Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation Analysis
| Subject: | 🏥 Health Care |
| Type: | Profile Essay |
| Pages: | 13 |
| Word count: | 3566 |
| Topics: | Breast Cancer, Business Ethics, Leadership, Volunteering, 💵 Finance, 🙋♂️ Management |
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Table of Contents
Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation, a non-governmental organization, based in Rhode Island, was established in 2004 in the loving memory of Gloria Gemma who relentlessly and courageously fought cancer until she succumbed in 2002. She was a mother of nine kids and had strived to instill good morals of helping people in her children. According to Hollendonner et al. (2012), the organization initially started as a website but later developed into a physical organization with Maria Gemma-Corcelli being appointed the Executive Director. The organization has been in the limelight to enhance a cancer-free society, especially within Rhode Island. Through the leadership of the effective board of directors, the organization has been able to roll out plans and programs such as the hope of flames, and the Gloria Gemma runs and walks to facilitate sensitization on the importance of education on cancer. Locally, the organization has been impactful in the provision of employment to local people as well as helping combat cancer. The impact of the organization is however yet to be felt globally due to lack of implementation of a global expansion strategy. This paper provides an insightful analysis of Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation, its mission and vision, the form of governance, code of ethics, management and leadership structure, the plight of volunteers and employed staff, organizational budget, strategic planning, and social change impact.
Mission and Vision
The mission of the organization is to celebrate and effectively nurture life within local communities during stages of cancer acquisition and after the process by offering education, reliable access to health fitness and wellness resources in conjunction with numerous support programs to people living with cancer together with their families and friends. The vision of Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Foundation entails several objectives that the organization seeks to achieve in impacting positively on the lives of those touched with cancer in the local community (Hollendonner et al., 2012). The organization strives to be the best in embracing and amicably dealing with cancer patients together with their families and friends or any other unrelated caregivers.
The organization is envisioned to provide charge free education, support, health fitness and wellness resources to every individual that has been touched by cancer. Another vision entails being an organization that promotes increased quality of health especially for patients with cancer together with their families and friends by helping them to release and ease emotions and traumatic pain caused by cancer. The organization also strives to create awareness among the general public through the provision of education on cancer diagnosis within the local community (Kiron et al., 2015). Finally, Gloria Gemma is envisioned to being an organization that relentlessly inspires and evokes strength, hope, courage, faith, and determination among people touched with cancer.
The mission and vision play a vital role in management at the organization. According to Ganescu (2012), it is through the mission statement that staff members, both employed, and volunteers derive what is required of them in their respective positions. The mission promotes quality and effective delivery of services to people living with cancer and those who are closely related to them. Through the vision statement, those seeking for services at the organization would be able to distinguish between which services are offered and which ones are not. The vision also acts as a guideline to interactions and engagements between the organization’s staff and people with cancer. The existing mission and vision statements are appealing and in full conformity with the organizational operations at Gloria Gemma. On this aspect, there are no recommendations. However, it is critical for the management at Gloria Gemma to effectively strive to ensure that all its mission and vision statements have been achieved.
Governance
According to Ganescu (2012), a capable board of directors should have an executive director who oversees all the activities of the board. They are subordinated by their assistants and other members of the board. Each member of the board is allocated tasks to perform and must strive to effective delivery of the same. An effective board should have both gender representation and should strive to ensure that success is realized to the organization. The board of directors at Gloria Gemma headed by Maria effectively carries out activities in accordance with the organization’s code of ethics. The board has the mandate to hire and fire employees on genuinely presented, investigated and proved claims. The board of directors at Gloria Gemma also rolls out the financial plan for the company to ensure a smooth running of activities without financial constraints.
The state laws of America where the organization is based dictate abidance to legal requirements of the state by a non-governmental organization. The laws dictate that such organizations are not entitled to government funding and should operate within the confinements of activities that support human rights. The laws are ruthless any organization that acts in a way that portrays its selfish interest to make donations to enrich themselves instead of offering free services to humanity as stipulated in their mission statement (Hollendonner et al., 2012). The laws also acknowledge that services from NGOs should be free of charge any violator of such legal requirement must face the full force of the law and substantial penalty. Gloria Gemma foundation has always strived to uphold the state laws by continuously offering free services to cancer patients. Despite not being able to receive funding from the government as stipulated by the state laws, the organization gets donations and sponsorship ensure upward mobility of the calendar events of the institution. It is recommendable that the organization works more on employee and management motivation through rewards, promotions, and tokens of appreciation to boost board commitment and involvement. Decision making should also be an all-inclusive affair whereby everyone’s contribution matters and is revered.
Ethics
There are several ethical approaches employed by organizations for the realization of corporate success. Ethics acts as guidelines to corporate social responsibility within an organization. According to Brière, Proulx, Flores, and Laporte (2015), leadership ethics dictates that managers should act in a way that other employees can imitate them. In Gloria Gemma, the members of the board of directors under the leadership of Maria Gemma always strive to impactful act as role models to employees. Due to their decisive and firm traits of leadership, junior staff members continuously revere them and act according to set rules and regulations. Employee ethics act as a guide to employee interaction with both the management and service seekers. At Gloria Gemma, employees strive to ensure they meet the standards of quality service delivery and impact and touch the lives of people with cancer amicably without favoritism. Ethics essentially boost the morale of workers in Gloria Gemma and provide hope for the continuous success of the organization.
However, being a non-profit organization, Gloria Gemma has always faced challenges when it comes to employee motivations. Brière, Proulx, Flores, and Laporte (2015) observe that in worst scenarios most employees would not even stay for a month at such organizations due to financial constraints. This has been a common case which forces the company to majorly rely on unpaid interns as a source of labor for the organization. However, it is recommendable that the organization strives to venture into other side business like opening a restaurant whose premises would be used to teach on healthy cooking habits as well as obtaining money and stipend for workers at the organization. I believe that through this, the organization would be able to tame the threat of ethical disintegration.
Management and Leadership
The leadership structure at Gloria Gemma comprises a lead executive board of directors and other committees. It is a flat leadership structure. The board of directors at Gloria Gemma consists of seven individuals each with a distinct role in the organization. Maria Gemma-Corcelli is the executive director of the organization. She is the daughter to the late Gloria Gemma who the organization was named after. Maria heads the organization with the help of other individuals such as Bryan Sawyer who is the Chief Operating Officer. In his capacity, Bryan oversees most of the activities in the organization and stands in for Maria in events and seminars when she cannot make it due to commitments (Hollendonner et al., 2012). Bryan rolls out annual activities at the Organization in conjunction with other members of the board. Carol Ann Donnelly is the Communications and Passport to Wellness Expo Manager. She plays a vital role in the organization of Expo events on healthy cooking habits and the Flames of Hope walk and running races of the organization which are typically geared towards the collection of donations to fund the activities of the company as well as pays the employed staff members of the organization. Maureen Dipiero is the Community Outreach and Education manager. Under her area of jurisdiction, Maureen oversees Educational programs and community outreach activities. Hollendonner et al. (2012) observe that together with her committee she has severally organized for training sessions on how to combat cancer among victims and those closely related to them. Mandy Zito is the Patient and Survivor Navigator. Her role entails field movement of patients and survivors to Gloria Gemma for initiation of the healing process. Jane Iannetta is the Development Associate and Gloria’s Angels Program coordinator while Tel Gingras is the Community Outreach and Education Assistant who constantly works hand in hand with Maureen for impactful activities in their department.
The leadership structure at Gloria Gemma has highly impacted on the success of the organization. In their research on strategic leadership in NGOs based in Palestine Analoui, & Samour, (2012) deduced that democratic leadership in such organizations fosters unity and boosts the morale among employees. The even distribution of roles among the members of the board has simplified tasks within the various committee and led to quality services delivery. Through the committees, team work is reinforced by the full participation of all members in decision making. The wellness team is a good example of a team-spirited group at Gloria Gemma that strives to produce quality services to a client. The current leadership structure at Gloria Gemma is effective for the smooth running of the organization as it provides a clear insight into the managerial positions and tasks they entail and what junior staff should do to meet the successful threshold of the organization. Unlike most NGOs which lack a definitive leadership structure, Gloria Gemma’s strategic leadership helps it to tame conflicts that may arise if there were no leadership structure.
Volunteers and Staff
The roles of staff within NGOs differ depending on whether they are employed or simply volunteers. Employed staff members are normally individuals who have gone through professional training and fully equipped with skills in their various areas of operation. However, most volunteer workers within such organizations have not gone through professional teaching but are introduced to basic training by the organization once they start working for them. It is only the interns who are partial volunteers within such institutions with professional training (Batti, 2013). The major roles of employed staff revolve around leadership and management of operations within the organization. In Gloria Gemma, the board of directors comprises of employed individuals who professionally carry out their tasks. Most of the junior employees are however volunteers who are spirited towards combating cancer in the community. This group is tasked with field activities such as teaching on healthy cooking methods, training on wellness, conducting community services activities among other operations that do not require professional skills.
There is massive ongoing training and recruitment of volunteers at Gloria Gemma due to the increased numbers of patients especially those from abroad. The organization carries out frequent training to employees to equip them with skills of handling both patients and their relatives. Training on spiritual nourishment is currently ongoing in the organization with a keen focus on helping patients to heal both physically and spiritually. However, in the findings of his research on the human resources challenges facing NGOs, Batti, (2013) observes that demoralization through lack of motivational rewards leads to massive loss of employees by such organizations which are non-profit. Therefore, it is also recommendable that the management at Gloria Gemma strives to motivate the volunteer staff through rewards, tokens, and promotions for increased productivity. As mentioned earlier, the organization has consequently experienced the debut of volunteer employees due to lack of motivation.
Organizational Budget
Funding is highly vital for the successful running of both for-profit and non-profit organizations. Funding helps in prompt operations within organizations. Hollendonner et al. (2012) argued that funds assist in the payment remuneration to salaried employees at Gloria Gemma. Through the availability of sufficient funds, the organization comfortably carries out operations and expos. The Flames of Hope and Gloria Gemma Walk and Run have been major contributors to funding within the organization. Lack of funding from the government has slightly affected the operations within the organization although the availability of numerous sponsors has enabled funding of activities within the organization.
Gloria Gemma Financial Budget by the end of 2016
| Notable Sources of Revenue
Contributions Program services Investment income Bond proceeds Royalties Rental property income Net fundraising Sales and assets Net inventory sales Other revenue Notable Expenses Executive compensation Professional fundraising fees Other salaries and wages Other Total assets Total liabilities Net assets Total functional expenses Net income |
Amount in Dollars ($)
1,596,057 0 1,607 0 0 0 164,083 0 0 0
69,177 0 276,721
847,894 100,101 747,793 1,876,822 -115,075
|
Percentage of Total Revenue
90.6%
0.1%
9.3%
3,7%
14.7%
|
Interestingly, the organization has adopted no other means of revenue collection apart from donations from sponsors and well-wishers. The annual expenditure of Gloria Gemma exhibits an abnormal trend as compared to donations. This means that the organization may be prone to financial difficulties that may hinder successful programs and activities conductions according to Hollendonner, et al. (2012. The organization should strive to build a multinational name and bring stakeholders from other countries thus increased donations to the organization. Another recommendation is that the organization ventures into other ways of revenue collection such a rental apartments and other hospitality for-profit business. Such ventures would help in accumulation of funds that would help in footing of bills within the organization and payment of salaried workers. This would also tame over-dependence on external sponsors as well as increase the organization’s profitability.
Strategic Planning
The strategic planning process of Gloria Gemma includes creating a global feeling of cancer-free society. The organization, through its activities such as the Walk and Run for Life events bring together people from different countries and cultures. These activities and geared towards the inclusion of world countries in the awareness campaign against cancer. The creation of the plan began through brainstorming of the board of directors on the strategies to global expansion and creation of a culture of cancer-free society worldwide. Through the leadership of Maria Gemma, they came up with ideas of having walks and runs and flames of hope to help in the realization of the strategy. The implementation of the strategy was sluggish due to lack of enough funds to carry out those programs. The management advocated for and attracted numerous sponsors who were ready to wire money into the programs (Ganescu, 2012). Interestingly, the implementation was successful after several trials, and today the organization can comfortably hold programs and events.
Another significant recommendation for the company is that it should work towards a global expansion strategy. According to Ganescu, (2012), this would help in geographical penetration of the organization into other countries especially the developing countries which are highly prone to cancerous defects. I believe that through the global expansion strategy, Gloria Gemma would be able to impact on social change globally and create a worldwide culture against cancer. Cancer does affect not only developed countries but also third world countries especially those located in Africa. The global expansion strategy would ensure that Gloria Gemma obtains a multinational name through various healing programs to cancer patients
Social Change Impact
Gloria Gemma is impacting on social change in different ways. According to Hollendonner, et al. (2012), through the organization’s spiritual and healing program, the company has been able to reach out to many victims of cancer and take them through spiritual encourages to help them heal both in soul and in spirit. This has impacted on increased positivism among most victims of cancer within Rhodes Island where the organization is based. Through its programs, the organization has been able to foster acceptance of people living with cancer among their relatives and friends. The organization has consequently facilitated fundraisings for cancer treatment for various people. This has helped in providing finances for treatment for such economically challenged patients. Through the programs on healthy cooking and wellness training, the organization has been able to lead in the transition of individuals from unhealthy to healthy living styles. This has led to a positive social change as most victims have been able to adapt to healthy living and foods hence ameliorating the process of combatting cancer.
On a small scale, the organization has been able to socially impact on the change within the local community in Rhodes. Most locals have positively responded to the organization by bringing people with cancer on board to the programs of Gloria Gemma for initiation of the healing process. The local community has also been able to acquire employment status within the organization with a vast majority being volunteer workers whose belief in services to humanity pushes them to offer free labor to the organization. On a large scale, the company has been able to bring the whole world together during walks and runs for life which has been acknowledged by the former president of the United States of America (Hollendonner et al. 2012). The impact created during Flames of Hope activities have socially led to global unity on cancer eradication.
Conclusion
In summary, NGO organizations operate uniquely dissimilar from for-profit organizations with most of them having democratic leadership style which entails working in teams whose members offer decisions and opinions to foster upward mobility of the organization. Gloria Gemma has typical features of an NGO that are striving to impact on human life and cause social change. Through the organization’s mission to provide free services to clients and help in the mitigation of cancer, there has been a significant improvement on cancer prevalence in Rhodes area. The activities carried out by the organization such as wellness, health cooking training, spiritual healing, flames of hope and Gloria Gemma run for life have led to positive impact and social change within the local area. However, the primary challenge has always been on the financing of activities due to lack of funding from the government. Significantly, the organization strives to acquire funds through donations from well-wishers and sponsors.
However, it is pragmatic to recommend that the management at Gloria Gemma strategically works towards starting other for-profit business to help in funding Gloria Gemma activities without straining. Such for-profit activities would entail the sale of cakes or any other fast food stuff during the expos as well as venture into real estate business. This would ensure that the organization would be able to comfortably cater for its financial needs and boost employee motivation through rewards and tokes. The definitive leadership at Gloria Gemma should also be gender sensitive. Currently, the board of directors majorly comprises of women and one man. This may create gender sensitivity among male clients who may view the organization as a feminine outfit. Another worthy recommendation for the organization is that it strives to strategize on global expansion. This would help in the global collection of funds and development of multinational name. Global expansion strategy entails penetration into other countries and creating a Gloria Gemma culture. This would help in steering forward as well as helping in the realization of social change across the world on cancer sensitization.
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