Impact Teams

Hello, service leaders! Impact Teams is a great program that was created by Bradley Ventayen for his club at UCSD and would like to share with the rest of CNH to hopefully implement in more schools if interested! Below is all of the information needed for this program!

Why Impact Teams?

What:

An Impact Team is a committee dedicated to supporting a cause (your own or one voted upon by the Circle K community) and creating an Impact through any size service project. An Impact Team head is a way for anyone, especially experienced Circle K members, to improve their leadership and fulfill their ambitions without the intensity of board, or the limitations of a committee position. Impact Team head opportunities will provide any CKI member with the learning opportunity, funding, and resources needed to carry out any project big or small that they want to lead. If you’ve ever wanted to lead and construct your own team/committee then this is your time!

Why:

           Leadership-based Service is the embodiment of all 3 tenets as well as the next step in the evolution of service in Circle K! We have the leadership capabilities, we have the resources, and we have the support and drive. It’s time to put it manifest our potential. This program is the embodiment of all 3 tenets

Membership Development and Education – Impact Teams are a great way for experienced Circle K members to grow as far as their imagination will allow them and pass on what they know and learn through experience. It gives experienced leaders a way to apply what they’ve learned in a way that’s not as intense as Board or as limiting as a committee member. In general, members will be able to realize their full potential, power, and abilities that they’ve had but never known.

Enhanced Service – General Members’ DIY service opportunities, create a stronger Impact than what one can do in a single day and overall expand the impact Circle K has upon the community. Take the load off of the Service Officers and utilize the leadership capabilities of the General Members to work for and with each other. Great leaders inspire action! Service is increased in quality and quantity!

Create Bonds – These are meant to be fun! Create your own Service Squad complete with a team name, funding for shirts, hanging out, and working together.

Harnessing Passion and Interests – Everyone has a passion or interest. Bring it to Circle K! Like dancing? Start a Dance-a-thon! Like animals? Start an Animal Shelter support month! Possibilities are endless~

Start of a new Service Culture – Leadership-Based Service. In this we inspire action by harnessing what is already there: the will to serve and the interests that drive us.

IMPACT Teams:

This template is one that UCSD used when starting 3 Impact Teams. Feel free to modify it as you like, but realize that this is the logistics part of Impact Teams and DOES NOT replace your role as a VPS to encourage the culture needed to allow Impact Teams to flourish at your club.

Purpose: To develop the leadership abilities within Circle K members. Specifically Team Management. To expand the service community within Circle K. To expand the impact Circle K has upon the community. To promote interest-based service within Circle K. To advertise the privileges that general members have.

Impact Team Description: An Impact Team is a committee dedicated to supporting any cause and creating an Impact through a large scale service project or a large scale project comprised of smaller projects. No experience is required to apply to be a team leader and/or Impact Team Member. As a quick example, there can be a Team to make an Animal Fundraiser for San Diego Humane Society. Any Circle K member has the potential to create an Impact as great, small, big, subtle, etc. as they want, but not everyone knows how to tap into that potential. An Impact Team provides any Circle K member with the funding, knowledge, environment, and resources to tap into that potential, and make an impact on the community in any way they feel necessary. The Team is loosely connected to Board with the Vice President of Service as its main, but fairly distant, connection between the Team and Board.

Role of an Impact Team head: The Team heads will outline the necessities of their project and form Team positions to manage certain parts of the project. Applications will be made by the Team head. Applications will go out and team members will be chosen by the Impact Team head. The IMPACT Teams will be run separately from board but will be overseen by the Vice President of Service (not to be mistaken as a co-chair). Operation of each IMPACT Team will be primarily managed through Slack. Brief, weekly Team reports must be submitted to the Vice President of Service. These brief reports will be reviewed by the Vice President of Service and will be used to update Circle K Board on the progress of the Team. Records including (but not limited to) CERFs, Budgets, Meeting Minutes, project timelines, and project outlines must be kept and submitted to the Vice President of Service upon completion of the project. Anything not mentioned here is to be arranged by the Impact Team head. This may include the dynamic of the team, meeting frequency, etc. This is a very open-ended position because Team heads will decide what their project will be, how the Team will be structured, and other logistic details of their Team.

Impact Parameters: The Impact cannot exceed the Divisional area. The Impact Cause can be voted upon by the Circle K Community if the Team head requests. Guarantee for reimbursements cannot be made unless a budget is sent to E-Board. Expenses cannot exceed the amount of money allocated to the Team by Circle K Board Funds and Grants. All profit and donations must go to non-profit organizations and/or causes. Meetings must be open to any Circle K member and Kiwanis member. There is a maximum of 2 Team heads per Impact Team.

Privileges and Resources Granted to an Impact Team: Access to all Board’s supplies. Funds allocated by Circle K Board and Grants. Each Team starts with at least $__ [$50 optional] and funds up to an additional $__ will be allocated from Board if requested. Supervised Access to the Calendar (if applicable) to put up events. Use of committee rooms (if applicable) for Team Meetings and events. Optional, requested Time during GBM for announcements, questions, asking for help, and advertisement. Supervised access to privileges given to Board by their college.

Out of School Application Policy: Impact Team Heads cannot be accepted from outside the school’s Circle K. Impact Team heads have may accept Out-of-School applications. Impact Team Members can be chosen from outside of the school’s Circle K, but out-of-school applicants must be prepared to accommodate for the inevitable inconvenience. These inconveniences may include committee meeting attendance, interactions with Circle K board, Interactions with fellow committee members, and anything required of them according to their duties to their position or the Team Head.

IMPACT Example Causes:

•         Homelessness
•         Children (Grades 1-12)
•         Animal
•         Social Justice
•         Any Proposed Cause

IMPACT Ideas:

•         San Diego Humane Society (Animal Shelter) Fundraiser

o   http://support.sdhumane.org/site/DocServer/ThirdParty_Fundraiser_Guidelines.pdf

•         Global Awareness Fair/ Parade
•         S4ea triathlon competition
•         Project Build-a-Book
•         Public Self Defense Class
•         Fur Ball Gala
•         Science Fair/ Museum for Kids. Like the Kind with cool reactions and stuff
•         Something to do with kids. People like kids
•         Dog Competition for prizes, fundraiser
•         Job fair for Reality Changers and/or for High Schools or elementary schools to get kids interested in a variety of careers/majors. Arrange with Alice.
•         A quarter of food, clothing, and hygiene drives.
•         Social Justice Fair or Campaign
•         Working with any Non-Profit organization to hold an event
•         Volunteer Music Lessons to inspire music out of Children
•         Mental Health Awareness Week

Sources of Funds to Utilize:

•         College Grants: Your college may offer funding for projects
•         Club Board Funds
•         Kiwanis Tomorrow Fund

o   https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CKITomorrowFundApplication2015

•         Ask Kiwanis for funding and help.
•         Up to $250 for any PTP related event from Kiwanis

o   http://cnhkeyclub.org/downloads/Resources/Kiwanis%20Family/PTP%20Grant%20Packet_SLP.pdf

o   The link says that this is a Key Club document, but the application has an option to submit it as a Circle K member.

•         Hold Fundraisers

How to Integrate the Culture of Impact Teams:

Every school, club, and culture is different. In order for Impact Teams to work at your club, the key is in fostering the culture, centralizing resources for easy accessibility:

1.       Create your school’s version of Impact Teams
2.       Gather resources specific to your own school
3.                                                                     Funding
4.                                                                   Materials

                                                          iii.      Guidance

1.                                                                 LSSP Examples
2.       Create documents based off of the template documents
3.       Keep the Culture of Impact Teams (Most Important)
4.       Embrace Failure – The reason why Impact Teams work is because we alleviate the fear factor. When you encourage failure as a means for higher education and create a culture for accepting failure, people step up and push their preconceived limits. A trust between board and General Members needs to be formed that says ‘I believe in you to succeed, but even if you don’t, it’s okay because what you learn from failure will be the greatest lessons I could never teach you’.
5.       Growth – Aside from amplified Impactful Service, the second most important thing about Impact Teams is that it helps Circle K members grow as leaders and as people. The role of any leader involved with Impact Teams is ensuring that everyone’s growth is prioritized.
6.       Freedom is Key! – VPS’s need to be hands-off of Impact Teams. This is the 3rd most important cultural component of Impact Teams. The more rules, the less that members will grow. If you love them, set them free!
7.       GMems are the CKI Heart – Harness the power of General Members. VPSs have been the one man army for club service for too long. General members have the true power in Circle K. It’s time to delegate the communal service responsibility to those who have the true power.
8.       Service as a Squad is Fun! – Make shirts, make a team name, and have fun!
9.        Trust and Faith – Circle K leaders are great leaders! Trust them to work out their own project or learn trying. This program is the ultimate message of compassion and trust in one’s members.
10.       Open applications and let it go – Freedom is Key!

Timeline:

1.       VPS creates their own school’s Impact Team documents and process
2.       VPS makes Impact Team Head positions available
3.       General Members apply for Impact Team Head
4.       Impact Team Head appointed
5.       VPS sets up relationship with Impact Team Head and passes on documents
6.       Impact Team Head structures team
7.       Impact Team Head accepts other General Members for his/her team positions
8.       Impact Team carries out project
9.       Impact Team concludes, documents sent to VPS for documentation and transfer of files
10.   Repeat from 2.

How to Start Your Team Template (For General Members):

This template is one that UCSD used when starting 3 Impact Teams. Feel free to modify it as you like, but realize that this is the logistics part of Impact Teams and DOES NOT replace your role as a VPS to encourage the culture needed to allow Impact Teams to flourish at your club.

Creating your Impact Team:

1.       A project outline must be sent to the VPS to be approved
2.       The purpose of this is simply to ensure that the project is within the Impact Parameters. As promised, the project may be as large or as small you wish as long as it is within the project parameters.
3.       The project outline must include: A purpose, an estimated date of project completion, a general timeline to outline the goals for each week/month until the end of the project, an estimated cost of expenditure.
4.       The Structure of your Team
5.       This will not require the supervision of any Board member. How you want to structure the Team is up to you.
6.       General Suggestions for Team Structure: Team Positions (division of project duties), Meeting frequency, etc.
7.       Appointing your Team
8.       You make the application
9.       GBM time for application discussion must be requested through contact with the VPS before the start of Team Reports.
10.       The Team Head(s) will appoint Team Members

Connecting CKI Board with your Impact Team:

1.       Create a Slack Team
2.       Explore Slack.com and their phone app
3.       Invite CKI VPS and President to your Team
4.       Create a “Private Group” including the Team Head(s), the President, and the VPS
5.       Send a Team Report to the VPS
6.       A Team Report is a summary of the Team’s progress for the week. This report is not considered your meeting minutes.
7.       Each Team Report must include: A brief summary of each Team Member’s progress for the week; requests for CKI Board (Event on the Calendar, support for an event, office key, etc.)
8.       This report must be sent to the VPS each week before 12pm to update Board on the progress of your Team. This must be done regardless of whether or not your team had a meeting that week. The first Team Report must be sent in the week that the Team has had their first meeting.
9.       GBM
10.       Anything you want on the GBM slides or on the Meeting Agenda/Newsletter must be communicated to the VPS.

Running your Impact Team:

1.       Keep all documents in one folder
2.       This folder will be submitted to the VPS and President upon completion of your project.
3.       These documents include (but are not limited to): CERFs, Budgets, Literature, Project Outlines, Meeting Minutes.
4.       Meeting and Project Execution must be tracked
5.       Hours spent planning and executing must be tracked for the final CERF.
6.       CERFs throughout your project can be condensed into a single CERF turned in upon completion of your project.

FAQ:

Impact Teams vs LSSP?

Impact Teams formally and systematically open up the LSSP opportunity to members in a much less intimidating manner. Every general member has the power to start their own LSSP, but lacks the knowledge, resources, and support to do it. With the integration of Impact Teams, comes the age of a new Circle K culture. In this, Impact Teams does not create new resources, but what it does is compile the pieces of what we already have in Circle K and craft it into a tool to amplify our impact upon the community. Impact Teams serves to educate General Members of their true power in Circle K.

Can General Members start an Impact Team without the VPS integrating it into their school?

Certainly! However, informal creation of an Impact Team does not provide centralized knowledge and resources for a team to take advantage of. Service Officers have a lot of information that General Members need in order to start an Impact Team, therefore it would be best to seek formal creation from your Service Officers.

Can a Division start an Impact Team?

Yes! There can be a Divisional Impact Team, but it is hard to manage.

How did you envision Impact Teams to go at your school?

My main vision is involving the impact teams is being able to involve more people with leadership-service. The ideal result that I would consider a success is if older members use Impact Teams to expand upon their leadership abilities while also making an impact on the community. The Impact Team’s completion of their objectives is a smaller part of what I call a success as far as Impact Teams go. My objective with the Impact Teams is to give older members (2nd 3rd 4th 5th) a way to improve their leadership abilities in a way that’s not Board or as elementary as a committee. My primary goal is to impact the CKI community. My secondary goal is to impact the community. The biggest impact that I want to make is within our Circle K community, and upon the outside community to a large (but smaller than our own community’s) extent.

This is how I see Impact Teams in order of importance: 1) Can give Leadership and Service a new meaning in CKI. 2) Can expand members’ leadership in a way that Board Positions can but not the same amount of long term commitment and/or responsibilities. 3) Can challenge UCSD CKI Members beyond what being a committee member can. 4) Can make an impact beyond what we do on single days of service.