Award Name: Action Center of the Year 2008

Detroit Action Center

Criteria:

  • Revenue growth over previous years
    • Gross revenue $5000 (2006), $12,000 (2007), $30,000 (2008)
  • Expansion/growth in active volunteers / core team
    • 4 (2006), 14 (2007), 15 (2008)
    • Distribution list has 50+ names now compared to 23 in 2007
  • Expansion in patron/donors
    • We have no way of tracking donors at our AC level. We did increase revenue from Corporate Sponsorships significantly in 2008 over previous years.
  • Expansion in diversity of donor-base
    • We significantly reached outside the Indian community in 2008. We made presentations at the Rochester Rotary Club, Baker Middle School as well as Burns Elementary School.
  • Profitability (net revenue/gross revenue)
    • $22,000/$30,000 = 73.3% (2008)
    • $8655/$12,019 = 72% (2007)
  • Increase in revenues from events
    • $30,000 in 2008 compared to $12,000 in 2007 (+150%)
  • Enhanced media visibility and coverage
    • Three newspaper articles, one TV interview and one radio program interview profiled us in 2008. They are archived at www.crydetroit.org (About Us In the Media)
    • We also wrote several blogs after out events (click on Blog at our website)

Measurement Metrics:

  • % increase in size of core team over past year: 15 (2008) vs 14 (2007). The increase would have been much greater if we hadn't lost 5 volunteers to relocation to India and other states due to Michigan's poor economy.
  • % increase in Profitability over past year: 73.3% (2008) compared to 72% (2007) note that we significantly increased our gross revenue in 2008 compared to 2007.
  • % increase in gross revenues over past year: $30,000 (2008) vs. $12,000 (2007) +150%
  • % increase in media events/ articles over past yr: 4 in 2008 vs. 0 in 2007

Minimum Threshold:

    • 6 core volunteers
    • $10,000 in gross annual revenues
    • 3 media articles annually
    • 80% profitability

Your Story:

CRY Detroit has a very compelling story to tell for 2008. While 2007 was the year of rebuilding after a significant loss in membership in 2006, 2008 was really the year we started to grow. As the numbers above show, we significantly increased our gross revenue and started towards the path of sustainability as evidenced by our ability to fill positions in key committees quickly after the loss of key volunteers over the year.

We started the year after organizing ourselves into four major committees Events, Fundraising, Community Outreach and Website. We organized or participated in 7 major events over the year, up from 3 the year before. These included the annual fundraising dinner, Walk for Child Rights, Sur Taal, a music & dance performance by children and a DJ Dance Party. We also participated in the Relay for Life and had a booth at India Day. Two of our volunteers raised more than $2000 for CRY America through their participation in the Detroit Marathon.

We had a significant year of Community Outreach in 2008. We explored a partnership with HAVEN, a non-profit dedicated to helping victims of domestic violence. We were invited by the Rochester Rotary Club to talk about CRY America and CRY Detroit. Three of our volunteers were interviewed on a local TV channel early in the year. We were featured in three newspaper articles and were interviewed on a popular Indian radio show. The teacher of a middle school in Troy, MI saw us at the Walk and invited us to talk to her students about Child Rights. We gave a presentation to 600+ students at the school informing them about the rights of children all over the world. We also helped in starting a CRY chapter in Lansing, MI. The best part of the year was a Christmas Party we planned for first graders at an elementary school in Detroit. While the party was postponed to Jan 7, 2009 due to a snow storm, we did all the work in planning for it in 2008. This included raising money/donations for more than 100 presents and arranging for a magician to perform for the children. The kids absolutely loved the party and we are now exploring more face-to-face interaction with them on an ongoing basis.

We also developed our website significantly in 2008. www.crydetroit.org has several innovations like our blog, Wassup link to Twitter and our personal stories. We used social media tools like Facebook to recruit people to attend our dance party and walk.

Our volunteers range in age from 19 to 63. We are students and professionals. The best part of being part of CRY Detroit has been the friendships we have developed over the year and the joy we find in making a difference in the lives of children in need through our activities. The volunteers really helped us raise our game to the next level in 2008 and we are truly motivated to build on last year's accomplishments and achieve greater success for CRY America this year and in the years to come.