Client: TreeViver

Scope:
Develop A New Business Model for TreeViver
Re-Brand TreeViver
Design, Develop, and Deploy the TreeViver Website

A NEW BUSINESS MODEL

TOOLS: STRATEGIC THOUGHT PROCESS, BRAINSTORMING HAT

In the summer of 2011 we (my business partner Garey Kennebrew and I) were a asked if we could come up with a business strategy for a gentleman who was trying to co-fund his reforestation efforts in the Brazilian rainforest. He had already spent a significant amount of time and money unsuccessfully trying to generate interest, and was looking for an alternative approach.

The idea that Garey and I came up with was cooperative fundraising. A way for school kids to raise money for their school, while simultaneously raising money for the reforestation efforts in Brazil. We proposed that, in addition to the fundraising efforts, there could be an educational component to engage the children in the classroom so that they could see why reforestation was necessary and learn about the eco system, as well as the business and technologies involved. Ultimately, the program would allow webcasting from the land so the children could see the land and talk with the team who was there planting and maintaining the trees.

Garey headed up the marketing and sales efforts while I went about creating the brand and working out the wireframe for the site and it's necessary components. The initial delivery to our client was a brand guide, wireframe, web layout, and strategy for moving forward.

DESIGN, DEVELOP, AND DEPLOY

TOOLS: ILLUSTRATOR, PHOTOSHOP, DREAMWEAVER, MYPHP ADMIN, MAMP PRO
TECHNOLOGIES: HTML, CSS, JQUERY, PHP, MYSQL, JAVASCRIPT, AJAX

Our plan was met with open arms and we were asked to engage in the actual development and deployment of the strategy. Over the next 9 months I focused on coding the front and back ends of the website, as well as designing the necessary collateral materials.

On the website, the schools had the ability to register themselves and assign administrators of their personal page on the site. Fundraisers could be created for any purpose and for any amount by the schools and they could be scheduled, and be active for any length of time. In addition to the fundraising banners that were automatically created and displayed on the schools page, the ability for the schools to maintain a blog, and to post photos was also provided. The banners displayed the fundraising progress as well as a map that showed the affect of the money raised on the reforestation efforts.

Contributions were automatically divided in half at the time of the transaction, with the transaction fee being paid by TreeViver. This gave the school instant access to the funds during the fundraiser instead of having to wait.
The administrative pages of the site displayed the money raised and was broken down by student, classroom, and by grade. This allowed for a fun, competitive experience for the kids and teachers.
The actual individual school page had a unique URL that could be emailed to the parents and utilized in social media.
Banners displayed the goal, amount raised, and funds needed. Multiple fundraisers could run for one school simultaneously. The tree on each banner would become green as money was raised.

The administrator was able to position the area of affect (orange overlay) to show the amount of rainforest that would be impacted by the funds raised. The overlay displays over the school grounds to give people a sense of relative scale. The ability to see the same overlay on top of the actual land in Brazil was also provided.
TreeViver - School Page Land Overlay
TreeViver - School Page Land Overlay

The first step of the contribution page showed the amount of land the individual contribution will impact.

A receipt detailing the contribution was displayed as well as emailed to each contributor.

The ability for administrators to easily see the funds raised, and to understand what grade, class, and students were responsible allowed for the possibility of awarding prizes (pizza party, gold star, etc.) to the highest producing classes and individuals should the school choose to do so. This page also allowed administrators to see what form of payment was being utilized.

The ability for adminstrators to monitor all fundraisers, manage other administrators, accounts, school info, etc. was also provided.

Unfortunately the schools that we were able to talk to over the summer months were not willing to abandon their existing funding strategies, and had promised the parents that they would only do one fund raising event per school year. We did learn that the word "fundraiser" was seen as a filthy word within the school district that we approached. Odd how an industry that desperately needs money doesn’t want to do everything possible to make ends meet.