Cuddles for Children - business plan
Project: Cuddles for Children
Project team: n/a
Class: Design, Innovation, and Society
Objective: Write a five-page summary plan for a social enterprise that you could envision yourself founding. This may also be a plan for a for-profit enterprise that partners with a nonprofit organization and donates some of its profits to the nonprofit organization. Your presentation and plan write-up should include the following sections: the social need or problem, the mission of the organization, the service or product provided, the demographic served, analysis of competing organizations, production plan and operating procedures, personnel needs and growth, sources of financing, and financial projections. If it is linked to a for-profit business, please explain how the nonprofit and for-profit business fit together.
Project summary: Cuddles for Children is a for-profit online company that strives to promote the happiness and well-being of chronic illness patients at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, CA. This is done through marketing handmade stuffed animals for a reasonable price and donating 20% of each purchase made to the cause. Also, we produce a line of larger stuffed animals that go directly to the children. This was my final project for Design, Innovation, and Society, but I want to take this farther.
Current work: I am currently working on revising the business plan to create a non-profit company. Over break, I will be looking into getting recycled materials, as well as creating a board of directors/advisors and simpifying the fabrication process of the product so it can be easily made by my target workforce. The business plan posted below is the original for-profit plan before revision.
Cuddles for Children - original plan
Social Need and Problem Every year, thousands of children are hospitalized for chronic illnesses. These stressful and traumatic events have a huge impact on the children, which may affect the well-being, health, or developments of children and their families. To rectify this problem, the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, located on the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, has created two departments: the Department of Recreation Therapy and Child Life and the Department of Social Services. These departments serve to provide a positive and meaningful experience for children who need to be hospitalized, through giving the children opportunities to experience success and creativity through play and interaction. One example is the Pals Program, which assigns medical students from the university to act as "mentors" to help provide emotional support and help the children adjust to their illness.
While the need to raise the well-being of child patients has been addressed and partially alleviated, more can always be done. This is where my company, Cuddles for Children, comes in.
Mission Statement: Our mission is to promote the happiness and raise the morale of chronic illness patients at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA, while simultaneously generating a profit. This will be achieved through donating 20% of the money from product purchased to the hospital, as well as manufacturing a special line of products to be sent directly to the benefactors.
Service and Product Provided: Cuddles for Children is a for-profit organization which creates and markets a variety of miniature stuffed animals (or "plushies") hand-sewn out of soft fleece and felt. Each item is made by hand and stuffed with care and comes with an information card detailing statistics and information to show where the money is going. The product arrives in packaging made of recycled material to cut down on the shipping costs from the consumer side. Twenty percent of each sale made will be set aside for the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and a check will be given to them at the end of every month. This money will be donated towards the programs which aim to alleviate the well-being of the patients.
Our company also features a special line of products that sells larger stuffed animals at a higher price. These stuffed animals are about a foot wide and made of very soft fleece. When they are purchased, the product is sent directly to patients at the hospital to brighten their day. The buyer will receive a miniature version of the large animal and a thank you card from both Cuddles for Children and the hospital.
While the company is a for-profit business, it donates money to non-profit organizations to help out the community.
Demographic Served/Market: Cuddles for Children aims to appeal mostly to teenagers and college students looking for inexpensive, but heartfelt little gifts. The benefits of buying our product are twofold: the consumer receives an inexpensive, but high-quality stuffed animal that they can collect or give to a friend, while making simultaneous making a contribution to the hospital.
The children who will directly benefit from Cuddles for Children’s special line of stuffed animals are patients who are involved in the programs set by the Department of Recreation Therapy and Child Life and Department of Social Services. These children will be the recipients of the large fleece stuffed animals. Also, the donated money would go to help with funding for these programs.
Competing Organizations: In my research, I didn’t find any companies that were similar to mine. I found many small companies that were featured in online communities about textiles that sold handmade stuffed animals, but they were generally all purely for profit. I didn’t find any companies that donated a percentage of their earnings to a charity or cause.
Personnel:
Design head: creates templates for stuffed animals
Publicity team: network of students scattered around the country who publicize for the company
Advertisement designer: create flyers and online ads
Fabrication head: in charge of creating the product
Materials: purchases material in bulk to cut down on cost
Finance head: manages profits and donation money and works with Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital
Growth Plan: Cuddles for Children will start out with two people, me and my partner and we will handle all of the production. We will advertise through word of mouth and online communities. As the company gets larger, we will hire more people to fulfill the positions specified above.
Cuddles for Children - examples
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© Copyright 2007
Tiffany Hu
Product Design and Innovation 2011
