March Gladness Awareness Campaign
Challenge
Goodwill Industries of Kentucky was experiencing a decline in donations in the early months of 2014.
Solution
Since Kentucky is basketball country and March Madness was looming, we developed an awareness campaign to generate donations that we coined “March Gladness.” The campaign kicked off on March 1, with a statewide press release a week prior announcing a month-long donation drive. A PSA was sent to targeted radio contacts, including sports reporters, and an audio news release was issued statewide, featuring an interview with a Goodwill executive that aired on 165 stations. Snow, ice and extreme cold that winter compounded a need for donations during months that are already historically slow for donations. Lack of donations could impact jobs for an already vulnerable population. Donations to Goodwill stay in local communities. We emphasized that only 10 percent of Goodwill Industries of Kentucky’s revenue supports administrative costs, leaving 90 cents per dollar to support critical job training, placement and employment counseling programs. Radio remotes were scheduled in key communities and donors were encouraged to gather their donations. The event culminated with Collection Saturday (a play on March Madness’ “Selection Sunday”), focused on gathering a large number of donations across the state. In mid-April, as results of the drive were tallied, letters to the editor were written by Goodwill leadership in each area thanking their local communities.
Results
Calls came in to us before we could even make follow-ups on the release; interviews were booked throughout the state at Goodwill stores. Print and TV reporters visited local Goodwill stores to interview store managers, customers and donors. There were 56 media placements statewide, and Goodwill experienced a 9 percent increase in donations!
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