United Way Partners with Seventh Point to Donate, Create & Launch Comprehensive Fundraising Campaign
Norfolk, VA (PRWEB) August 06, 2014 -- United Way of South Hampton Roads is kicking off its 2014-2015 fundraising with a new comprehensive marketing campaign, developed and donated by Seventh Point, a Virginia Beach-based media and advertising firm.
“Good Things Happen When You GiveTM” features video, print, digital, and social media telling the stories of how donations are making South Hampton Roads a better place to live, work, and raise a family. It’s a theme that really highlights the impact of United Way in our community.
“This is a critical time for us,” Carol McCormack, President and CEO of United Way, said. “We’re expanding beyond fundraising to bring partners to the table to solve community problems too big for any of us to solve alone. Having Seventh Point step in and offer to help us get the word out couldn’t have come at a better time.”
Workplace giving campaigns kick off in August and September, and most of the 1,000+ companies will complete theirs by the end of the year. Last year, local businesses, cities and schools raised more than $13 million to help nearly 200,000 of our most vulnerable neighbors, many through our 66 certified partner agencies.
That need gets greater every year, and getting the message out about how United Way works and the impact it has in the community can be challenging. “The work that we and our partners are able to do is truly amazing,” McCormack said. “Together, we are making good things happen every day and we want the community to hear those stories. This theme just rings true to everyone involved with us.”
Seventh Point, whose services were provided pro bono, spent many hours with United Way leadership strategizing how to craft and deliver messages that would reach and appeal to various demographic groups across the market. According to Joe Delatte, VP of Marketing Strategies for Seventh Point, “United Way, like many non-profits, is faced with some significant challenges in maintaining their funding base across very diverse generations. We needed to develop a multi-pronged campaign that speaks to a very loyal, but older group of contributors, while finding ways through digital and social media channels to tell younger, newer donors and volunteers about the important role that United Way plays in identifying and solving problems in South Hampton Roads.”
The campaign includes emotional videos telling stories of the people helped by United Way agencies, a video about their new Collective Impact initiative United for Children, a light-hearted animated piece that explains how United Way works, and humorous video shorts on some unconventional “good things” that can happen when you give.
“We always appreciate the power of generous community partners like Seventh Point,” Pam Smith-Rodden, VP of Communications and Marketing for UWSHR, said. “Now we have a framework, tools and a strategy that will focus our messaging for the next several years. We never could have afforded access to the resources they threw at this project – especially the comprehensive media package and strategy to help us build out a plan to reach new donors and volunteers through digital and social media.”
The Seventh Point nonprofit partnership is the first of what Delatte hopes will become an annual project. “I really like the idea of being able to put all of our creative and strategic muscle behind one specific cause for a dedicated period of time. The people in our shop have put some long hours in developing the programs and materials, and it’s a great feeling for all of us knowing that we are helping to make a difference for our hometown through United Way. And we’re not done. The annual Day of Caring is coming up September 12th, and our office will close so our whole team can turn that day into a huge social media event for UWSHR. After that, we will turn our energies to a process to choose a new non-profit partner as we go into 2015. Stay tuned for more to come on that.”
Businesses with workplace campaigns will be using and customizing “Good Things Happen.” See the videos, posters and more at http://www.unitedwayshr.org. If your business is interested in running a campaign, contact Campaign Director Katie Rudnicki at krudnicki(at)unitedwayshr(dot)org or 757.853.8500 ext.146.
Joe Delatte, Seventh Point, http://www.seventhpoint.com/, +1 7574738152, [email protected]
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