The Dual School

SWOT Analysis
By:
Alexis Garhart - Communication Director
Introduction, General Information, Strengths,
Weaknesses
Josh Grun - Research Director
General Information, Opportunities, Threats, Summary

1313 Innovation
1313 North Market Street
Wilmington, Delaware 19801
302-273-8935
info@dualschool.com
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Table of Contents
I. Introduction (page 2)
A. Team Members and Team Roles
B. Introduction to the Organization
1. Description of the Nonprofit
2. Mission Statement
3. History
4. Project Liaison
5. Organizational Chart
6. Financial Picture
7. Key Insights from Interviews
II. General Information (page 5)
A. Mission Statement
B. Short Term and Long Term Goals
C. Finances
D. Branding and Marketing
E. Board of Directors
F. Volunteers
G. Location and Logistics
H. Social Entrepreneurial Ventures
I. Comparable Agencies
J. Principles from Good to Great
K. Head, Heart, Hustle
L. SWOT Chart (Summary)
III. SWOT (page 11)
A. Strengths
B. Weaknesses
C. Opportunities
D. Threats
IV. Summary (page 19)
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I. Introduction
A. Team Members and Team Roles
The group of Community Fellows from the Blue Hen Leadership Program tasked with
working with Dual School consist of Alexis Garhart and Josh Grun. Each member of the group
plays an essential part in this stage of gaining a complete understanding of the Dual School in
order to later create a project that benefits the nonprofit. Alexis has her strengths in
communication, organization, and persistence. The role that was agreed upon for Alexis is
Communication Director because she was able to efficiently communicate with the liason, Zach
Jones, and be committed to following up for an answer. With the interviews, which were
essential in learning more about Dual School, the members of the team, and their purpose, Alexis
maintained a record of the conversation and helped facilitate many of the questions. Josh Grun
has been primarily to research other organizations similar to the Dual School, in order to be able
to compare each, recognize strengths and weaknesses of the other organizations, and understand
how those organization’s models can better help address issues within Dual School in a broader
sense. These defined roles helped decide how to split the sections of the SWOT analysis, as
Alexis has a better understanding of internal strengths and weaknesses from being the direct
contact with the organization and Josh has knowledge of the external opportunities and threats of
the organization from his research. Because the group consists of only two members however, a
majority of the other responsibilities has simply been divided and conquered by both members,
as both have agreed that they have strong abilities to complete tasks as they play on each other’s
strengths. The overall duty of making sure the pairing stays focused on what needs to get done
falls on both individuals. Accountability is important in the group, especially when since it is
obvious when either member is not participating equally.
B. Introduction to the Organization
1. Description of the Nonprofit
The Dual School is a nonprofit that hosts project-based learning experiences. Dual
School offers students an alternative educational path in social entrepreneurship. By pursuing
solutions to the greatest problems in their communities and the world, students develop
foundational skills that complement their academic pathways in the traditional school setting.
The Dual School manages to do this by offering a nationally-recognized social entrepreneurship
accelerator for youth to become change-makers. The program created a program called the Idea
Incubator for students with any idea, passion, or problem they care about. They meet every week
for three hours from 3:30-6:30pm at 1313 Innovation in Wilmington to experience mentorship
and workshops to make their ideas a reality. The fall 2019 cohort of Dual School will launch
with a kickoff event on October 16 and the program will run 12 weeks then will conclude
following a public exhibition on January 14. Because Dual School values create a diverse cohort
where everyone has the opportunity to create social change, they use a sliding scale to determine
the tuition fee in order to maximize their impact without letting financial background hinder
performance. All are able to apply regardless of financial ability and they also provide
transportation scholarships for students who qualify.
2. Mission Statement
The working mission statement of the nonprofit is “Through projects that transform
what’s possible in their community and the world, youth actualize their passion, purpose and
human potential”. The issue the Dual School is tackling is that the education system does not
prepare young members of society to thrive in the modern economy. This means many students
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are not prepared by schools to succeed or create a measurable impact in society. Dual School has
designed a learning system to fill the gaps and give students the skills that they truly need to
succeed in the future. By partnering with local schools, community centers, and the state, Dual
School brings students together from a wide variety of backgrounds to collaborate and form a
community of young problem solvers. While the school is failing to meet the needs of students,
the students are getting to meet their developmental needs in these projects.
3. History
The Dual School history spans about two years, as the nonprofit is relatively new to the
community. It all started pre-Summer 2017 from research and development about social
entrepreneurship that was piloted and funded from Paul McConnell for Social Contract. By
Summer 2017, research and design sprints with local students, educators, entrepreneurs, and
national thought partners created the idea for Dual School. The very first Idea Incubator program
began in October that year and has been a constant for the nonprofit over the two years. Many
other projects were started and completed, but the Idea Incubator remains a core element to the
nonprofit. In June 2018, Dual School becomes Dual School, Inc. and began filing for 501c3
status. Then in May 2019, Dual School received 501c3 status. October 2019 marks the beginning
of the fifth cohort of Idea Incubator.
4. Project Liaison
The liaison for the group is Zach Jones, who is the Executive Director of Dual School.
Zach is a graduate of Horn Entrepreneurship at the University of Delaware. Zach is the author of
The World Changer’s Handbook and is passionate about helping young people activate their
potential by taking action on their ideas. He has taken on massive opportunities to further himself
as a social entrepreneur, initially being his introduction as the president of the Entrepreneurship
Club. Most notably, he has gone on to manage the nonprofit, Dual School. We also work closely
with Mariana Silliman, who joined the Dual School as the full-time Program Director in
September this year. While she does not have too much history with Dual School, she provides
important insight in the daily activities of the nonprofit.
5. Organizational Chart
The organizational chart is comprised of five people, which includes four members of the
board and two full-time staff members. The board is comprised of Zach Jones, Meghan Wallace,
Julie Frieswick, and Shona Grace. The two full-time staff members are Zach Jones and Mariana
Silliman. All of the volunteers, which are given the title of Mentor in the Dual School, are
supervised by Mariana Silliman. Zach Jones is listed as a member of the board as well as a full-
time staff member with the title of executive director. The organizational chart has two tiers. The
first tier consists of the members of Dual School who have been present from the very beginning.
The second tier is recent from the addition of another full-time staff member Mariana Silliman,
who is supervised by Zach Jones. While the organizational chart shows the small number of
people and the spread of power within Dual School, it does not give much insight into the impact
of these members. Zach and Mariana are the only full-time and salaried members. The board
members are not as active but play an important part in the decision making of the nonprofit. The
board members are most active when long-term discussions and meetings are proposed by Zach.

6. Financial Picture
A brief look at the financial information of the 990 form reveals the impact of being a
new nonprofit. As the organization has only filed the 990 once, the form has no history and,
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therefore, limits the ability to compare previous progress and understand the current state of the
nonprofit. In addition, the 990 form does not reflect the new addition of a full-time staff member,
Mariana Silliman, to the organization because it was filed the year 2018. The 990 form covers
important information such as the amount of cash inflows and outflows as well as the
involvement of its members. As expected for the age of the nonprofit, there is a heavy reliance
on donations and the organization is not sustainable. The organization brought in $56,685 but
ended with a net amount of -$4,413. The accounts payable for the end of 2018 was listed at
$7,729, which means the organization owes money and ended the year with debt. The board
members spend about 5 hours weekly with the Dual School, while Zach is full-time at 40 hours.
The financials are important for understanding the resources that have been described by Zach
Jones as the guiding factor of decisions and direction for the nonprofit to this point. The financial
statement itself shows room for improvement for the nonprofit and provide ways to
quantitatively assess progress and improvement for the Dual School.
7. Key Insights from Interviews
The interviews conducted with members of the organization provided the most important
insight into the organization. Since the nonprofit is relatively new, there is not much information
present to the public on the internet or in the community. According to research done by the
group, there are some articles done for the Dual School that address the importance of the work
being done but not much other outside sources for the organization. The website and their
relatively inactive social media provided other insights directly from the organization. However,
talking to the members of the organization made the group aware of some key points. We
learned about the mission and the organization but most importantly, we learned about the
impact being made on the participants of the program and the unique value proposition that
brings students to participate and donors to help fund the program. For the participants, school
and home is regulated daily and they are constantly told what to do. The program gives them the
opportunity in an informal atmosphere of individuality to personalize a project about what they
are passionate about. Through these projects, the students gain confidence in ideas and abilities,
professional skills, and the ability to network beyond students, school, and parents. Zach shared
that one alumni of the program was the first ever student on the Delaware Board of Education
and credited Dual School for being that initiator as an activist program that launches the
participants of the program into the world of social entrepreneurship.
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II. General Information

A. Mission Statement
“Through projects that transform what’s possible in their community and the
world, youth actualize their passion, purpose and human potential”

The mission statement is very closely tied to executive director Zach Jones, as he is very
involved in the world of social entrepreneurship and has been throughout his professional life.
However, the organization itself has a mission statement which is working and not set in stone,
so it is difficult to say how much the organization itself is tied to it. They have successfully
launched three cohorts of design incubators, with the fourth having been launched recently this
past October. They have worked with different youth groups in Wilmington and groups of young
people to provide and experienced enriched with design thinking and opportunities of
professional growth. It is particularly and issue, though, that because of the model in which they
have been working through things, which is effectual, there are programs they have run that are
correlated to the general work that is done, but does not necessarily make sense in the grand
scheme of things. In other words, the work done to promote the mission is effective, but
disjointed.
B. Short Term and Long Term Goals
The organization has set many short term goals, which have included satisfying the
visionary funders, establishing some background and history as a nonprofit, and creating a
reputation for themselves. Through taking advantage of opportunities as they arose, they
succeeded in the short-term goals. While the organization had achieved its short-term goals, it
never set long-term goals and therefore, has an overall lack of direction for the future. Because
the organization never clearly set long-term goals, the mission has been in question over time. .
The mission is one of the most valuable assets to a nonprofit and this confusion of identity has
led to a lack of success in long term development and futuristic thinking. Without understanding
the Dual School’s direction, it is almost impossible to know the potential of the organization.
This is an issue that has continued to affect the Dual School’s development.
C. Finances
The organization has a very bare 990 form to understand the finances of the organization. With
the relative newness of the organization, there is no established financial history to view the
different spending habits and financial progress of the organization. The financial health is a
cause for concern due to the lack of sustainability, overuse of resources, and money spent on
salary and overhead. Sustainability is an issue for the organization as all of the money flow into
the organization comes from external sources, which include gifts, grants, contributions, and
membership fees. The complete reliance on grants and other contributions could potentially
cause the organization to shut down if the sources were to stop contributing. The organization
ended the 2018 year with a negative net amount of money in the organization, which means they
are not properly budgeting and allocating resources. As the organization ended in the negatives,
it is concerning that 60% of the total money inflow was directed towards overhead and salary.
Nearly half of the money inflow for the year went to Zach’s salary, which is why that overhead
percentage is so large. The Treasurer on the Board of Directors is Shona Grace but she also holds
the title of Secretary and has other important job responsibilities as well. The need for Shona to
balance her roles could distract her from dedicating her time to ensuring the proper management
of finances and resources.
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D. Branding and Marketing

The organization has a website and different social media platforms to disseminate information
and grow its awareness. The website has the most information about the Dual School with bright
colors that represent its values of innovation, creativity, and change. The logo is located on the
top and embodies this idea of bright and fun workspace by using triangles and different colors.
The website has various sections so any person that visits the site can find the desired content.
The organization has a weak social media presence, with a post about once every month. Social
media is a good tool to share current events that are important to the organization. The target
audience of their efforts includes donors and potential participants. Donors could include those
passionate about social entrepreneurship or education and those who want to make a difference
in the lives of youth. These two groups are being targeted because they have the largest impact
on the nonprofit, with donors providing the funds to help the organization run and with
participants being those who are impacted by the programs. The organization could not run
successfully without a balance of involvement by the two groups. These audiences are not
necessarily being reached effectively because there is a lack of community awareness for Dual
School, which means that donors do not know about this organization as an opportunity to help
financially support and participants typically learn about the program from parents and teachers
first as these people are connected to the school and are more likely to do research on external
educational activities to enhance the students’ education.
Logo:

E. Board of Directors
The board consists of Megan Wallace, Julie Frieswyk, Shona Grace, and Zach Jones.
Zach is also the Executive Director as a full-time staff member. In September, the Dual School
added Mariana Silliman as Program Director, which is the second full-time staff member role.
The board is generally inactive with dedicating a small average of 5 hours a week to the
nonprofit. Zach and Mariana are very active in the organization as they are full-time. The board
is not fulfilling its role as it should because the members are not regularly active so they are
mostly uninvolved. The entire board of directors are gathered only when big decisions must be
made that affect the nonprofit in the long term. Julie Frieswyk does not have an official title as
she is listed as ‘Member’ and Shona Grace is taking on two important roles as ‘Secretary’ and
‘Treasurer’, which represents a lack of defined, effective responsibilities of the board. Also, the
presence of the executive director equally on the board is a conflict of interest and should be
reconsidered. The board members are not receiving any training for their roles but the members
come from backgrounds of social entrepreneurship and education that gives them the experience
and the skills to make an impact in the organization. It is up to each individual person to
contribute their talents to the organization as there is little to no accountability built into the
organizational system.
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Chart:

F. Volunteers
The volunteers of the Dual School are referred to as mentors. They help the students
identify issues in the students’ community that they care about. Then the mentors help the
students to explore the issues and develop solutions to them. The mentors are paired with a
facilitator and are assigned a group of approximately 15 youth. Mentors are there to support
students as they pursue projects, provide individual coaching and help to manage the classroom.
Mentors are required to be present for at least 11 of 13 sessions. The volunteers are trained by
the facilitators to help reinforce the content of the program. The Dual School works hard to
ensure only the best candidates are selected as mentors so the training can be quick and
effortless. They are rewarded with money for delivering on the role. The mentors must be
internally motivated by their passion for social entrepreneurship and education of youth.
G. Location and Logistics
The physical space of 1313 Innovation is open and collaborative. This allows for their
operations of social entrepreneurship that requires a mindset of creativity and innovation. The
organization rents the space, which provides economical benefits as well. There are rooms with
tables and chairs for conference meetings, rooms with desks for the full-time staff to complete
their work, and a wide open area with couches and whiteboards to create a comfortable
atmosphere for brainstorming where everyone can contribute.

1313 Innovation:
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H. Social Entrepreneurial Ventures

The great thing about Dual School is that, while it is a social entrepreneurship venture in
its own right, it engages in social entrepreneurship through its mission and model of
programming. That is, in engaging in design incubators or idea incubators with its participants,
the participants are actually the ones given the ability to have their own ventures, consistent with
the mission of the organization. What is innovative about Dual School is that it is designed to
allow youth whose want to innovate and create social projects, to be able to do so. However,
there is not much structure to Dual School, and its history has shown this. Dual School has been
in a mode where it take opportunities that it is presented, but does not necessarily take a ton of
risks. It could be said that the launching of incubators, and the taking of opportunities presented
are things that could be categorized as risks, but when they align so perfectly with the mission of
the organization, they can be simply considered.
I. Comparable Agencies
There are multiple different agencies across the country whose share similar missions as
Dual School. Incubatoredu is and organization based out of Illinois that is not direct competition
but has subjectively done a more sustainable and effective job in ensuring its mission is brought
about in the communities it works in. Dual School does innovative things that this organization
does not; however, as aforementioned, Dual School’s progress has not been linear, as it has taken
opportunities that are unique, and they have shown a sort of direction towards fulfilling their
mission, except do not necessarily provide precise progress towards a vision. Organizations like
DYLN and LYTE provide direct competition through their programming in targeting the same
participant base as Dual School. As a newer organization, Dual School generally has the
potential to have great impact, but does not have comparable impact in the ways that already
established organizations have in their programming.
J. Principles from Good to Great
1. First Who
The First Who concept is something which Dual School has had through its conception.
The First Who starts with the board all the way down to the mentors. The board are very
knowledgeable in the areas of education and entrepreneurship. While, as discussed, they may not
be very active, they do have the skills and experience to help Dual School make important
decisions. The full-time staff who are managing the daily operations are extremely passionate
about the organization and the work they are accomplishing so they work many hours
contributing their expertise into the organization. It is clear that they will do anything to succeed
as they are the foundation to the organization. Especially for Zach, as the one who was present
with the organization since the very beginning, he has a connection with the organization from
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nurturing it starting at the very beginning. The mentors are essential for the effective facilitation
of the Dual School’s programs and there are strict measures in place to ensure the recruitment of
the best possible staff. The combination of all the people who are made up of the Dual School
are the driving factor of the progress the organization has made so far.
2. Hedgehog Concept
The Hedgehog concept, combining the three areas, which are what you are deeply
passionate about, what you can be the best in the world at, and what best drives your economic
or resource engine, is something which Dual School has satisfied. The passion of the members of
the organization drives them to deliver results and bring success. All the members who are
involved with Dual School have previous experience with coaching youth and practicing
entrepreneurial endeavors so they combined their talents to make an impact in the Delaware
educational community through Dual School. The organization had visionary funders, a
necessary resource, from the very beginning and the organization followed their requests exactly,
almost to a fault. While following their requests created confusion over the direction of the
nonprofit, they were still incredibly effective in using the resources present to create results.
Zach Jones is a great example of the Hedgehog Concept for the organization. He is incredibly
passionate about entrepreneurship and innovation. Jones’ record shows he is very good at what
he does too, in being successful not only in a lot of the projects he has created, but also in his life
and as an entrepreneur. For example, he was the president of the Entrepreneurship Club in
college. He is a resource himself for the organization in the connections he has with Horn
Entrepreneurship, which is where one of the board members, Julie, works full-time.
3. Fly Wheel
While the direction of the organization is not linear, the Dual School has still made
strides towards progress and have created significant momentum in favor of helping establish
their general mission within the organization. This progress has been created by the completion
of short term goals and taking opportunities to build a reputation of delivering results. Because
they are a new organization, it is important that Zach and the board are able to build momentum
towards progress to get a kickstart on being successful and sustainable towards their mission in
the future. Even though this has not been completely achieved yet, Dual School is on its way
towards being incredibly successful in the state of Delaware once the nonprofit has a direct
mission to guide its path.
4. Level 5 Leadership
An area where Dual School struggles is in Level 5 Leadership. Dual School, in both the
executive director and the board, lacks level 5 leadership from their inability to make difficult
decisions that benefit the organization. By not taking initiative and taking the organization in a
defined direction shows that it has not been showing the “indomitable will” Jim Collins talks
about in Good to Great. A good example of this is when they sent teachers to a conference that
gave teachers and potential facilitators skills on how to educate youth in areas that Dual School
focuses on itself. While this may indirectly affect children, this was incredibly far off from
having a direct impact on youth, like their mission statement would imply.

K. Head, Heart, Hustle

Dual School exhibits a lot of heart for its mission, and utilizes the head of the
organization, leading to a strong amount of hustle. The overall work of Dual School combines
Head and Heart well, using the passion as well as the education and entrepreneurial skills of the
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staff and board as an input to help students learn essential skills in social entrepreneurship
projects outside of school. Through the aligning of their passion for their work in providing
opportunities to improve youth potential and their experience and skill sets, and the use of the
knowledge in how to do this by the board and staff, heart and head combine perfectly to establish
the kind of hustle Collins discusses in Good to Great.

L. SWOT Chart (Summary)

Strengths Weaknesses

● New Development/Social ● Mission/Direction

Entrepreneurial Ventures ● History/Goals
● Location/Logistics ● Financials/Sustainability
● Hedgehog Concept ● Organizational Chart/Board of
● First Who (Staff/Volunteers) Directors
● Head, Heart, Hustle ● Level 5 Leadership
● Flywheel Effect

Opportunities Threats

● Branding/Marketing ● Lack of Community

● Getting More Individuals/Schools Outreach/Awareness/Social Media
Involved ● Nonprofit competition/Comparable
● Future partnerships/Social Agencies
Entrepreneurship Ventures

III. SWOT
A. Strengths
The first strength is in the organization’s relative newness to the community. Since the
organization is in the new stages it can use innovation to its advantage and take risks in order to
grow the organization. The organization is built around promoting social entrepreneurial
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ventures to the younger generation of students. Because the nonprofit is made of experts in
facilitating these ventures, the company is able to use that knowledge and experience of the
board and staff to take risks in developing the nonprofit from its humble beginnings. By
emphasizing innovation and change as part of the nonprofit's values, they create opportunities to
identify and use it in their own daily operations. For example, many of the projects started by the
organization are from activities and events that come to them from visionary funders or from
other outside sources. Their approach has been to take advantage of those opportunities as they
arose regardless of their meaning to the organization. It was more important to the Dual School
to grow their impact in the general area of social entrepreneurship in education than it was to
reflect on what each thing meant to the nonprofit. Because they took risks instead of shying away
from them, the nonprofit participated in many different projects that make up the history of the
organization and has created a reputation for themselves.
The second strength comes from its ability to impact the community from its proper
planning and ideal location. The logistics are planned mostly by Zach Jones but that
responsibility will be shared with the new addition to the full-time staff, Mariana Silliman. The
Dual School has its office space in 1313 Innovation, which is a building in Wilmington.
However, the Dual School uses many spaces, such as schools and community centers, to
facilitate their programs. It is essential to utilize school spaces and community centers
specifically because they are attempting to influence the youth, who spend a lot of time in these
settings. Their office in 1313 Innovation is a very open, collaborative space, which is useful for
holding board meetings and designing the social entrepreneurial programs. There are various
rooms that can be used for different purposes that give the nonprofit flexibility in operations. For
example, there is a conference room with a big table and white boards to promote innovation and
creative thinking. The colors are bright and inspire the different members of the organization to
think productively about the nonprofit. The environment and atmosphere assists and promotes
their values and gives the staff the opportunity to be successful.
The third strength is the fulfillment of the Hedgehog Concept discussed by Jim Collins.
The concept represents the intersection of three areas, which are what you are deeply passionate
about, what you can be the best in the world at, and what best drives your economic or resource
engine. The Dual School is a passion project, which means it came together under its current
leadership to fulfill needs for issues that are important to its members. This passion drives the
members of the organization to deliver results and bring success. All the members who are
involved with Dual School have previous experience with coaching youth and practicing
entrepreneurial endeavors so they combined their talents to make an impact in the Delaware
educational community through Dual School. For example, Julie Frieswyk on the board works
for Horn Entrepreneurship facilitating programs to college students and Zach started with leading
the Entrepreneurship Club at school and has moved on to leading programs for the nonprofit.
Their resource engine directly guides their operations through the effectual way of growth that
was chosen by Zach Jones. Through effectual reasoning, the organization does not start out with
concrete goals. Instead, they constantly assess how to use their personal strengths and the
resources they have at hand to develop goals on the fly, while creatively reacting to
contingencies. By contrast, corporate executives, use causal reasoning. They set a goal and
diligently seek the best ways to achieve it. By using an effectual mindset, the ways of directing
the organization are dependent on the opportunities. Zach presented to the members of Blue Hen
Leadership Program and brought up the idea of creating value, not capturing it. Dual School
accomplishes this with the Hedgehog Concept, by combining the board and staff’s passion for
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social entrepreneurship, their skills in education and entrepreneurship, and the resources given
through money from visionary funders and different opportunities.
The fourth strength is in the people that are the foundation of the Dual School. They
follow the principle of the First Who of Collins’ work because they have measures in place to
ensure only the best people are brought into the organization. All new members of Dual School
are thoroughly trained after going through a rigorous recruitment process. Zach Jones and
Mariana Silliman talked about the measure they put in place to first ensure they are adding only
the best people to work for the nonprofit and the different ways they ensure the programs are
being facilitated successfully. Mentors, or the organization’s volunteers, have the highest direct
impact on the participants of the programs. It is essential that they are able to create connections
and deliver the content of the programs designed by the staff. The members of the organization
must be internally motivated by the passion they share with other members about empowering
youth to complete social entrepreneurial projects. The motivation that is needed is not something
that can be taught but must be present within an individual coming to work for the nonprofit.
After each person is identified as the right person that should be added to the nonprofit, the staff
train them initially to understand the principles of the Dual School to deliver the right material to
the participants as well as train them continuously throughout the process because they believe in
continuous improvement as well. According to Zach Jones, some mentors who have shown
incredible skill in mentorship for the program get paid. This acts as a reward system in itself for
doing a good job.
The next strength comes from the organization’s hustle. Head, heart, and hustle is an
important concept that combines skill and passion for motivation towards results. The idea
identifies that work must align the heart of the organization, addressing the social and
environmental issues that are most important to them, and their head, using their unique talents.
The organization finds ways to work from both the heart and the head, collapsing the divisions
between these two aspects in the work as often as possible. By aligning their mission of
providing extra educational opportunities in projects to improve the potential of youth with the
experience and skill each member of the organization possesses in entrepreneurship, the
organization is able to hustle successfully. This hustle from the strong uniting factors of head and
heart has enabled the organization to grow so rapidly in its two years of existence.
The last strength is the Flywheel Effect, which is a metaphor to help visualize momentum
introduced by Jim Collins. Momentum has been incredibly important for Dual School in its
initial stages of existence. The Flywheel Effect was fulfilled exactly through this momentum and
the gradual compilation of movements set out by the nonprofit. The Dual School started with an
idea and over time has developed to a more established organization. The idea for a social
entrepreneurial nonprofit led to different tasks, activities, and opportunities. The push to alleviate
the issues of educational gaps in fundamental skills started with manageable initiatives that
turned into a strategy of momentum. The Dual School is successful today from the
comprehensive accomplishment of these small goals and projects established by the nonprofit.
They measure overall success in the impact on students, which for them is the number of
students who sign up for the programs and complete social entrepreneurial projects that also
teach responsibility and other important life skills. At the current point in time, there are 4
successful cohorts of Idea Incubator that have delivered social entrepreneurship projects within
their communities after just over two years of existence. This would not be possible without
taking the two years to build up the organization and using the opportunities for growth. It was
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all of the steps added together in an overall accumulation of effort applied in a consistent
direction that turned the giant wheel towards success.
B. Weaknesses
While the organization has many strengths, there are weaknesses that should be
addressed. The first is a major problem for the nonprofit, which is that Dual School has struggled
to find their direction and is redrafting their mission statement frequently. The working mission
statement as stated earlier is “Through projects that transform what’s possible in their
community and the world, youth actualize their passion, purpose and human potential”. Josh and
Alexis were present at the board meeting when the Dual School was going through the process of
crafting the mission. The full-time staff and board members were collaboratively identifying
what has been accomplished in the past, the accomplishments of the present programs, and the
direction for the organization in the future. After two years, the organization has had many
different versions of their mission. It is important for any organization to consider changes and
reflect them into the mission statement. However, the problem for Dual School is that the
changes reflect the confusion of the organization’s identity. Through the strengths, it is evident
that the nonprofit has a strong purpose, but the organization has a hard time iterating it into the
guiding statement that reflects how they implement their purpose through functions and
objectives. This is likely because, as reflected in the history of the nonprofit, many of the
projects taken on by the organization were piloted from the funds that were given and not a
thorough consideration on whether they would further the mission of the organization or help the
organization develop. For example, the organization supported a conference for teachers to
develop their leadership skills. While the conference may help improve teachers' ability to
support students fundamentally and provide some assistance in solving the educational issues
that Dual School is addressing, it was not a sustainable step for Dual School in that it did not
follow the mission of developing youth.
The second weakness is the history of the Dual School. Zach Jones advertises his use of
effectual means to create growth for the organization, which includes utilizing the resources
already available to decide the next action of the organization. With this mentality, the Dual
School has a history of using the resources in areas of opportunity as they are identified instead
of through careful consideration. The Idea Incubator is the heart of the organization but the
organization’s past over the two years is full of other activities that are scattered and
unorganized. While his methods have been successful in growing the reputation of Dual School
and creating change in the lives of students, it did not create a clear path for Dual School for
designing and understanding its mission. The organization had an identity crisis this fall where
there was a necessary, major deliberation of the organization’s direction that was prompted by
the status of Dual School as established and with some regular flow of funds. The organization
had achieved their short-term goals but never set long-term goals. Through taking advantage of
opportunities as they arose, they succeed in the short-term goals of satisfying the visionary
funders, establishing some background, and creating a reputation for themselves. They also
realized that, while they accomplished their short-term goals through the activities they created
and facilitated, it had not led them to understand the organization’s long-term mission and goals
at all. The lack of success of long-term goals, due to never establishing them in the beginning,
made the organization start over in terms of reflecting on what the organization is here to do for
the community.
The third weakness comes from the financials. For the new organization, the primary
focus has been on building a proof of concept with visionary funders and little focus on the path
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to sustainability. These visionary funders were the primary cause for the creation of Dual School
and have supported the nonprofit to its current state. However, as the organization transitions
into the next phase, the organization needs to focus on the percentage growth of sustainability,
lessons learned, and adjustments to be made. The organization does not have many records due
to its relatively new history. The organization does have a 990 tax form. A look into the form
reveals some major issues and cause for concern for the organization. The form revealed a major
lack of sustainability for the organization, as all the money that came into the nonprofit were
from gifts, grants, contributions, and membership fees. With the money coming in, the
organization spends about 60% on overhead. The overhead includes expenses and salaries. At
the time, Zach was receiving almost half of what the organization reported they received for the
year. While he is highly skilled and takes on the largest responsibilities for the organization, the
percentage of money that goes to his salary alone is a major financial drain on the nonprofit.
Dual School recently hired a new full-time employee, Mariana Silliman, who started in
September so her salary was not yet reported. The net amount for the first year of the
organization that was reported was negative at -$4,413. The organization is not bringing in
sufficient cash to cover their expenses so it builds into the lack of sustainability. One important
piece of information revealed by the 990 goes beyond just numbers of financials, but into the
resources. From the 990, the board members are not active in the operations according to their
weekly hours spent working with Dual School. They spend an average of 5 hours dedicated to
the nonprofit, which compared to Zach with 40 hours, is not very active and involved. On the
board of directors, there is a treasurer who also acts as the secretary. To have the same person
balancing two job responsibilities is likely not the most efficient way to run the board, especially
as the treasurer role is so very important to managing the resources of an organization. However,
there is someone who is responsible for the finances of the nonprofit.
The fourth weakness is the organizational chart of the board members and full-time staff.
The organizational chart is very flat, which represents a lack of clear, defined roles. According to
the website, Zach Jones is listed as a member of the board. The board should have a good sense
of its monitoring and oversight role by maintaining a balance between its responsibility to ensure
the organization has quality programs and services with giving space for the staff to creatively
initiate and conduct them. It is a natural conflict of interest for executive directors to serve
equally on the entity that supervises them. While that is true, executive directors should attend
and participate in discussions at board meetings because they likely know the most about the
organization's mission and programs, finances, and staff roles and competencies. From attending
the board meeting, Zach was the main force in holding the meeting and creating direction of the
conversation because he understands the organization the best. The conversation, however, was
very much directed by Zach as he explained to the board members what has been done to allow
further collaboration towards deciding the future. It is very evident that Zach is given a lot of
freedom in running the organization as he sees fit. He is able to provide results so the board
members give him the autonomy to take over. With this, the board of directors take more of a
hands-off approach of working with the Dual School. They are not very involved and only meet
for big decisions and major changes. This may be because the board members were thrust into
this role with no training and only choose to participate on the board because they are passionate
about the social impact. While there is no generic model of board size, composition, or list of
responsibilities, this lack of separated, defined roles between the board and the executive director
is a weakness that should be worked out as the organization develops.
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The last weakness comes from the unfulfillment of Level 5 Leadership as described by
Jim Collins. Level 5 Leadership represents a unique combination of leadership capabilities that
ensures the organization becomes the best at what it does. The most important part of this kind of
leadership is the ability to make sure the right decisions happen, even if difficult or painful, for
the long term greatness of the institution and the achievement of its mission, independent of
consensus or popularity. Zach Jones took on opportunities as they were available and made
relatively quick decisions that followed the money inflow of the organization. As discussed,
Dual School lacks a direction and fails to create and understand its long term goals. Zach Jones is
almost at this point of leadership but falls just short from the decisions that were made to further
the progress of the organization without a direct consideration of the mission. He is definitely at
least reached the fourth level of leadership as he brings the organization to meet performance
objectives and achieve a vision. He is missing the unwavering ambition to make difficult
decisions for the long term improvement of the nonprofit. While Zach Jones has passion and skill
to lead the organization, he must consider this practice of leadership if he wants to increase the
greatness of the organization.
C. Opportunities
A first opportunity with Dual School is definitely twofold: social media and marketing. In
interviewing the executive director, Zach Jones, Zach made it evident that not only was Dual
School struggling on social media, but that the organization as a whole has not fully committed
to its growth through social media. With only 151 followers on one of the largest social media
platforms, Instagram, Dual School on average posts around once every month, which is evidently
not nearly where Zach sees his organization’s ability to post to be.
The other area within the same scope of outreach is marketing. While social media fits
within the realm of marketing, marketing is a broad area that Dual School can expand upon. Not
only would posting on social media more frequently be a simple adjustment towards being
opportunistic in approaching marketing, but it would help expose the great work that the Dual
School does more. Things such as posting day to day tasks for the organization on Instagram,
Snapchat, or Facebook stories, or even posting once a day on every possible social media
platform might be overwhelming. However, doing so will ensure that followers of those accounts
on those platforms will have much more information regarding the inside of the organization.
Though this was not a topic discussed in class, Gary Vaynerchuk, owner of Vaynermedia
and other successful companies, stresses the importance of frequent social media posts
constantly. A lot of the rise of his popularity is due strictly to social media posting and viewers
realizing their coinciding and agreement with the ideas that Gary puts out. This is a context on a
considerably larger scale, yet it gets the points across perfectly. In general, it is not enough to
simply do great work, but to share it where people whose might agree with the type of work
done. People are simply unaware that organizations that due similar types of work to Dual
School even exists. By posting more frequently, there will be a much heavier engagement and
overall awareness for the Dual School and those types of organizations.
The beauty of social media postings is that with more frequent postings and exposure of
the Dual School, even more opportunities can arise from it. Namely, opportunities for viewers of
posts to get involved with the organization. Someone who could view a Dual School story would
maybe be a philanthropist or potential donor who has been looking for an organization to donate
to and thoroughly agrees with the mission of the organization. The viewers could also be a
teacher in Delaware who sees a post and decides to contact Dual School to learn more about
what he or she can offer to the organization as a potential volunteer. From there, the teacher can
 16

reciprocate through offering his or her school as a potential partner with Dual School in their
incubators. While these are simply hypotheticals, they are also incredibly possible, but
unachievable without increased marketing.
The second opportunity goes hand in hand with the latter hypothetical offered above,
which is the possibility of future relationships with other schools. Dual School has had multiple
relationships with multiple other schools over the course of its existence, whether it be offering
its services through the schools themselves or providing resources for students in their own
respective schools throughout the state of Delaware, like the first incubator which worked with
15 different students from 8 different schools. While Dual School maintains relationships with
these schools, in researching other similar organizations, Dual School would benefit
tremendously from having a steady relationship with multiple different schools across Delaware,
which could then expand out of the state. The idea of growing beyond Delaware is an idea that
executive director Zach Jones had briefly expressed interest in during the interviews. An
organization like Incubatoredu in Illinois, for example, is a vastly similar organization to Dual
School. It partners with high schools in Illinois and launches design incubators in order to allow
for students to receive real world experience designing projects and implementing them into their
own communities. Straight from the website, it expresses that the economy of the 21st century
requires a new type of student: one which involves young professionals and the creation of
innovative ideas. Incubatoredu seeks out teaching students how to embody these potential young
professionals through gaining necessary skills in a world whose needs and occupational focuses
are rapidly changing. Strictly describing this organization in general and not offering any
specifics, it is clear that it and Dual School have abundantly comparable goals and missions.
However, it is important to consider what sets these organizations apart.
While Dual School is opportunist and effectual in its projects, providing help to
organizations with students and faculty who have asked for it, such as with Design Thinking
Academy, where they were asked to facilitate a design thinking summer camp including and idea
incubator for 9 students. Incubatoredu an other organizations have programs established that, for
a set duration of time throughout the year, they work on incubators with a particular school or
multiple schools. Again, from Incubatoredu’s website, they pride themselves on promoting the
power between a community and a school district. The organization as a whole has created a
logistic model of programming for itself, which has most definitely aided its success and its
stability. Zach Jones has already expressed interest in switching his organization to a more
executive model as opposed to the effectual way in which has operated previously. However, in
being logistic with goals for the future, Dual School can sustain itself further through partnering
with school districts and ensuring incubators over the next few years, while also ensuring that
within those school districts, its mission has a potential to be fulfilled.
A related opportunity to the one aforementioned would be to partner with different
programs that are not a direct, comparable organization. Partnering with already established
programs with great track records and sustainability, whose missions do not compete with Dual
School but enhance and support it, can combine the two previously mentioned opportunities.
Programs whose goals are to specifically to integrate into the lives of high school students
through taking up their time can be considered a threat in Dual School’s desire also to be locking
up the time of students in its programming. Programs that only seek to foster the professional
and entrepreneurial development of its students and educate students of real world social issues
are ones in which Dual School could create a partnership to reach great potential. There is
especially great value in ones who have great social media presence, who can benefit Dual
 17

School through its own posting as well as can help in the cultivation of relationships between
Dual School and other organizations or even school districts.
D. Threats
The first threat, directly rating to the primary opportunity, is a lack of use of social media
and marketing. While this is internally controlled, the impact is external of the organization and
can therefore be threatening if not acted upon quickly. In a world where technology and social
media is becoming the most relevant source of reputation, older methods of engaging new
members and audiences are being rendered insignificant. Because of this, it is incredibly
important that Dual School starts using social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram in
order to reach a wider scope of people and help them understand their work. The reason why this
is considered a threat externally is because both the participants in Dual School are affected by
what the Dual School does and others not involved in Dual School are affected by how the
organization portrays itself within a given community. This includes the nonprofit community in
Delaware and even the communities within Delaware who would potentially be affected by the
Dual School’s work, such as Wilmington or Newark. The inaction in regards to marketing of
Dual School is not only making sure people are not aware that its mission is being worked
towards, but it also causes the relevance of Dual School to suffer within the communities it is
involved in.
In turn, lack of use of social media, touched upon previously, can do the reverse of
showing the world that the mission sought to be solved by Dual School is actually being acted
upon. While this might not be detrimental to the organization itself, it would have an effect on
still have an effect on those individuals who have some desire in putting work towards the
mission or something like it, even those within the organization. While this may seem drastic, it
is very real in a world changing as rapidly as this in favor of more technological approaches,
especially when the participants of the program itself is of a younger generation, and more prone
to rely heavily on social media for their news as well as their social lives. So, with the lack of
social media, the threat of other competing nonprofits in a market competition sense is a direct
threat to the sustainability of Dual School itself.
Organizations of a similar type to Dual School that are located in Delaware that provide
the same type of programming are a very present threat to Dual School and their ability to make
a large impact. The speakers from class, along with the class itself touched upon the thousands of
nonprofits that exist in Delaware and there is bound to be overlap between the impacts made by
the nonprofits. The research that was conducted by the group members revealed there are other
organizations in the same category as Dual School whose provide similar services. One
organization that comes to mind is the Delaware Youth Leadership Network. DYLN, for short, is
a nonprofit involving the teaching of design thinking and a yearlong program involving juniors
and seniors in high school. In engaging in a program like DYLN, the time of the students will be
spent and it is no longer capable of them to be involved in another organization of the same kind,
like Dual School. The Dual School is an intensive program that involves time spent with the
facilitators and independently working on projects, which makes it incredibly difficult and
undesirable to be involved in programs of the same kind. With that being said, organizations
such as DYLN existing in Delaware are a threat. They can prove to be even more of a threat
should they begin using social media more and draw in potential participants of the program.
This enhances the idea that social media and marketing is not only a great opportunity to
improve upon the established success of the organization, but it also proves to be a threat if not
acted upon quickly. Another organization involved in a similar mission is LYTE, whose
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facilitate and afterschool program to emphasize an explore the material covered during the
school day in order to better prepare students for college. This organization, because of its
participant base, high school students, and the fact that it is an afterschool program, will be in
conflict with Dual School also.
A third threat could be within the community and the potential participants of the
programs themselves. This threat involves the mission of the organization itself as well as
attempting the Unique Value Proposition of the organization, or at least what it can be inferred to
be. The UVP of the organization can be pieced through quotes from the Dual School website
which make claims about what the organization attempts to do: students will need to “become
agents of their own learning” in a changing world. This is done through “incubating student ideas
an activating nascent potential,” through launching projects that improve their communities, and
in turn, learning “crucial skills such as project management, design thinking, and
professionalism.” With all of this being said, the threat the organization may face in the future is
not being able to efficiently manage the needs or acquire the resources of its future participants
due to its lack of sustainability, lacking financial health, and other issues within the organization.
In other words, the organization is simply too small for some pressing issues to be addressed in
efficient enough ways. While all the resources are there to ensure Dual School fulfills its desire
to educate young people and help develop their “soft skills,” it is imperative that they are able to
also provide the resources to all who come to them through their design incubators in order to
address a need in their community. The issue arising here is that Dual School has no control over
the issues presented to them, and what issues they are actually able to manage financially.
Externally, this is threatening to them in that they have not actually met the mission they
proclaimed to be working towards in this respect. While again, this is not something of a
pressing threat, it is something which originates from outside Dual School and could potentially
cause issues within it.

IV. Summary
It is safe to say that Dual School has some needs it needs to start meeting in order to lead
a more sustainable, healthy existence as a nonprofit in Delaware: a state congested with various
other nonprofits. These needs include improved social media/marketing/branding, improving
steady relationships with organizations of the same kind, and creating a logistic style of
programming as opposed to the existing effectual model currently in use. With these needs in
mind, there are numerous different things that Dual School can engage in in order to turn a
weakness into a strength or act on an opportunity to benefit the impact and effectiveness of the
organization.
The first project idea would definitely involve social media/marketing. Although these
two are not the same thing, they are not mutually exclusive either, an overlap between the two
means and increase in social media use means and increase in marketing. So, increasing the
 19

amount of times Dual School posts on social media from once a month to about once a week, to
start, could do tremendous things for the organization. Josh has a general understanding of SEO,
or search engine optimization, and while this does not apply to social media specifically, things
like hashtags on instagram are a great way to get people on the platform who do not follow the
account through the explore page and hashtags that the user follows. By optimizing the social
media accounts of Dual School through not just posting more than just once a month, but
ensuring the posts target the specific audiences that Dual School wants to reach.
In terms of a marketing approach, social media seems to be the primary way to reach a
broad audience currently. So, doing things like setting aside budgets for running instagram or
facebook ads or social media ads could be an appropriate use of finances and a great way to
bring in a broader audience, or at least reach the specific audience through things like keyword
searches. Allotting money towards growing the organization is a great way to use finances
especially considering the amount of money used in the overhead category including parts of it
such as salaries. This might be an issue with the structure of the organization because there are
only two full time employees of the organization, so upkeeping social media might require
another dedicated member of the staff, which my incur more financial responsibility and, to my
knowledge, a volunteer would not be able to manage this without being paid for it unless they
wanted.
A second project involves and opportunity of the organization and the discussion of other
similar organizations. For a nonprofit, especially in a state with multiple similar nonprofits, it is
important to have connections and long lasting partnerships. For example, Theresa May,
executive director of 4Youth Productions, has an Art Gala every year at the University of
Delaware, keeping people at the University of Delaware involved or having the ability to be
involved in the nonprofit. Dual School is incredibly capable of doing something similar to this. A
strength of the organization is Zach Jones’ connection with another organization similarly
focused on entrepreneurship and not overlapping with their participant base: Horn
entrepreneurship at the University of Delaware. There could definitely be something
materializing between the two organizations in that they both promote innovation and design
thinking. Involving University of Delaware students, Dual School students, and like what
Incubatoredu is engaging in, they can partner with school districts around Delaware. Partnerships
like these can solidify long-lasting relationships and result in increased sustainability, programs
which happen on a routine basis, and ultimately a larger audience participant base for Dual
School to achieve their mission. The beauty of this is also the fact that in these partnerships, each
respective organization can benefit, through either teaching a skill, receiving real world
experience, expanding their bases, or generally collaborating on ideas where all parties agree on
the ensuing benefits.
A third potential project which will be incredibly beneficial to the organization and
measuring its impact is the formulation of research on the impact of the organization.
Conducting research on the impact would help, in turn, to help create a plan of action and a clear
path towards a more solidified mission statement, which is still somewhat a working mission
statement and not set in stone. Researching the impact through surveys discussing what has been
learned, what would be improved upon, the skills that were used, and more could help Dual
School show their impact on not only the design incubators they have engaged in, but the
opinions of teachers and schools who have worked with the program, and other adults who
participated in educational instruction. Because Dual School’s history shows it has not simply
engaged in design incubators, but a variety of other opportunities which have come up in an
 20

effectual manner, understanding where the impacts were of each of these for not only the
students but also the adults can show Dual School where their true value is, and ultimately can
provide a framework for a final mission statement.