Strategy Plan citizenMovement

Life is pretty cool at citizenM. We meet amazing people everyday, brew powerful coffee, and help world-weary travelers feel rested and happy again. And that’s just during working hours! The rest of the time, we are laying grand plans for new hotel openings and fascinating collaborations. We would like to be able to share that fortune and therefore have started our very own self-sustainable charity program: citizenMovement.

We have some pretty nifty values we live by. One of them is ‘real caring’ and that should be a no-brainer in our line of work, right? Our extra-large beds, living rooms built for comfort and amazing ambassadors are there to make you feel cared for. But we thought ‘real caring’ shouldn’t just stay within our four walls. Real caring should make a difference to people who have never been, and might never be citizenM guests.

Thinking beyond our doors, we thought about what really defines us and we realized that what defines citizenM is mobility. We never stop planning, dreaming and discovering. It’s even in our name - citizenM stands for citizen mobile. From here, it was only a short jump to naming our charity citizenMovement. Our charity purpose? Mobilising citizens to help shorten the distances between people and opportunities.

citizenMovement aims to be a self-sustained, growing non profit organization, however it will be supported by citizenM and its success depends on the joined efforts of citizenM’s staff, guests and the citizens from the cities where we are present. In the structure of this foundation, citizenM will be a direct sponsor of citizenMovement by providing citizenMovement with funds that come out of citizenM’s housekeeping savings plan, implemented in all operational hotels, sales from collectionM and cantinM as well as coordinating fundraising events. citizenMovement will also receive donations.

citizenMovement will not simply give money away. The giving needs to be linked to a direct sustainable life improvement chain reaction that comes from the receiving of what citizenMovement has given. Don’t give them fish, teach them how to fish.

This chain reactions can be sparked in many ways, citizenMovement can directly impact organizations or individuals using raised funds; However, our strategy needs to amplify the impact of our efforts. To achieve that, we will look for organizations that truly share our views, values, and a dedication to our cause, and will partner with them. These partnerships, which may change annually, are selected out of proposals submitted by citizenM staff.

The first organization we are partnering with is World Bicycle Relief, and their BEEP initiative (Bicycles for Educational Empowerment Program), which provides bicycles to students in developing countries to make their journeys to school shorter, and feasible. What took hours on foot can now be completed in minutes, thanks to WBR. And while we are big believers in this great cause, we also believe charitable giving should be simple. So, citizenM guests can contribute by simply skipping their daily room cleaning during their stay. All money saved will go to citizenMovement.

Besides the housekeeping savings by the participation of citizenM guests, citizenMovement’s funds will be generated through donations and by engaging citizenM teams in staff related events that will raise funds for citizenMovement’s mission and purpose.

Doing good feels good, there’s no doubt about it. We hope you join us in doing the good deeds! We will communicate about future collaborations as they develop.

Business Name and Info
Stichting citizenMovement
address: Leidseweg 219, 2253 AE – Voorschoten, The Netherlands
email: citizenMovement@citizenM.com
phone nr.: +31 (0)20-8117-000
KVK: 72240954
RSIN: 859042984
bank account nr: [NL68 RABO 0324 1036 70]

Mission/Purpose:
mobilising citizens to help shorten the distances between people and opportunities a platform to do good by providing mobility to people who don’t have it. To create access and opportunities for life improvement of people living in less fortunate conditions through mobility, in a sustainable way movement unlocks knowledge, enthusiasm, independence, equality & progress

Goals:

1. To improve lives of people by shortening distances between them and opportunities with the gift of mobility

2. Bring citizenMovement to life by engaging citizenM guests and staff teams, and make it a fundamental part of the citizenM culture

Focus Target Market for fundraising:

• citizenM guests

• Staff: Office & Hotels

• Neighbours: citizens of the cities where citizenM is present

Legal Structure/Ownership:
citizenMovement will be an independent non-profit foundation.
citizenM will be a direct sponsor of citizenMovement

Funds:
Contributions received from citizenM’s housekeeping saving’s plan, cantineM & collectionM sales, donations and fundraising events organized by citizenM involving guests. staff, citizens and partners.

citizenMovement aims to be a self-sustained, growing non profit foundation. We will start by focusing on simple, cost-effective, and engaging ways to increase our outreach, increase our donor base, and grow on a yearly basis. We will do this by tapping into citizenM’s target audience, starting with our staff, guest, and citizens in the cities where we are present.

To reach this audience, we will use citizenM’s existing channels such as our website, social media, hotel facilities, offices and Mpower. These channels will be used to create awareness and to promote the participation of the target audience in fundraising events and activities.

A permanent flow of funds has been already set up with hotel guests. Guests staying two nights or more can contribute by simply skipping their daily room cleaning. The related savings go to citizenMovement. Besides the housekeeping savings by the participation of guests, citizenMovement will generate funds by providing other means of donation for 1 night guests as well as by organizing engaging fundraising events through the year involving guests, staff, partners and citizens of the cities where we have hotels.

We will:
● form partnerships with other organizations; for our first endeavor, we have formed a partnership with a nonprofit organization, World Bicycle Relief and their BEEP initiative (Bicycles for Educational Empowerment Program). Partnering with strong, well established organizations is a great way to make an impact in people’s lives, while promoting awareness of our nonprofit organization. This partnership can help us build morale with charity projects, and increase our prominence in the public eye, without us personally investing in this. citizenMovement will not partner with just anyone. We will always search for organizations that truly share our views, values, and a dedication to our cause and that have been granted a ANBI (Public Benefit Organisation) status or equivalent foreign status; closing the gap between people and opportunities with the gift of mobility. This way we will ensure solid partnerships that can assist raising awareness about our cause and solidify our existence. These partnerships, which may change annually, are selected out of proposals submitted by citizenM staff.

● create the possibility to donate; amongst citizenM guests, we are currently promoting housekeeping savings, if their stay is more than 1 night. All money saved from housekeeping will go to citizenMovement. Besides the housekeeping savings by the participation of guests, citizenMovement will create the possibility to make donations and will make available Donation via the purchase of an citizenMovement iconic item for Sale at canteenM & collectionM. These will be barcoded promo items, that guests can buy in canteenM (as a non-inventory product).

● organize engaging events for citizenM guests and team members; we will engage citizenM guests and teams through organized staff events for citizenM hotels and support offices that can provide extra funds for our foundation. All fundraising events must be able to not only cover its costs, but bring funds into the charity, in order for this to thrive.

● make use of social media; Social media is one of the single most powerful tools available to any company - and that includes the nonprofit community. Approximately 2.8 billion people use social media every day, the best part about being active on social media is that it doesn't take a huge time commitment, as you don't have to create too much original content. We will post about what's going on in our organization, as well as share useful and interesting content with our viewers.

● leverage citizenM’s website with great content; citizenM has a great website already and citizenMovement can piggy-back on it. We will need to use this website to also post great content on our charity and use this platform to raise awareness and grow our citizenMovement brand. Also, the content that we create on citizenM’s website could be cross-posted on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, further promoting awareness of our nonprofit charity.

● branded promotional Items; we will use citizenM’s iconic promo item as give away promotional items, besides just selling them. This step should not be overlooked in the world of nonprofit business. Though it can be somewhat expensive to do, they offer a fantastic ROI, as they persist with a potential donor or member of our organization long after we hand them out. In fact, studies show that nearly 89% of consumers can recall the branding on a promotional product that they received within 24 months, and over 53% of consumers use a branded product once or more per week. These items don't have to be expensive, but we want them to be innovative and in a very special citizenM style. We can use these items at events, meetings, and fundraisers, we can be surprised at just how effective they can be.

● connect with our current givers and donors; in the future, we could look into the possibility to stay in constant contact with existing givers and donors. We could look into services like Clang or other marketing services that can allow us to send awesome, customized newsletters thanking our participants, and in the future, as we grow, perhaps even use more advanced services that could allow us to send customized messages to them, informing them of upcoming fundraisers, and other crucial information.

Event criteria:
● Year 1; In the first year, for an event to be approved, this should not cost more than 65% of the total set revenue
● Years to follow; In the second and third year, an event will only be approved, if the costs of the event is no more than 55%, respectively, of the total set revenue and after year 4 no event should cost more than 45% of the estimated set revenue
● every event should be able to give citizenMovement some kind of exposure

As a new non-profit organization, we may have to put more money into fundraising at the beginning. Statistics show that nonprofits that have well-established relationships with foundations or big-money donors have lower ratios than newly established nonprofits that are just beginning to raise money.

Once we have been around awhile, we will look at our expense-to-income ratio for the whole period to see our average fundraising ratios. We can then also compare our performance with nonprofits of a similar size, mission and age. This will tell us whether we are below or above average in our specialty. As time passes, we will compare our most recent ratio to earlier periods and see if we are becoming more efficient. If not, we will have to find ways to increase our fundraising efficiency.

citizenMovement requires a clear focus, dedication, implementation and communication consistency to achieve Credibility, Visibility, Enthusiasm and Inclusion.

In order to achieve that, citizenM needs to assign an employee that will be fully responsible & accountable for all citizenMovement results.

Using the Cascade model; Besides the assignment of this specific individual to represent and focus on citizenMovement, we will resort to equip volunteered hotel ambassadors, with a deep understanding of the mission and purpose of citizenMovement by implementing the Cascade Model; this means that said hotel team members will be trained to become a citizenMovement official ambassador, by more knowledgeable peers to than pass their knowledge on again.

Personnel:
As we grow, citizenMovement will hire someone with NGO extensive experience to support our non profit organization, for 2 or 3 days a week, and a proper team can be placed to manage, and support this new an amazing initiative.
For now, the focus is to establish a solid foundation for citizenMovement with the support of 2 existing staff members of citizenM, dedicating a percentage of their committed work time to this initiative. citizenM will not charge citizenMovement for their support.

Outside services:
In addition citizenMovement will use outside services for assistance in cycle event planning of the events. For 2018-2020, citizenMovement has made an agreement with renown cyclist, Steven Rooks on retainer. This will provide expertise in the planning and coordination of our cycling fundraising events.

citizenMovement board:

1. Klaas van Lookeren Campagne - Chairman

2. Hein Bijl - Secretary/Treasurer

3. Wulf van Alkemade - member

The citizenMovement board has the power to represent citizenMovement. The power to represent citizenMovement is, in addition to the power of the board, vested in two board members acting jointly. None of the board members is authorized to represent citizenMovement solely.

The members of the citizenMovement board do not receive a remuneration. Reasonable expenses incurred in the proper performance of their duties will be reimbursed.