TEAM-BASED COLLABORATIVE PROPOSAL

Textbook Deals for Kids Meal

Team 5 University of Texas at Dallas, Jindal School of Management Ms. Karen Baynham BCOM 3311

Team Members: Ali Farzadpour Trevor Goodwin Shaun Massey Jennifer Monte David Robinson Sanida Saliovski

TEAM-BASED COLLABORATIVE PROPOSAL Abstract This paper provides detail information with respect to a proposal to win the Dallas Chamber of Commerce competition called Business Give Back. The purpose of the competition is to promote social responsibility and community engagement among Dallas-area businesses. Dean Foods, in cooperation with employees who are undergraduate students at University of Texas at Dallas, have developed a charitable campaign designed to address Child Hunger in the Dallas area. Due to the current economic climate and the level of unemployment within the local area Child Hunger is a growing issue. Our program, TEXTBOOK DEALS FOR KIDS MEALS, is designed to create a source of funds from the bartering of university textbooks between university students. These funds are to be provided to the Kids Caf program, which is sponsored by the Feeding America nonprofit organization.

TEAM-BASED COLLABORATIVE PROPOSAL Introduction

Dean Foods, working in cooperation with the Dallas Chamber of Commerce, is pleased to announce its 2012 selection for ENHANCING THE COMMUNITIES WE SERVE program. The program is called TEXTBOOK DEALS FOR KIDS MEALS and is presented to you by the dedicated Dean Foods employees who are candidates for undergraduate degrees at the University of Texas at Dallas, Jindal School of Management. Dean Foods employees are committed to this effort to provide community programs that will provide financial support, food and resources to nonprofit organizations as part of the ENHANCING THE COMMUNITIES WE SERVE program. ENHANCING THE COMMUNITIES WE SERVE1 We strive to make a difference in our communities, and we provide financial support, food and other resources to a variety of nonprofit organizations. Through the Dean Foods Foundation, we align our giving with our core business by supporting organization that aim to prevent childhood hunger and its effects, that teach at-risk children and youth the importance of maintaining a nutritious diet, and that promote responsible agriculture. This program accomplishes three primary objectives: 1) Provide meaningful financial assistance as well as food for the Dallas area Kids Caf program offered by the Feeding America nonprofit organization. 2) Provide university students a superior method to buy and sell used textbooks. Students can buy textbooks at reduced rates and receive higher rates for the textbooks they sell. Fees from the buying and selling of used books will be donated to the Kids Caf Program. 3) Increase student involvement in community activities. Supporting a worthy cause and solving a basic student need creates a WIN / WIN for both the student and the community. As active members of the community, it is with great pleasure that we offer this proposal for consideration to the Dallas Chamber of Commerce. Our Dean Foods employee-students aim is to win the competition so that our message and our efforts will generate the maximum benefit to the community at large. With Chamber endorsement, our proposal could be extended to other Universitys within the area, significantly increasing the overall benefit to the community. Our primary beneficiary is the Kids Caf program, which provides meals and snacks to low-income children through a variety of local community locations where children congregate during the after-school hours, e.g., Boys and Girls Clubs, churches or public schools. In addition to providing meals to kids, Kids Caf program also offers a safe place for a child to get involved in educational, recreational, and social activities. All Kids Caf programs also offer nutrition education throughout the school year.

Dean Foods, www.deanfoods.com, Web Media.

TEAM-BASED COLLABORATIVE PROPOSAL Background Poverty is the leading cause of hunger in America. It is estimated that more than 50 million people, including 16.2 million children, live under the poverty line and are at risk of hunger.2 Food insecurities exist in every county in America, and most of the struggling Americans are hard-working adults, children and seniors, who simply cannot make ends meet. The major factor in food insecurities is unemployment, and with the recent economic crisis the unemployment rate has reached a staggering number. In 2010, 17.2 million households, 14.5 percent of households were food insecure, the highest number ever recorded in the United States.3 According to Unites States Department of Agriculture, 20 percent of children in United States are hungry.4 The lack of nutritious food can be harmful to a childs mental and physical development. Good nutrition, especially during the first three years of a childs life, is crucial in establishing a foundation for a healthy life. Hunger in childhood has been linked to increased hospitalization, developmental problems, headaches, inability to concentrate and poor academic performance. A hungry child will not perform well in school, and is less likely to graduate from high school and go on to college, which could have a negative impact on their economic future. As a result, a child is much less likely to grow up and be able to earn enough to feed his own family.

In the past three years, Texas has seen a growing problem in food insecurities. An average of 18.8% of Texas households lacked enough of food to meet their needs. This is the second highest percentage of any state, with only Mississippi being worse at 19.4%. A countyby-county analysis shows that Dallas County has about 450,000 people who have irregular access to food, while Collin County has about 100,000 and Denton County about 90,000. A study by Feeding America showed that one in four Texas children face food insecurities, placing Texas at number eleven in percentage of food-insecure children in United States. Feeding America is the largest national non-profit organization in hunger-relief charity. Their mission is to serve Americas hungry through a nationwide network of food banks, food organizations, and to educate general public about hunger in America. The organization supports more than 200 local food banks, and more than 90,000 food programs, by providing nutritious and fresh foods for struggling families across America. Two of their most successful childrens programs are Back Pack Program and Kids Caf. These two programs focus on providing free meals and snacks to low-income children through a variety of community locations and food banks. There are about 1,500 Kids Caf sites such as schools and after-school organizations that serve more than 122,000 children each year.5 On a local level, with support from food manufacturers, distributor and growers, North Texas Food Bank provides more than 36 million pounds of nutritious food to 13 counties yearly. They rely on their Food Assistance Partners, a network of more than 340 local food pantries, after-school programs, senior meal programs,
2 3

Hunger Study (2010). http://feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/hunger-facts/hunger-and-poverty-statistics.aspx Coleman-Jensen, A., M.,Andrews, M., & Carlson, S. (2012). Household Food Security in the U.S. in 2011. 4 Rhoda, C. (2010, February). Hunger statistics, hunger facts. 5 Hunger Study (2010). http://feedingamerica.org/how-we-fight-hunger/programs-and-services/child-hunger/kidscafe.aspx

TEAM-BASED COLLABORATIVE PROPOSAL shelters, and other facilities, to deliver and provide food to local communities in North Texas. North Texas Food Bank works closely with Member Agencies to provide food for hungry children and their families through Childrens programs such as Back Pack program and Kids Caf.

The national average with regard to the cost of textbooks and supplies is about eleven hundred dollars per year. Due to inflation, college textbooks costs have nearly tripled between 1986 and 2004, rising on an average of 6% a year.6 The high cost of new books comes from publishers that are trying to recoup losses due to the expanding trade in used books. However, no struggling college student wants to pay hundreds of dollars in textbooks that they may use only once. There are several cost-saving alternatives that students consider when buying textbooks. One option may be using school library resources, borrowing books and materials, as needed. Most colleges and local bookstores have programs in place where students can buy their books used, and then sell the used books back to the bookstore. The problem with this program is that bookstores only pay students a small fraction of the returned books purchased value, typically less than 10 %. Another popular program used by many local bookstores and colleges is renting program. This program allows students to rent textbooks for a whole semester, for half the price of the original cost. Although renting textbooks is an increasingly popular option, many students use Internet resources such as Amazion.com and CraigsList.com, to acquire needed textbooks and to sell their old books. Another option, one that this proposal sees the greatest value in, is a online textbook bartering program; where students buy and sell used textbooks yielding higher economies of scale for both the student buyer and seller. By promoting meaningful student involvement, schools can make a significant impact on their local communities. Meaningful student involvement not only brings personal satisfaction and fulfillment, but also helps those who are in need. This proposal focuses on student involvement in North Texas area, specifically University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). There are 18,864 students enrolled currently at UTD that could make a difference in a childs life. By using the Textbook Deals for Kids Meals program, students are automatically supporting the Kids Caf program. And with dozens of major universities, within the local Dallas area, this program can be implemented across area universities and provide even greater support for the thousands of kids in need. Purpose In the battle to make sure that the children of the United States are fed, our goal is to partner up with Feeding America to help expand the Kids Caf program. We are predicting to help the program feed 50,000 new children each year, especially as long as the current economic situation exists. The ultimate goal is to eliminate childhood hunger with programs like this. Kids Caf is currently a program that runs with the school year and is available in different community sites, typically in any site that offers after-school care. This program offers free meals and snacks to low-income children. It also provides nutrition education so children can make better food choices as they mature.7

6 7

Ylan, Q. (2008, August 20). College costs shifting to Students, The Washington Post. North Texas Food Bank. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://web.ntfb.org/page.aspx?pid=268.

TEAM-BASED COLLABORATIVE PROPOSAL

As university students, we know the importance of an education. However, most of us did not realize the importance of community involvement and the big part it plays at this university. It is such an important part that there is actually an Office of Student Volunteerism. The Office of Student Volunteerism was established in 1999. They sponsor annual events like Alternative Spring Break where students volunteer to complete community projects during Spring Break. Since attending college is not cheap, especially with the rise in tuition and textbooks, we have created the TextbookDealsforKidsMeals.com website. This website provides University of Texas at Dallas students the ability to sell and/or buy textbooks between students. Transactions processed on this website include a small but affordable fee that will be donated to the Kids Caf. On average, students spend $ 200 on textbooks a semester8. Traditionally, students sell textbooks back to the bookstore and receive a fraction of what they original paid, typically less than 10%. With TextbookDealsforKidsMeals.com students can place their used textbooks online and barter with other students for a fair selling price, typically 50% of the originally price paid. To raise awareness, we will be launching an advertising campaign in several different stages. Stage one is a poster, banner, and flyer program that starts the week before final exams. Stage two, which starts the week before the start of a new semester, includes additional media advertisement as well as giving away free pens and pencils. During stage three, which begins the first week of the semester, a table will be set up in the Student Union Center, where flyers, pens, and pencils will be given away along with live demonstrations of the website. The choice to use a website requires a relative small investment but delivers quick but longer-term returns. The team has talked about the different programs to give money to Feeding America for the Kids Caf but we felt this approach was the best way to donate to the Kids Caf charity. We talked about doing bake sales, races, parades, carnivals, and even discussed staging an overnight event. However, since we are all university students and work full-time jobs, launching a website gave us the greatest amount of flexibility with least amount of effort. Most of the work can be done in our free time, with minimal outside the support and with the added support of Dean Foods management the time we need along with available resources would be made available after hours, if needed. Once the website is up and running, we believe the monthly system maintenance would require a minimal amount of effort as well. Issue(s) We have identified several issues that need to be addressed including: time and resources, advertising & awareness campaign, on-going program support, and building for the future. Although we felt confident that this approach would require the least amount of time and resources compared to other campaigns we could have selected, the upfront effort still cannot be overlooked. Time and resources to design, code, and launch the website will take careful planning and will require a focused effort. An advertising and awareness campaign will also take careful planning and some initial funding in order to achieve the maximum impact. We will need funding to print advertising material including, fliers, posters, and banners. Additional funding will be needed for stage two advertising needs, which also include trinket items like pens and
8

Ellison, J. (2004, January 29). Price of books in college soars. Seattle Post Intelligence Reporter.

TEAM-BASED COLLABORATIVE PROPOSAL

pencils. Stage three expenses will be repeated every semester driving even more advertising and printing costs. Proceeds from winning this competition would provide a good portion of what we need to support this activity. For the on-going program support, we will need to provide monthly system maintenance, troubleshooting and occasionally software updates. Up to a certain point, the students can provide technical support, but we may need to introduce an outsourced technical support partner further down the road. As far as building for the future, this should be done in phases. As we reach certain student participation levels, for example 50 percent student participation, using the TextbookDealsforKidsMeals.com website, we can then propose the expansion and use of the website for students at other universities, e.g., Collin County Community College. This might require some additional negotiations with Collin County Community College but that kind of expansion possibility would definitely require more resources and funding. Then again, it also means more donation and community benefit which is exactly the Win / Win we are looking to achieve. Proposal Our objective at TextbooksDealsforKidsMeal.com is to assist needy kids with essential necessities such as food and education. To achieve, we need to generate consistent flow of cash for these objectives. We are proposing that in order to raise the required cash flow, a website that helps college and university students find textbooks at fair prices is an excellent way to achieve this goal. We ask students to pay a small transaction fee to receive a considerable saving and recoup value, on buying and selling textbook, respectively. The cash flow generated will be directed towards our Kids Caf charity. This model provides solution for two different issues at the same time. It will bring two different communities together to help each other. Students who buy textbooks will spend less on textbooks, Students who sell will get a better return from the textbook they sell while the transaction fee paid between buyer and seller will generate a cash flow for the Kids Caf charity. Plan of Action TextbookDealsforKidsMeals.com is an online textbook store (See Figure 1). The function of the web site is to facilitate buying and selling of textbooks between students. Students with a textbook to sell would register and enter the textbooks they wish to sell. Students that need to acquire textbooks would lookup textbooks that match their need and once found they would use the sellers contact information to arrange the purchase. Usually bookstores buy back the used textbooks at a fraction of the cost, typically less than 10%. Bookstores then markup the used textbooks they sell at rates 500 to 800 percent above the cost that they initial bought the textbook back for. Students that are interested to receive a higher return then the bookstore pays can use the website to find a potential buyer and offer their books at a reasonable price. At the same time, students that need the same textbook can search and find the textbook they need on the website and instead of paying the marked up bookstore price, students would typically pay around 50 percent of the new book price. This would result in considerable savings for the buyer and higher returns for the seller.

TEAM-BASED COLLABORATIVE PROPOSAL

Offering this website eliminates the middleman, the bookstore. In addition, we are creating a richer environment for the textbook buyer and seller to enjoy a hassle-free and more economically viable solution then traditional bookstore model (see, Figure 1). For providing these services will require each party to pay a 5% transaction fee, based on the value of textbook(s) bought or sold. This revenue would be directed toward Kids Caf charity.

Figure 1. Mock Website Screens

TEAM-BASED COLLABORATIVE PROPOSAL After considering many different models on how to generate money, we decided a transaction based model would be the most effective way to generate meaningful results. The general concept is as following:

1) A book seller will create an account onTextbookDealsforKidsMeals.com and will list as many books as they want to sell on the site for free. 2) A book buyer will start searching the site and when he finds the desired book, with a click of button he will be transferred to payment terminal, which I will explain later in this guide. 3) At the online payment terminal he will be charged a final cost through a desired credit or debit card plus any other charges like taxes, shipping cost and a 5% service charge. 4) The book seller will be notified that his book has been purchased and will be given a shipping address to send the book. 5) Meanwhile the money is kept in the book recycle vault for one week. 6) The book buyer has one week to acknowledge that he have received the book, if he did not received the book within one week the buyer can fill out a dispute form which will lock the money in the textbook transaction vault until the dispute is resolved. 7) A check minus a 5% transaction fee will be sent to the book seller after one week if no dispute is filed. Note: Both seller and buyer will be charged a transaction fee of 5%. To receive money online we can use many credit card gateways. Other than gateways like PayPal and Google, there other companies like National Bank Card which only charge 25 cent per transaction with no merchant fees.

A basic website design has already been created (see Figure 1). Additional requirements, processes, and procedures will still need to be determined followed by programming, testing and debugging. The interface will be created using HTML and PHP language and MySQL will be the backend database. We will need a small group of development, test and production servers that are running Linux or UNIX as the operating system software. Advertising will start immediately after testing. Since our target markets are students in colleges and universities most advertising will be concentrated within campus. Advertising on campus will require special permission. Advertising media will be flyers, large and small banners, wall mounts, give away such as pen and pencil, coffee mug, key chain and with the name and logo of the Textbook Deals For Kids Meals. Another effective means of communication is advertising on the internet, since many students search for books on line, by

TEAM-BASED COLLABORATIVE PROPOSAL

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purchasing key words and submitting this sit on search engines. Related costs will be discussed in Budget section. Schedule Our goal is to finish the project in 90 days by the following the plan below. 1) 0 30 Days a. Website Prototype b. Campaign Art Graphics In Production c. Communication Plan Soft Launch d. Go / No Go 2) 30-60 Days a. Website Production Test b. Competitive Bid Campaign Material c. Bank Clearinghouse Integration d. Go / No Go 3) 60-90 Days a. Official Campaign Launch Aligned with Semester schedule b. Student Center Booth c. Office Website Launch Staffing In order for TextbookDealsforKidsMeals.com to yield the most cash flow we must maximize the use of available student resources to keep operating cost at a minimum. The three categories of staffing to consider are program administration, website development, campaign advertising and communications. The program administrator team, a volunteer committee, would be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day project requirements and ensuring that project tasks are completed as assigned. The program administrator team would also be responsible for the overseeing the budget and ensuring that costs are contained within the defined budget. In addition, the program administrator team would be responsible for securing the programs nonprofit status, under 501c3 as well as working with applicable university administrators to ensure the program would have access to distribute marketing materials on campus. This program administrator team would provide corporate oversight and governance in the form of a program steering committee. The committee would review the business plan and give recommendations on every aspect of the program. The nonprofit status of this program is one of the best tools we have to establish the appeal with other universities. Our intent would be to use university student volunteers to create the website, under the guidance of program administrator team. In effect this is a community service project because all proceeds go to charity. As a fall back, we may need to acquire the services of an affordable web

TEAM-BASED COLLABORATIVE PROPOSAL

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service company like Triad Web Design. However, given the strong appeal of such an opportunity we believe this university student volunteers will be more than willing to participate. As our website develops, we may consider using Hood Web Management to host our site, perform daily site maintenance, and do system backups. We would initially rely on commercial copier and reproduction entities such as Staples or FedEx Office Print Center for reproduction needs. The rental of a dedicated color copier would be a longer-term goal attainable only through a record of success. We propose to use a marketing service called Act-On to assist in campaign advertising and communications. With the large array of promotional materials and templates that the Act-On website offers, our program can take advantage of non-copyrighted materials at a very low cost. Ideally, the initial program success will lead to compelling opportunities for students to intern or even create a student club to assist in the management of some aspects of this program. Budget There are three areas to consider when formulating the budget. The initial creation of the website will be our first concern. This will include the management, hardware, software, development, and database administration. The second section of budgeting will be our campaign advertising and communication plan, which will include our marketing resources, copiers, and print shop. Third and lastly is our operating budget. This includes expected revenue, expenses, operation costs, return policies, and state and federal tax. For the management of our website, we will use a company called Hood Web Management. Hood Web provides hosting services while managing the monthly maintenance tasks associated with keeping a website running. Hood Web provides daily website backups, website restoration, monthly traffic reports, website uptime monitoring, site maintenance, and email / phone support. Developing the website will be our greatest initial cost. Using university volunteers, from the school of engineering, along with a local company called Triad Web Design we think we can develop this website for around six hundred dollars. Maintenance on the website will be necessary but those costs will be addressed in our Operating budget. We will utilize volunteers as system administrators to assure the operations run smoothly. They will ensure backend programs are working properly and handle any student technical support. It is important that this website be built properly to ensure students will use it and want to come back to use it semester after semester. For all of our artwork design we will use a marketing service called Act-On. This website has many different templates and offers canned programs for setting up marketing campaigns. The program can also order banners and promotional items from Act-On. For marketing we plan to use students. The team will work to create an internship program or school club that manages certain functions of the program. This will allow students to gain real working experience and possible credit hours for their work. We believe this will help market and promote our website, through word of mouth. Lastly, operating costs are based on estimates. We will have general expenses that include running the website, website maintenance, marketing, and supplies. We estimate this will

TEAM-BASED COLLABORATIVE PROPOSAL cost twenty thousand dollars per year. For check disbursements we will use Legacy Bank of Texas. They are a local bank that can accommodate small businesses.

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There are roughly twenty thousand students at University of Texas at Dallas. For our initial revenue estimate, in year one, we assumed 30% of the students bought or sold at least $40 of textbooks, per semester. We have also forecasted what that might look like as more students participate and based on varying levels of book values sold (see Figure 2).

6,000 students buying/selling one $40 book at a 5% service fee would yield $24,000 per semester. 6,000 students buying/selling one $50 book at a 5% service fee would yield $30,000 per semester. 6,000 students buying/selling one $60 book at a 5% service fee would yield $36,000 per semester. If 50% of students (10,000) buy/sell at least one book averaging $50 at a 5% fee we would yield $50,000 per semester.

With the opportunity to add additional universities, we will have the opportunity to increase the donation of funds to the Kids Caf program. Our return and dispute policy will be created and enforced by the program administrators team. The money will be held for one week, before it is released for disbursement. After the one-week period, no refunds will be provided. If the recipient is not satisfied, they have a one week grace period to return the book and get a refund. As for our state and federal taxes, the program plans to file for a 501c3 status. This is a tax form for non-profit organization and will exempt us paying taxes.

$120,000.00 $100,000.00 $80,000.00 $60,000.00 $40,000.00 $20,000.00 $$40 $50 $60 20K 15K 10K 6K Students

Figure 2.9 Student Growth & Price Differentiation

Goodwin, T. (2012, November). Student Growth and Price Differentiation, Excel 2007 Spreadsheet.

TEAM-BASED COLLABORATIVE PROPOSAL

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Benefits of the Program Communicated Dean Foods, a long term community advocate, is committed to on-going initiatives that support ending Hunger in America. We hope that the TEXTBOOK DEALS FOR KIDS MEALS program demonstrates our strong company and employee commitment to the Dallas community. Again, our program accomplishes three primary objectives: 4) Provide meaningful financial assistance as well as food for the Dallas area Kids Caf program offered by the Feeding America nonprofit organization. 5) Provide university students a superior method to buy and sell used textbooks. Students can buy textbooks at reduced rates and receive higher rates for the textbooks they sell. Fees from the buying and selling of used books will be donated to the Kids Caf Program. 6) Increase student involvement in community activities. Supporting a worthy cause and solving a basic student need creates a WIN / WIN for both the student and the community. We look forward to the decision by the Dallas Chamber of Commerce as we are eager to begin creating a WINNING program for students and the community alike.

TEAM-BASED COLLABORATIVE PROPOSAL References

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1) Dean Foods, www.deanfoods.com, Web Media. 2) Hunger Study (2010). http://feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/hunger-facts/hungerand-poverty-statistics.aspx. 3) Coleman-Jensen, A., M.,Andrews, M., & Carlson, S. (2012). Household Food Security in the U.S. in 2011. 4) Rhoda, C. (2010, February). Hunger statistics, hunger facts. 5) Hunger Study (2010). http://feedingamerica.org/how-we-fight-hunger/programs-andservices/child-hunger/kids-cafe.aspx. 6) Ylan, Q. (2008, August 20). College costs shifting to Students, The Washington Post. 7) North Texas Food Bank. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://web.ntfb.org/page.aspx?pid=268. 8) Ellison, J. (2004, January 29). Price of books in college soars. Seattle Post Intelligence Reporter. 9) Goodwin, T. (2012, November). Student Growth and Price Differentiation, Excel 2007 Spreadsheet.