2011 ANNUAL REPORT
WHAT’S INSIDE REFLECTION FROM THE CO-‐FOUNDERS
3
PROGRAM UPDATES
4
MAP & STATISTICS
11
TESTIMONIALS
13
PARTNERSHIPS
14
FINANCIALS
15
REFLECTION FROM THE CO-‐FOUNDERS
Seven years ago, we made a choice that has forever changed our lives. Having just graduated from college with various awards, dis:nc:ons, and a buffet of career opportuni:es that promised a more stable future, we decided to pursue the unknown of a dream; the vision of a world free from hunger. This choice represented the biggest honor in our lives: the opportunity to stand for the vision of a world where every single individual has a voice and the opportunity to realize their inherent poten:al to contribute and live fully in harmony with nature and all :me…it’s a mouth full…to us, it feels like the only choice worth living with and for. Today as we reflect on that choice we made seven years ago, more than the $1.4 million we’ve raised for the end of hunger, what feels most astonishing is the hundreds of individuals within FeelGood who have made this same choice to stand for a world that works for ALL life. With each individual who takes this stand, the ground on which we plant our feet feels firmer. With more people to lean on, it’s easier to rise taller. Over the past seven years, this community of prac:ce known to us as “the FeelGood family” has grown to over 1,500 students, 140 alumni, 340 investors, dozens of local in-‐kind donors, three na:onal partnerships and of course millions of courageous individuals taking a stand for self-‐reliance in the face of dire circumstances. From mathema:cs, to sports, to religion, to ancient tradi:ons, to astronomy, the significance of the number seven seems to universally represent a full cycle. For us, the past seven years have felt like a cycle of discovery and roo:ng that we are very proud of. With a sense of comple:on we are moving into a new fron:er of expansion and matura:on in partnership with our students, supporters and brothers and sisters born into poverty. We hope you con:nue to join us. With Gra:tude and Excitement,
PROGRAM AREA UPDATES
THE JOURNEY
CHEESE WORLD
PEAK EXPERIENCE
DELIS
INTRODUCTION TO OUR PROGRAM AREA UPDATES
HUNGER
FG4LIFE
Since 2010, FeelGood’s strategic focus has been to understand what makes a chapter successful and then design a program that empowers students to create hunger-‐ending legacies on their campuses. From 2005 to 2010, our experience was as follows: a charisma:c individual, passionate about a vision of a world free from hunger, would come to us eager to “end world hunger, one grilled cheese at a :me” on their campus. This driven individual, with contagious leadership skills, would start a FeelGood chapter, navigate an exhaus:ng campus bureaucracy, forge partnerships with local donors, recruit a team, and raise anywhere from $1K-‐$5K for the end of hunger within the year. From 2005-‐2010 we experienced annual increases in the money chapters raised for The Hunger Project and Choice Humanitarian. As these individuals graduated, however, we no:ced an unsustainable trend: the success of many chapters depended on the energy and leadership of the chapter’s founder. In 2010 we launched the FeelGood Changemaker Academy (The Academy) to respond to this trend. The Academy is a hybrid learning model that engages the en:re FeelGood movement, not just leaders, as changemakers for the end of hunger. Three overlapping and interconnected programs form the core of the FeelGood Academy: our college-‐accredited FeelGood Journey curriculum, our online ac:on plaform and alterna:ve currency, Cheese World, and our Peak Experiences program. With only 18 months of The Academy under our belt, we are thrilled to be experiencing a massive shih towards a sustainable chapter model. 2011 rooted the FeelGood Academy and posi:oned us to more powerfully fulfill our mission to end world hunger, one grilled cheese at a :me.
PROGRAM AREA UPDATES
THE JOURNEY
CHEESE WORLD
PEAK EXPERIENCE
DELIS
THE JUMPSTART VCA FUELS CHAPTER EVOLUTION
HUNGER
FG4LIFE
The Journey is FeelGood’s interac:ve, student–led curriculum. It provides a framework for students to deepen their understanding of chronic hunger and collec:vely acquire leadership and entrepreneurial skills. In 2011, our core Journey module—the Jumpstart VCA (Vision, Commitment and Ac:on)—was adopted by 100% of our chapters. The Jumpstart VCA is a strategic planning process that empowers chapters to evolve by invi:ng them to (re)establish a collec:ve vision for their chapter, set goals, and iden:fy specific ac:ons to take to achieve those goals. They are supported in this process through addi:onal Journey modules, weekly consulta:on from FeelGood’s University Team and Cheese World, which supports their progress by rewarding their ac:ons with investment capital (more on next page). To obtain and retain official chapter status, chapters must complete the JumpStart VCA at least annually. In 2011, 25 chapters completed their JumpStart VCA and are declared official FeelGood chapters!
PROGRAM AREA UPDATES SOME COOL NEW FEATURES OF CHEESE WORLD 2.0
The Ac:on Feed: Students can now SEE (and feel!) the ac:ons of others on their home page making the pounding pulse of the movement palpable! This feature also allows for grassroots sharing of best prac:ces.
Social Networking: It is great to see what ac:ons others are taking, it is even beper to “like” their posts and be able to respond with a note of encouragement, learning, or advice. Cheese World 2.0 mo:vates intra-‐chapter communica:on and learning!
The Leader Board: Students can now see a ranking of each chapter by cumula:ve number of Cheese Points earned, as well as the most earned that week. Some:mes a friendly compe::on is a good thing!
THE JOURNEY
CHEESE WORLD
PEAK EXPERIENCE
FEELGOOD LAUNCHES CHEESE WORLD 2.0
DELIS
HUNGER
FG4LIFE FG4LIFE
It’s impossible to capture all the energy of the FeelGood movement, but one tool that really helps is the innova:ve online social entrepreneurship educa:on plaform, Cheese World. On Cheese World, FeelGooders can keep track of and fulfill the strategic plans they developed as part of the Jumpstart VCA. Every hunger ending ac:on members complete earns their chapters Cheese Points, which convert into dollars that chapters can invest in their deli and in their members’ evolu:on as Changemakers. In 2011, we launched the 2nd genera:on of our online plaform, Cheese World 2.0, which harnesses on-‐line gaming design and psychology to ensure adop:on. With over 604,400 Cheese Points ($10,073) earned, 691 ac:ve student members and 100% chapter par:cipa:on, the numbers are telling us we are on to something!
PROGRAM AREA UPDATES
THE JOURNEY
CHEESE WORLD
PEAK EXPERIENCE
DELIS
HUNGER
TRAINING, RELATIONSHIP BUILDING, AND TRANSFORMATION!
FG4LIFE FG4LIFE
2-‐6 :mes yearly, FeelGood students par:cipate in intensive mul:-‐day trainings focused on leadership, entrepreneurship and hunger. Each chapter leaves these trainings having commiped to a plan of ac:on including a slate of measurable, :me-‐bound tasks and deliverables. Perhaps more valuable though are the mul:dimensional rela:onships that are forged and the transforma:on that occurs. Par:cipants walk away with a beper understanding of themselves, a stronger commitment to their chapter, a mo:va:ng sense of purpose with the movement, a new love and respect for our partners and a connec:on to a vision of a world free from hunger that sustains them throughout the year. In 2011, FeelGood facilitated three Peak Experiences: The Big Cheese, The Hunger Summit and The Clinton Global Ini:a:ve University. Roughly 10% (114 students) of ac:ve FeelGood students apended taking home new skills and mo:va:on to share with the other 90%! “I Found the en4re Big Cheese experience life changing. Being around such a suppor4ve group of amazing individuals was incredibly empowering, and it gave me so much faith and hope in humanity. Now I know that I can truly make a difference.” ~ Trisha Hlastawa, University of Vermont
PROGRAM AREA UPDATES
THE CHEESE PEAK JOURNEY WORLD EXPERIENCE DELIS: OUR FOCUS FOR 2012
DELIS
HUNGER
FG4LIFE FG4LIFE
During the first 18 months of rolling out The Academy, our priori:es were to develop leadership skills, empower robust teamwork and garner ins:tu:onal support for each chapter. With our Peak Experiences, we focused on equipping students with a quality of leadership that values co-‐crea:on, systemic thinking about world issues, and a world view of interdependence. With the Jumpstart VCA, chapters now had clear goals shared by ALL members, along with a tangible roadmap for everyone to engage with in a meaningful way. And with the apen:ve consul:ng provided by the University Team, we were ensuring chapters were successfully naviga:ng their campus bureaucracy. As a result of these priori:es, successful leadership transi:ons are now expected, membership is now strong in both numbers and engagement, and gaining ins:tu:onal coopera:on is always possible, although it can take :me. With a founda:on that creates longevity, we are now turning our focus towards FeelGood Delis and the power of a grilled cheese to raise money for the end of hunger. Our plan for increasing Deli sales starts with launching a chapter-‐wide fundraising “co-‐ope::on” to call forth the audacity of this genera:on. With The Academy, we will equip them with the skills to run more profitable enterprises and empower them to reach their fundraising goals. To deepen and sustain their mo:va:on throughout the year, we will strengthen their connec:on with the hunger-‐ending work of our partners via monthly Skype calls with staff, updates from the field, field visits and more.
PROGRAM AREA UPDATES
THE CHEESE PEAK DELIS HUNGER FG4LIFE JOURNEY WORLD EXPERIENCE CONNECTING TO THE URGENT NEED TO END HUNGER According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organiza:on, 50% of food produced worldwide is wasted each
year. And it is es:mated that over the past 50 years, more than $2,300,000,000 has been spent in foreign aid. With so much “extra” food and so much money spent, how is it that the reality our global community lives with today is that every 5 seconds we unnecessarily loose a child to hunger? How is it that, every day, 16,000 :mes over, we let future ar:sts, entrepreneurs, doctors, mothers, fathers, chefs, inventors, writers and spiritual leaders slip through the cracks? Hunger is not an issue of food. It is also not an issue of scarcity – scarcity of foreign aid, scarcity of resources, scarcity of will. Hunger is an issue of integrity. What does is say about how we value human life if, as a collec:ve, we leave1/6th of our human family on the brink of death; without a voice and the opportunity to unleash their human poten:al? As Mary Ellen McNish, CEO of The Hunger Project, declares “There is a moral impera:ve for our work. We don’t have the luxury of wai:ng another century to end hunger!” Looking ahead to 2012, FeelGood will be re-‐connec:ng our genera:on to this moral impera:ve.
PROGRAM AREA UPDATES
THE JOURNEY
CHEESE WORLD
PEAK EXPERIENCE
DELIS
HUNGER
FG4LIFE FG4LIFE
FEELGOOD ALUMNI TAKE ON THE HUNGER SUMMIT, UNDERGO TRANSFORMATION
2011 will be known as the year FeelGood4Life (FG4Life), our alumni associa:on, transformed. In 2010, we challenged our commiped alumni base to co-‐host FeelGood’s longest running Peak Experience: The Hunger Summit. Under the leadership of FG4Life Chair Taryn Ross, they stepped up to the plate, raising $5K for this landmark event in 2010 which apracted 45 students for a weekend of hunger educa:on and goal sexng for the year. In 2011, we took the “co” out of hos:ng and FG4Life galvanized fellow alums to put on our most successful Hunger Summit yet! Through fundraisers that garnered the support of friends, families and colleagues, they raised $18,000 to bring in guest speakers and make the weekend more affordable for students. They sold out their venue, put on an enriching, inspiring program and, consequently, received a spontaneous standing ova:on during the close. Energized, and perhaps surprised, by their success, FG4Life has not only commiped to hos:ng the 2012 Hunger Summit, they are massively recrui:ng new alumni and forming hubs across the country dedicated to ending hunger beyond college.
MAP & STATISTICS
25 OFFICIAL* FEELGOOD CHAPTERS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA BOSTON UNIVERSITY CLEMSON UNIVERSITY CHESTNUT HILL COLLEGE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY DELAWARE VALLEY COLLEGE DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY PHILIPPINES UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH STEVENS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY UC BERKELEY
14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.
UCLA UC RIVERSIDE UC SANTA BARBARA UCONN UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS CHICAGO UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA CHAMPAIGN UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUESETTES UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA UNIVERSITY OF UTAH UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY
*To be an OFFICIAL FEELGOOD CHAPTER, students must convene a team of peers which: is working to end world hunger, one grilled cheese at a :me; is a registered student club/organiza:on at their ins:tu:on; invests 100% of (fundraised) proceeds in a FeelGood-‐cer:fied partner organiza:on twice annually (December and June); completes the JumpStart VCA annually and is progressing toward goals; has iden:fied a commiped leadership team which is in regular communica:on with FeelGood World (FGW).
MAP & STATISTICS KEY METRICS OF 2011 IMPACT
inspired
122 Leaders
71,600 Hours
491 Members
to volunteer
19,600 grilled cheese to make
$58,976 for the end of hunger genera4ng
CHAPTER EVOLUTION 16 14 12 10
Team
8
Enterprise
6
Mission
4 2 0 Start-‐Up
Launch
Consolida:on
Autonomy
We have iden:fied four dis:nct phases of a chapter’s development (Start-‐Up, Launch, Consolida:on, Autonomy) in 3 cri:cal impact areas (Team, Enterprise, Mission). We define a self-‐reliant chapter as one whose Team, Deli and connec:on to the Mission to end hunger has reached the characteris:cs of the Autonomous phase. Above is a snapshot of the evolu:on of Chapters in the movement. With the majority of chapters in the Start-‐Up and Launch phase, our focus for 2012 is to transi:on these chapters to Consolida:on and Autonomy.
TESTIMONIALS
FeelGood to us is all about partnerships. Partnerships with each other, our members, our customers, the Clemson community, FeelGood World, other FeelGood chapters, and members of our human family all around the world.
“FeelGood is about being part of an en:re movement of inspired op:mists. While we are working to shih the paradigm of world hunger in Pipsburgh, there are twenty other chapters across the country doing the exact same thing. Within each of these chapters are extraordinary individuals who are commiped to inves:ng in our shared humanity. It is this common mindset that creates such a strong sense of connec:vity throughout the FeelGood movement!”
“We believe in the impera:ve of ending hunger, we believe small ac:ons have a ripple effect, and we believe that FeelGood has a lot of poten:al for Columbia!” Amarynth Sichel
FeelGood is a chance for our university community to join together for a common cause to end world hunger. We see the FeelGood mission not just as providing yummy sandwiches to hungry college students but as a vehicle for mobilizing change and discussion about how WE can directly impact ending hunger in our life:me.
PARTNERSHIPS “ROUNDING IT UP” FOR THE END OF HUNGER
and inventor of the highly successful Flip video camera. It was our shared love of grilled cheese—and the striking similarity of our logos— that put FeelGood on Kaplan’s m i n d a s h e w a s l o o k i n g f o r a p a r t n e r t o develop The Melt's social responsibility strategy. Aher several mee:ngs and presenta:ons, Kaplan and his team chose FeelGood as the company’s first philanthropic partner and beneficiary! In what’s being called the “Round it Up” campaign, customers have the op:on to “round up” the total of their purchase, which The Melt matches and then invests in FeelGood’s program to end world hunger. The first Melt opened August 29th in the SoMa district of On August 12, 2011, we got a call from The Melt lexng San Francisco, and so far the line has been out the door. us know they had chosen FeelGood as their non-‐profit Just three months later, four loca:ons popped up around partner. The Melt is a new restaurant chain specializing the Bay Area. Kaplan and his team plan to in gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches and is the latest expand the chain to 500 restaurants na:onwide by 2015, entrepreneurial venture of Jonathan Kaplan, co-‐founder adding more philanthropic partners along the way.
CHEESE FOR CHAPTERS At the end of 2011, FeelGood forged a new movement-‐ wide partnership with Organic Valley (OV) — a farmer-‐ owned coopera:ve that produces amazing, high-‐quality, environmentally sustainable food products (like cheese!). OV generously donated $7,500 worth of product coupons to the FeelGood movement which chapters can access by earning and cashing out OV-‐sponsored Cheese Points! Cheese is the most expensive ingredient at FeelGood Delis. This partnership helps keep costs down and dollars for the end of hunger up.
FEELGOOD IN THE CLASSROOM In 2011, our program of crea:ng changemakers for the end of hunger was translated into an accredited, two-‐ term course at Bryn Athyn College, a liberal arts school just outside of Philadelphia, PA. In addi:on to raising $1,550 for Choice Humanitarian and inspiring 15 young changemakers, this partnership has increased the academic rigor of The FeelGood Changemaker Academy.
FINANCIALS We celebrate every dollar invested in FeelGood as someone’s expression of solidarity for the end of hunger and a genera:on of Changemakers. In 2011 we had a lot to celebrate with a phenomenal 34% increase in donor income. We are proud to steward this gih of financial leadership from our supporters by inves:ng 83% directly into our program.
EXPENSE
INCOME BY TYPE 4%
0% 11% Chapter Deli Sales
Total Program
13%
Total Management & Administra:ve
Individual Donors 53%
36%
Founda:on Funding FeelGood Products
FEELGOOD PROFIT & LOSS 2011
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Fundraising 83%