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MAKING A DIFFERENCE

BCG AND ITS PRO BONO CLIENTS

BCG PRO BONOREPORT

The Boston Consulting Group is a general management consulting firmthat is a global leader in business strategy. BCG has helped companiesin every major industry and market achieve a competitive advantage bydeveloping and implementing winning strategies. Founded in 1963, thefirm now operates 60 offices in 37 countries. For further information,please visit our Web site at www.bcg.com.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

BCG AND ITS PRO BONO CLIENTS

O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4

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BCG PRO BONO REPORT

3Making a Difference

Table of Contents

Note to the Reader 5

Introduction 6

Community and Economic Development 8

Education and Research 15

The Environment 22

Health 25

Management and Professional Associations 29

Philanthropic Organizations and Volunteerism 32

Recreation and Culture 34

Social Services 36

Urban Revitalization 39

Index of Organizations 44

4 BCG PRO BONO REPORT


We have written this report for two reasons. First, we want to showcase some outstanding institutionsand encourage readers to support them. Second, we would like to suggest our pro bono clients as mod-els for professional firms to keep in mind when they ask themselves what kind of pro bono efforts theyshould be undertaking or supporting. We all know that professional services firms are only as good astheir clients. Similarly, if you want to have impact on your society and community, then you are onlyas good as your pro bono clients.

We have been privileged to work with some truly outstanding institutions. It is rewarding to servethem. They teach us about entrepreneurship and leadership. They teach us how to envision a betterworld. And we find it truly gratifying when our ideas and analysis help solve our pro bono clients’problems and make a real difference to people and society.

The depth and the diversity of our pro bono clients’ work are particularly impressive. Witness, forexample, Balkanu Cape York Development Corporation, a broad effort to help the indigenous pop-ulation of Cape York, Australia, overcome economic and social challenges. Or consider theRockefeller Foundation’s work to improve its strategy for fighting severe but neglected diseases, suchas malaria and tuberculosis. Or examine the World Food Programme, the United Nations’ frontlineagency in the fight against global hunger, and how it is improving the efficiency of its operations andimpact. Some of our pro bono clients are helping to revitalize U.S. inner cities—for example, identi-fying industry sectors with the greatest potential for expansion and job creation in Boston.

There is self-interest here, of course. Pro bono work is an important part of The Boston ConsultingGroup’s culture and heritage. We have always used our collective talents to help our clients thrive andmake our business succeed commercially. We recognize that today’s developing communities aretomorrow’s thriving markets. But at the same time, we believe that it is a responsibility for a firm suchas ours to seek to have a beneficial impact on the world around us. And the work is motivating anduplifting for our staff.

This document is a testament to the efforts of our pro bono clients and to the many people at BCGwho have worked with them. If you would like to receive more information about the organizationsincluded in this report or about BCG’s pro bono work in general, please contact us by e-mail at [email protected].

Hans-Paul BürknerPresident and CEO

Note to the Reader

Corporate social responsibility meansdifferent things to different people.To many, it means philanthropy,pure and simple. The practice iscommendable and, ultimately,

practical. After all, a financial gift is often themost valuable and relevant contribution manybusinesses have to offer. It is truly the best wayfor them to make an impact.

For The Boston Consulting Group, however,corporate social responsibility necessarily has a dif-ferent connotation. For us, it primarily meansapplying our talents, our expertise, ourinsights—the things that make us stand out as afirm—to work with our pro bono clients tomake a difference to the societies we all live in.

Indeed, it is our pro bono clients that are mak-ing the real difference. The best way that wecan support them is with our unique skills, tar-geted carefully and applied strategically. Theprofiles of recent pro bono clients’ workincluded in this collection illustrate this princi-ple well.

The Characteristics of BCG’s Pro Bono Work

Our pro bono clients’ efforts cover a wide rangeof topics and touch virtually every corner of theglobe. Most BCG offices devote substantial time and effort to pro bono work. Nevertheless,there are powerful and consistent themes—community development, education and re-search, health, social services, and urban plan-ning and economic development—runningthrough this work.

Our pro bono clients come to us in a variety ofways. Existing pro bono clients introduce them.Other pro bono relationships stem from thefirm’s global initiatives and requests from corpo-rate clients, staff, and alumni.

Our relationships and work with our pro bonoclients reflect BCG’s values:

• Integrity. We are uncompromising in our determination to deliver only the highest-quality work.

• Respect for the Individual. We always seek tomaintain an environment that encourages andbrings out the best in our clients and in our-selves.

• The Primacy of the Client. We seek to identify ourclients’ real needs and measure our success bytheir success.

• An Emphasis on the Strategic Perspective. We look ateach client’s business as a whole and providecomprehensive solutions.

• The Desire to Add Value. We are committed tocreative and practical results.

• A Willingness to Work with the Client. We strive toempower our clients as partners in a teameffort.

• A Belief in Expanding the Art of the Possible. Westart with the perspective that best practicecan be improved, that each client is unique,and that there is seldom only one solution.

Although these values were crafted with our corporate, for-profit relationships in mind, theyalso fit well with our pro bono efforts.

Our social responsibility initiatives are not lim-ited to project-oriented pro bono work. We alsoengage in general fundraising, serve on boardsof directors of a number of nonprofit organiza-tions, adopt targeted purchasing and employ-ment policies, match selected employee contri-butions to charitable organizations, and engagein a variety of other activities, including com-munity service. The firm devotes between 2 and3 percent of revenues to its pro bono activities.

6

Introduction

BCG PRO BONO REPORT


Within each category, we have organized theprojects alphabetically by client name. Clearly,some of the work—especially much of thatincluded in the Management and ProfessionalAssociations section—helps us gain greaterexposure to clients and prospective clients.

* * *

Our pro bono clients are changing the world.BCG’s founder, Bruce Henderson, was fond ofquoting Archimedes: “Give me a lever and aplace to stand, and I’ll move the world.” Thereare so many opportunities to do just that bothinside and outside of business. We hope thissummary stimulates your thinking about whereyou might get involved in pro bono service.

How This Collection Is Organized

The work with pro bono clients profiled herewas “active” in 2003. In other words, BCGdevoted consulting hours to them during thatyear. Not all cases that were active in 2003,however, are included in the report: someefforts were quite small; others were notincluded for such reasons as personal or clientsensitivity. But the collection is a representativeand largely complete summary.

The individual projects are classified into ninedistinct categories based on the nature of thecase and the type of client. Some of the clientsand cases fell into several categories; in thoseinstances, we attempted to find the closest fit.

Community and Economic Development

8

OUR CLIENTS FACE ENORMOUS PROBLEMS BUT

have limited resources. As a result, improving efficiency, strategy, and coordinationis a clear priority. We have often worked withorganizations in this area for sustained periodsto help them implement recommendations. Ourclients are tackling such diverse issues asimproving Belgium’s mobility; securing thesocioeconomic well-being of the indigenouspeople of Cape York, Australia; and creatingmore sustainable agricultural practices for Dutchfarmers.

The Belgian Employers’ Federation, theBelgian Federation of the AutomotiveIndustry, and Belgian Railways

Region: Europe

Country: Belgium

Description: A project dubbed Rail Meets Roadwas initiated by the chairman of BelgianRailways, who created an ad hoc associationamong Belgian Railways, the Belgian Employers’Federation, and the Belgian Federation of theAutomotive Industry.

Challenge: The organizations’ objective was toestablish a national initiative to ensure thatBelgium’s mobility—critical to the country’seconomic and public development—was safe-

guarded and, where possible, improved. The ini-tiative would strive to engage policymakers,companies, and the public at large.

Results: A team led by BCG’s Brussels officedesigned, conducted, and analyzed a detailedmobility survey in which more than 170 Belgiancompanies and institutions took part. The teampresented its findings at a conference attendedby a member of the Belgian royal family, all of the national and regional ministers in chargeof mobility, and a large number of CEOs, presidents, and mobility managers of Belgiancompanies.

The project has led to the establishment of astructural forum in which private firms, publictransportation companies, and the automotiveindustry strive collaboratively to find long-termmobility solutions, with the support of policy-makers and the public.

Business in the Community (BITC)

Region: Europe

Country: United Kingdom

Description: BITC seeks to “inspire, challenge,engage, and support business in continuallyimproving its positive impact on society.” It has700 member companies and an additional 1,600that participate in its programs and campaigns.

BCG PRO BONO REPORT

Challenge: BITC’s Underserved Markets proj-ect was launched in late 2002. Its objectiveswere to create a working group as a forum forleading U.K. retailers to share their experiencesand collaborate to invest in pilot communities;to research and identify market opportunitiesfor further retail investment in the 88 mostdeprived areas in the United Kingdom; and toengage local governments, partnerships, andcommunities as specific neighborhoods areidentified for pilot efforts.

Results: A team from BCG’s London office sup-ported the project. Working in tandem, the ded-icated BITC project leader and BCG pulledtogether findings from three streams ofresearch. The team analyzed data, whichinvolved working with the market-research firmExperian to gauge the current retail supply anddemand in the 88 areas. It reached out to poten-tial pilot sites, which entailed the creation oftemplates for gathering the most appropriatesite information and for structuring interviewsand site visits. And it interviewed retailers touncover their frustrations with the current site-location process and to learn why they had orhad not invested in targeted areas.

The BCG team presented three key findings andrecommendations at a conference of the Officeof the Deputy Prime Minister. First, deprivedareas were not necessarily underserved in retailterms; in many areas, the market was actuallyworking. Second, there was no business poten-tial for further retail investment in a number ofother areas; regeneration in these areas wouldrequire public investment. Third, still otherareas offered economic opportunities, andretailers were interested in investing, but theopportunities conflicted with (misplaced) localpriorities and planning policy.

BCG’s work with the client is ongoing. The team has identified 12 high-priority areas for investment and will meet with the client to finalize the choices and determine next steps.

Cape York Aboriginal Organizations

Region: Asia-Pacific

Country: Australia

Description: Balkanu Cape York DevelopmentCorporation, the Cape York Institute, andApunipima Cape York Health Council are threecollaborative enterprises formed by the indige-nous people of Cape York, a largely undevel-oped region of Queensland. The people of CapeYork face many challenges, including highunemployment, overcrowded housing, an aver-age life expectancy of less than 50 years, andhigh rates of alcoholism, diabetes, and heart dis-ease. The organizations tackle Cape York’s woesfrom different angles. Balkanu Cape YorkDevelopment Corporation strives to reduceeconomic and social disadvantage by establish-ing sustainable commercial enterprises ownedand operated by local communities. The CapeYork Institute is an indigenous leadership centerand think tank that seeks innovative but prag-matic public-policy ideas. Apunipima Cape YorkHealth Council is the regional advocate forindigenous health-care reform and a provider ofhealth care information.

Challenge: First, Balkanu’s executive directorsought to increase the efficiency of the organi-zation’s operations and its impact. Second, alocal leader wanted to launch the Cape YorkInstitute, which would include developing abusiness model and securing government fund-ing. Third, Apunipima’s objective was to rede-fine its strategic direction and realign its organi-zational structure.

Results: BCG has worked with these organiza-tions for several years, and the relationships areongoing. Members of the Melbourne andSydney offices have spearheaded the effort.BCG’s work with Balkanu spans a range of busi-ness, social, and capability development proj-ects. These projects include the planning anddevelopment of a locally run tourist venture thatwill stimulate employment and cash flow; the


establishment of a multipurpose training facilityto provide vocational training and schooling;the creation of the Cape York Digital Network,which provides commercial videoconferencingand broadband Internet services across the Capeand helps bridge the digital divide for 16 remotecommunities; the formation of new business-development strategies for the establishment ofcompanies in the tourism, timber, construction,and fishing industries; and the creation andleadership of a variety of training and educa-tional programs.

The relationship between Balkanu and BCG hasbeen fruitful, winning the Prime Minister’sAward for Excellence in Business CommunityPartnerships in both 2002 and 2003. As a resultof this success, the government commissionedBCG to investigate how the Cape York modelcould be further developed and extended toother regions and industry partnershipsthroughout the country. In addition, the CapeYork Institute has received the financial en-dorsement of the Australian and Queenslandgovernments in a joint venture with a leadinguniversity.

With BCG’s help, Apunipima developed a com-munity strategy and governance model forregional health-care providers, and BCG is nowassisting with implementation. The effort haspositioned Apunipima to participate in a widerproject on indigenous health-care reform withthe Cape York Institute and BCG.

Collectively, these relationships and efforts are helping the indigenous population ofQueensland create a sustainable private-sectoreconomy. It is hoped that such an economy willhelp bring an end to the region’s chronic welfaredependency and develop the skills and capabili-ties of the next generation of indigenous leadersand advocates.

The Duurteelt Foundation

Region: Europe

Country: The Netherlands

Description: The Duurteelt Foundation aims,through the maintenance of an informationalInternet portal, to help Dutch farmers createmore sustainable agricultural methods and prac-tices. The foundation was formed in 2002 byBCG and Unilever, together with Rabobank andAlbert Heijn, a subsidiary of Ahold. The Dutchgovernment finances approximately 50 percentof the organization’s costs; a large number ofother companies, including Heineken, also con-tribute to the effort.

Challenge: The organization was launched fol-lowing a pro bono project that BCG executedwith Unilever in 2001 and 2002. The projectwas conceived to ascertain what the Internetcould offer Dutch farmers.

Results: A team from the Amsterdam officedetermined that a lack of accessible and practi-cal knowledge was indeed a major barrier forDutch farmers and that itwould therefore make sense todevelop a portal where farmerscould measure the sustainabil-ity of their own methodsagainst those of other farmers,identify specific opportunitiesfor improvement, and find practical informationabout how to take advantage of those opportu-nities. The team proceeded to design a high-level definition of the site, a plan for its devel-opment, and a detailed financial plan. TheDuurteelt Foundation was created to bring thevision to life.

The site was originally geared primarily towardone component of the agricultural sector: arablefarming. In 2004 the site will be upgraded andexpanded to support dairy and greenhouse farm-ers as well. A separate site will be developed toprovide information to interested consumers.

The Eberhard von KuenheimFoundation

Region: Europe

Country: Germany


Description: The Eberhard von KuenheimFoundation’s goal is “to promote free enterpriseand the concept of an elite education.” BMWestablished the foundation in 2000 in honor ofEberhard von Kuenheim, who served as chair-man of BMW’s supervisory board and board ofmanagement.

Challenge: The foundation wanted to assess thefeasibility of reviving a 500-year-old luxury-crystal manufacturing operation in Bavaria—the Theresienthaler Krystallglasmanufaktur.Theresienthal, once a world-famous name inluxury crystal, won the hearts of Europeannobility from the Bavarian Forest to the court ofthe Russian czars. The glass manufacturer, sorich in tradition, is repositioning itself today: incooperation with renowned designers, it is revi-talizing tableware and timeless glass design onthe strength of its longstanding tradition andcommitment to the craft of glassmaking. In sodoing, the company has become an example ofa new spirit of change in Germany. This revital-ization effort stemmed from the foundation’sdesire to reintegrate unemployed workers intothe labor market by reestablishing their insol-vent company. Such an initiative aligns wellwith the foundation’s aim of demonstrating thatmovement in the labor market can be achievedby promoting initiatives that support unem-ployed workers.

Results: A BCG team from the Munich officeperformed marketing and competitive analysesand developed a qualitative and quantitativebusiness plan. It presented the plan to relevantinterested parties, investors, and governmentalagencies, and the response was favorable.Progress has been rapid: a management team forTheresienthal has been selected, a new crystalcollection designed, and funding secured. Theglass manufacturer’s furnaces fired up again inAugust 2004, and products will be reintroducedto the market in early 2005. The BavarianMinistry for Labor and Social Affairs, FamilyAffairs, and Women considers the successfulrevival of the glass works an inspiration forentrepreneurial activity.

Endeavor Argentina

Region: Americas

Country: Argentina

Description: Endeavor Global is a nonprofitorganization whose objective is to developentrepreneurial activities in emerging markets.Headquartered in New York City, Endeavor hasoffices in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay,Mexico, and South Africa.

Challenge: Endeavor Argentina, based inBuenos Aires, sought to strengthen its corecapabilities. It also sought help in reorganizingone of its internal divisions.

Results: A team from the firm’s Buenos Airesoffice has been working with EndeavorArgentina since December 2002 and is active onthree different fronts. The team participates inthe local and international panels that selectentrepreneurs, helps with the reorganization ofthe office’s Entrepreneur Services division, andprovides consulting assistance to the entrepre-neurs already selected by the international panels. (Approximately eight entrepreneurs arechosen each year. They receive counseling forfour to six months, on average.)

Endeavor Global has asked BCG to expand itssupport to the other countries where Endeavoroperates.

Fundación Empresa y Sociedad

Region: Europe

Country: Spain

Description: Fundación Empresa y Sociedad’sobjective is to promote corporate social respon-sibility (CSR) in the Spanish business commu-nity. Its board of trustees is composed of CEOsfrom 40 major corporations and professionalservices companies. The foundation replicatesin Spain the U.K.-based Business in theCommunity.


Challenge: The foundation wanted to expandits influence and move beyond simply creatingawareness of CSR issues. It sought to take amuch more active role in promoting CSR activ-ities by helping companies define platforms forjoint collaboration. It needed a strategy forachieving this goal.

Results: A team from BCG’s Madrid officedeveloped a program strategy to help the foun-dation reach its objective. In addition, the teamcreated and helped launch three major initia-tives: one to secure employment for hand-icapped people, one to encourage employeeinvolvement in companies’ CSR activities, andone to create metrics to measure the effective-ness of companies’ CSR efforts. Two large cor-porations are sponsoring two of the initiatives.A group of companies is funding the third.

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Region: Europe

Country: Germany

Description: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlinseeks to achieve a unity of teaching and re-search, and to provide students with a humanisteducation.

Challenge: A group of scientists from the uni-versity wanted to adapt and apply BCG’sCustonomics (a value-management methodol-ogy for companies whose customer base is theirmost important asset) to the federal states ofGermany in order to determine its implicationsfor economic growth.

Results: A small BCG team worked with the sci-entists. Together, they crafted a financial stimu-lus program, which includes a competitive strat-egy to increase the number of inhabitants andenterprises in each state, a portfolio strategy toreallocate the states’ expenditures, a budgetstrategy for more efficient utilization of funds,and a financial strategy for the German Ministryof Finance. The work led to meetings with theministers of several federal states.

Initiativkreis Ruhrgebiet (IR)

Region: Europe

Country: Germany

Description: Launched in 1989, IR seeks to sup-port structural change in Germany’s Ruhr, oneof Europe’s largest industrial regions, and to pro-mote the region’s image. Membership consistsof 57 large German and European corporations,including Deutsche Bank, Siemens, Opel,ThyssenKrupp, and RWE.

Challenge: IR is recognized as a role model forpublic-private partnerships and has made signif-icant contributions to the Ruhr’s ongoing trans-formation from a coal- and steel-based economyto a future characterized by innovative, service-oriented industries. The challenge was to buildon this momentum; specify areas and levers forgrowth (for example, high-level health care);and identify projects that would have a signifi-cant impact on IR’s image, visibility, and eco-nomics.

Results: A team led by the Düsseldorf office hasworked on several projects to establish and pro-mote the region’s future as a “cluster” area forsuperlative health care. Examples include aguide for patients on specialized clinics andmedical-care providers; a network initiative topromote transparency among the medicaldepartments of different Ruhr universities; andan international business-plan contest for devel-oping the former Zollverein Coal Mine, the well-known flagship of the region’s trans-formation.

SEV, the Federation of GreekIndustries

Region: Europe

Country: Greece

Description: SEV, the Federation of GreekIndustries, is an independent employers’ organi-zation representing the country’s manufacturing


industry. Its objective is to spur business andeconomic development in Greece and toimprove the competitiveness of Greek enter-prises.

Challenge: The organization sought to identifykey drivers of economic growth and significantobstacles to the competitiveness of the Greekeconomy. It also wanted to develop an analyti-cal and pragmatic framework for making futurerecommendations to the Greek government.

Results: A team from the Athens office workedwith SEV on the case. After performing a diag-nosis and conducting interviews with more than30 leading members of the Greek business com-munity, the team developed a dynamic forecast-ing model for estimating future economicgrowth and a set of recommendations forenhancing that growth. It also developed aframework and recommendations for measuring,benchmarking, and improving Greece’s compet-itiveness versus other European countries. Theteam presented its findings to senior govern-ment personnel, including officials from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry ofDevelopment, the Ministry of Labor, and theOffice of the Prime Minister. All reacted posi-tively to the work, particularly Prime MinisterKonstantinos Karamanlis, who recommendedthat SEV and BCG conduct a series of follow-onworkshops.

WorkVentures


Country: Australia

Description: WorkVentures seeks “to build ajust, creative, and sustainable society by provid-ing quality employment, economic and com-munity-development services, giving specialpriority to unemployed and disadvantaged people.”

Challenge: WorkVentures wanted to es-tablish a business that would collect used com-puters from large corporate and government

organizations, then refurbish and distributethem to needy, low-income segments of thepopulation.

Results: A team from the Melbourne andSydney offices developed a comprehensive busi-ness plan, including strategies for marketing,recovery, and distribution. The business is upand running, and on target to break even its firstyear. Several large corporations, includingMicrosoft and IBM, have already signed up tosupply software and hardware for refurbish-ment. Encouraged by its early success,WorkVentures is looking to expand the effortfrom Sydney to Melbourne.

World Food Programme (WFP)

Region: Global

Description: WFP is the frontline agency of theUnited Nations in its fight against globalhunger, providing both emergency and develop-ment assistance to populations in need. In 2003it fed 104 million people around the world. Ithas a global staff of approximately 9,000. Itstotal biannual budget for 2004–2005 will exceed$4 billion.

Challenge: WFP sought both to improve theefficiency of its operations and to increase itslong-term impact on the problem of globalhunger.

Results: BCG’s relationship with WFP began inApril 2003. The executive committee has subse-quently approved entering into a global partner-ship with WFP, and we have committed to pro-viding it with a substantial amount of assistancethrough 2005. The effort is therefore trulyglobal in scope and has drawn on the talents ofconsultants at many BCG offices, includingAmsterdam, Chicago, Cologne, Lisbon, Milan,Paris, Rome, Singapore, Washington, andZürich.

To date, BCG has assisted WFP in a number ofareas. Our biggest effort is an ongoing, 12-month, comprehensive business-process review


designed to reengineer WFP’s key processes forspeed and effectiveness. The project is alreadychanging the way the organization operates. Itwill result in a one-time release of $400 millionin working capital, boosting by 15 to 20 percentthe number of beneficiaries that receive assis-tance without an increase in the funding base. Itwill also help WFP deliver assistance withgreater speed by creating an internal, risk-bear-ing funding facility to prefinance operationsbefore government donors have committedfunds. BCG presented its diagnosis and designto WFP’s executive board (made up of 45 coun-try ambassadors). The proposals were enthusias-tically received, both for their impact on theorganization’s effectiveness and for their out-of-the-box thinking.

BCG also developed a fundraising strategyaimed at corporations, and we are providingimplementation assistance on an ongoing basis,along with research, coaching, and access toBCG clients. We recently conducted a one-day

workshop with WFP’s IT department to helpdefine the IT management agenda and priori-ties. In addition, we conducted a two-weekreview of WFP’s procurement organization,processes, and people, and helped define a management agenda for that function for 2004and 2005.

BCG’s 2004 agenda with WFP is ambitious. Weare continuing the business-process-redesigneffort, including the launch of pilot programsand further work on WFP’s forecasting andfunding processes, as well as implementationassistance on a range of activities. We are help-ing the organization shape its vision to play a key role in realizing the United Nations’ goal of halving world hunger by 2015, and we will define the consequences for strategy and organization down to the country level. We will conclude the year’s activity with an operations review to define an ap-proach for achieving best-practice supply-chainprocesses.


Education and Research


WE HAVE HELPED PRO BONO CLIENTS IN MANY

countries—including Austria, Canada,Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, theUnited Kingdom, and the United States—withsome daunting educational and research chal-lenges. To take just one example, The Icehouseis a nonprofit organization that aims to fosterinnovation and entrepreneurship through edu-cational programs and research.

Boy Scouts of America, Atlanta AreaCouncil

Region: Americas

Country: United States

Description: Boy Scouts of America needed anoverall strategy for Learning for Life (LFL), itsfastest-growing subsidiary. LFL supports schoolsand other youth-serving organizations in theirefforts to prepare young people to handle “thecomplexities of today’s society.” Its programsassist in character development, the formationof positive personal values, and “the develop-ment of social, life, and career skills.” The pro-grams are taught in thousands of schools acrossthe United States and have been endorsed bysuch educational bodies as the National SchoolBoards Association, the American Association ofSchool Administrators, and the NationalAssociation of State Boards of Education.

Challenge: Boy Scouts of America sought tocreate a new strategy and organizational struc-ture for LFL in order to help it better achieve itsobjectives.

Results: A team from the Atlanta office worked on the project. The Atlanta office con-ducted a similar small-strategy effort for LFL six years ago; this project was an update of that earlier work. The BCG team fundamental-ly changed LFL’s strategic priorities and or-ganizational structure. It also identified newcharitable-funding sources and developed amore professional fundraising process and posi-tioning.

business@school

Region: Europe

Countries: Germany and Austria

Description: Business@school is an educationalprogram that is designed to bridge the gapbetween the economic insight and skills neededin today’s society and the opportunities toacquire them at a public school. The programwas launched in 1998 by a group of BCG part-ners as a personal initiative. Business@schooloffers teachers and high school students a one-year workshop-based program that teachesthem about business and trains them in such key

areas as teamwork, presentation, and researchtechniques. In addition, student teams from theprogram have an opportunity to enter a nationwide competition for the best businessidea and enterprise planning. BCG, its clients,and other companies support the student teams.

Challenge: The challenge was to take analready successful program and broaden itsreach, and increase client companies’ involve-ment in order to establish it as a model in twoareas: as a program that fosters new ways oflearning and as a private-public collaborationdesigned to broaden the topical range andimprove the methodological quality of publiceducation in Germany.

Results: A team that included consultants fromthe firm’s Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Viennaoffices helped develop the program into a full-fledged business curriculum that involves morethan 50 schools, 150 teachers, and 1,000 highschool students per year. Several German stateshave accredited it as part of their official high-school curricula. The program is staffed by morethan 100 BCG consultants and more than 60employees from the 13 major companies inGermany and Austria that have committed tothe effort.

Business@school has won several awards,including Germany’s prestigious NationalCorporate Citizenship Award for Freedom andResponsibility in 2003. The award—sponsoredby Germany’s top trade and industry associa-tions and the magazine WirtschaftsWoche—recognizes exceptional social commitment by abusiness.

Encouraged by the program’s success inGermany, BCG launched business@school inAustria in 2000. The program has been growingsteadily and currently involves ten BCG con-sultants. Unternehmen-Bildung—a pro-enter-prise initiative of Austria’s Federal Ministry ofEducation, Science, and Culture—designated the Austrian progam the Best School Initiativein 2001.

City Schools of Decatur, Decatur, Georgia

Region: Americas


Description: City Schools of Decatur is theschool board of Decatur, Georgia.

Challenge: The client wanted to develop athree-year strategic plan to improve academicachievement and contain costs. A key questionto be addressed was whether it would be neces-sary to consolidate or close elementary schools.

Results: A team led by BCG’s Atlanta office synthesized academic and financial data for theschool system; evaluated options for the config-uration of elementary schools; identified andbenchmarked high-performing school systemsacross the country; researched key topics tosupport decision making (for example, the avail-ability of state funding and the impact of classand school size on academic performance); pro-vided project management for the strategicplanning process; supported the development ofpartnerships with third parties (such as early-learning centers); and acted as personal counselto the superintendent and board members.

The BCG team developed a strategic plan,which included a vision, mission, goals, metrics,and action plans. The school board approvedand adopted the plan, and the changes outlinedin it were scheduled for implementation beforethe 2004–2005 school year. The team also madea number of specific near-term recommenda-tions, including the reduction of elementaryschools from six to four and the redeploymentof three buildings for alternative uses. Theboard approved these recommendations as well.

State of Georgia Department ofEducation

Region: Americas



Description: The Georgia Department ofEducation “seeks to function as a service-ori-ented and policy-driven agency that meets theneeds of local school systems as they go aboutthe business of preparing all students for collegeor a career in a safe and drug-free environment.”

Challenge: The newly elected superintendentof Georgia’s $7 billion department of educationwanted a comprehensive review of the existingorganization and its performance, with the goalof setting the agenda for her four-year term inoffice. BCG was asked to help her set the mis-sion, goals, and objectives of the departmentand to develop the necessary organization andinfrastructure to support them.

Results: A team from the Atlanta office analyzedand made recommendations on a broad range oftopics: mission, vision, goals, organizationaldesign, key process design, constituency man-agement strategy, and communication strategy.The superintendent and her staff accepted all ofBCG’s recommendations and began implement-ing them over the last year.

Howard University

Region: Americas


Description: Howard University is a private,research-oriented, historically African Americaninstitution that is located in Washington, D.C.

Challenge: The university sought to win grantdollars from the Kauffman Foundation, whichstrives to encourage entrepreneurship across the United States and to improve the educationof children and youth. The university was one of 30 schools invited to compete in the foundation’s $25 million Campuses initia-tive, a national competition designed to spur universities to make entrepreneurship edu-cation a common and accessible campuswideopportunity. Winners receive grants of up to $5 million.

Results: A team from BCG’s Chicago andWashington offices worked on the project at therequest of the university’s president, PatrickSwygert, and the dean of its business school,Barron Harvey. BCG helped develop a proposalfor an entrepreneurial center; the plan wasjudged one of the top entries; and the universitywas awarded a grant of $3.1 million.

The school will use the grant to develop anInstitute for Entrepreneurship, Leadership, andInnovation, which will focus on developing aca-demic programs; a center for research, business,

and community-developmentprograms; and a center forentrepreneurial thought. Thenew program will create andexpand course work, offer anentrepreneurial module duringfreshman orientation, create an

entrepreneurial minor for undergraduates and afull degree program for graduates, and developan online certificate program. A research armwill focus on African American entrepreneur-ship, business development, and AfricanAmerican and urban market demographics.

The Icehouse


Country: New Zealand

Description: The Icehouse is a not-for-profitorganization that aims to foster innovation andentrepreneurship through educational pro-grams, business-acceleration services, andresearch. It is a collaborative partnership amongBCG, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, TelecomNew Zealand, Bank of New Zealand, CarterHolt Harvey, Chapman Tripp, Deloitte ToucheTohmatsu, and The University of AucklandBusiness School.

Challenge: The challenge was to work withother partners to launch The Icehouse andestablish it on a self-funding basis as the preem-inent organization of its kind in New Zealand.


That required seed funding, the establishmentof a management team, and the development ofeducational and business-acceleration servicesand supporting processes.

Results: A team from BCG’s Auckland office hasplayed an active role at The Icehouse. BCG sitson the organization’s board of directors, partici-pates in educational programs, and serves as amentor to start-up businesses. BCG has also pro-vided staff to work for the organization, tem-porarily and on a full-time basis.

The Icehouse is recognized as the leadingorganization of its kind in New Zealand. In thetwo and a half years since its establishment,more than 200 owner-operators have taken itseducation courses, and its business incubatorhas backed 25 start-ups. The organization’s rev-enue, staff, and capital have grown significantly.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe-UniversitätFrankfurt am Main

Region: Europe

Country: Germany

Description: The university is one of Germany’sten largest. It offers a wide range of academicprograms at both the graduate and undergradu-ate levels.

Challenge: The university had defined itsstrategic goals for the next several years. Its pri-mary objectives were to decentralize adminis-tration and services, define objectives for differ-ent departments, forge aconsensus on using thoseobjectives as managementtools, and design and imple-ment a reporting system. Theuniversity needed help translat-ing its goals into concreteterms, defining ways to reach those goals, andimplementing them.

Results: A BCG team from the Frankfurt officeaddressed the university’s objectives. The team

developed a plan for the decentralization of theuniversity’s administrative and certain servicefunctions, and prepared for the plan’s implemen-tation. BCG also negotiated agreements withfive pilot departments and designed a rolloutconcept for the remaining department. Finally,the team created a consensus on the choice ofacademic performance parameters and designedand implemented an appropriate reporting sys-tem. By the end of 2003, all of BCG’s recom-mendations had been fully implemented.

Kellogg School of Management

Region: Americas


Description: The Kellogg School of Manage-ment at Northwestern University is one of theworld’s leading business schools.

Challenge: The Kellogg School of Manage-ment wanted to develop a program for senior-level minority executives that would preparethem to serve as directors. The program was thebrainchild of former Kellogg dean DonaldJacobs, who was encouraged by the success ofthe school’s Advanced Management EducationProgram, a minority-focused initiative that BCGplayed an important role in creating.

Results: A BCG team from the Chicago officedesigned an innovative three-day corporate-governance program, cosponsored by Kellogg,the Executive Leadership Council, and theNational Minority Supplier DevelopmentCouncil. BCG remains involved in the program.

Kellogg School of Management andthe National Minority SupplierDevelopment Council (NMSDC)

Region: Americas


Description: The Kellogg School of Manage-ment at Northwestern University is one of the


world’s leading business schools. NMSDC is anetwork of 3,500 companies and institutionsdedicated to increasing business and procure-ment opportunities for “minority businesses ofall sizes.”

Challenge: The Kellogg School of Manage-ment and NMSDC sought to create a concen-trated executive-education program for minor-ity business entrepreneurs.

Results: A BCG team from the Chicago of-fice and Donald Jacobs, the former dean ofKellogg, originally created such a program forArthur Martinez, former Sears CEO, andHarriet Michel, NMSDC’s president. The team’stask was to help modify and expand that earlierplatform.

The result, the Kellogg Advanced ManagementEducation Program, is now up and running. It isa four-day program for minority men andwomen who are CEOs or owners of NMSDC-certified businesses that have demonstrated sus-tained levels of solid performance and are readyand interested in accelerating their growth.NMSDC-certified businesses must be at leastthree years old and have sales of more than $3 million in the case of manufacturing and distribution firms or more than $1 million in the case of service firms. In addition, partici-pants must be endorsed by an NMSDC nationalcorporate member.

The City of Schwerin

Region: Europe

Country: Germany

Description: Schwerin is the capital of and sec-ond-largest city in the state of Mecklenburg–West Pomerania in north central Germany.

Challenge: The City of Schwerin had beenasked by three separate parties to fund a privateuniversity. Each party had its own ideas withregard to areas such as curriculum, organiza-tional setup, and recruiting methods for stu-

dents and staff. Schwerin wanted to evaluate thefeasibility of each concept.

Results: A team from BCG’s Hamburg officeevaluated the concepts, interviewed the poten-

tial founders, benchmarkedother private universities, andset up organizational and costmodels. The team concludedthat none of the three op-tions for the university wasviable and recommended that

Schwerin decline to provide funding. The cityagreed with the recommendation.

Senckenbergische NaturforschendeGesellschaft (SNG)

Region: Europe

Country: Germany

Description: SNG is a Frankfurt-based non-profit organization dedicated to the study ofbiodiversity in the natural world, both past andpresent. It operates a research institute and amuseum of natural history.

Challenge: SNG wanted to increase its organi-zational efficiency and gain financial flexibility.

Results: A team from BCG’s Frankfurt andMunich offices worked on the project. The teamfirst conducted a comprehensive analysis ofSNG’s business practices—marketing andfundraising, management systems, and organi-zational processes—and the various activities ofits research institute and museum in order toidentify levers with which to increase efficien-cies and expand revenue flows. In 2001 the team recommended a set of actions based on its analysis. Subsequently, BCG provided ongo-ing support for the implementation of thosemeasures.

SNG has benefited substantially from the proj-ect, with the bulk of the improvement resultingfrom organizational changes. SNG’s controllingbodies have a new structure. Its internal organi-


included assessing existing school transporta-tion, analyzing data to identify trends in con-sumer behavior, developing a detailed cost-ben-efit analysis, packaging findings for use by theSutton Trust, and assisting in the presentation ofmaterials. The BCG team analyzed the costs andbenefits of introducing the buses along keylevers, including age of pupil, distance fromschool, type of area, and ability to achieve oper-ational synergies.

BCG’s recommendations included a large-scalepilot scheme to test the impact of bus introduc-tion on primary school pupils and so allow eval-uation of the potential benefits of a wider roll-out. Because parents were unwilling to pay thewhole cost of providing buses, the presentationalso highlighted the possible need for a govern-ment subsidy of approximately £1 per pupil trip.These results were presented to governmentofficials and industry representatives at 11Downing Street on November 5, 2003.

Toronto Region Research Alliance(TRRA)

Region: Americas

Country: Canada

Description: TRRA is an initiative of theToronto City Summit Alliance, a coalition ofcivic leaders from the private and public sectorswhose goal is “to secure the region’s social andeconomic future.” TRRA’s main objective is toincrease the economic poten-tial of the region’s research-and-development efforts. Itssteering committee is chairedby Gordon Nixon, CEO ofRoyal Bank of Canada,Canada’s largest bank; JohnEvans, chairman of Torstar Corporation, one ofCanada’s largest communications companies;and BCG’s David Pecaut.

Challenge: The organization sought to increaseits impact and ability to achieve its mission.

zation has also received a major overhaul. Thereare now a clear separation between the researchinstitute and the museum; new areas of account-ability, with a new allocation of rights andduties; and a new process for target setting andcontrol within the research institute. By creatinga limited-liability subsidiary, SNG has alsogained increased financial flexibility in terms ofresources and incentives.

Sutton Trust

Region: Europe

Country: United Kingdom

Description: The Sutton Trust provides educa-tional opportunities for young people fromunderprivileged backgrounds. It is also active inthe broader scope of educational issues.

Challenge: Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of theSutton Trust and a BCG alumnus, asked BCG toassess the costs and benefits of introducing yel-low school buses in the United Kingdom. Hebelieved that introducing these buses couldhave a positive impact on the welfare of U.K.students and society at large.

Yellow school buses have been used for decadesin the United States, and they have an astonish-ingly good safety record. They also reduce con-gestion and decrease overall environmentalemissions. In the United Kingdom, compulsorytransportation is provided only for students wholive more than three miles from school (twomiles for children who are less than eight yearsold). Because parents are largely responsible forpupils’ transportation, it is not surprising thatmore than one-third of school journeys aremade by car. This contributes to congestion andpollution and is relatively unsafe compared withtransportation by bus.

Results: BCG did pro bono work for the SuttonTrust in the late 1990s, and the relationship withSir Peter Lampl extends back to when he was aBCG employee. A team from the London officeworked on the project. The scope of the work



Results: A team from BCG’s Toronto office worked with TRRA’s steering committeeto designate high-priority research areas for Toronto to focus on (for example, bio-technology and materials science); identify bar-riers to successful commercialization of that re-search and develop plans to tear the barriers

down (for example, by creating a large venture-capital pool to fund early-stage ventures); and ensure that the world’s leading re-search companies realize the value of locatingresearch facilities in Toronto (for example, bypursuing targeted marketing). The team’s workis ongoing.

The Environment

22

CONSERVING AND PROTECTING THE NATURAL

environment are critical for the generationsthat come after us. Our clients in this area areworking to preserve national parks, improve themarketing and fundraising of environmentalorganizations, optimize their corporate spon-sorships, and increase their efficiency andimpact.

Golden Gate National ParksConservancy

Region: Americas


Description: The Golden Gate National ParksConservancy is a nonprofit membership organi-zation created “to preserve the Golden GateNational Parks, enhance the experiences of parkvisitors, and build a community dedicated toconserving the parks for the future.”

Challenge: The client sought to ensure that SanFrancisco’s Crissy Field Center, a two-year-oldurban, environmentally focused learning andcommunity facility, would remain economicallyviable over the long term and fulfill its mission.

Results: A team from BCG’s San Francisco officeanalyzed the Crissy Field Center’s programportfolio, fundraising efforts, and earned-in-come activity (the center operated a number of

cafés and stores); and it developed a sweepingseries of recommendations. These recommenda-tions included enhancing the center’s programportfolio to focus on mission-consistent offer-ings, restructuring fundraising efforts to bettertarget individual donors, discontinuing lossmakers, and initiating a capital program toexpand and improve the performance of thecenter’s valuable and promising retail opera-tions. The recommendations were well receivedby the client’s board of directors and staff. TheBCG team remains involved in the initiative andwill advise the client on future efforts.

The Nature Conservancy (TNC)

Region: Americas


Description: TNC is a global conservation or-ganization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.

Challenge: TNC wanted to increase the effec-tiveness of its marketing and fundraising efforts,and to shift resources toward international con-servation projects.

Results: A BCG team from the Washington andBoston offices started working with TNC in thefall of 2001. The team conducted two majormultiphase projects to support TNC’s changeinitiative and has provided counsel since then.

BCG PRO BONO REPORT

of the largest system of urban wildlife parks inthe United States, including its flagship BronxZoo. The organization has an annual operatingbudget of $150 million.

Challenge: WCS wanted to optimize its corpo-rate partnerships, transforming them from tacti-cal, reactive relationships into more strategic,proactive ones.

Results: A team from BCG’s New York officeworked on the project, which was the third ofits kind in BCG’s relationship with WCS and theBronx Zoo. In 2001 BCG helped WCS developa pricing strategy (including a“pay one price” entry option)that has resulted in a significantincrease in the zoo’s revenues.In 2002 a team helped WCScraft a comprehensive visitor-growth strategy, encompassingeverything from the zoo’s physical layout to its Web site. Implementation of that effort isongoing.

On this particular project, the BCG team estab-lished and built consensus on parameters forcorporate partnerships—giving WCS a frame-work for making decisions on such issues aswhich partners are most and least attractive andwhich of WCS’s assets should be monetized inthese relationships. The team also made recom-mendations on how to target, pitch, and winnew relationships, as well as how to manageexisting ones. It also developed a new organiza-tion and processes to support those efforts.BCG’s recommendations were well received,and implementation is under way.

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)

Region: Europe

Description: The World Wide Fund for Nature(formerly called the World Wildlife Fund) is aglobal conservation organization that operatesthrough a network of national offices. Its mis-sion is “to stop the degradation of the planet’s

The first project centered on marketing andfundraising. A BCG team supported a largeTNC team to help these functions meet the ini-tiative’s goals. The areas of focus were major-gifts funding, constituency building, and brandpositioning and awareness.

The second project entailed the developmentand execution of a strategic planning process,referred to internally as an operational and man-agement review. BCG worked intensively with asmall TNC team for about six weeks to developthe process, templates, meeting structure, andimplementation guidelines. The review was thenexecuted across TNC’s three regions, 12 divi-sions, and more than 70 U.S. and internationaloperating units to provide clarity of goals, bet-ter resource allocation, improved collaborationamong different operating units, alignment oforganizational structure, and detailed three-yearaction plans. During the process, BCG coachedthe operating-unit heads and divisional leadersand helped them prepare for review meetings.

The projects had a significant impact on TNC.The marketing and fundraising effort led to avastly improved focus on major-gifts funding,greater efficiency in other fundraising areas,redesigned organization and staffing levels tomeet the revised priorities, and improved mech-anisms to target funds to highest-impact conser-vation projects. The operational and manage-ment review advanced TNC’s change agenda byfacilitating every operating unit’s review of itsprogram, staffing, and funding priorities.

Wildlife Conservation Society(WCS)/Bronx Zoo

Region: Americas


Description: Since its founding in 1895 as theNew York Zoological Society, the WildlifeConservation Society has been dedicated to sav-ing wildlife and wild lands through science,conservation, education, and the management


24

natural environment and to build a future inwhich humans live in harmony with nature byconserving the world’s biological diversity, en-suring that the use of renewable natural re-sources is sustainable, and promoting the reduc-tion of pollution and wasteful consumption.”

Challenge: WWF sought to increase the effi-ciency of its operations and its impact.

Results: Over the past ten years, BCG hasworked with WWF on several projects for its

national organizations in Germany, France, andSweden. Those projects typically focused onprogram strategies, internal organization, andfundraising. BCG is currently helping theorganization on several fronts, including thedesign of a new corporate fundraising strategyand a review of the role of the organization’scenter. BCG’s efforts have had a material impacton the client, including doubling its revenues inGermany over an eight-year period despite agenerally declining market for contributions.

BCG PRO BONO REPORT

Health


Our clients face a number of difficult chal-lenges, including funding, organizational

issues, and improving their effectiveness andimpact. The range of issues they face is daunt-ing. Consider the following examples. NamLong Hospital in Hong Kong, which cares forterminally ill cancer patients, lost its govern-ment funding. We have worked with the hospi-tal to come up with decision-making processesthat will help it face these challenges. In addition, we have helped the RockefellerFoundation build a strategy for catalyzing pri-vate and public partnerships to combat neg-lected diseases, such as malaria and tuberculosis.

Deutsche Knochenmarkspenderdatei(DKMS)

Region: Europe

Country: Germany

Description: Founded as a private initiative in1991 by Peter Harf, a BCG alumnus, DKMSstrives to raise leukemia patients’ chances of sur-vival by identifying the best-matching bone-marrow donors.

Challenge: The organization’s challenge was togrow and improve its effectiveness.

Results: A team from BCG’s Vienna office hasworked with DKMS since its inception. In 1991

BCG helped the organization create the first-ever Germany-wide stem-cell-donor database. Italso helped DKMS develop an expansion andinternationalization strategy that has served asthe blueprint for the organization’s remarkableongoing growth and widening impact. DKMS,which surpassed the one-million-donor mark in2003, is now the world’s largest and most suc-cessful bone-marrow-donor center. It has sup-ported more than 6,000 transplants to date andlocates two or more appropriate donors forneedy recipients each day.

L’Envol pour les Enfants Européens

Region: Europe

Country: France

Description: L’Envol is a nonprofit organizationthat hosts seriously ill children from France andother European countries at a medical leisurecenter. Its goal is to help the children regainenjoyment in living and hope for the future, andto provide them with the willpower andstrength to combat their illness once back intheir family or hospital environment. The centeris supported by various government healthorganizations and a number of private partnersand donors.

Challenge: L’Envol had proved its concept andwas looking to secure its future. Its board of

potential partnerships, use of media, and a pos-sible international rollout.

Results: A BCG team from the Munich officeworked on the case and provided follow-upcounseling. The team wrote a comprehensivebusiness plan, laying out priorities and making anumber of recommendations. The work wasfully embraced by the foundation and byChrista Maar, and the results have been positive.The organization has successfully involvedGerman businesses in the effort: thus far in2004, more than 500,000 employees have par-ticipated in on-site colon-cancer-preventionprograms sponsored by their employers.

The Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society(HKACS) and Nam Long Hospital


Country: China

Description: HKACS, founded in 1963, seeks topromote, coordinate, and undertake anticanceractivities, including cancer research and cancereducation for both the public and the medicalprofession; to promote, coordinate, and under-take relief work for cancer patients and theirdependents; and to provide medical facilities forthe diagnosis, treatment, and general care ofcancer patients according to the needs of theterritory.

Since its inception in 1967, Nam Long Hospitalhas provided medical, rehabilitative, and hos-pice care to terminally ill cancer patients as wellas outpatient care to discharged patients.

Challenge: Nam Long Hospital lost its govern-ment funding in January 2004. HKACS sought away to allow the hospital to operate on a self-funded basis.

Results: A team from the Hong Kong officeworked with HKACS to develop a commercialstrategy for the hospital. The BCG team’s analy-sis included an estimate of the demand for dif-ferent self-funded services (for example, hospice

directors sought to develop a strategic visionthat could be communicated to potentialdonors. The key questions that needed to beaddressed pertained to organization, fundraisingstrategy, pathologies treated, and the qualityand quantity of service delivered.

Results: A team from the Paris office workedwith the client to develop a strategic plan. Theteam’s main activities included performing situational analysis, holding external and inter-nal interviews, executing a press search, con-ducting working meetings with the client’s oper-ational team, organizing a seminar, andultimately writing the plan. With the full sup-port of its operating team and board of direc-tors, L’Envol is implementing BCG’s recom-mended strategy.

The Felix Burda Foundation

Region: Europe

Country: Germany

Description: The Felix Burda Foundation’s mis-sion is to reduce the incidence of colon cancerin Germany by raising public awareness of thevalue of regular screening. More than 30,000Germans die of the disease each year; an esti-mated 90 percent of those deaths could be pre-vented by early detection and treatment. FelixBurda, who succumbed to colon cancer in 2001at the age of 33, was the son of Hubert Burda,one of Germany’s most preeminent and distin-guished publishers, and Christa Maar, whoestablished the foundation shortly after Felix’sdeath and serves as its president.

Challenge: The initiative, aided by heavy sup-port from German media houses, raised its pro-file quickly in its first year. Its leadershipbelieved, however, that the organization neededa more comprehensive business plan and addi-tional structures and processes to grow furtherand continue to increase its effectiveness. Theleadership also sought guidance on a number ofkey strategic choices it faced regarding suchtopics as sources of additional fundraising,


beds, convalescence beds, and care-and-atten-tion beds) and a determination of breakevenprice points for patients.

We recommended a mixed mode of operationfor the hospital, including both cancer care andgeneral long-term care. The hospital’s board hasdecided to continue to focus solely on cancercare for the time being; a final decision is pend-ing. BCG has been asked to continue to supportthe decision-making process.

The Rockefeller Foundation

Region: Americas


Description: The Rockefeller Foundation is aglobal foundation whose objective is “to enrichand sustain the lives and livelihoods of poor andexcluded people throughout the world.”

Challenge: The foundation wanted an outsidereview of a strategy employed by its HealthEquity program, which focuses on global healthissues. It also wanted to create a basis for theprogram’s future decisions.

Results: BCG has been working with the foun-dation since 1999. Most of BCG’s work has beenwith the Health Equity program. In the late1990s, with support from BCG,the program embarked on astrategy of catalyzing publicand private partnerships in aneffort to stimulate drug devel-opment for the treatment ofneglected diseases. Diseasessuch as malaria and tuberculosis kill millionsannually in the developing world. But preventa-tives and cures are lacking because the privatesector has little incentive to develop them andthe public sector does not have the requisiteknowledge. In response, the foundation hasspearheaded the creation of the Global Alliancefor TB Drug Development, the InternationalPartnership for Microbicides, the Medicines forMalaria Venture, the Pediatric Dengue Vaccine

Initiative, and other public-private partnershipsthat seek solutions.

The Rockefeller Foundation asked BCG toreview this strategy. Specifically, it wanted toknow if the strategy had been well designed andexecuted, if the partnerships were making suffi-cient progress toward their objectives, and whatthe viable strategic options were.

A team from BCG’s Boston office performed theanalysis. The team found that the foundation’sstrategy had indeed been quite effective inaccomplishing its objectives. It also identifiedareas for improvement. The team shared itsfindings with the foundation’s senior manage-ment, and the foundation says it will use BCG’sinsights to guide future strategic decisions.

Sleep Health Australia


Country: Australia

Description: A group of Australian physiciansand other interested parties wanted to raise theprofile of sleep in the country’s health agenda.

Challenge: The client wanted to establish a national sleep-health organization to provide effective advocacy on sleep health is-sues, raise public awareness of the importance of quality sleep and treatments for sleep dis-orders, raise and administer funds for researchand community awareness programs, and under-take targeted education and service-deliveryprograms.

Results: A BCG team led from the Melbourneoffice conducted a feasibility study and devel-oped a business plan for the establishment of anational organization called, provisionally,Sleep Health Australia. The organization’sfounding board and charter have already beenestablished. With BCG’s help, the client is cur-rently searching for a CEO and raising fundsfrom the government, private industry, andfoundations.


28

University Hospital of Essen

Region: Europe

Country: Germany

Description: University Hospital of Essen is alarge research hospital with more than 30 clin-ics and 20 institutes. It has a strong reputation,particularly in cancer research and treatment.

Challenge: University Hospital of Essenwanted an external review of its business planfor a new, modern diagnostic center. It alsowanted to create an innovative medical-check-up program for executives.

Results: A team from the Düsseldorf officeworked with the hospital on the project. BCGhelped the diagnostic center’s management team develop milestones and an action plan.The team also helped refine the customer tar-geting and product/service offering. Finally,BCG worked with the hospital to develop a pricing strategy for the executive checkupprogram.

The diagnostic center is doing well. It is one of the most modern and innovative of its kind in Germany, and patient demand is strong. The executive checkup program is also quitepopular.

BCG PRO BONO REPORT

Management and Professional Associations


OUR CLIENTS—WHICH INCLUDE ASSOCIATIONS

from Australia, Germany, India, and theUnited States—have worked with us on issuesas varied as strategy, capabilities, vision, mis-sion, and organization. They have made impres-sive progress in several areas, including refininggovernance and operational models, improvingthe design of a pro forma diversity program,assessing potential markets, and making recom-mendations on brand, financing, and boardstructures.

All India Management Association(AIMA)


Country: India

Description: AIMA is India’s premier associa-tion for the management profession.

Challenge: AIMA asked BCG to evaluatewhether the organization had the required capa-bilities to achieve its objectives and, if not, tohelp it make the necessary changes to its strat-egy (including its vision and mission) and orga-nizational design.

Results: A team from the New Delhi officeinterviewed a number of AIMA’s stakeholders tounderstand what the organization stood for andto gather opinions about the potential changes

required. It also looked at various managementassociations around the world to see how theyset their objectives. The team concluded thatwhile no changes were required to AIMA’s visionor mission, the organization needed to focus itsportfolio of activities rather than participate inall aspects of management. The team also sug-gested improvements in AIMA’s organizationaldesign and changes that would help it workmore effectively with other management associ-ations to enhance the quality of managementtalent in India.

All India Management Association(AIMA) and the High Level StrategicGroup


Country: India

Description: AIMA is India’s premier associa-tion for the management profession. The HighLevel Strategic Group is composed of seniorleaders from the Indian government, eminenteconomists, CEOs from several industries, andheads of academic institutions.

Challenge: The clients wanted to formulate astrategy—and an implementation plan—thatwould allow India to leverage its unique capa-bilities to seize global opportunities.

Results: A BCG team from the New Delhi officehelped the clients conduct backgroundresearch, summarized the findings, and mappedout an action plan. The research revealed thatthere was an impending demographic crisis inthe developed world—a shortage of youngerpeople in the working-age population, coupledwith steadily rising demand for services as aresult of growing prosperity. Together withimprovements in communications technology,this looming crisis provided a significant oppor-tunity for India. The country could meet risingglobal demand by delivering services remotelyand by “exporting” Indian workers. The teamalso noted that India was increasingly recog-nized as a source of skilled and capable peoplein a variety of fields. It recommended that thecountry adopt a service-intensive growth modeland strive to be the knowledge-based “servicecapital of the world.”

Capital Markets Cooperative ResearchCentre (CMCRC)


Country: Australia

Description: CMCRC is a cooperative researchcenter created to commercialize research on keyissues affecting the financial services industry.Its partners include major Australian universitiesand financial services organizations.

Challenge: CMCRC is partnered with the sep-arately funded Securities Industry ResearchCentre of Asia-Pacific (SIRCA), with the goal ofachieving improved mutual outcomes. The part-nership had come under increasing stress, how-ever, and BCG was engaged to recommendoptions for the reorganization of both CMCRCand SIRCA.

Results: A BCG team from the Sydney office istackling the project. Critical issues include conflicts between public and private interests, acollision between the organizational scope andaspirations of the two organizations, and the

potential for synergies along a common valuechain of activities. As part of its analysis, theBCG team is conducting interviews with seniorfinancial-services-industry personnel to gain anunderstanding of key stakeholder perspectivesand, ultimately, core client issues.

The chairmen of CMCRC and SIRCA, seekingapproval at the board level, are using BCG’swork as a mandate for change and are keen tofurther develop material addressing preferredstructural options. Early indications are that thiswork will provide the impetus for a total inte-gration of CMCRC and SIRCA and for funda-mentally improved governance and operationalmodels.

The Center for Corporate Citizenshipat the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt

Region: Europe

Country: Germany

Description: The Center for CorporateCitizenship seeks to foster corporate citizenshipin the German business community.

Challenge: The organization sought a strategyfor expanding its impact. It also needed to raisefunds for research and a permanent staff.

Results: A team from BCG’s Düsseldorf officeformulated a strategy, conducted marketresearch on competitors, developed a businessconcept and plan, and identified a legal basis forexpansion. Implementation is ongoing.

Executive Leadership Council (ELC)

Region: Americas


Description: ELC is an independent, nonparti-san, nonprofit corporation that seeks to advancethe position of African Americans in corporateAmerica. ELC has several primary, ongoing



objectives. Its goal is to provide “AfricanAmerican executives in Fortune 500 companieswith a professional network and forum that offer perspective and direction [on] issuesaffecting business, economic, and public poli-cies in African American communities, corpo-rate America, and the community at large.” Thecorporation also seeks to “increase the visibility,recognition, and advancement of AfricanAmerican business executives at all levels; createand develop new economic opportunities forminority enterprise; ensure that corporate phil-anthropic programs are inclusive of and respon-sive to African American communities; [and]provide educational opportunities, mentoringprojects, and programs that identify and preparethe next generation of African American man-agers and executives.”

Challenge: ELC sought ways to broaden itsmission.

Results: A team from the Chicago office hasworked with the client for the past three years,helping ELC’s leadership to broaden its mission.Specifically, it has helped design a national pro-gram to train African Americans for corporategovernance and has improved the design of apro forma diversity program. It has alsoenhanced the organization’s CEO DiversityLeadership Summit.

The State Office of North Rhine–Westphalia

Region: Europe

Country: Germany

Challenge: The client wanted a comparison ofthe German federal states’ management of state-

owned stockholdings in an effort to identifybest practice and improve its own share-man-agement practices.

Results: BCG had previously worked for thisclient on several smaller cases centered on theadministration and restructuring of state-ownedcompanies.

A BCG team from the Cologne office bench-marked the different German federal states withrespect to their ability to manage and controltheir stockholdings and determined that fewhad practices that resembled professional management. The team recommended that theclient establish lean professional managementand adopt the principles used by private enter-prises, and it provided specific suggestions onhow these goals could be achieved.

Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO)

Region: Americas


Description: YPO is a global network of youngbusiness leaders. Its mission is “to create betterleaders through the exchange of ideas.”

Challenge: YPO needed help facilitating astrategy-planning meeting of its internation-al board.

Results: A team led by the San Francisco andMiami offices conducted an analysis of the orga-nization’s competitive positioning and helpedthe board define its vision for 2010. It alsohelped the board identify shortcomings anddeveloped a set of initiatives to move the organ-ization forward.

Philanthropic Organizations andVolunteerism

32

WE HAVE ASSISTED OUR CLIENTS, WHICH

include the United Way of America andVolunteering Australia, with such challenges asimproving operations and gauging the supportof stakeholders. For example, we recommendeda reorganization of the United Way in the NewYork area that eliminated the existing tristatestructure and advocated a larger presence forthe national organization.

The Robbert Annink Foundation

Region: Europe

Country: The Netherlands

Description: The Robbert Annink Foundationwas set up in memory of Robbert Annink, for-mer office administrator of BCG’s Amsterdamoffice, who died in 2001. Its objective is to sup-port worthwhile, small-scale, local causes withcash and consulting services. It has a budgetmaximum of €40,000 per year.

Challenge: The organization sought to increaseits impact.

Results: A team from the Amsterdam office hastaken the lead in this effort. Currently, the foun-dation supports Mappa Mondo, a charity thathouses terminally ill, parentless children in a

comfortable, homelike environment. In 2003BCG donated funds, organized parties for theorganization’s volunteers, and performed arange of small chores (for example, cleaning thegarden). Similar efforts are planned for 2004.BCG will also execute a specific project to helpMappa Mondo leverage its brand.

United Way of America

Region: Americas


Description: The United Way is a 117-year-oldnonprofit institution that touches more than 90percent of all Americans in some way throughits 1,400 individual local United Ways and theUnited Way of America (UWA). The organiza-tion’s mission is to improve people’s lives bymobilizing the caring power of the community.To accomplish that goal, local United Wayshelp their communities define and address themost pressing human needs through civicengagement and resource development tied tospecific investment strategies. Focus areas areidentified at the local level and vary from community to community. Some of the morecommon focus areas include helping childrenand youth succeed, strengthening and support-ing families, promoting self-sufficiency, build-

BCG PRO BONO REPORT


ing safe neighborhoods, and supporting vulner-able and aging populations.

Challenge: In light of serious changes in thephilanthropic landscape, changes in donorneeds, and technological advances, the UnitedWay launched a large-scale transformation in1999 designed to strengthen the organization’svalue proposition and performance. Specificstrategies include redefining its mission,improving relationships with individual and cor-porate donors and other stakeholders, and elim-inating unnecessary duplication of operatingcosts. Although many local United Ways read-ily embraced this transformation, the regionaloperation in the tristate area of New York, NewJersey, and Connecticut was under pressure andin need of strengthening.

Results: A BCG team from the New York officeworked with Deloitte Consulting and UnitedWay of America to understand the challengesand opportunities facing the United Way in the tristate region and to propose specific recommendations for improvement. The teamperformed an organizational and strategicassessment of the United Way’s tristate operations, conducted a survey of more than 30 local partner United Way organizations, andreceived input from more than 50 key con-stituents, including partner CEOs, board mem-bers, and representatives of donor companies.Ultimately, the team recommended a newregional strategy that, if implemented, willexpand the presence of United Way of America(the national organization), more directly linkthe United Way’s account and relationship management with donors, and engage localUnited Ways more directly in the coordinationof regional efforts.

Volunteering Australia


Country: Australia

Description: Volunteering Australia strives toraise the profile of volunteering in Australia andensure that the contribution volunteering makesto society is recognized. The organization has anumber of core activities: providing governmentand private organizations with advice on volun-teer policy; promoting volunteering and itsprinciples nationally; building cooperative rela-tionships with national and international organ-izations to further volunteering in Australia;encouraging the pursuit of excellence in volun-teer management; providing effective manage-ment for national volunteer projects; and oper-ating a national referral service to unemployedpeople through Australia’s Voluntary WorkInitiative.

Challenge: Three years ago, BCG, workingwith SEEK—Australia’s leading employmentWeb site—and Volunteering Australia, helpedwith the planning and development ofGoVolunteer, a volunteer-recruitment Web site.GoVolunteer has grown by leaps and boundsand is now the country’s leading site for volun-teer recruitment, accounting for more than 90percent of all online volunteering positionsfilled.

To take online volunteer matching to the nextlevel, Volunteering Australia wanted to gaugestakeholder support for the development of anational volunteering database, which would aidmany traditional volunteer referral and match-ing services across the country. The aim was toenable offline volunteer-recruitment organiza-tions, governments, and local councils to regis-ter, access, and refer opportunities on a centraldatabase, and have more sophisticated tools formatching and monitoring volunteer activity.

Results: A BCG team from the Melbourne officedetermined that stakeholder support for thedatabase was strong. The team developed a proposal and has submitted it to the Australiangovernment to obtain funding. A decision ispending.

Recreation and Culture

34

IT IS NOT EASY TO PRESENT TOP-QUALITY MUSIC

and theater and also run efficient operations,meet business objectives, and grow. Our clientshave been tackling such challenges. TheChicago Symphony Orchestra Association, forexample, has reduced its costs, redesigned itsevent planning, and now uses long-term finan-cial-planning tools. The Goodman Theatre,meanwhile, opened a new dual-chamber theaterand is developing a talent showcase for youngpeople.

Chicago Symphony OrchestraAssociation

Region: Americas


Description: The mission of the ChicagoSymphony Orchestra Association is to pre-sent classical music through the ChicagoSymphony Orchestra to local, national, andinternational audiences. To accomplish this mis-sion, the association strives “to sustain the high-est artistic quality in all its programs, to developand maintain a strong and diverse audiencebase, and to increase the awareness and enjoy-ment of music in the life of the greater Chicagocommunity.”

Challenge: The orchestra association sought toincrease the efficiency of its operations and itsability to achieve its mission.

Results: BCG’s relationship with the ChicagoSymphony Orchestra dates back roughly 20years. The Chicago officer group at that timewas searching for an organization to supportwith pro bono work, an organization whoseessence matched BCG’s own. After careful vet-ting, BCG chose the Chicago SymphonyOrchestra because it represented an institutionknown for its high quality, creativity, and inspi-ration.

Since then, BCG has completed more than 30projects with the orchestra, spanning subjectssuch as process reengineering, cost reduction,change management, and long-range planning.Recent efforts include the redesign of theorchestra’s event-planning processes; an audi-ence-segmentation and targeting project (alandmark for the industry), which has led to a new marketing campaign and events; the cre-ation of a long-range financial-planning tool;and an organizational redesign project.

BCG’s working relationship with the client’smanagement team remains strong and involved,on both a project and an ad hoc basis. BCG and

BCG PRO BONO REPORT


the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Associationreceived an Arts & Business Partnership Awardfrom the Arts & Business Council of Chicago in 1997.

Goodman Theatre

Region: Americas


Description: The Goodman Theatre, estab-lished in 1925, is Chicago’s oldest and largestresident theater. It maintains an active schedule,producing seven major plays each year. The theater also runs an arts-in-education program.Its annual budget is approximately $18 million.

Challenge: The theater sought to increase theefficiency of its operations and its ability tomeet its objectives.

Results: BCG’s Chicago office has worked withthe Goodman Theatre for 12 years. The first

project focused on the Goodman’s need for anew theater. A team established criteria to helpthe organization decide whether to move to anew location or stay at its current one, and theteam developed design principles for the newfacility. This process led to a second effort: todetermine how the Goodman could raise thenecessary $45 million in funding.

BCG’s third project dealt with how to developand structure the organization’s board to raisethe funds. A team helped expand the board’ssize from 55 to 80, gaining representation fromChicago’s largest corporations, and helped raisesufficient money not just for the new facility butfor an endowment as well.

The Goodman successfully opened its new1,500-seat dual-chamber theater three yearsago. Currently, BCG is counseling the theateron the development of a talent showcase forChicago-area youths, to be modeled on moviessuch as Fame.

Social Services

36

DELIVERING SOCIAL SERVICES IN AN EFFECTIVE

and cost efficient way is a daunting task.Our clients—from Japan, Spain, the UnitedKingdom, and the United States—face manyorganizational, governance, and strategy issuesas they seek to carry out their missions andmake the most of their resources. They haveachieved remarkable results. For example, aJapanese group that works with underprivilegedchildren and a Spanish group dedicated to combatting drug addiction have redefined theirstrategies to better achieve their goals.

Catholic Charities of the Archdioceseof Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Region: Americas


Description: Catholic Charities of theArchdiocese of Chicago is the largest privatesocial-services agency in the Midwest. It aims tofulfill the Church’s role in the mission of charityto those in need “by providing compassionate,competent, and professional services thatstrengthen and support individuals, families,and communities.” The organization servesmore than 600,000 children, seniors, families,and individuals annually.

Challenge: The client wanted a strategic reviewof its foster-care and child-care programs.

Results: A team from the Chicago office focusedits analysis of the Catholic Charities’ child-careprogram on identifying the key drivers of finan-cial performance and on reviewing each site’sperformance vis-à-vis those drivers. BCG maderecommendations for operational improvementsand assessed the viability of different fee models. The team also provided analytical sup-port tools for the evaluation of new sites, weighing such factors as location, size, and pro-gram offerings.

BCG concentrated its analysis of the foster careprogram on market trends and the client’s com-petitive positioning. The team assessed whatkind of impact the changing environment washaving on Catholic Charities’ image and recom-mended strategies for managing market and reg-ulatory change.

The Empty Stocking Fund (ESF)

Region: Americas


Description: ESF is a nonprofit organization inAtlanta, Georgia, that raises money to purchaseholiday gifts for the city’s underprivilegedyoungsters. It sets up a “store” where eligibleparents can, with dignity, select free clothingand educational, age-appropriate toys for theirchildren.

BCG PRO BONO REPORT

International Save the ChildrenAlliance (ISCA), Japan


Country: Japan

Description: ISCA is a global nongovernmentalorganization dedicated to improving the lives ofunderprivileged children.

Challenge: ISCA’s Japanese affiliate, Save theChildren Japan (SCJ), was struggling to grow.ISCA asked BCG to conduct an organizationalaudit of SCJ and to develop a growth strategy.

Results: A team from BCG’s Tokyo officeworked with the client for three months. Thefirst phase of the effort, which took about amonth, was the organizational audit. The teamevaluated SCJ’s board and local secretariat,focusing on relations between the two. It alsolooked at functions and capabilities, and con-ducted a benchmark study of the affiliates of thethree largest international nongovernmentalorganizations for comparison purposes. Thesecond phase, which took about two months,was the creation of a marketing strategy. Theteam assessed the current Japanese donationmarket, including market size and segmentation,and analyzed the competitive landscape. Basedon that analysis and SCJ’s relative position andstatus, the team formulated a strategy and devel-oped action plans. After receiving BCG’s organizational recommendations, SCJ changedits organizational structure and office location,and authorized the initial marketing plans.

International Save the ChildrenAlliance (ISCA), Spain

Region: Europe

Country: Spain

Description: ISCA is a global nongovernmentalorganization dedicated to improving the lives ofunderprivileged children.

Challenge: BCG has been involved with ESFfor more than seven years. In this most recenteffort, the client needed help building an inven-tory-tracking system and developing a model tomanage and ease the flow of store visits. (Theorganization distributes toys and clothing tomore than 45,000 children during a three-weekperiod.)

Results: A BCG team from the Atlanta officetackled both challenges successfully, developingan inventory-tracking system that preventedstock-outs and helping the organization createand distribute “invitations” in order to minimizepeaks in store visits. Substantial improvementswere noted in the first holiday season, and addi-tional opportunities have been identified to fur-ther improve the experience this season.

Fundación de Ayuda Contra laDrogadicción (FAD)

Region: Europe

Country: Spain

Description: FAD is a foundation dedicated tothe prevention of drug abuse.

Challenge: The client wanted to redefine itsstrategy in order to broaden the scope of itswork. Specifically, it wanted to increase thenumber of antidrug programs it offered andboost its educational efforts, particularly thosegeared toward children.

Results: A team from the Madrid office identi-fied which of the client’s strategic initiativeswere feasible, given FAD’s budget, organiza-tional structure, and “customers” in the local,regional, and state governments. BCG alsohelped FAD determine the positioning neces-sary to achieve results. The team’s effortsreceived very positive feedback from FAD’sboard of directors. The organization will for-mally approve a new strategic plan based on the work of the BCG team at its next councilmeeting, which will be chaired by the Queen of Spain.


Challenge: ISCA’s Spanish subsidiary, Save theChildren Spain (SCS), was struggling to grow.ISCA agreed to invest in marketing initiatives tosupport it, provided that SCS address the gov-ernance and organizational issues facing it.ISCA asked BCG to conduct an audit of SCSand define new roles for its board of trustees andother governance and management committees.

Results: A team from BCG’s Madrid officeworked with the client on the project. Theeffort led to sweeping changes at SCS, whichredefined the mandates, composition, missions,and functions of its board of trustees, executivecommittee, and management team. It also hireda new general manager and appointed two newboard members with BCG’s help.

Metropolitan Family Services (MFS)

Region: Americas


Description: MFS, whose existence predates theAmerican Civil War, is the largest provider offamily counseling services in Chicago. Eachyear, it provides counseling and other supportservices to nearly 90,000 families and individu-als. Hundreds of thousands more benefit fromits efforts in community development and socialpolicy. The organization has an operatingbudget of $30 million.

Challenge: MFS came to BCG in 2003 with tworequests. First, it wanted to prepare a boardpresentation that would describe the five-yearoutlook for MFS—the environment, the need,the funding available, competition, and how tostay ahead. Second, it sought to review itscredit-counseling business and make recommen-dations.

Results: BCG has worked with MFS for adecade, helping it streamline its organization,focus its programming, and ensure funding. Ateam from the Chicago office worked on the

project. As part of its effort to define a strategyand vision, the team developed a first-everquantitative method of measuring client results,cost of service, and relative value. It then usedthe method to evaluate the agency’s services forprioritization and asset redeployment. At theboard presentation, some 50 Chicago-area lead-ers ratified the new MFS strategy: focus on theinner city, eliminate noncore programs, andmeasure outcomes. Today MFS is leaner, morefocused, and more attentive to its mission. In amarket with declining contributions, MFS hassecured year-to-year growth in funding.

Starbright and Starlight Foundations

Region: Americas


Description: Starbright and Starlight Foun-dations are nonprofit organizations that provideeducational and emotional support to seriouslyill children.

Challenge: The foundations decided theyneeded a fundamental appraisal of their strate-gic direction and resourcing. In the past year,BCG provided counsel as they prepared for amerger.

Results: BCG has worked with the organizationson a number of challenges over the past fouryears. The initiatives undertaken included con-ducting a thorough analysis of the organiza-tions’ costs, sources of revenue (such as grantsand corporate donations), and program devel-opment; benchmarking the organizations’ finan-cial and program performance versus that ofdirect competitors and the nonprofit industrybroadly; and supporting a merger integrationteam as it assessed the viability of a mergerbetween the two organizations, including thegovernance, fundraising, and core-managementprocesses of the new organization. The boardsof both foundations approved the merger inApril 2004.


Urban Revitalization

Making a Difference 39

BCG HAS A LONGSTANDING COMMITMENT TO

the economic and civic revitalization ofurban areas. Our efforts encompass a host ofchallenges, such as helping a Boston govern-ment agency identify industry sectors with thegreatest potential for expansion and job cre-ation. Our choice of projects is based on magni-tude (bigger is better) and the perceived poten-tial for impact. We also target projects thatallow us to leverage our strengths in strategy.The end result is what we consider a coordi-nated, high-level national agenda that also has a local orientation and gives officers the flexi-bility to pursue their own interests.

Two other noteworthy aspects of our approachhere, as in all our pro bono work, are that weemphasize partnering and generally favorlonger-term commitments over shorter, episodicengagements. The common thread is effective-ness. We believe that we can bring maximumvalue to the communities we are trying to serveby partnering with leaders in the private andpublic sectors and leveraging our respectivestrengths. We also believe that continuousinvolvement can effect change far better thanshort-term projects.

A perfect illustration of both themes is our rela-tionship with Initiative for a Competitive InnerCity (ICIC), a national not-for-profit organiza-tion founded in 1994 by Harvard Business

School professor Michael Porter. ICIC seeks tospark new thinking about the business potentialof inner cities, thereby creating jobs and wealthfor inner-city residents. We are one of the or-ganization’s founding national partners and haveworked with it for years on an array of chal-lenges.

City of Atlanta, Mayor’s Office

Region: Americas


Challenge: Most cities have a single court sys-tem. Atlanta has two: municipal and traffic. Themayor’s office wanted guidance on how to struc-ture a merger between the two courts. It alsowanted recommendations on core processdesigns and cost and service models. All workwas to focus on the court’s administrative func-tions. The mayor, her staff, and a committee ofadvisers would determine how to structure thenew court’s judicial positions.

Results: A team from the Atlanta office accom-plished several objectives. The team establisheda cost baseline for the current court system andappropriate cost and service levels for theadministrative functions of the new one; pro-vided external benchmarking and data sourcesfor merging and operating the two systems;

defined a merger structure and processes toimprove the performance of the system’s admin-istrative functions; crafted an administrativeorganizational structure and detailed head countand staffing plans; drafted metrics to measure,track, and ensure efficiency and acceptable ser-vice levels within the system; specified theamount and timing of the cost savings expectedon successful implementation; and created adetailed implementation plan with an outline ofthe steps necessary to achieve the goals.

The measures are expected to generate an over-all net cost savings of $14 million over the nextthree years and $7 million in recurring annualsavings. The majority of the cost savings andefficiency gains will be driven by a 60 percentreduction in head count and continued imple-mentation of new technology. The Atlanta CityCouncil has accepted the plans. The legislationrequired to complete the consolidation is pend-ing in Georgia’s senate.

The Chicago Community Trust (CCT)

Region: Americas


Description: CCT, with assets of more than $1 billion, is the third-largest community foundation in the United States. It awards

grants totaling approximately$40 million annually to organi-zations that promote Chicago’swell-being—such as neighbor-hood social-services agencies,museums, and educationalinstitutions.

Challenge: CCT was facing a difficult fundrais-ing environment and declining endowmentincome—its traditional source of funds for grantmaking. It wanted a strategy to address thechanging donor landscape, in particular thechallenging donor-advised-funds segment.

Results: A team from BCG’s Chicago office seg-mented the market and interviewed a broad set

of donors to understand their preferences andneeds, benchmarked comparable charitableinstitutions, analyzed CCT’s internal costs, anddeveloped measures of accountability for itsdonor “products.” On the basis of this work,BCG developed strategic recommendations forcustomer segmentation and targeting, channels,pricing, and organizational design. CCT hasimplemented many of these recommendations.The result should be an improved fundraisingcapability and growth in new development areasthat will help build assets for years to come.

City of Cologne, Lord Mayor

Region: Europe

Country: Germany

Description: Cologne is the oldest of Germany’smajor cities and its fourth-largest city overall,with just over one million inhabitants.

Challenge: Cologne’s government sought along-term economic development plan thatwould maintain the city’s status as the “eco-nomic metropolis of the Rhineland.”

Results: A team from the Cologne office workedwith the city to craft a development plan. Theteam performed a detailed analysis of the “strat-egy landscape” of major European cities andregions, including more than 30 interviews witha wide range of experts, and it developed a 20-year plan for Cologne based on its findings.

Dallas Indicators (DI)

Region: Americas


Description: DI is a partnership among BCG,the Belo Corporation, the Foundation forCommunity Empowerment, the Dallas Found-ation, and the Dallas Citizens’ Council.

Challenge: The idea for DI was spawned by aneed identified by the Dallas Foundation and


The Greater New Orleans MartinLuther King Jr. Initiative

Region: Americas


Description: The Martin Luther King Jr.Initiative’s objective is to create public- and pri-vate-sector partnerships to revitalize urbanAmerica, with a particular focus on areas cen-tered on Martin Luther King arteries in a num-ber of cities. New Orleans was selected as oneof the initiative’s pilot sites.

Challenge: The project—a $1 billion under-taking—needed to be built from the ground up. The initiative wanted to articulate its vision, secure funding, write business plans, and develop implementation mech-anisms.

Results: A BCG team—in partnership withLouisiana representative William Jefferson (theinitiative’s chairman), a presidential federal taskforce, and the City of New Orleans—helpedclarify the project’s vision, create business plans,and prepare for implementation.

BCG’s work included formulating operatingbudgets and economic baselines, a solicitationdocument for potential partners, and an assess-ment of potential funding sources. Funding forthe initiative has now been secured.

Initiative for a Competitive Brooklyn(ICB)

Region: Americas


Description: ICB is a competitive assessmentand strategy initiative designed to raise theoverall standard of living in Brooklyn, NewYork, by increasing the productivity of the bor-ough’s businesses. It is part of the umbrellaorganization Initiative for a Competitive InnerCity (ICIC).

BCG in 2002. The concept was to create aninteractive, Web-based “dashboard” that wouldallow community and business leaders, non-profit organizations, local and state public offi-cials, foundations, media, and anyone else want-ing to know more about the Dallas region tomonitor its civic health andwell-being (versus otherregions) on an ongoing basis.Ten “compass points” wouldserve as indicators: arts andculture, civic health, crime andsafety, economy, education,environment, health, housing, science and tech-nology, and transportation. Data and relatedfindings on those indicators would be updatedregularly, with major revisions occurring everytwo years.

Results: A team from the Dallas office hasworked to make the concept a reality. Theteam’s efforts have included two major projects.First, BCG developed the initial fact base for sixof the ten indicators, which involved consider-able secondary research and the creation ofgraphs, tables, and summary prose. Second, asteering committee created a launch plan togenerate exposure and encourage the adoptionof DI as an important community tool. Examplesof these efforts include one-on-one interviewswith more than 100 local civic and businessleaders; an announcement luncheon with morethan 150 community leaders, including manyCEOs and political officials; and a major launchevent for 400 local leaders, including an unveil-ing of the Web site (www.dallasindicators.org)and a keynote address by Malcolm Gladwell,author of The Tipping Point: How Little Things CanMake a Big Difference.

Even though DI is still in its infancy—it waslaunched in March 2003—it has already gath-ered a significant amount of attention. The ini-tiative is expected to last for many years (fund-ing has been secured for the first three years)and to continue to have a significant impact as acatalyst for change and improvement in theDallas region.


Challenge: ICB needed to develop a strategy toimprove the productivity of Brooklyn’s hospi-tals, which collectively are the borough’s largestemployer.

Results: A team from BCG’s New York officeprovided preliminary guidance on the projectand is now working with members of ICIC’sCity Advisory Practice and an “action team”composed of hospital CEOs and COOs, gov-ernment representatives, and community healthleaders to find solutions.

Jobs Task Force (JTF)

Region: Americas


Description: Historically, unemployment inDallas and the North Texas region has been rel-atively low. After 2000, however, local unem-ployment rose substantially and is now higherthan both the Texas and national averages. Inresponse, Dallas mayor Laura Miller and DallasCounty judge Margaret Keliher convened JTFto identify opportunities for improving the locallabor environment. The team was composed ofCEOs from area businesses, ranging in size fromFortune 500 corporations to small local compa-nies. The mayor also convened an additionalteam of community leaders, dubbed theAdvisory Council (AC), to represent the localcommunity.

Challenge: JTF sought help in formulating andimplementing a strategy for improving theemployment market in the Dallas and NorthTexas region.

Results: A team from BCG’s Dallas office inter-viewed members of JTF and the AC, as well asother community leaders, to gain insight intothe local labor market. The team then used whatit learned to form hypotheses about potentialremedial action. As a second step, BCG identi-fied peer cities that represented best practice foreach hypothesis and determined which meas-ures could be adapted and applied to the Dallas

region. As a third step, the team formulated spe-cific recommendations and road maps for imple-mentation of each hypothesis.

From this work, BCG developed a set of plat-forms that encompass both work-force and eco-nomic development. The city of Dallas andDallas County have committed to implementingmany of the recommendations and have alreadyincreased the public-sector economic-develop-ment budget and formed a strike team of localbusiness and community leaders to target busi-ness relocation projects.

The Metro Atlanta Chamber ofCommerce (MACOC) and the City ofAtlanta

Region: Americas


Challenge: The clients needed to find alterna-tive sources of funding for a massive, federallyregulated upgrade of Atlanta’s sewer system,which had capital requirements of more than $3 billion.

Results: A team from BCG’s Atlanta officeworked with a team from MACOC and the cityof Atlanta to identify a number of alternativesources of funding to help pay for the improve-ments. Those combined efforts played a partic-ularly crucial role in securing funding from thestate of Georgia, and Atlanta voters recentlyapproved a one-cent sales tax dedicated to fund-ing improvements to the sewer system. As aresult, the city of Atlanta will be able to avoid atripling of sewer tax rates to pay for the man-dated upgrades to its infrastructure.

Partnership for New York City

Region: Americas


Description: The Partnership for New YorkCity is “a network of business leaders dedicated



to enhancing the economy of the five boroughsof New York City and maintaining the city’sposition as the global center of commerce, cul-ture, and innovation.”

Challenge: The client sought a new method forgauging the relative economic merits of com-peting transportation projects.

Results: A team from BCG’s New York officeorganized and led a roundtable discussion ofdevelopers to get their opinions on the relation-ship between transportation and economicdevelopment—and to assess their priorities. Theteam also conducted interviews to gain theinsights of more than 20 New York metropoli-tan-area executives and then created an eco-nomic model outlining the potential impact ofdifferent transportation projects.

Partnership for New York City andNew York City Economic DevelopmentCorporation

Region: Americas


Description: The Partnership for New YorkCity is “a network of business leaders” workingto preserve New York as the “global center ofcommerce, culture, and innovation.” The not-for-profit New York City Economic Develop-

ment Corporation is under contract with thecity “to promote economic growth and vitality”by “strengthening the city’s competitive posi-tion and facilitating investments.”

Challenge: The clients needed help facilitatinga mayoral task force focused on accelerating thegrowth of already strong industries.

Results: A team from BCG’s New York of-fice helped facilitate task force meetings andworking groups to better generate ideas and performed specific analyses on the city’shealth care and retail industries. The team alsosynthesized the task force’s findings and pre-pared materials for presentation to New Yorkmayor Michael Bloomberg.

The key ideas presented to the mayor included,on the retailing front, a proposal for an annual,large-scale retail event and the creation of anassociation or forum that would help retailerswork together to develop joint initiatives topromote retailing in the city. The task force alsorecommended a major push in the health carearena by proposing that the city strive tobecome the world’s leading health-care-servicesprovider and that the city and tristate area workto become the country’s leading health-careregion. The task force also advocated the cre-ation of a concrete value proposition to attractbiotechnology companies to the city.

44

All India Management Association 29

Apunipima Cape York Health Council 9

Atlanta 42

Atlanta, Mayor’s Office 39

Balkanu Cape York Development Corporation 9

The Belgian Employers’ Federation 8

The Belgian Federation of the Automotive Industry 8

Belgian Railways 8

Boy Scouts of America, Atlanta Area Council 15

business@school 15

Business in the Community 8

The Cape York Institute 9

Capital Markets Cooperative Research Centre 30

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago 36

The Center for Corporate Citizenship 30

The Chicago Community Trust 40

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association 34

City Schools of Decatur 16

Cologne, Lord Mayor 40

Dallas Indicators 40

Deutsche Knochenmarkspenderdatei 25

The Duurteelt Foundation 10

The Eberhard von Kuenheim Foundation 10

The Empty Stocking Fund 36

Endeavor Argentina 11

L’Envol pour les Enfants Européens 25

Executive Leadership Council 30

The Felix Burda Foundation 26

Fundación de Ayuda Contra la Drogadicción 37

Fundación Empresa y Sociedad 11

Georgia Department of Education 16

Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy 22

Goodman Theatre 35

The Greater New Orleans Martin Luther King Jr. Initiative 41

The High Level Strategic Group 29

The Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society 26

Howard University 17

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin 12

The Icehouse 17

Initiative for a Competitive Brooklyn 41

Initiativkreis Ruhrgebiet 12

International Save the Children Alliance 37

Jobs Task Force 42

Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main 18

Kellogg School of Management 18

The Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce 42

Metropolitan Family Services 38

Nam Long Hospital 26

The National Minority Supplier Development Council 18

The Nature Conservancy 22

New York City Economic Development Corporation 43

North Rhine–Westphalia, State Office 31

Partnership for New York City 42, 43

The Robbert Annink Foundation 32

The Rockefeller Foundation 27

Schwerin 19

Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft 19

SEV, the Federation of Greek Industries 12

Sleep Health Australia 27

Starbright Foundation 38

Starlight Foundation 38

Sutton Trust 20

Toronto Region Research Alliance 20

United Way of America 32

University Hospital of Essen 28

Volunteering Australia 33

Wildlife Conservation Society/Bronx Zoo 23

WorkVentures 13

World Food Programme 13

World Wide Fund for Nature 23

Young Presidents’ Organization 31

Index of Organizations

BCG PRO BONO REPORT

AmsterdamAthensAtlantaAucklandBangkokBarcelonaBeijingBerlinBostonBrusselsBudapestBuenos AiresChicagoCologneCopenhagenDallasDüsseldorfFrankfurt HamburgHelsinkiHong Kong

HoustonIstanbulJakartaKuala LumpurLisbonLondonLos AngelesMadridMelbourneMexico CityMiamiMilan MonterreyMoscowMumbaiMunichNagoyaNew DelhiNew YorkOsloParis

PragueRomeSan FranciscoSantiagoSão PauloSeoulShanghaiSingaporeStockholmStuttgartSydneyTaipeiTokyoTorontoViennaWarsawWashingtonZürich

www.bcg.com

BCG

AND ITS PRO BONO CLIENTS - BCG › documents › file14459.pdf · Pro bono work is an important...

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Transcript of AND ITS PRO BONO CLIENTS - BCG › documents › file14459.pdf · Pro bono work is an important...