Special Olympics hopes that it will raise the profile of its organization and efforts. In doing so, the firm also showcases one of its many pro bono projects and illustrates how it uses technology as an enabler of overall corporate strategy. Among other things, visitors to the site can meet the team, look up the history of the project, hear discussions about issues that faced the team, read documents about the project, and watch team meetings on video. Founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Special Olympics is an international year-round program of sports training and competition for individuals with mental retardation. Other recent pro bono clients include the United Negro College Fund, the Nature Conservancy, Children's Hospital, the Children's Defense Fund, and Lincoln University.
Visitors can also see the client's reaction to the consultants' efforts.
We are a client, not a charity. The consulting work is an engagement, it's not a sideline. That's a pretty tall order, considering that over one million athletes in more than 160 countries already train and compete in Special Olympics events. The firm also helped Special Olympics create a new performance measurement and planning system and identify strategies for achieving quality growth. A second integral piece of the work was helping develop an overall IT strategy to support Special Olympics' needs.