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This Temple business course’s students have raised over $260K for social causes

Students supporting Red Paw Emergency Relief Team receive feedback from a panel of businesspeople, Shark Tank-style. February 26, 2016 Category: FeaturedLongResults
In room 113 of Temple University’s Speakman Hall this past Tuesday, five aspiring social entrepreneurs shared a story about pet therapy organization Paws for People: An 8-year-old boy with leukemia named Ethan was afraid to go through radiation, but his anxiety eased with the help of a therapy dog from the organization. 

The presenters emphasized several times that they “really believe” in the Paws for People mission and its ability to impact lives. They pledged to bolster the organization by promoting its online donations wish list, fundraising on its behalf and increasing its visibility via social media.

They said they’ll also help out at Paws for People’s upcoming Easter Bones Hunt event as well as throw their own awareness event — a “destress” day, during which therapy animals will visit Temple’s campus to hang out with students.

At the end of the spiel, a panel of judges gave them feedback on their plan, Shark Tank-style. But they didn’t offer investment dollars in exchange for equity. That wasn’t the point.

The event was an installment of the Fox School of Business’s Entrepreneurial Marketing undergraduate class, in which teams of students are presented with $10 at the start of the semester and charged with multiplying that amount on behalf of a nonprofit or socially minded for-profit organization using marketing principles they learn in class. 

Dr. Jean Wilcox, an assistant professor of marketing and supply chain management at Fox, first offered the class in the spring of 2010.

In the first semester, Wilcox expected to end up with $2,000. Instead, the teams collectively raised $5,000. The next semester, they raised $20,000.

“It was kind of a crazy idea that a colleague came up with,” she said.

At the time, social media was relatively new, so Wilcox wanted students to explore how it could play into marketing. The idea is that students apply learned tools of marketing to real-world scenarios, and in turn, enact real-world change.

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At the beginning of the semester, Wilcox donates $10 of her own money — and occasionally that of other faculty members, or of the Sharks she’s invited to class — to each group of about five students. Their goal is to multiply that amount by 10 over the next 10 weeks of the semester. The project is appropriately named “10-10-10.” 

During her first semester doing the project, Wilcox expected to end up with $2,000. Instead, the teams collectively raised $5,000. The next semester, students raised $20,000.

All that money goes directly to the causes the students choose. As of the end of last semester, the 10-10-10 class had earned $260,818 overall in cash donations, in-kind goods and volunteer hours, according to Wilcox. 

Grades aren’t based on how much money is raised; with some organizations, the goal isn’t to raise money at all, but to contribute a certain number of volunteer hours or collect a certain amount of in-kind donations.

Students often choose to work with organizations with missions that resonate with them personally. A group that presented on Tuesday chose to represent Project HOME because one team member’s family had experienced homelessness in the past.

“They have to pick something that they’re passionate about and they’re interested in, because if they don’t, it just doesn’t work,” Wilcox said.

The class, made up of mostly juniors and seniors, is “always a mix” of students who are excited about the hands-on experience and those who are taken aback by what’s required of them, Wilcox said. But “for the most part, they really value it, first of all, because it’s a real-life experience. And some of the teams that have the hardest time learn the most.”

"For the most part, they really value it because it’s a real-life experience. And some of the teams that have the hardest time learn the most."
Dr. Jean Wilcox

Groups might host or support orgs’ events, solicit online donations — which can be made directly to the organizations on 101010Foundation.org — or offer marketing consulting. A group supporting Red Paw Emergency Relief Team pledged to promote the organization on Temple’s talk show and provide its employees with step-by-step instructions for using Snapchat (because the employees had just made an account and had no idea what to do with it, the students said).

Wilcox’s background is eclectic. She has a Ph.D in chemistry but worked in the corporate world in marketing and branding for years before owning her own consulting firm. She began teaching seven years ago.

The Sharks she invites to the class are former colleagues and contacts from her business days. This semester, they include a marketing strategist, a community development professional and a former student who is now running her own socially minded for-profit.

Occasionally, the panel’s feedback is tough — “To everyone in the room: The word is ‘donor,’ not ‘donater.’ ‘Donater’ does not exist,’” one judge reprimanded after a student made the slipup. Always, though, it is constructive; much of their criticism urged students to be more creative and more specific in their plans. Occasionally, these professionals offer contacts and even money to the causes, too. 

Students are able to put their experience from the class on their resumes, and some have scored internships with the orgs they support, according to Wilcox. But more than that, she said, they learn that they don’t need to be rich to give back.

“I really believe that the world needs more kindness,” she said. “Hopefully this [project] will instill these kinds of values in the students.”

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