chart The Gantt Chart shows when each activity is planned to be carried out. It also show which resources each activity requires. A fuller description of the resources used is shown in the appendix. The Gantt chart is attached in the next page
12. Network Diagram The network shows the sequencing of the task in this project and determines the project duration and the critical path. The Network Chart follows the Gantt Chart. The project is shown to start on 25 th February 2008 and will be finished on the 17 th April 2008. The total duration is 38 days. The tasks have been scheduled to take in the availability of resources during this period. The critical path is made up of the following tasks: Prepare Web Pages Collate Entries Prepare Newspaper Advertisements Prepare Internet Advertisements Place Event Advertisements
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Appendices
