Premier
Estates & Co. is a Philadelphia-based property management real estate firm
founded in 1993 by urban visionary and entrepreneur Nathaniel Archibald and his
partner, Charles Bass. Premier Estates designs, constructs, and manages each of
its properties. This unique approach ensures high quality and standards
throughout the entire development course. With a portfolio extending from
historical restorations in Old City to ground-up skyscrapers on the Avenue of
the Arts, Premier Estates is able to capture the excitement and inspiration of
the city in each residential community. Each property acts as a facilitator of
neighborhood transformation by incorporating mixed-uses that allow for
restaurants, retail, and other entertainment scenes to occupy ground floors of
each property. The luxury apartments and lofts offer 24/7 concierge services,
fitness centers, boardrooms, expansive lobbies, sky decks, balconies, swimming
pools, and gated parking. Premier Estates & Co.’s mission is to transform
undiscovered neighborhoods into desirable residential destinations to
revitalize the urban core of Philadelphia and improve the lives of residents by
stimulating economic growth and fostering cultural energy and education.
Writing
Prompt
In
this assignment, you will write an ‘internal memo’ to your boss in an email.
This memo will be a philanthropic proposal. Therefore, you will include a memo
header AND you will use brevity tools and formatting to make this email
easy-to-read. Long, dense paragraphs do not work in an email—so you are working
to balance strong, detailed analysis (powerfully presented) with readability.
You
will also write a one-paragraph description of your company—what it does, where it is located, what are its
aims/goals/mission (on a separate
sheet). This is a fictional company. Provide enough details/data/specifics so your instructor can see how
you tied your company’s work, mission, and culture to your choice of
philanthropy.
Scenario
and Your Task
The company where you work
[this is a FICTIONAL company] has become successful. Started by a motivated
entrepreneur and his partner, your company now has 210 employees and is still
growing.
The owner is feeling
pressured to become more socially responsible and he/she knows that other
companies like his have engaged in philanthropic programs. The owner wants you
to do research, analyze possibilities, and report back to him in a concise and
persuasive email that strongly RECOMMENDS ONE (1) particular philanthropic
organization/charity for his company to support—and clearly explains why that
charity and not others.
Your task is to address the
following:
·
The owner wants the recommended charity/philanthropy
to be a strong and powerful match for the mission and work of the company. He/she doesn’t want a generic charity; he/she
wants a charity that resonates with the goals and aims of his company he/she
has built.
·
The owner wants the recommended
charity/philanthropy to provide opportunities for him and all his employees to
engage with the work of the charity, but he/she wants something more
interesting than just volunteering time.
How precisely will they all volunteer? What precisely will they do?
·
The owner wants to know about the financial
health of the charity—he/she wants to know in plain English whether this
charity is worthy of his money and why precisely.
·
The owner wants to know the business benefits his
company will receive from working with this philanthropy.
·
The owner wants a realistic budget of how much
this will cost (e.g. if the
business holds an event, he/she wants a realistic breakdown of costs).
Your task is important:
You know that this project could make or break
your next promotion as the owner likes smart and creative individuals who
analyze well, argue well, and write well. If he/she is persuaded, this could
mean a big raise.
Important
Tips – Corporate Philanthropy
1.
Take time to
review philanthropic organizations at www.charitynavigator.org, a ‘charity evaluator’ which evaluates the
financial health of the US’s largest charities.
2.
Take time to
understand how corporate giving and volunteerism work; interview someone in the
field, and/or read about best practices in corporate giving.
·
Read “Does the Good Outweigh the Bad? Sizing
Up ‘Selective’ Corporate Social Responsibility”
(posted on Blackboard).
·
Think about the
strategies your company would follow to build a strong philanthropic arm.
·
Ask interesting,
intellectual, and strategic questions, such as —
o
“Does our giving
strategy suit our company today (e.g. values, assets, culture)?”
o
“What type of
giving would engage and encourage our employees to join with us?”
o
“Could our
company do more in terms of both social and business impact?”
o
“What activities
could we sponsor?”
o
“What would
supporting this charity say about us to our customers, clients, and the
community?”
3. Understand the top benefits for companies when
they engage in “strategic philanthropy”:
·
Companies can
declare up to 10 percent of pretax profits as tax-deductible contributions
·
Employees who
get involved and volunteer develop a stronger sense of loyalty to the employer;
this can improve productivity, enhance recruitment, and reduce employee
turnover
·
Customers are
often more loyal to socially responsible companies
·
By choosing
causes to support that link with its core business (such as Home Depot and
Habitat for Humanity), a company can create synergies with its core
competencies and customers
·
Strategic
philanthropy generally improves a company’s overall reputation and eases
relations with the government and the community
4.
Choose a charity
that you believe is the ‘best fit’ for your company. Visit your chosen
charity’s website and learn all about it. UNDERSTAND CLEARLY how this charity
meets the goals of your company.
Important
Tips – Writing and Formatting Your Email Memo
1.
Build your
persuasive recommendation, point by point.
·
Remember that
good persuasion means using the “you”
strategy. See things from the owner’s perspective. Give the owner a vision to
follow. Anticipate the questions the owner might ask, and answer him/her in
advance.
2.
Remember to —
·
Contextualize and interpret all data to support your decision. Don’t just use
data—EXPLAIN and INTERPRET it in light of your persuasive argument.
·
Present creative, appealing yet plausible action
plans. These should excite the
owner and get him ready to implement your ideas.
o
Don’t just
recommend donating cash. Recommend
longer term or ongoing plans that your company can do for the charity.
·
Present actionable plans—think logically and through the logistics of how
this philanthropic relationship will work. This should be workable and
realistic.
o
The specific
philanthropic activities you recommend to your boss should make business sense.
Don’t simply suggest giving your staff the day off to volunteer—businesses
can’t just close down. Think like a business person.
3.
Draft your
business email, making sure of the following:
·
Your
recommendation should be at the forefront of the email, as your boss has asked
for this information. Provide it swiftly, clearly, and
powerfully—RECOMMENDATION FIRST.
·
Follow with your
persuasive argument as to why this is the best option for the company and its
employees.
·
Use a strong, focused subject line and
conversational (yet still professional) language.
4. Use a memo header inside the email—at the
top. See below for an example:
To: John Smith
From: Mary Jones
Re: YOUR SUBJECT LINE
5.
USE any aspects
of the “CHAPTER approach” to make
your email more readable:
|
C
|
-
|
Chunk Information
|
|
H
|
-
|
Highlight topics — use section headers
|
|
A
|
-
|
Identify the specific
Audience and its needs
|
|
P
|
-
|
Use a Procedural
or how-to list
|
|
T
|
-
|
Use Typography
to navigate the eye (bolding, italics) OR use Tables to
organize information
|
|
E
|
-
|
Use bulleted lists or
Executive summaries
|
|
R
|
-
|
Ask for a Response
if you need one
|
Formatting
Requirements
1.
Put your email into an MS Word file. Maximum word count: 1000 words.
2.
Edit rigorously. This is still reviewed for all the structure and
language issues on the rubric.
3.
Stay professional. This may be an email, but it as professional as
any other office document.
4.
Use brevity tools (e.g., section headers, bullets, lists) if
appropriate.
5. Use a header on the first page with the one-paragraph
description of your company (the email memo will appear starting on the next
page). Your header
should be RIGHT JUSTIFIED and SINGLE
SPACED – see example bolded below:
Student
Name
STRC
2111 Section (identify)/Instructor Name
Writing
Assignment: Philanthropic Proposal
Avoid
Plagiarism
REMEMBER TO UPLOAD YOUR FILE
TO SAFE ASSIGN BY THE BEGINNING OF CLASS (on Due Date)
Because we are using Safe Assign—make sure you do
the following:
·
Create your own company description. Be creative
and original.
·
Be careful not to just copy word for word from www.charitynavigator.org or www.corporatephilanthropy.org. You must learn how to take information from
sources and put it in YOUR language. If you absolutely must quote something—use
quotation marks and APA citations.
·
NOTE: Copying a
few pertinent and relevant numbers is not the problem, but large blocks of text (even if appropriately quoted) will show up on
Safe Assign and lose you points.
|
Content
Requirements:
·
Opens with a
succinct RECOMMENDATION telling the owner at the forefront which charity to
support.
·
Builds a strong,
powerful, detailed, and persuasive argument as to why this philanthropy is the
best choice for the company and its employees—must address how the charity
meets the mission, values, and culture of the company.
·
Explain and
interpret all data—don’t just drop in numbers, explain them in plain English
·
Presents a creative,
appealing, and plausible action plan (i.e. not merely donating cash). Your idea
should excite the owner—and get him ready to implement your ideas.
·
Think through the
logistics of putting your plan in place—make your plan realistic and
workable. Provide a realistic budget of how much this will cost (e.g. for an event,
provide a breakdown of costs).
·
Writing is
appropriate for an office memo/email to a superior.
·
Demonstrates a close
review of web pages noted on assignment sheet.
·
Clearly
addresses specific strategies the company would follow to build a strong
philanthropic arm.
·
Uses
the “you” view and addresses the owner’s perspective.
·
Make sure the
proposal makes sense from a financial and a business standpoint.
·
Demonstrates
(with evidence) that this charity chosen IS the best fit—PROVE that it fits.
_____/15
|
|
Structure and
Logic:
·
The
assignment is written in EMAIL form (that is, not as a letter, but an
internal memo) with To, From, and Re: heading.
·
Opening
clearly sets up the recommendation.
·
Uses brevity tools
(e.g. section headers, bullets, formatting, indenting, tables) and the
CHAPTER approach effectively.
o
The
reader finds important information easily.
·
Organizes
information so
important information is placed first and explanations follow. Internal
sections:
o
Fully explain and
support the choice of that philanthropy with specific, detailed, and
well-chosen evidence.
o
Uses evidence
adeptly—does
not just copy portions of charity navigator or the philanthropy website, but
clearly explains what the numbers mean.
·
Demonstrate an
interesting and powerful progression of ideas (without
redundancy).
·
Clear
logical transitions between ideas explain connections.
·
Closing
reiterates recommendation.
_____/25
|
|
Language:
·
Language is
economical, clear, precise and professional
o
Relies
upon detailed, specific, concrete statements (free of abstract and vague
statements)
o
Free
of discriminatory or biased language
o
Free
of weasel words such as “generally,” “some,” “various,” “very,” “basically”
o
Free
of informal, unprofessional or overly conversational language
o
Free
of jargon and clichés
o
Free
of long-windedness, redundancies, and weak openings (“My point is that it is
very important that people understand the importance of…”)
o
Confident,
positive, and professional tone (No use of “I believe” phrases)
o
Limits
use of passive voice
o
Free
of “There are” or “It is” constructions
o
Free
of unnecessarily complex verb tenses, convoluted constructions
·
Sentences
are energetic and varied
·
Free
of grammar and usage errors, including:
o
Pronoun
disagreement
o
Subject-verb
disagreement or verb tense changes
o
Comma
errors
o
Unparallel
sentence structure
o
Misuse
of punctuation (e.g., apostrophes, quotation marks)
_____/10
|
Total ___________out of 50
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