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Cal Poly Marketing Class to Assist TreasureBoxS Crowdfunding Campaign for Sponsorship of Soldiers and Sick Children Continue reading
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Jun 09, 2015 /prREACH/ -- SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA – TreasureBoxS, a communications tool for families that have been separated due to divorce, military deployment, job relocation, foster care, adoption, incarceration and other life circumstances, is pleased to announce a partnership with California Polytechnic State University. The program’s goal is to teach future entrepreneurs about new business ventures that can generate social good.
After a custody battle over his son, Don Nowell created TreasureBoxS as an online platform to share his thoughts, photos, and wishes for his son in anticipation of their being reunited in the future. When he realized that it had a broader audience, he established the company as a Social Benefit Corporation.
Students in Cal Poly’s Business School Cause Marketing Program will develop detailed marketing plans for how to best reach soldiers, separated families, incarcerated populations and sick children. At the same time, they will gain experience in branding, crowdfunding and how to structure a benefit corporation, also known as a B-corporation.
In exchange, the program will receive 2% of revenue generated by TreasureBoxS. It is anticipated that TreasureBoxS may hire some of these students upon graduation. “This experience has been rather eye-opening in many ways. Launching and running a crowdfunding campaign is no easy task and takes plenty of preparation.” said Cal Poly Business Marketing senior Annie Turner. “I’m grateful that my class was able to partner with TreasureBoxS so that we could have the unique opportunity to learn about startups and social benefit corporations. We truly embodied Cal Poly’s Learn By Doing motto by having the chance to work with a startup business as a university class and it’s awesome to be on the cutting edge of educational developments like these."
A benefit corporation’s purpose includes creating general public benefit, which is defined as a material positive impact on society and the environment. B-corporations differ from traditional corporations in purpose, accountability, and transparency, but not in taxation. As such, TreasureBoxS is required to consider the impact of its decisions not only on shareholders but also on society and the environment. To date, 28 states allow for the creation of B-corporations, a number which nearly doubled in 2014 alone.
TreasureBoxS was created to help child and parent foster a positive loving relationship while easing the uncertainty of reunification. As part of the crowdfunding campaign, individuals can fund a lifetime TreasureBox account for a U.S. service member, the family of a fallen soldier or civil servant, a foster child, or the family of a critically ill child through their MiracleBox and HeroBox Sponsorship Program. “Seeing [TreasureBoxS] partner with nonprofits all over the nation to provide meaningful connections to those in need has really impressed me and inspired me to invest myself in their cause,” said Cal Poly Junior Sonia Bhogal.
“I was thrilled to be able to team up my Marketing class with TreasureBoxS, giving students real life experience working with a startup, learning crowdfunding and marketing,” said Joan Lindsey-Mullikin, Professor of Marketing at Cal Poly. “But for me what’s most important is introducing my students to corporations with motives beyond profit-generation. I hope that the students take what they learn in this class and start their own benefit corporations.”
To learn more about TreasureBoxS, please visit http://www.treasureboxsfamily.com/. For media inquiries, investment opportunities, or if you are a nonprofit that would like to become a beneficiary of TreasureBoxS, please contact Don Nowell, Founder, BoxSync at (805) 890-6278. The crowdfunding page can be found at http://igg.me/at/treasureboxs-campaigns/x.