Research Problem - Williams Memorial Cogic

Background

Williams Memorial COGIC (Church of God in Christ), was founded by Dinnie Turner Williams (1892-1959). Williams rented a storefront on 5th Street between the streets of N and O. the church was the first established COGIC in Sacramento, on September 4, 1924. The church was moved to various locations, but always was located to another storefront. The churches final storefront was located at 4th and Q streets.

In 1938, the church purchased a lot at 808 W Street. In order to enter the building, the 25 members had to climb approximately 10-15 steps, walk about 5 feet on the tar-covered roof of the building, walk down approximately 20-25 steps to a small landing, pass through a set of swinging doors and into an auditorium.

In the early 1960's, the State of California Transportation Department notified the Church that a freeway was scheduled to be built through the church property. The Department of Transportation paid the church $70,000 for the land. The church was allowed to continue services until the new site was built. The church purchased its present site at 4495 Sacramento Boulevard (now Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard)

Research Problem

The purpose of this study is to increase participation in the S.H.A.R.E.S. program, assess participant's performance, make sure information is accurate, maximize time, and increase funding with the S.H.A.R.E.S card.

The program that is currently helping raise funds for the church is the S.H.A.R.E.S. program. S.H.A.R.E.S stands for "Supporting Humanities, Arts, Recreation, Education, and Sports (Donating up to $2 Million dollars annually! para. 1)". The program's goal is to help the community by offering a card that is used when shopping at everyday grocery stores. This program is "easy and efficient way to fund-raise (Donating up to $2 Million dollars annually! para. 1)".

Organizations like churches, groups, schools and other organizations have the ability to use this program help the fund their organization and the community around them. The expectation of the organization is to have the members give out the cards to other members of the group, then to family, friends, co-workers, and others. Since this program is easy to use, the expectation is that cardholders will utilize the card while shopping and the funds go back to the organization that originally started the fund-raiser. The cards are available at specific stores to buy groceries and cannot be used to purchase other items such as, liquor, stamps, money orders, lotto tickets, etc. Each time someone uses the card the organization will receive a quarterly check up to 3% of all qualified customer purchases.

Operational Definition

An operational definition is stated in teams of specific criteria for testing or measurement. Below are the operation definitions we are measuring for the survey:

1) Do you know about the S.H.A.R.E.S card?

2) Do you shop at the stores on the S.H.A.R.E.S card? If no, where do you shop?

3) Do you use your S.H.A.R.E.S card?

4) How many times per month do you shop?

5) How often do you use your S.H.A.R.E.S card per month?

6) Have you received extra cards from the church?

7) Do you pass the cards out that you have received from the church?

The purpose of this study is to increase participation in the S.H.A.R.E.S. program, assess participant's performance, make sure information is accurate, maximize time, and increase funding with the S.H.A.R.E.S card. With a growing number of organizations vying for the same prospects, it is imperative that the church finds the best fundraising strategy and determine the effectiveness of the current card program.

Data Collection and Variables

We will