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  • Case Study: Relay Graduate School of Education (Bain NYC)
  • Case Study: Raising a Reader MA (Monitor Cambridge)
  • Case Study: M3 Foundation (Parthenon SF)
  • Case Study: AUSL (L.E.K. Chicago)
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Raising A Reader Massachusetts first engaged a Monitor Cambridge Inspire team in the summer of 2010 to determine the best volunteer and organizational strategy as they aim to double the number of children served over the next two years. More recently, in the spring of 2010, Raising A Reader Massachusetts engaged Monitor Cambridge for a second project to assess the optimal financial sponsorship model for the organization.

Client Mission

The Raising A Reader Massachusetts mission is to give every child an equal opportunity for achievement by engaging parents from low-income communities in a routine of daily book sharing with their children from birth through age five. The early literacy skills development that Raising A Reader MA promotes are proven to impact school readiness, academic performance and lifetime achievement for children. Raising A Reader MA addresses this need, working with over 9,200 children ages 0-5 across the Commonwealth and over 200,000 children nationwide. Raising A Reader’s goal is to help families across Massachusetts develop the literacy routines that can change children’s lives.

Client History

Founded in 1999 at the Center for Venture Philanthropy in California, the national Raising A Reader organization has reached more than 200,000 children through 125 affiliates across 33 states. Raising A Reader came to Massachusetts in Spring 2006 through the generous support of the GreenLight Fund – an organization that identifies groundbreaking, innovative, and results-oriented nonprofits in cities around the country and replicates those programs in Massachusetts. Originally launched in Chelsea, MA, Raising A Reader Massachusetts now has well over 32,000 children’s books in circulation and reaches over 8,000 young children ages 0-5 and their families in sixteen communities across the Commonwealth. The organization partners with a variety of early childhood partners, including child care centers, preschools, family child care providers, home visiting programs, and playgroups, and brings the Raising A Reader program to these partners at no cost.

Case Objectives

Project 1: Inspire worked with Raising A Reader MA to help the organization to grow from serving 6,000 children in 11 communities to serve 12,000 in more than 13 communities. Raising A Reader engaged Inspire to determine a more efficient delivery model to extend the organization’s impact and to manage such rapid change.

Project 2: Inspire worked with Raising A Reader MA to determine what sponsorship model would be the best fit for the organization and how the model should effectively target selected audiences.

Inspire Project Milestones and Deliverables

The Inspire team worked closely with Raising A Reader MA leadership:

Project 1:

• Conducted primary and secondary research to assess best practice volunteer and organization models / strategies
• Developed analytical financial model to assess viability of four volunteer / organizational strategy options
• Concluded that engaging one direct service, full-time volunteer would be the best immediate fit for the organization, though suggested potential to grow volunteer program scale to two or three individuals to meet organizational goals
• Developed a job description for the full-time volunteer position
• Identified Massachusetts Promise Fellows as the ideal organization to fulfill Raising A Reader’s needs for volunteer placement and assisted Raising A Reader in completing the fellowship hosting RFP / application

Project 2:

• The Inspire team worked closely with Raising A Reader leadership and conducted external research to determine the optimal sponsorship model for the organization
• The Inspire team then presented Raising A Reader with three potential sponsorship model options to choose from
• Following discussions with the RAR development team, the Inspire team provided the organization with several deliverables including: a preferred sponsorship model, estimated revenue model, high level implementation plan and budget and suggested marketing approach
• Developed a job description for the full-time volunteer position

Inspire Impact

As the result of Inspire’s recommendations, Raising A Reader applied to the competitive Massachusetts Promise Fellowship and was awarded a fellow for the 2010-11 academic year to assist in organizational development activities.

Inspire’s recommendations on Project 2 provided Raising A Reader with concrete 'next steps' to move forward in implementing the sponsorship model that their teams worked together to identify and refine throughout the course of the project.

Key Quotes

“… Raising A Reader was a great client. The whole team worked closely with our Inspire team to try to develop and test our recommendations in order to produce the best results for their organization. Also, they were able to successfully implement the recommendations from this case to grow the organization to properly support the growth in the number of communities and children they serve …” Inspire Case Team Leader, Monitor Cambridge

“… This case was a little more challenging for both our team and Raising A Reader because it involved trying to change the make-up of their whole donor base. Yet again, the whole Raising A Reader team worked closely with us to develop and test the results. We were able to successfully develop recommendations and an implementation plan. Even though Raising A Reader has not been able to implement all of the recommendations yet, I am pleased that they have the plan and next steps in place for when they are ready …” Inspire Case Team Leader, Monitor Cambridge

“… This case was my first opportunity to work for Inspire, and I found it to be a rewarding experience from both a personal and professional standpoint. Due to our close relationship with the Raising A Reader team from our previous work with them, I was given the chance to present to the client long before I had that opportunity in my case work. I also had a lot of fun brainstorming about possible sponsorship models and learned a lot about some of the challenges faced by a non-profit in soliciting funds …” Inspire Case Team Member, Monitor Cambridge

“… We had an excellent experience with Inspire. As a result of the work the team did on helping us design our new volunteer engagement initiative, Raising A Reader MA applied to the competitive Massachusetts Promise Fellowship (this year, only 40% of the organizations that applied were awarded a fellow) and we were awarded a fellow for the 2010-2011 academic year. We are now in the process of recruiting and hiring for the position. We think that because of this initiative, we will be able to reduce the caseload of our Program Coordinators by 25% and allow our program to expand by 25% to serve 2,000 more children in the coming year. Inspire played a key part in helping us figure out the most cost- and time-effective expansion strategy. I think because of this, our application to the Massachusetts Promise Fellows program was more clearly thought out and sustainable …” – Executive Director, Raising A Reader Massachusetts

“… Our work with Inspire gave us the framework to design an individual giving campaign that successfully raised funds and perhaps more importantly, enhanced our individual donor base by 25%. I would not hesitate to recommend Inspire to any not for profit program – the teams are well prepared, present deliverables in a timely fashion, and are a pleasure to know …” – Executive Director, Raising A Reader Massachusetts

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Raising a Reader Massachusetts