Kamboom !: The Kaboom Business Model

In August of 1995, Darell Hammond the CEO and Co-founder of Kamboom playgrounds, read a story in the Washington post about two children who had died of suffocation while playing in an abandoned car, since they didn’t have anywhere else to play [1]. This was the inception of KaBOOM! a company that has dedicated twenty-one years in building playgrounds so no child is deprived of healthy play opportunities. Since its inception as a nonprofit startup, KaBOOM! has now generated over $14.5 million through various contributions and community activities[2].

In the year of 2000, Darell Hammond believed that KaBOOM! had matured to translate its business model into an effective systemic solution. This would mean KaBOOM! strategically shifts from partnering with corporates to build playgrounds, to being a knowledge leader providing the necessary skill, trainings and grant programs to help communities imitate their playground building model.

It may be a little premature to conclude that switching over from their corporate partnering model of directly building playgrounds to that of a knowledge leader may be the right path to tread on. Looking at KaBOOM!’s three-part program strategy of Lead, Educate and Advocate clearly suggests how KaBOOM! wishes to be the leader in building children’s playgrounds, how they wish to educate communities and how the …show more content…
generated 71% of its total income through corporate funding, 16% through communities, 12% through foundations and a mere 1% through individual funding [2]. It is clearly observed that KaBOOM! received almost five times its income from corporate funding as compared to community based funding. Shifting operations to becoming a knowledge base promoting community training and taking a back seat in directly building playgrounds may not be as profitable. In that case corporate funding may still exist, but it may not provide as much value proposition to them, leading to reduced funding or corporates backing