A Safe City is a Strong City
NEW ORLEANS- Equipped with a good idea, momentum and two talented MBA students, evacuteer.org is writing its business plan tailored towards an upcoming entry into Tulane University’s $50,000 business plan competition.
Guillermo Olivos, a Yale MBA who interned with evacuteer.org in the summer 2009 and now holds a seat on the organization’s board of directors, and Louise Murphy, a Tulane MBA, are writing the plan. Professor Peter Ricchiuti, a business professor at Tulane, is the team’s faculty advisor.
Evacuteer.org, however, is an unlikely organization with a niche so narrow and defined that constructing a business plan in a traditional manner has its challenges.
“We fill a need that exists in New Orleans and we fill a need that could exist in several locations around the world,” founder and director Robert X. Fogarty says. “But our initial business plan is focusing on our operations in New Orleans and defining why we are a worthy organization, valuable enough to be invested in by philanthropists and the public sector.”
Evacuteer.org’s mission is to aid and enhance the operations of the City Assisted Evacuation Plan with volunteer labor in the event of mandatory evacuation of New Orleans. The City Assisted Evacuation Plan is a free evacuation option for New Orleanians with out their own transportation out of the City.
“Some say that an organization that is relevant six months of of the year isn’t a sustainable concept,” Fogarty says. “I say that if there is any place in the world that needs to be thinking, working and preparing year-round for a window that’s only open six months (hurricane season) it’s New Orleans.
In addition to the $50,000 Tulane business competition, Tulane University also is sponsoring a $20,000 “New Day” competition awarding a winner with a plan based in social entrepreneurship. Organizations are eligible to apply–and win–both competitions.
In 2009, evacuteer.org recruited 426 New Orleanians and 22 partner groups to assist should a mandatory evacuation be called by harnessing social media, powerful branding and leveraging in-kind resources. The organization received its 501c3 status charitable status in six weeks and spent less than $1,500 in 2009 to create and build an organization that was featured on WWNO, WWOZ, WDSU, WVUE, WGNO, The Huffington Post, Change.org, The Times-Picayune, and the Gambit Weekly.
Evacuteer.org has also been featured on numerous blogs and social media sites including Curious Tribe, 504ward, Humid Beings, and Launchpad TV.
Its first fundraiser, the “Bye Bye Hurricane Season” celebration, netted close to $8,000 for the organization including nearly $1,000 in post-party unsolicited donations.
For more information about the Tulane University Business Plan and New Day competitions click here: