Students lend a helping hen-d to not-for-profit
UTS Shopfront works with a huge range of organisations, drawn together by their purpose-driven mission.
Who Gives a Cluck is a charity that rescues and rehomes hens about to be culled in the egg laying industry.
Founder Julie O’Shea is the only full-time volunteer for the organisation. On her own, Julie has rescued over 4,000 hens, and currently keeps 78 needing medical care on her own property.
Julie had a vision to progress the charity’s work with a newly designed product range – from t-shirts to a hen playhouse – and improved communications for the organisation.
But, like most in the not-for-profit industry, a lack of time and funds kept this idea out of reach.
UTS Shopfront unites not-for-profits like Who Gives a Cluck with final-year students to help deliver projects that would otherwise be impossible to fulfill.
Six teams of students from both Business and Design courses worked to provide the products and collateral Julie will use when she launches the charity’s online shop.
‘I definitely learnt the importance of making the message attractive to capture the audience,’ said Julie.
The benefits of participating in the Shopfront program was working with energetic young people who were genuinely keen to help.
Shopfront’s model provides needed project support for not-for-profits, while offering students real-world experience on issues that matter.
‘I could see their interest, and their passion for helping a small charity was great. Having students undertake things I don’t have time to do was also a huge help.
‘There's actually people willing to give up their time and it gave me this lovely fresh feeling of “you're not doing this alone”.’
Shopfront links the community sector to university expertise through pro bono projects completed by students as part of their studies, supervised by academic experts in their field. We aim to create mutual value, supporting community organisations while engaging students in important social justice issues. Find out more.
