Beginnings of the Plan

Hey all,
Here is the beginning. I still have to add a lot more. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some more time.

IRANIAN AMERICAN CULTURAL SOCIETY OF MARYLAND
I. Organizational Objective:
a. Fundamental Entity – The Iranian American Cultural Society of Maryland promotes, encourages and fosters the charitable and educational interests of the Persian community and interested individuals by organizing seasonal and traditional events such as Nowruz, Mehregan, Chahar-Shanbeh-Suri and Sizdah-bedar Celebrations, and Yalda Party.
b. Personal Core Competence –
• My personal competence that I can offer the IACS-MD is my deep network and strong integration within the Persian community in Maryland. I was the President of the University of Maryland Baltimore County’s Persian Student Association, and was able to build the club from scratch into an award winning cultural group. Our first event was 90 people. By the time I left we drew crowds over 500. I know many of the people in the community on a personal level, not just an e-mail relationship. I also have connections to Persians across the state from my parent’s Real Estate business.
• Inspiring Vision. I used to work at IACS-MD and they know my influential style, which is why they designated me to give speeches for some of their events. The speeches helped inspire people to give donations.
c. IACS-MD Core Competence : They have been around for a long time, have a huge e-mail list, are well known, and have connections with Voice of America (an international multimedia broadcasting service).
d. Beneficiaries: The main beneficiaries would be the local Persians in the Baltimore metropolitan area. However, the tangential beneficiaries would be all those who take an interest in the Persian culture (non-Persians included). They would be benefitted with a centralized building that would host events of various sizes, and educational services. Other beneficiaries would be the local University Persian Clubs (i.e. Johns Hopkins PSA, UMBC PSA, UMCP PSA, and UTowson PSA). The building could serve as a hub for all of their activities. It could also serve as a platform to promote greater coordination and cohesiveness between the clubs and their events.
e. Goal: The goal is to earn donations from the community for the proposed building, therefore the key metric would have to be total $ pledged, and # of donors. We could also look at Avg. $ donated / donor. Other interesting metrics to look at would be: monthly increases in IACS membership (either through e-mail lists, or official members); and attendance #s for IACS sponsored events.
f. Time Frame: Within a month I would like to complete this marketing plan to give to the IACS board. If the board approves the plan, I would like to see Total $ donated to increase by 20% within a month. Of course the long term goal of attaining the building, I would like to see that happen within 1.5 years.
II. Strategic Quadrant
a. 4 B’s Analysis
• BODIES: Target Community – Donors – Persians who have the ability to donate money, City of Baltimore (Petitioning for necessary $); Tangential Community – Donors – Non-Persians who are in solidarity with the vision of IACS and able to donate; Beneficiaries (as listed above)
• BELIEFS: I want the end-goal of all of this to clear up myths about the Iranian culture. We are not violent or radical. The message propagated by the media is, indeed, skewed and self-serving. I want the organization to further its educational component of the Iranian culture to better serve the community and its perception of Iranians. Iranians are prideful, have a rich history, loving, family oriented, and passionate. Iran is not an Arab country. Iranians are not terrorists and do not believe in violent acts. The Islamic regime does not reflect the interests of the people.
• BEHAVIORS: I want more Persians and Non-Persians to join the IACS. I want the University PSA’s to adjoin and pool their resources to throw larger and more impactful events. I want to see annual cultural events that attract over 10,000 people, and I want to know that people are hearing the voices of Iranians. I want events to make the news.
• BENEFITS: I would like to see increased donations to the IACS so that the IACS can increase its operational capacity. I would also like to see more solidarity between Persian cultural groups in the area. Most importantly, I want to see perceptions about Iranians shifting because of these events and messages.