Each year Leadership Saratoga classes break into groups and work on a project outside of their regularly scheduled Leadership sessions.  The projects are intended to create impact in Saratoga County. Saratoga County Chamber member organizations apply to have their project accepted.  This year’s class projects are as follows:

BEYOND MY BATTLE (BMB) is a nonprofit helping people manage the emotional stress of serious illness and disability. BMB provides emotional support and educational resources that help this population understand, manage, and reduce their stress so they can be healthier, happier, and more resilient. All programs are rooted in the core concepts of mindfulness, awareness, and compassion. With a number of new initiatives planned to launch this fall, along with existing programming that will continue to grow, we are looking to Leadership Saratoga to assist us with putting together and carrying out an effective marketing strategy for the existing and new initiatives including: Podcast, Videography, E-books, Blog, and Art with Heart and Hope Show.

CAFFE LENA As is likely the case with many performance-oriented non-profit venues, the management of volunteers at Caffè Lena poses many challenges. Staff members are frequently scrambling to fill positions at the last minute to carry out food service every night. Currently, there is no handbook or training manual outlining expectations for each position resulting in a lack of consistency. In addition, for those volunteers who regularly provide the Caffè with the gift of their time, there is no reward program in place to thank them or incentivize them to continue giving. The goal of this project is to establish an effective system for efficiently managing Caffè Lena’s volunteers as well as to foster engagement and development.

FRIENDS OF CAMP LITTLE NOTCH Camp Little Notch provides fun and high-quality programming in a beautiful wilderness setting with great role models. We develop independence, confidence, responsibility, teamwork, and good values in our campers. One week at a summer camp can change a child’s life, enough to forge friendships to last for years, if not decades and gain confidence to hike that extra difficult trail or swim that impossible mile. It is our hope and goal to aide in the growth of our campers, encourage them to experience and understand things and people outside what they know and learn that they are so much more than they believe. With assistance from the Leadership Saratoga program with a strategic marketing plan, I believe we can make this experience a reality for more children in need of such experiences.

ROUNDABOUT RUNNERS CLUB The project scope is to access the current marketing, mailing lists, websites, and social media outlets to maximize the club’s exposure to its target audiences. Currently the club has one website, Facebook, Instagram, twitter accounts. But the races; Malta Mile, Malta5K/10K and soon to be launched Malta Cross Country Series have different accounts. To confuse matters, we also have an adult membership and the perception is we are just a kid’s club. Our marketing and promotion need assistance to create a message so we can communicate the services we provide to both youth and adult runners.