1. McKinsey Case Competition 2015
The Aegis Group
McKinsey Case Competition – A Rotman School of Management exclusive. Teams of 4 MBA students are given a
problem to solve in a tight timeline. Students must break down the problem into actionable pieces, develop creative
solutions, apply analytical rigour, and present their recommendations to a panel of consultants from major
consulting firms.
The Challenge – There is a not for profit organization that is making a difference by educating disadvantaged
communities. The organization primarily relies on corporate donations, but would like to grow its mass market
donations. The group was challenged to recommend the best strategy for the organization to grow its North
American mass market fundraising in a sustainable and profitable manner over the next 3 years.
The Aegis Group – The group broke the problem down into components in order to determine the appropriate
recommendation. Aegis found four key components to the problem: awareness, acquisition, average donation size,
and retention rate.
Awareness – People need to be aware of the organization before they are going to make a donation. Aegis’s primary
sources indicated that a large portion of the population was unaware of the organization and their objective.
Acquisition – Simply being aware of the brand is not enough to increase fundraising. Research showed that there
needs to be an opportunity for people to donate, as the people most likely to support the organization are not
proactive in looking for opportunities to donate.
Average Donation Size – Without incentives, donors typically give small amounts.
Retention Rate – The percentage of donors that come back every year to the organization is low.
Opportunity – The Aegis group found through primary and secondary research that there is a large potential donor
base, representing over half a million people in one segment alone. This segment, affluent millennials, want to
engage with the organization through social media and see that their donation makes a difference.
Recommendation – The Aegis group recommended the Three To Play Program, a structured series of three
initiatives that successively build on each other to raise mass market profits over time.
Digital – The first branch of Three To Play is an update of the organization’s online presence and mobile
capabilities. This short-term initiative creates the platform to engage millennials, building awareness and providing
the opportunity to donate. Aegis recommended working with OCAD Digital Futures – in this way, the organization
can improve their online capabilities to connect with millennials cost effectively, while giving the students of OCAD
an opportunity to develop their portfolio.
Partners – The second branch of Three To Play is to create a branded corporate play league. This mid-term initiative
provides millennials the opportunity to donate while participating in a sport, social, or egame league. The partner
initiative increases the opportunity to donate, while providing an incentive for donors to come back each year as part
of the league. Corporations will help provide the infrastructure to run the league since it improves employee morale
and engagement. This branch of the program also builds on the first, as research shows that millennials want to
engage with the organization through digital before committing funds through other channels.
Local Program – The third and final branch of the Three To Play program is a fee-for-service after school program
called Play to Lead. The program leverages the existing strength of the organization to build targeted educational
programming, and addresses the need of millennials to have engaging after-school programs for their children. The
last branch builds on the first two branches, as it relies on local networks to build engagement and enrollment in the
program. Play To Lead connects millennials to the organization, showing them the impact of power of the
organization in a local context. Creating such an impact on donors drives acquisition, donation size, and retention.