My Bag My Story

​

Overview:

​

My Bag My Story is a young startup, a three year old nonprofit/social impact organization. The Founder and Board of Directors vow to support children in the foster care system by providing personal luggage for them to carry their belongings in rather than the current use of a trash bag when these kids have to move to another home. They simply ask one of us to buy one of their luggage products and an additional one will go to a child in foster care. To date, My Bag My Story has delivered scores of these high quality custom made bags to foster children across the Middle Tennessee region. 

​

My Bag My Story was introduced to The Macfarlan Group through a Faculty member at the Massey School Of Business at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. The Macfarlan Group is known for our work leading nonprofit/social impact organizations through a data driven strategic planning process with a proprietary assessment tool that builds operational capacity and provides critical information to the organization before they begin the strategic planning process. 

​

Challenge: 

​

My Bag May Story is fueled by the unflappable spirit of the Founder and a devoted Board of Directors. To date, all operations have been executed through volunteer assets. To achieve their goal of serving more children in foster care across the nation, they recognize the need for a strategic plan that builds out “the buy one give one” business plan and creates an essential infrastructure with systems for long term sustainability.

​

Solution: 

​

The Macfarlan Group created a data-based strategy driving leadership, personnel, infrastructure, and systems decisions to increase the reach of the impact of My Bag My Story, increase revenue to build fulfillment capacity, and provide space for a focus on advocacy efforts to benefit children in foster care on a national political level. 
 

Impact: 

​

The Macfarlan Group provided three critical elements within the engagement with My Bag My Story:

​

• Assess the current operations and systems used to deliver the mission of My Bag My Story to meet the challenges of meeting their goal of serving children in foster care in all 50 states. 

 

• Assess the impact the planned expansion will have on the current volunteer-only operations system. Provide value-added information and metrics for potential professional staff inclusion in the operations moving forward.

 

• Provide a data driven strategy for the expansion using a proprietary tool based on organizational management and behavioral psychology to guide the strategy for the expansion of services 

 

The Macfarlan Group provided the necessary expertise and experience within the engagement with My Bag My Story for the organization to grow in the following ways:

​

• Create a revenue plan to add professional staff to the product production and distribution area of the organization from the sales and development/fundraising areas of the operations.

 

• Begin to create a relational network with private foster care service providers throughout the United States to raise My Bag My Story brand awareness and sell more products to provide more customized personal luggage to children in foster care nationwide. 

 

• Formalize operational infrastructure and processes to streamline order fulfillment to customers, better facilitate distribution of the luggage to the children, raise brand awareness, build internal organizational leadership, and create advocacy relationships with local, state, and federal foster care agencies.

 

• Create with the organization’s leadership a multi-year responsive data-based strategic plan to ensure the long-term success of My Bag My Story.