project b.e.n.e.f.i.t. - fbla-pbl€¦ · lesson plan development after considerable research and...

B.E.N.E.F.I.T. American Enterprise Project

Odessa High School Washington State

2015-16

Project

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Odessa High School American Enterprise Project

Table of Contents Purpose of Project

Introduction ............................................................................................... 1

Purpose of the Project ................................................................................. 1

Project Goals ............................................................................................... 2

Research Into Needs

Needs Identified .......................................................................................... 3

Planning and Development

Organization ............................................................................................... 4

Target Audience.......................................................................................... 4

Lesson Plan Development ....................................................................... 4-5

Implementation

Lessons ................................................................................................. 6-10

Evaluation and Results

Overall Benefits ................................................................................... 11-12

Results ..................................................................................................... 12

Appendix A ........................................................................................................ 13

Odessa High School FBLA

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Purpose of the Project Introduction The American Free Enterprise System is defined as a market economy where buyers and sellers are allowed to

transact freely with little government regulation. Odessa High School’s American Enterprise Project Team

recognized that promoting support and understanding of the American Free Enterprise System in our school and

community would be beneficial for the future of everyone involved.

Making a profit has long been the motivation behind the Free Enterprise System, but a new kind of company has

emerged in America during the last three years that intrigued our chapter: the Benefit Corporation. Upon further

examination, we learned that Benefit Corporations are springing up across America. While we were not that

familiar with their business structure, we were definitely familiar with some of their products, like TOMS Shoes

and Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream.

A Benefit Corporation is a corporate entity that not only works to earn a profit, but also to create a positive

impact on society or the environment.

Unlike traditional corporations that judge

their performance based on profit, Benefit

Corporation shareholders judge

performance based on the company's social,

environmental, and financial

performance. With more than 3,000 Benefit

Corporations in the United States, our

chapter made a decision to use this new

trend in American enterprise as an

educational opportunity.

Purpose of the Project

The ultimate purpose of this project was to educate students about a special component of the American

Enterprise System. Rather than do another boring lesson on budgeting, we chose a topic that had never been

addressed before and would be beneficial for everyone involved.

The focus of American business has always been to make a profit. A business not driven by a profit motive

entirely, consciously choosing to give a portion of their profits to solve a social or environmental problem is a

major change to the traditional views of the American Enterprise System. Businesses that focus on social good

have been around for decades, but the concept has really taken off since 2012, as new laws in several states

allowed mission-based companies to reincorporate as Benefit Corporations, protecting themselves from

stakeholders who might not prioritize social or environmental causes (FastCompany.com). It was time that our

students and community were enlightened about this new way of thinking in the corporate world and its impact

on the American Enterprise System.

Zoe Clark, John DeWulf, Chance Messer, and Kassidy Crossley, Odessa High School’s American Enterprise Project

(AEP) Team, saw this as a great, educational opportunity. This inspired the team to create an American

Enterprise Project titled Project B.E.N.E.F.I.T.

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Purpose of the Project Project Goals The goals of this project were as follows:

By accomplishing these goals, we would bring a new awareness to the community and students of

Odessa. Not only do Benefit Corporations make a positive impact to society, but also working for one is

becoming increasingly popular. They attract and retain talent simply because of their corporate status.

Millennials say that company purpose is important for their choice, and they are attractive to investors

(Benefitcorp.net).

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Research into School and Community Needs Needs Identified

Benefit corporations are a promising development in social enterprise and an exciting way to rethink

conventional business models. Benefit Corporations want to be part of something bigger than themselves. They

are leading a growing global movement of citizens using business as a force for good. Through the power of their

united voice, one day all companies may consider doing what is best for the world, and society will enjoy more

prosperity because of it.

Businesses are often perceived as greedy and self-serving. The news about corporate America is not always

positive. Each year, 909,000 businesses file for bankruptcy or fail. The housing crisis and auto industry bail-out in

2008 cost American tax payers billions of dollars. Sears CEO, Eddie Lampert, earns 5 million dollars annually while

his company has fallen to the bottom of the retail industry . Is this what American Enterprise is all about?

Certainly not. Bringing attention to this new way of doing business would be beneficial to the entire community

and, we hope, inspire others to consider generosity in sharing their profits.

There was a definite need to expose our students and community to Project B.E.N.E.F.I.T. A week does not go by

in Odessa without a car wash, bake sale, or other fundraiser. The food bank is always in need, and all our local

churches have an on-going list of requested supplies. Even our Odessa FBLA Chapter faces need. We raised

$44,500 last year just to pay for conference expenses. There is always a social or environmental need in every

city, state and nation. Imagine if corporate America made it their mission to take on the needs of the world with

a long-term plan to help.

FBLA members surveyed teachers of grades 5-12 to determine if they were interested in FBLA members,

teaching students about the American Enterprise System, and, specifically, Benefit Corporations. The survey

indicated that 100% of the teachers were interested in having their students participate in a project that would

teach this concept.

A survey of students prior to their involvement in the project indicated that 3 percent of the students had any

knowledge of a Benefit Corporation. A survey of adults found that over half were familiar with business models

like TOMS Shoes, but they were not aware that this was a Benefit Corporation.

Odessa, Washington

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Planning and Development Organization

In November, four members of Odessa’s FBLA chapter

volunteered to coordinate the American Enterprise Project

for our chapter. The American Enterprise team, consisting of

Zoe Clark, John DeWulf, Chance Messer, and Kassidy

Crossley, had their first meeting in October, 2015, to

brainstorm ideas for the project. After reading an article in

Fast Company magazine on the rise of Benefit Corporations,

we were intrigued and decided to learn more.

After much investigation, we decided to move forward with

our idea because it was original and had the potential to be

very interesting. Furthermore, the topic offered the students

an opportunity to be deeply engaged in their learning

process. “Project B.E.N.E.F.I.T.” was the official title given to the

project.

Target Audience

Our survey clearly indicated that all students could benefit by being direct participants. However, it was not

possible to ask every teacher to work with every grade for eight weeks because of lack of time, resources, or the

level of cooperation to do so. Therefore, based on teacher input, we decided to work with the 26 students in

the eighth grade class. We would use the knowledge and projects created by the eighth graders in their lessons

to teach the rest of our targeted audience at school and the community.

A pre-test was created to assess the students’ knowledge of Benefit Corporations. FBLA members researched

the topic and determined that three simple, but meaningful questions would be the best way to gauge the

students’ knowledge. The test could be completed quickly and would be easy to grade.

Lesson Plan Development

After considerable research and careful consideration of our goals, we developed eight lesson plans that could

be implemented in 20 different class periods over eight weeks. To keep the students engaged and to promote

learning, the team designed the lessons using interactive games, PowerPoints, and activities. To encourage

participation, students who were actively involved would be rewarded with candy.

Even though the focus of the project revolved around the eighth graders, the project would affect hundreds of

people. The entire FBLA chapter was also taught the first two lessons so that they had the knowledge needed to

assist younger students with the project. Other students in grades four through twelve would have the

opportunity to learn about the project. To encourage community participation, we planned to upload the videos

about the project to YouTube so anyone could observe the work of the eighth graders.

The committee worked to create a series of experiences that would allow the eighth graders to not only learn

about Benefit Corporations, but also to form a “dream” corporation and a real life Benefit Corporation. Our goal

was to ensure all students came away with a clear understanding of how Benefit Corporations are valuable to

the American Enterprise System.

AEP Team: Kassidy Crossley, John

DeWulf, Zoe Clark, Chance Messer

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Planning and Development Our vision for the project is outlined as follows:

Each of the eight lessons had specific goals that the eighth graders would easily understand. Each lesson was a

stepping stone to develop their full understanding of Benefit Corporations. The eight lessons included the

following:

Lesson 1: Identify the five components of the American Enterprise System.

Lesson 2: Explain the types of business organizations commonly found in the American Enterprise System and

the unique qualities of each.

Lesson 3: Explain what a Benefit Corporation is and give real

examples.

Lesson 4: Research an existing Benefit Corporation from the

list to the right.

Lesson 5: Given all the resources and technical expertise

available, create a “dream” Benefit Corporation that sells an

innovative product that your team has created. Decide how the

profits from the sale of your amazing high-tech product will be

used to benefit a social or environmental cause.

Lesson 6: Host a “Benefit Fair” to show off your “dream”

businesses, products, and your strategy for investing in a social

or environmental cause.

Lesson 7: As a class, create an actual Benefit Corporation. Select a product to or service to sell and decide who

will benefit from it.

Lesson 8: As a class, travel to Catholic Family Charities to learn more about the homeless, and deliver blankets.

Benefit Corporations •Ben & Jerry’s

•Patagonia

•The Honest Company

•Kamok

•Comet Skateboards

•Larry’s Coffee

•Therafit

•A Happy Life

•Blu Planet

•Warby Parker

•Textbooks for Change

Learn about American Enterprise System

Learn about types of businesses

Research an interesting Benefit Corporation

Create a “dream” Benefit Corporation

Create a Benefit Corporation experience

Learn about Benefit Corporations

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Implementation On February 8, 2016, committee members met with the eighth grade class for the first time to begin the implementation of the project. Over the next two months, students completed all eight phases of the project and in the process, educated our entire 4-12 student body and the community.

Lesson 2

With business as the foundation of the American Enterprise System, lesson two focused on the role businesses play in the system, and the many types of businesses found in our economy. Students were able to identify the characteristics of sole proprietorships, partnerships, proprietorships, and corporations. The ground work had been laid for the introduction of the Benefit Corporation.

Lesson 1

Lesson one began with an overview of the American Enterprise System. Students were taught the five components of the system through a PowerPoint presentation, games and a video.

Lesson 3

Lesson three began with the question, “What is a Benefit Corporation?” Students were given a pretest which questioned their knowledge of a Benefit Corporation. After reading many amusing answers, it was clear they had no knowledge. Members then taught a lesson on the definition of a Benefit Corporation. In the presentation, students learned that this type of company works for a profit, just like other businesses, but they also are committed to make social or environmental improvements in the world. They do not just measure success by the money that they make, but also by how much good they contribute. To fully understand the concept, students were taught definitions of important words like long-term, social, environmental, and profit. Next, students watched a powerful video describing the creation of TOMS Shoes. Founder, Blake Mycoskie, spent time in Argentina where he noticed two things. First, most children did not get shoes until they were teenagers, and second, everyone, rich and poor, wore a type of shoe called alpargata because they were durable and comfortable. The idea to create an American shoe company to sell a similar product, while also providing shoes to the children in need, began to materialize. In a two-year period, Blake found investors, engineers, manufactures and marketers to produce and sell the shoes. The company’s first delivery of 50 pairs of TOMS Shoes was to Argentina in 2006, and to date they have sold more than ten million pairs of shoes and given away fifty million more in 70 countries. It is a very inspirational story, and as the students watched children walk through miles of mud in bare feet, it became clear why a company such as TOMS Shoes chose to be a Benefit Corporation and give back socially.

Lesson 4 With a clear understanding of a Benefit Corporation, we divided the students into groups of two and had them research an existing Benefit Corporation from the list on page 6. The students were asked to prepare a poster that included the following elements: Name of company, products they sell, history or philosophy of the company, location, and how they give back socially and/or environmentally. Each group then shared their posters with the class so everyone would get a broad perspective of the many

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Implementation innovative ways these companies make a profit and give back. By the end of Lesson four, all 26 students had a better perspective on the reason why a dozen different companies choose to operate as a Benefit Corporation and what inspired them to do so.

Lesson 5 In the fifth lesson we wanted to challenge the students to dream big and be innovative, much like we saw with the companies they had just researched. They were told to assume they had all the engineers, scientists and business people necessary to help create a Benefit Corporation that sold a product that had never been invented. Their challenge was to come up with not only a product to sell that would make a large profit, but also help a social or environmental cause they would spend part of their profits on. Before they could actually begin creating their companies, we taught them a few important lessons. We discussed how they could brand their product with a logo, a clever name, and a consistent color scheme. Next we shared a document called “Top 10 World Problems” to help generate ideas.

The students were divided into six groups and spent the first day brainstorming. By the end of the lesson, each group had a company name, logo, product, and a plan to give back. Some of them chose to give away a percentage of their profits, others chose the-buy-one-give-one model, while some chose to give away a product related to their company.

Once the students completed their research, they began designing tri-fold boards describing their companies. They included their company name, logo, information, how they give back, and the products they sell. The groups also created prototypes of the products they would be selling. When the boards and prototypes were done, eighth grade students and FBLA members prepared for the Benefit Fair. Each student designed a ten-foot space in the gymnasium to set up their booth. Students were then taught how to give a sales pitch and wrote one to be used during the fair. Students worked to make their space appealing with strong branding of their product and company.

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Implementation Lesson 6

The Benefit Fair was held on Wednesday March 16, 2016. Students from each class in grade 5-12 visited the fair during one class period. The fair began with a brief introduction of what a Benefit Corporation was and included a short video on the subject. Then, the class was divided into six groups, where each group rotated through the fair visiting each display. At each booth visitors were asked to test the prototype, ask questions, complete an informational worksheet, and then rank the companies. The Benefit Fair lasted six hours. By the end, the eighth grade students had become very good at pitching their product, and the entire school now understood the Benefit Corporation business model. To share the fair with the community, FBLA members videoed each group and created a five minute documentary on the project to be shared on YouTube through the school website and our FBLA Facebook page.

Wear and Tear Bike Wear Products: Bike accessories such as helmets that project, solar panel phone chargers and a device for

mounting phones on bike. Give: Indestructible bikes to third

world countries with transportation issues.

Light Nights Products: Solar powered night lights that project

15,000 lumens and last eight hours. Give: 13% of their profits and Light Nights to

third world countries.

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Implementation

Orange Product: Projection 3000 is a tiny

projector that attaches to smart phones and projects 3,000 lumens. Give: Orangepad tablets to children

in third world countries.

Green Gopher Product: Vitamin water that contains green

vegetables but tastes like Koolaid. Give: 25% of their profits to build wells in


K.J.B.T K.J.B.T. is a construction company in the U.S.A. that

uses 75% of their profits to build homeless shelters.

Cozy Coma Products: Massaging

blankets. Give: cots and malaria nets to people in


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Implementation Lesson 7

The next lesson involved creating an actual eighth grade class Benefit Corporation, minus all the legal paperwork. All 26 students were considered a shareholder in the corporation and their task was to make a product or sell a service for profit. With their profit, they could spend a portion on an environmental or social cause and could keep the rest for themselves. In a big brainstorming session, students decided to be the “Sham Gram Smoothie Company,” making green apple smoothies to sell during St. Patrick’s Day. They would sell each smoothie for $2.00 and earn an approximate profit of $1.50 per sale.

The next big decision was what to do with the profit. They made a choice to retain some of their profit to host a class pizza party, and spend the rest on a cause that was important to our school counselor, Dr. Jerry Schwab. Dr. Jerry works with the homeless through Catholic Family Charities in Spokane, WA. At his suggestion, the students decided to purchase blankets and sleeping bags with their money, which they delivered in May.

Students divided themselves into four teams to run their business efficiently: Finance, Marketing, Production, and Delivery. The marketing team created flyers, order forms, and posted information in the school bulletin. They also sent home order forms with all 240 students. The marketing campaign generated 191 Sham Gram Smoothie orders.

The finance committee counted and deposited all of the money and organized the order forms by grade.

On March 17, the production team made all of the smoothies in one hour, and the delivery team took the smoothies to each classroom.

The net profit from sales was $289.90. Students made a decision to spend 20% of the profit on their pizza party, and use 80% to purchase blankets and sleeping bags for the homeless.

Sham Gram Smoothie Company Income

Revenue: $380.99

Expenses:

Smoothie $70.10

Cups $24.00

Total Expenses: $94.10

Net Income $289.90

Plan for

Giving away: 80% $231.92

Keeping: 20% $57.98

Lesson 8

The final lesson took place at Catholic Family Charities in May. Benefit Corporations became a powerful experience beyond a classroom lesson on the economy for the eighth grade and FBLA members. Students visited Catholic Family Charities where they learned more about the plight of the homeless and toured the facility. They then delivered over 30 blankets and sleeping bags to those in need.

Upon their return, the eighth grade students completed a post-test, where they scored an average of 98%. Project B.E.N.E.F.I.T. was complete.

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Evaluation and Results

Students, Members, and Organizations

Qualitative Impact Potential Quantitative Impact on

Odessa Residents

Odessa High School FBLA Chap-ter Members

Gained knowledge about Benefit Corporations and teaching middle school

students.

36 Members

Middle School Students (6-7th grade)

Gained knowledge about Benefit Corporations.

34 Students

8th Grade Students

Gained knowledge about Benefit Corporations, worked

closely with high school students, setup and ran a “Benefit Fair,”

ran a smoothie business, and do-nated blankets to

Catholic Family Charities.

26 Students

Elementary Students (4-5th grade)


40 Students

High School Students (9-12th grade non-FBLA

members)


23 Students

Odessa High School Staff Gained knowledge about Benefit Corporations and

witnessed student growth. 21 Staff Members

Community of Odessa Gained knowledge about Benefit Corporations by

watching the project on YouTube. 887 People

Zoe, John, Kassidy, and Chance

Gained knowledge about Benefit Corporations,

experienced donating to Catholic Family Charities, worked

closely with middle school stu-dents, hosted the “Benefit Fair,” and promoted the American En-

terprise System.

4 AEP Team Members

Total Potentially 1,070 People

Overall Benefits The overall benefits of Project B.E.N.E.F.I.T. were

outstanding. The AEP team was able to teach over 100

elementary, middle, and high school students about

Benefit Corporations. In addition to this, the eighth

graders were also able to use part of the profit from

their Sham Gram Smoothie Company to buy blankets

and give them to the homeless. One hundred percent of

Odessa’s 36 members were involved in one or more

phases of this project. The potential impact of Odessa’s FBLA project is

calculated and demonstrated in the graph below.

Students at the “Benefit Fair”

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Evaluation and Results Results As we evaluated the entirety of our American Enterprise Project, we truly believe we have made a huge impact

on our entire community. Not only did we accomplish all of our goals, but we exceeded them. By working with

Catholic Family Charities, we have given our students a real-life experience on giving back using their hard-

earned dollars. We were hoping to just simulate a Benefit Corporation experience, but now students have

experienced it first hand. Not only did the students and community of Odessa learn something new about the

Free Enterprise System, but they have been inspired to think about giving back in a whole new way.

This project received an incredible amount of publicity! The results of the American Enterprise Project were

featured in print and social media for the community and world to see.

Odessa High School website featuring the Benefit Fair

Odessa Record article

Odessa High School FBLA Instagram account

featured the Benefit Fair

Odessa High School FBLA

Facebook profile featuring the Benefit Fair

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Appendix A

Benefit Fair worksheet

completed by student guests

Students created proto-types of their products in their “dream” Benefit

Corporations

This form was used for students to plan their

“dream” Benefit Corporation

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