This year, a team consisting of myself, Parco Chan, Shivam Chandra & Alex Hackett, with the guidance of Professor Stéphane J.G. Girod, are lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with WWF International for our ICP project.
WWF International is the Secretariat for the global WWF network operating in more than 100 countries around the world with the mission “to sustain the natural world for the benefit of people and nature”. For all the team members, it is the first time working with an NGO, and the chance to do so with such an iconic, global brand (everyone knows the panda logo!) was an opportunity that we could not pass up. It was also a chance to work for a cause that is important to all of us and has been a central topic in our MBA year: protecting biodiversity. Beyond the opportunity to work for such a fantastic organization, the strategic project and complexity of the organization make it a challenging and fascinating experience.
(Credit: Shutterstock, Ondrej Prosicky, WFF Sweden)
For our project, we have been working with Carol Monoyios and Jennifer Meunier in the fundraising strategy team. We are currently halfway through the project, having just delivered our second presentation (out of three). From the first kick-off meeting with WWF, they have made it clear that the project we have been tasked with addressing is a strategic priority and have given us their full support. They have been completely open to sharing internal information and data and have always been available to jump on a call to answer our very long lists of questions! We have also been very fortunate to have their support in organizing interviews and interactions with senior members of their leadership team as well as important external stakeholders. Their openness has allowed us to gain a complete picture of WWF from both an internal perspective and an external perspective.
(Credit: Shutterstock, Tatiana Popova, WFF Sweden)
Not only have they supported us in organizing these interactions, but they have also provided us with guidance and feedback at every stage of the project, helping us to hone assumptions while allowing us to explore new areas of interest and sometimes push the scope of the project in new directions. This openness and support has made our ICP with WWF a fantastic experience so far and we hope that WWF will be satisfied with the final delivery!
WWF said: “From day one, we were impressed with their professionalism, the methodical approach and thoughtful questioning. Keeping up with the fast-paced process is intense, but the deadlines and information requests have pushed us to think through the strategic objectives constantly, and even to adjust the brief to get the best results.”
