Financial Business Plan
We are looking to get our finances correct and would like to involve students in this exciting time as we work to develop a financial business plan. We can provide access to internal documentation and other information as needed as well as access to key contacts. Based on our unique goals and constraints, we would like students to develop a strong, competitive financial business plan, which we can present to investors and donors. The plan should include: Expense budget Income projections (conservative and aggressive) Assets and liabilities
Project Events Manager
We are looking for students to help us plan a charity event Students in this position will overlook the UMF team’s project through a logistical lens Students will help facilitate the UMF team events and ceremonies. The student will play a key role in helping the project manager create a more efficient work process.
Marketing Plan 2.0
We want students to help us build a marketing strategy plan to grow and engage our target market: of donors. We’d like to know how we can maximize use of different channels and get recommendations to improve our messaging. The main questions we’d like students to help us answer are the following: How do students currently perceive our brand and marketing, based on publicly available information about our company? What channels should we utilize for promotion, including ones we are not currently using? What budget is appropriate for advertising, given our goals? How could our messaging be updated to better explain our value proposition?
User Research Study
We are looking to have students conduct usability tests. We will provide the customer contact information, and will obtain their consent to participate. Students will be responsible for: Interview scheduling Developing a script for the interview Conducting the moderated interview remotely Writing the user research plan Analyzing the results and defining the solutions Following up with the customers to share the final case studies and thank them for their participation
Marketing Strategy Plan
We want students to help us build a marketing strategy plan to grow and engage our target market: The main questions we’d like students to help us answer are the following: How do students currently perceive our brand and marketing, based on publicly available information about our company? What channels should we utilize for promotion, including ones we are not currently using? What budget is appropriate for advertising, given our goals? How could our messaging be updated to better explain our value proposition
Business Administration
The primary focus for the student will be: (Remove any that don't apply) Strategy - Develop an implementation plan for entering a new market; develop a go-to-market strategy; identify new funding and grant opportunities, write proposals. Operations - Recommend process improvements or redesign processes; develop improvements to supply chain processes; introduce quality assurance into our internal processes. Marketing - Complete a full customer, competitor, market, and environmental analysis; complete a marketing strategy review; design a new marketing strategy (product, place, price, and promotion); Sales - Design a new/improved prospecting process for our sales team; design a new/improved pricing or service structure.
User Research Study 2.0
We are looking to have students conduct usability tests with 5 pre-identified customers, in order to test our latest prototypes for our next feature launch. We will provide the customer contact information, and will obtain their consent to participate. Students will be responsible for: Interview scheduling Developing a script for the interview Conducting the moderated interview remotely Writing the user research plan Analyzing the results and defining the solutions
Fundraising Plan
Our organization is committed to serving our target population. However, we are currently facing funding challenges. We would like to collaborate with students to develop a fundraising plan to meet our goals. This will involve several different steps for the students, including: Familiarizing themselves with our mission, values and goals. Familiarizing themselves with our past fundraising activities and donors. Conducting background research on fundraising strategies. Recommending suitable fundraising strategies and creating a timeline / calendar of these activities. Bonus steps in the process would also include: Assisting in implementing new fundraising activities.
Analyzing Sales Trends
We believe we have a good handle on our customer but we are lacking some knowledge into the acquisition of our customers. It is important for us to go back to the data we have on our sales process to determine key trends and patterns that will help us make informed decisions for the future of our business. Some areas that we hope to analyze include, but are not limited to, sales cycle length, average sale price, average ROI/customer, buying behaviours, etc.
Literature Summary Research Assistant
Our organization publishes dozens of papers every year to promote projects in our field of research. Among these papers are systematic reviews of relevant literature, which analyze the progression of research within our field. We would like to collaborate with students to support our literature review process by categorizing papers and summarizing important findings. This allows us to extract and process data more easily. This will involve several different steps for the students, including: Familiarizing themselves with our research and the types of academic papers that we are interested in. Reading studies relevant to our area of research. Applying the categorization scheme to classify relevant studies. Summarizing important results from relevant studies. Bonus steps in the process would also include: Working with researchers to draft a publication based on the results.
Blogging
.We would like to collaborate with students to create blog posts that drive more traffic to our website. This will involve several different steps for the students, including: Familiarizing themselves with our goals, target market, products and services. Recommending topics for our blog posts. Drafting blog posts relevant to our business. Revising blog posts based on feedback. Bonus steps in the process would also include: Recommending ways to market our blog.
Data Collection Research Assistant
We would like to collaborate with students to support our interview process by assisting in data collection and verification of results. This will provide us with prepared datasets that are ready for further analysis. This will involve several different steps for the students, including: Familiarizing themselves with interview procedures and participating in training activities. Assisting researchers in contacting participants and setting up interviews. Recording, organizing, and storing results according to conventions. Verifying that data is recorded accurately. Cleaning data to ensure consistency and usability. Suggesting new research questions or modifications to improve the interview process.
Digital Marketing
We would like to collaborate with students to review and post content promoting our company. This will involve several different steps for the students, including: Familiarizing themselves with our target market, products and services. Reviewing marketing content in the form of posts, emails, brochures, etc. Deploying content according to our social media calendar to increase website traffic. Overseeing our channels and keeping them up-to-date. Bonus steps in the process would also include: Recommending search engine optimization (SEO) strategies so our materials are easily accessible.
Customer Journey Mapping
We would like to understand our strengths and areas of improvement from a customer perspective. This will involve several different steps for the students, including: Conducting background research on customer journey mapping, our products and customers. Analyzing customer responses from surveys and interviews. Defining the phases and touchpoints of the purchasing process. Incorporating user actions, emotions, goals, and pain points in the customer journey map. Proposing solutions to minimize pain points while meeting business goals. Bonus steps in the process would also include: Developing multiple customer journey maps to account for different experiences and paths.