Introduction
Different organizations have different ways of carrying out their activities. The different ways are influenced by the organization missions, the management, the environment the organization is in among others (Kettner, 2013). The following essay conducts an assessment of the organization The Mission Continues. The assessment includes; organizational marketing strategies, management, and structure, organizational policies, regulations to which the organization adheres, the leadership within the organization, how the organization handles change, their use of volunteers, funding streams and their fundraising strategies.
About the organization
The Mission Continues is an organization that was started to deal with post 9/11 era veterans. The organization assists women and men veterans to re-integrate to the society and assists them to find missions to do as veterans (The Mission Continues, 2016). However, in this essay, we will focus on the Mission Continues program from the perspective of female veterans. From 2007, it has assisted over 1200 women veterans to find activities to do for six months as they reorganize their lives.
A survey done by The Mission Continues revealed that 82% of women veterans struggle with reintegration into society and that only 37% of women veterans feel valued, respected and recognized as civilians (The Mission Continues, 2016). The Mission Continues supports veterans’ health, financial stability, education and employment. Women are increasingly joining the program especially since the post 9/11 era has the largest number of women veterans that is 16% as compared to previous eras. A lot of these women have been involved in combat. Also, there are increased single parent women veterans in the 9/11 era. Thus, The Mission Continues is a very helpful organization for the women as it provides a lot of support from the organization and fellow members of the organization.
The experiences of male and female veterans are highly different. Female veterans are less likely to have served in combat and more likely to have served in administrative roles. They are likely to be single than male veterans (The Mission Continues, 2016). Female veterans are more likely to be younger than male veterans and experience different struggles when reintegrating into society.
Organizational management, structure and how it is marketed
The Mission Continues program engages veterans by putting them into a volunteer program. The Mission Continues has two programs, the fellowship program, the bi-monthly or monthly team service and the Service platoons. The bi-monthly or monthly team service involves the use of social events to help the veterans gain social support, develop a sense of purpose and camaraderie.
The fellowship program involves getting the veterans in volunteering for a least 20 hours a week. From this they gain a living stipend, they get a peer mentor and are guided into coming up with a professional development curriculum that is useful in enabling the participants to achieve educational and professional goals (The Mission Continues, 2016). In the fellowship program, veterans are allowed to join an organization of their choice and work towards improving the community around them in one way or another.
The program is not only beneficial to the veteran but to the community as well. It encourages other individuals in the community to serve or join the military. To join the Fellowship, the program an individual must have served for at least 24 months. Exceptions are made where one got a serious injury before the 24 months. Also, the participant must have served after the 9/11 era and should no longer be serving. Lastly, the person should have a clean criminal record.
The mission continues also has a platoon program that is open to other people who do not necessarily have to be veterans. They usually include current servicemen, reservists, and guardsmen. In this program, individuals are given a chance to work with veterans to improve the community. Before beginning their work in service platoon, the members of the platoon attend training for a weekend.
The most effective way of marketing in Mission Continues is through a referral from veterans in the organization. A survey conducted revealed that 98% of the veterans tell other people about the organization (The Mission Continues, 2016). Moreover, sometimes the organization uses advertisements to market itself. They include newspaper advertisements and television advertisements. Another way the organization markets itself is through social media. For example, sometimes there are fundraising pages created in social media pages, in addition to earning funds for the organization they also act as a great marketing tool for the organization.
There are way more males in the military than females. As a result, there are few female veterans making it difficult for female veterans to find peers of the same gender. The Mission Continues provides an excellent opportunity for female veterans to meet other female veterans.
Critique of the organizational policies
The Mission Continues is not accommodating to all veterans. It only accommodates those who have served in the post 9/11 era. This is one of the necessities of the program. The program, therefore, has a limited scope and does not assist pre 9/11 war veterans who may also need assistance.
The Mission continues does not involve the family members in the program, yet this are the people who can provide the most meaningful social support to the veteran. Lack of involving family members means that even when they help the veteran, the conditions, and environment at home regarding how the veteran is treated may remain the same. Even if a veteran finds meaning in community work but is made to feel like they lack purpose at home they may get depressed or develop anxiety disorders.
The program is discriminative since only veterans with an honorable discharge are allowed to serve in the program. As the saying goes, sometimes people just do bad things, and that doesn't necessarily mean that the people are bad. It would be more accommodative if veterans who received a dishonorable discharge were allowed the chance to join the program depending on how they express themselves or through some form of assessment instead of simply banning them.
Organizational leadership
The organization is led by Spencer Kymptom after the previous chief executive officer and founder Eric Greitens stepped down (The Mission Continues, 2016). The organization is led in a systematic non-discriminatory way. The veterans involved in the program are actively involved in the leadership process. They are readily consulted on some of the matters tackled by the administration.
The organization has an administrative staff to perform all the administrative duties. Also, it offers internships in various fields for students that are passionate about working with the retired veterans (Drucker & Drucker, 2004). In general, the leadership pattern is friendly and warm to the veterans so as not to exert extra pressure. Veterans tend to be highly self-disciplined as a result of having served in the army, and this makes the leadership process easier and smooth. Regarding financial matters, financial transparency is observed.
Leadership and change in the organization
The leadership in the organization embraces change. For instance, there was a celebration when the new chief executive officer Spencer Kymptom was ushered in 2014. When there are changes in the organization, the leaders inform the veterans of this changes and explain the logic behind some of the changes. Sometimes the leadership will consult the veterans before making any significant changes, especially if the change largely affects the veteran (The Mission Continues, 2016). Also, veterans are often given the chance to voice their ideas and opinions regarding the running of the organization.
The leadership has a board where issues are discussed before a change is made. The issues discussed usually involve the pros and cons of the change. The effect the change has on the veterans and the society. As can be depicted, the leadership of mission demonstrates openness to change.
Regulations Mission Continues has to adhere to
Mission continues ensures that it does more harm than good to the veterans in the program (IRS, 2012). It also has to retain maximum confidentiality of the information of the veterans and is only to disclose it with the consent of the veteran (IRS, 2012). Mission continues is required to be straightforward with the veterans regarding the involved activities in the program.
Fundraising strategies
The organizations fundraising strategies include through events such as races (HHS, 2014). For example, the Bank of America Chicago Marathon scheduled to take place on the 9th of October 2016. The organization supports methods proposed by members. It provides the necessary materials required for the fundraising event and advice. Another way in which the organization raises funds is by selling things such as wristbands and t-shirts during the fundraising events.
Funding streams analysis
The Mission Continues receives funds and support through donations. The donations may be from companies, for example, the Bank of America Chicago or from individual people who are willing to contribute (The Mission Continues, 2016). One can make a donation to the organization as a whole or to support a specific veteran. Another way in which donations are made is by organizing fundraising projects in communities (Davis & Herrell, 2012). The money gained from the donations is used to pay the volunteer veterans and support them as they go through their six-month volunteer services in different organizations. Donations are made in dollars.
Use of volunteers in the program
The volunteers found in the mission continues program are veterans for the fellowship program and in the platoon service program the volunteers involve active service men, veterans, reservists, and guards (Hansmann, 2007). The veterans participating in the program are required to choose a non-profit organization of their interest where they can get involved in community work. Once a veteran has chosen a place the organization in league with the other non-profit organization places the veteran in that organization. There the veteran volunteers for six months. During the volunteer period, the veteran is paid monthly stipends.
In the platoon service program, veterans work together with other individuals who are still in service. They come up with community projects and work on them. Funding to do the community work is provided by the mission continues (Choudhury, 2010).
In conclusion, the mission continues is a helpful program for female veterans. Female veterans ought to get involved in the program since it will help them to reintegrate into society, build their value, offer social support and enable them to come up with a new sense of identity. They will have a purpose and manage to live a fulfilling life as a veteran.
References
Choudhury, E. (2010). Attracting and managing volunteers in local government. The Journal of Management Development, 29(6), 592-603.
Drucker, P. F., & Drucker, P. F. (2004). Managing the non-profit organization: Practices and principles. Taylor & Francis.4
Hansmann, H. (2007). Economic theories of nonprofit organization. The nonprofit sector: A research handbook, 1, 27-42.
Kettner, P. M. (2013). Excellence in human service organization management (2nd Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Laws & Regulations. (2015). HHS.gov. Retrieved 26 April 2016, from http://www.hhs.gov/regulations/ Davis, E., & Herrell, R. (2012). Fundraising and the next generation: Tools for engaging the next generation of philanthropists. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/rockies/Doc?id=10538740&ppg=61
Tax Information for Charities & Other Non-Profits. (2016). Irs.gov. Retrieved 26 April 2016, from http://www.irs.gov/Charities-&-Non-Profits The Mission Continues. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.missioncontinues.org/
