Me_Fine_Campaign_Proposal

“Me Fine” Foundation, Inc.

Kendall Pena, Mackenzie Stelljes, Marissa Counts, Natalie Alexander

1

Section 1 Problem Statement The Me Fine Foundation ’s donation contributions have been lacking in past years.

Therefore, creating awareness of Me Fine Foundation ’s mission is important to reach

new donors is crucial to the success of the foundation.

Introduction

Me Fine Foundation, Inc . was founded by the friends and family of Folden Lee IV.

Folden was only 2 years old when he passed away from AML Leukemia in May, 2003.

During Folden’s fifteen-month-battle against the disease, his family found that not only

did they have the stress of providing care for their ill child, but also they were

overwhelmed with tremendous medical costs. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon that

while providing for their children some caregivers lose their jobs, their homes, and are

separated from other family members for long periods of time while their child is

receiving treatment.

Me Fine was created to supply families who have children receiving treatment with

resources while they are facing life changing battles. We can’t change what these

children face medically, but because of Me Fine’ s combined efforts, they can change

the financial burdens of their caregivers and make their days in the hospital a little

easier to endure.

2

Although its headquarters are located in Princeton, NC, Me Fine puts on two annual

events in Raleigh, NC each year. The first event, “Music for Me Fine ”, is their Spring

benefit concert, which occurs in April. The second event, the “Me Fine Gala” occurs in

September. In 2015, the foundation was able to raise $200,000, which accounts for

family expenses such as gift cards, rent and/or mortgage, utility costs, vehicle

expenses, medical expenses, household supplies, funeral expenses, gas cards, and

other children’s needs. Because of the vast amount of money raised, a total of 184

families were financially and emotionally assisted in 2015.

Through corporate sponsors, donors, and friends of Me Fine , the foundation is able to

support the community. Me Fine created a not-for-profit sister organization called

Second Hope Shop. One hundred percent of its revenue benefits Me Fine in its mission

to provide necessary resources and financial assistance to parents and caregivers with

children.

Situational Analysis

A situational analysis is the examination of internal and external factors affecting Me

Fine as a whole. The situational analysis creates an overview of the organization and

will lead to a better understanding of the factors that will influence its future.

A situational analysis allowed us to evaluate the organization by noting strengths,

weaknesses, opportunities, and threats before we began the proposal process. By

knowing Me Fine ’s strengths and weaknesses, we are able to see what areas need to

3

be improved. The opportunities and threats will enable us to calculate how we will move

forward with the resources Me Fine has available.

The situational analysis has been created by an interview conducted with the executive

director of Me Fine , Joey Powell. This information provided an inside look at struggles

and strengths the organization is currently facing. In addition to the interview, secondary

research was gathered by examining foundations similar to Me Fine , and determining

which tactics have proven successful in order to reach common goals to fundraise

money for a cause. By observing foundations ranging from nationwide, all the way to

local, a better understanding was gained of the most effective way to be successful.

Strengths: community events, network of reliable donor's, family/donor of the month online profiles, passionate staff/volunteers

● Several successful community events throughout the year, drawing many

participants and raising funds

● Donors are reliable and consistent with donations

● Family and donor of the month profiles on Me Fine’s website are excellent

examples of the use of emotional appeals

● Staff and volunteers are passionate about the work they do and share this

passion with their communities, therefore spreading awareness about the

organization’s purpose

4

Weaknesses: social media, web presence/design, community awareness

● Social media pages are not effective and can become repetitive

● Website interface is confusing (See Appendix A.1)

● One large gala fundraiser anchors donations for the foundation

● There are not enough smaller awareness events Opportunities: new media platforms, online awareness campaigns, local networking, highlight unique qualities not found with competitors

● Network of loyal donors

● Social media and online community

● Passionate staff committed to the mission of Me Fine

● Unique aspects to set them apart from competitors such as the thrift and consignment shop

Threats: competitors’ social media presence, competitors’ available funds, competitors’ community awareness

● Similar organizations have national recognition and large social media following (See Appendix B)

● Similar organizations also have greater donations due to more recognition

● Competitors have local presence as well as national; many volunteers and

events

5

In conclusion, the situational analysis reveals that a combination of a constant flow of

donors, old and new, as well as a strong social media presence, are keys to raising

funds and awareness. An online presence can be just as important as a local presence

with the use of the internet by nonprofits today. Through the implementation of the

appropriate digital tactics, there should be an increase in community awareness.

Therefore, there should be a greater understanding among the local community about

Me Fine’ s efforts and mission, which will result in the use of emotional appeals to

successfully increase donations. The situational analysis allows us to see what

messaging strategies are most appropriate and most effective to achieve our objectives

(Section 3).

6

Section 2 Research Me Fine is a relatively new organization. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate what

other similar organizations are doing in order to reach their target audience, gain new

donors, and stay relevant. Learning from what is provided digitally and through stories

by people personally affected by the organizations are excellent sources of information.

The following organizations have been explored and evaluated: Susan G. Komen,

St.Judes Foundation, St.Baldricks, The Sunshine Kids, and The American Childhood

Cancer Organization. Research has been conducted specifically looking at institutions,

so the resources and capabilities may better align with Me Fine. Specifically noted were

social media use, special events, communication, and messaging strategies.

Learning from Peer Organizations

Susan G. Komen.

http://ww5.komen.org/

The Susan G. Komen organization is a well-known breast cancer research foundation.

Because it is very established, it has become a parameter for all other non-profit

organizations. Susan G. Komen is also known worldwide. The “pink ribbon” and the pink

theme became widely known as a symbol of the fight against cancer. The organization

began in 1982 in memory of Nancy G. Brinker’s sister, Susan Komen. The organization

http://ww5.komen.org/

7

started with $200 and in over 30 years turned into the largest non-profit source of

funding for breast cancer research.

The Susan G. Komen organization’s website is simple, clean, and very easy to navigate

(See Appendix C.1). The information on the main page is minimal, but gets to the point

of engaging its targeted publics. The donation and get involved buttons are very visible

and they can be found in almost every page of the website. The organization has a

clear statement of impact, which allows its publics to know exactly what the organization

does and where his or money is being used. The website also appeals not only to

women, but it appeals to men as well. For instance, at the moment, the main page uses

a male for the background. This is important because many people associate breast

cancer awareness and the pink revolution only with women. However, because men

can get breast cancer too (although less prevalent), it draws in a larger following-

everyone rather than just women.

The Susan G. Komen organization has a multitude of social media accounts including:

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest just to name a few (See Appendix C.2).

These accounts are very popular and strategically organized in order to keep loyal

followers up to date with information, as well as recruit new donors and supporters. The

organization posts about two to three times a day in order to not overload its followers

with too much information, yet keep raising awareness.

8

The success of the Susan G. Komen organization has not come overnight. Years and

years of raising awareness turned into raising funds, which in turn, meant success for

their careful and effective PR campaign.

St.Judes Foundation

https://www.stjude.org/

On February 4, 1962, the first St. Jude’s Hospital was founded by Danny Thomas, a

famous entertainer and comedian. A Maronite Catholic, he prayed to St. Jude Thaddeus

years earlier promising that if he brought him success as an entertainer, he would build

a shrine for St. Jude as a gift. As it came to be, Thomas became very successful, and

St. Jude’s Hospital was founded. Since 1962, the foundation has grown, and in 2010

the U.S. News and Report ranked St. Jude’s in the top children’s cancer hospitals in the

nation.

Upon looking at St. Jude’s website and social media, there were numerous features that

are beneficial to their image. Their mission statement “Finding Cures, Saving Children”

is clearly conveyed throughout, by being the boldest and largest font on the center-left

of the homepage. In addition, the statement is written on the bottom of every page when

one clicks through the tabs on their website. Their homepage has bright, clear images

with an engaging video which automatically plays throughout. It is easy to navigate the

website and to find where to donate. “Donate Now” buttons are color coded and outlined

in a box and enable sharing with a simple icon on the right of the donation button (See

https://www.stjude.org/

9

appendix D.1). The organization has a large twitter following with 411k followers and are

very active on it with 7,368 tweets and 26.1k likes (See Appendix B). Lastly, the St.

Jude website does not have a blog. However, the website utilizes emotional appeal

using a “Meet Our Patients” tab where stories of various children currently being treated

by the St.Jude’s foundation are featured (See Appendix D.2).

St. Baldricks

https://www.stbaldricks.org/

St. Baldrick's was founded in 1999. Similarly to Me Fine , its focus is on childhood

cancers. In order to get involved, St. Baldrick's accepts donations, but what sets this

foundation apart from others is the way it helps raise awareness. While the Susan G.

Komen organization utilizes the pink ribbon, St. Baldrick's’ way of raising awareness is

by head shaving. The hair collected is given to children going through chemotherapy in

which he or she experiences hair loss. This appeals to the emotions of its publics and

creates an image that people cannot ignore and allows them to become more

sympathetic to what the children are experiencing.

St. Baldrick's website is effective because of its appeal. The first thing one sees when

going to the home page is an image of a child affected by cancer and the fact she lost

hair due to chemotherapy. Beside her is a donation form and there one can enter any

amount and donate with the push of a button. Other than those two items, the

homepage is navigable through links at the top - this enables users to easily find what

https://www.stbaldricks.org/

10

they are looking for on the webpage (See Appendix E.1). In addition to the main web

page, St. Baldrick's has a Facebook page dedicated to updating its publics regularly.

Furthermore, St. Baldrick's has a blog. This blog is updated a few times a month and

the posts always include a photo and a story about a child affected by cancer. The

pictures for this blog are especially useful. For example, one blog post includes a

picture of a young girl before learning about her diagnosis, enjoying childhood, and after

introducing her background story, it includes a picture of the once happy little girl in the

hospital with hair loss caused by chemotherapy. Then the family of the girl tells the story

of their fight with cancer (https://www.stbaldricks.org/blog/post/meeting-a-clark-kent)

(See appendix E.2). This feature greatly appeals to people’s emotions.

The Sunshine Kids

http://www.sunshinekids.org/

The Sunshine Kids foundation was founded in 1982 by Rhoda Tomasco. She was a

volunteer in the pediatric unit of a hospital in Houston, Texas. Rhoda saw how

depressed kids who were in the hospital for long-term treatment and had a vision of

providing them with positive group activities. Now, The Sunshine Kids organization

provides more than a thousand hospitals with activities to its young childhood cancer

patients.

The Sunshine Kids website is very balanced between captivating your emotions and

giving you rational facts about the organization and childhood cancer. The Sunshine

http://www.sunshinekids.org/

11

Kids has a tab for easy access to their annual reports with financial data which provides

transparency to their publics. They also have a tab for activities, and there you can find

national and regional activities to attend (See Appendix F).

American Childhood Cancer Organization

http://www.acco.org/

The American Childhood Cancer Organization was founded after parents in the 1950s

and 1960s were advised to not speak publicly about their children diagnosed with

cancer. In 1970, parents of children with cancer in Washington, D.C. publicly gathered

for the first time and created Candlelighters, the first childhood cancer advocacy group

in the United States. Candlelighters eventually became known as the American

Childhood Cancer Organization.

They have a very established website, and the site is easy to navigate. The gold and

navy colors utilized in the font and background colors of the pages on their website,

match the gold and navy colors in their logo and are consistent throughout the entire

website (See Appendix G.1). They have a blog and a store, as well as a very appealing

Twitter account. Every time they post on Twitter, there is a visual element attached to

the post (See Appendix G.2). Upon first glance at the homepage, there are hyperlinks to

all its social media pages listed at the top right of the homepage, so one can easily click

each outlet and find more information. More importantly, their website offers an infinite

amount of ways to get involved, so there is an area for everyone to help.

http://www.acco.org/

12

Summary

Some important points to apply to our PR proposal plan were learned throughout our

research process. Social media use, special events, communication and messaging

strategies were evaluated for each institution and the analysis concluded the following:

● Susan G. Komen developed a theme using the pink breast cancer ribbon and

has worldwide recognition for this theme

● St. Jude’s mission statement drives their use of media and messaging strategies

by being prevalent throughout every page of their website

● St. Baldrick’s Foundation has started a head shaving movement that draws

awareness to their organization’s mission and has become the most

recognizable and successful tactic to their campaign

● The Sunshine Kids website shows that appealing to logic as well as emotion is a

successful strategy for improving donor relations

● The American Childhood Cancer Organization displays the value of cohesive,

appealing visuals on both websites and social media

Me Fine shares some strengths with these organizations: the mission statement is very

prevalent and there are eye-catching images on the website. Areas for improvement are

appealing to rational tendencies as well as emotional and increasing frequency and

variety in social media posts, while maintaining a cohesive theme on all media

platforms. The organizations noted above successfully executed campaigns that were

emotionally appealing, which in turn, improved donor relations. These organizations

13

also have up-to-date information across their online media platforms, with visually

satisfying and overall organized pages. Each of the organizations have at least one

characteristic Me Fine could benefit from in order to reach their goal of increasing

donors and raising awareness.

14

Section 3

Goal Statement

To increase awareness of Me Fine Foundation and reach new donors.

Objectives

● Increase the number of people who know about Me Fine by an additional 50% by

December 2017.

● Increase the number of donors to Me Fine by 5% by December 2017.

There is an estimated total audience of 6,225 people. Approximately 4,150

people have already been “reached” by Me Fine through social media. The first

objective for this campaign is to increase those who know about Me Fine by 50%. The

number of people who have been reached is based upon the recorded amount of

followers on their social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram). Me Fine

Foundation has approximately 300 recurring donors and sponsors.

The second objective of this campaign is to increase the number of donors and

sponsors to Me Fine Foundation by 5%. Donors and sponsors will be reached through

the increase of number of events held by Me Fine each year, as well as partnering

opportunities.

15

Section 4 Definition of Publics The target publics for Me Fine are donors, sponsors and partners. Each are used

interchangeably when described on Me Fine’ s website. Donors, sponsors and partners

all give services, monetary contributions or volunteer to the foundation. Some actions

are non reciprocal (meaning the company gives a service or donation, without receiving

anything in return) and some raise awareness for the company giving. Donors are

individuals or companies that offer services, products or money to the Me Fine . Partners

refer to anyone with a professional relationship to the foundation, and sponsors provide

services at events or within Me Fine ’s community.

16

Section 5 Objectives by Publics The objectives of this campaign are to raise awareness of Me Fine’s mission and to

reach new donors. We will focus on two main publics for our campaign. The first is

donors in general - people who can donate money for the organization. The second is

sponsors and partners who work with Me Fine through several different methods

including offering venues for events, discounts for donors, etc. However, the objectives

we have outlined apply to all defined publics as creating awareness through new

sponsors and partners will in turn reach new donors.

17

Section 6 Message Strategies by Public The overall key messaging for Me Fine is designed to create an emotional appeal to all

of the public’s. For the organization’s three main publics, donors, sponsors and

partners, messaging should be sensitive, compassionate and loving in order to be the

most effective. All three publics support the organization, including but not limited to,

funding and contributions. Therefore, the messaging should create such an extreme

emotional pull, that these publics feel the need to donate or contribute to Me Fine in any

way possible, to help terminally ill children.

In addition to appealing to the public’s emotion when communicating with donors,

sponsors and partners, an attitude of professionalism, gratitude, transparency of

information (where the money is going and who is benefitting from donations) will be

most successful toward our goal of increasing donations, and increasing awareness.

18

Section 7

Communication Strategies and Tactics

Goal Statement

To increase awareness of Me Fine Foundation and reach new donors.

Strategies

Strategy 1:

Increase marketing efforts through social media and web presence.

With a diverse range of publics, it is important to employ a variety of media to

reach all audiences. Utilizing digital platforms will allow key publics to engage

and interact with the foundation.

Strategy 2:

Increase amount of fundraising events.

Increasing the amount of events in North Carolina communities will allow Me

Fine to connect to families not previously associated with the organization.

19

Strategy 3:

Increase frequency of fundraising events throughout the year.

Increasing the amount of major fundraising events throughout the year will allow

donors and sponsors opportunities- more than just once a year- to donate to Me

Fine .

Tactics

Strategy 1: Increase marketing efforts through social media and web presence.

Tactics

T1: Blog

T2: Instagram/Facebook/Twitter

T3: Website (upcoming events page)

Strategy 2: Increase overall community awareness through popular local events.

Tactics

T1: State Fair

T2: Food Truck Rodeo

T3: First Friday

T4: Printed Material (Postcard and Stickers)

20

Strategy 3: Increase frequency of fundraising events throughout the year.

Tactics

T1: Restaurant fundraising nights

T2: Printed Material (Same as tactic 4 strategy 2)


Tactic 1: Blog

Currently, Me Fine features a family of the month, where a family from Me Fine is

highlighted each month and posted on their main website. This is a great idea in order

to create awareness of the people utilizing the great aspects of the foundation, and

essentially puts faces to what the foundation is attempting to accomplish through its

efforts. The foundation does a great job by including links to where you can donate

directly to the family, as well as a link to the other families of Me Fine (See Appendix

A.5).

Taking this idea and creating a blog that is updated more frequently could potentially

increase awareness, followers and donations. By changing family of the month to family

of the week, it will increase the number of postings, and increase the number of families

which are highlighted and potentially helped.

21


Tactic 2: Instagram/Facebook/Twitter

Me Fine can use social media to gain a following in order to increase awareness and

donations. Currently, their Instagram could have more followers and interaction on

photos (See Appendix A.7). In order to increase this interaction, we propose Me Fine

implement a children of Me Fine , which will mirror the very popular “Humans of New

York” (See Appendix H.1). “Humans of New York” tells stories of people on the streets

of New York City and includes a picture (See Appendix H.2). For Me Fine, we believe

starting a children of Me Fine will help raise awareness because it will highlight the

children in need. This appeals to the pathos and the emotional aspect of what Me Fine

stands for.

In addition to the children of Me Fine , posting regular and consistent updates will aid in

increasing the number of followers and interaction. More pictures about the events

being held by Me Fine will help grab people’s attention, as well as encourage followers

to attend the events. Currently, Me Fine’s instagram posts do not get very many likes,

and we believe implementing these ideas, as well as updating posts about events (such

as the gala held annually) will increase its number of followers, likes, and awareness.

Furthermore, Me Fine has a solid base of followers and interaction on its twitter

account. The foundation does a really good job at interacting with its followers by

replying directly to people who mention the foundation’s account, as well as retweeting

22

photos and information regarding the account (www.twitter.com/MeFineNC). Because

their twitter is visually appealing and already has a solid base of followers, in order to

increase their presence on instagram, Me Fine would benefit by connecting their

instagram posts to their twitter, and even their facebook account. This allows every

instagram post to be posted to their twitter and facebook so everyone that is looking at

either account and scrolls through will be able to see the photos of children of Me Fine ,

the caption, and the direct link to the instagram account.

Lastly, Me Fine could stay up to date with the new features on Facebook in order to

engage its current following, in addition to creating awareness and reaching a new

following. For example, facebook live is extremely useful, especially at events being

held, to engage people in what the foundation is currently up to. Facebook live can be

accessed with the click of a button, and suddenly a live feed is available to all followers.

These people can then comment and like the feed, which can help the foundation

gauge its overall presence. The facebook live feed is archived and if someone misses

the live feed, they can go back and watch the entire post later to see what the happened

at the event, even after it is no longer live (See appendix B).

http://www.twitter.com/MeFineNC

23


Tactic 3: Website

Me Fine’s website is often its first point of contact with donors, consumers, and the

general public seeking information on their work in the community. The homepage of

the website is eye-catching and organized. However, when the website is scrolled down

it becomes confusing and overwhelming (See appendix A.6). Also, when exploring tabs

at the top of the page, stories and events can be found under tabs they are not directly

related to.

We suggest creating a more unified website by primarily organizing tabs. An events tab

with updated and upcoming events would be very useful and a great way to have an

overview for the publics to find in one place (See Appendix I). Under the actual “Events”

page, the upcoming events listed are lacking severely, and the events must be located

elsewhere on the website for further information. This is somewhat misleading (See

Appendix A.4).

It could also be helpful to organize information on the website by catering to specific

publics who may be visiting it. This would mean having a tab designed for those seeking

to donate, those seeking to volunteer, and those families seeking to take advantage of

Me Fine ’s services. This would save time when searching the website for particular links

and information depending on what each person hopes to achieve from their visit. An

24

example of a well organized website can be found in the appendix. The aforementioned

tabs recommended are dominant on other non-profit sites (See appendix C.1).


Tactic 1: State Fair

As the state capital of North Carolina, Raleigh offers many opportunities to bring

community awareness to Me Fine’s overall efforts. One of these opportunities Me Fine

could take advantage of is the North Carolina State Fair held every year in October at

the North Carolina State Fairgrounds. The fair attracts North Carolinians from all over

the state, and would be a great place for the Me Fine Foundation to set up a booth to

gain support and recognition of the organization.

By setting up a booth, Me Fine could pass out stickers and postcards with information

on social media accounts, accept and ask for donations and offer promotions and/or

discounts for upcoming fundraising events held at their partnering organizations and

businesses (See Appendix A.8, A.9). By just being at the State Fair alone, and getting

people curious about what the organization does, the booth will raise awareness, which

will in turn, hopefully draw an emotional pull to the cause and increase donations.

In addition, we suggest reaching out to vendors at the State Fair who would be willing to

donate a percentage of their proceeds to the Me Fine for a day or two. Or, to even go as

far to reach out to the North Carolina State Fair promotions team and see if they would

25

be willing to have an entire day where they promoted Me Fine in partnership with the

State Fair. Raffles could be held to give away partnering restaurant coupons or gift

cards and proceeds from fair tickets bought on that day could go to help Me Fine . The

partnerships could be created from relationships created with the families of Me Fine or

at an event held by Me Fine - all by connections or people who have connections. The

foundation could also reach out to the North Carolina State Fair promotion’s team

directly by email in order to create a relationship and potentially set up a deal with the

foundation in order to raise donations.


Tactic 2: Food Truck Rodeo

Raleigh holds a food truck rodeo event a few times throughout the year (See Appendix

J). The event is on Sundays for five hours. We believe Me Fine could potentially partner

with one of these trucks and work a deal to where a portion of the proceeds were to go

directly towards the foundation. These partnerships could be created in hospitals or

through the children’s families of Me Fine , similar to how the partnerships for the state

fair were described in strategy 2, tactic 1.

In addition to partnering, the Me Fine could set up a booth, with the postcards, stickers

and buckets for monetary donations on display. The booth would be set up among the

food trucks on or off to the side of the road, for easy access by the attendees. This

26

tactic would get the community involved, raise awareness, spread the word and

obviously potentially increase donors and donations for Me Fine.


Tactic 3: First Friday

As mentioned earlier, Raleigh provides many opportunities to raise awareness around

the community and another opportunity is at downtown Raleigh’s First Friday events.

Every first Friday of every month out of the year, downtown Raleigh holds a festival to

celebrate local art, food and music. Restaurants, galleries, and store stay open later

from 6 p.m.-9 p.m. (See appendix K).

Although no fundraising efforts are listed on the event’s website, we suggest reaching

out to some of these restaurants, galleries and stores by email or in person to partner

with, in hopes that one will agree to have some of their proceeds from First Friday be

donated to Me Fine . Because First Friday is a very popular event, and because it occurs

every month, we see it as a great opportunity to raise awareness and money.

27


Tactic 4: Printed Material

The sticker will be very simple and represent Me Fine . To appeal to children and

families, the use of color will be very important. The logo for Me Fine is very simple and

colorful; therefore, the stickers will picture the logo itself. The stickers are appealing to

children mainly, but to potential donors as well, and aid in spreading awareness of the

foundation and its goal. By distributing the stickers at events and at the headquarters,

the stickers will be utilized as a conversation starter (See appendix A.8).

A postcard will also be distributed at various events. The postcard will be an easy way

to get the social media accounts of Me Fine out to the public easily and effectively.

Social media is very important in today’s society, so having these readily available for

distribution could lead to Me Fine asserting more of a presence throughout their twitter,

instagram and facebook accounts.The backside of the postcard will briefly describe the

foundation and what it strives towards, as well as include the website address at the

bottom (See appendix A.9).

Overall, the printed material we propose should be simple, easy and go directly to the

point. We recommend printed material that will be handed out to the public be

decluttered and instead organized in order to get the point across without distracting the

people.

28


Tactic 1: Restaurant Fundraising Nights

Restaurant Fundraising is a simple yet effective way to gain new donors immediately,

and the face-to-face communication at the event allows for future connections and help.

This is one of the best and easiest fundraisers for nonprofit organizations (See appendix

L).

This type of fundraiser comes in two types: restaurants will collect fundraising coupons

and those that will not. For the first type, the restaurant gives the organization coupons

to distribute to as many people as possible, and then those coupons are turned into the

restaurant on the designated night to determine how much money the organization gets.

The second type still requires the organization to hand out flyers for the event, but the

difference is that every order on the designated night is counted as part of the

fundraiser.

Fast food restaurants tend to draw more eaters than a sit down restaurant. Finally, also

consider local traffic patterns when selecting a restaurant; a hard-to-get-to restaurant

will not draw as well as one that is easy to get to.

29


Tactic 2: Printed Material

The printed material for increasing the frequency of fundraising events during the year

will be the same as strategy 2, tactic 4. The same stickers and postcards will be

distributed at these fundraising events in order to easily give the attendee’s information

on the social media accounts, and the stickers for a conversation piece (See Appendix

A.8, A.9).

30

Section 8 Time Table and Budget Month/Week Activity

January 2017

Week 1 Friday: Family of the week blog post

Week 2 Monday: Update the layout of the website

Monday: Contact First Friday coordinators for February event

Friday: Family of the week blog post



February 2017

Week 1 Monday: Children of Me Fine

Tuesday: Post about upcoming events

Thursday: Post about past events (throwback Thursday)


Friday: First Friday event

Week 2 Monday: Reach out to restaurant for fundraising event in March

Monday: Children of Me Fine









31




March 2017



Wednesday: Order stickers and flyers for Food Truck Rodeo for May 1st's event

Wednesday: Contact First Friday coordinators for April's event















April 2017







32










Friday: Family of the week blog post May 2017



Wednesday: Contact First Friday coordinators for June's event

Wednesday: Order stickers and flyers for Food Truck Rodeo for June's event















33

June 2017






Monday: Reach out to restaurant for fundraising event in July











Friday: Family of the week blog post July 2017



Wednesday: Contact First Friday coordinators for August's event









34






Friday: Family of the week blog post August 2017



Wednesday: Start planning/ order stickers and flyers for October's State Fair booth event














Friday: Family of the week blog post September 2017



Wednesday: Contact First Friday coordinators for October's event

35














Friday: Family of the week blog post October 2017


Monday: Reach out to restaurant for fundraising event in November event













36



Friday: Family of the week blog post November 2017



Wednesday: Contact First Friday coordinators for December's event














Friday: Family of the week blog post December 2017








37









Friday: Family of the week blog post Budget

Item Purpose Cost Per Product/Person

Total

Custom Postcards Marketing Vistaprint: $0.11 x 500

$53.98

Custom Stickers Marketing Vistaprint: $0.08 x 480

$39.98

Booths Marketing Costco 8 ft. Centerfold Table:

$60.00

Amazon 8 ft. Tablecloth: $18.95

$78.95

Website Redesign/reorganize Basic Re-Designing Cost

$1,000- $2,000

Total Marketing Cost: $172.91 Total Costs: $1,721.91 - $2,171.91

38

Section 9 Evaluation The overall objective of the campaign is to gain donors and awareness for Me Fine . To

do so, new followers on all social media accounts should be tallied in order to keep

track of who has connected. Up to date, Me Fine has reached 4,150 people over their

three social media accounts. The goal is to increase that number by 50% by the end of

2017. A tally of the bodies reached, in comparison to the benchmark, can be used to

evaluate whether the overall objective has been achieved.

Similarly, to keep track of new donors, Me Fine will need to compare a benchmark to a

new total. In 2015, Me Fine raised a total of $227,000 to help families with terminally ill

children. A comparison to that benchmark can be used to evaluate whether the overall

objective has been achieved.

Online tools can be used to evaluate the number of visitors to their website. Monitoring

hits to the website is a simple way to document traffic. Atlantic BT is the creator of Me

Fine Foundation’s website. SEMrush offers different monthly and annual packages to

track website visitors. Tracking Me Fine’s website is a crucial way to find out what

brings in new donors and what people like to see.

39

Since Me Fine is a non-profit organization with a limited budget for public relations, it is

key to take implement the changes to social media this campaign proposed. However,

implementing the fundraising opportunities we also suggested could benefit Me Fine in

order to gain new donors and future partners.

40

Appendix

A.1 Me Fine Foundation website homepage

A.2 Me Fine Foundation “Donor of the Month” page

41

A.3 Me Fine Foundation “Friends of Me Fine” page

A.4 Me Fine Foundation “Events” page

42

A.5 Me Fine Foundation “Family of the Month” page

A.6 Me Fine Foundation homepage cluster of categories

43

A.7 Me Fine Foundation Instagram

A.8 Me Fine Foundation sticker example

44

A.9 Me Fine Foundation postcard Front

A.10 Me Fine Foundation Postcard Back

45

B. Chart comparing Me Fine Foundation Social Media to similar

organizations’

Foundation Number of Followers on Social Media Accounts

Me Fine Foundation 1,257-Twitter 370-Instagram

2,514- Facebook 4,141-Total

Susan G. Komen 122,000-Twitter 37,400-Instagram

2,033,388-Facebook 2,192,788-Total

St. Jude’s Foundation 412,000-Twitter 146,000-Instagram

1,978,335-Facebook 2,536,335-Total

St. Baldrick’s Foundation 66,500-Twitter 19,100-Instagram 209,494-Facebook

295,094-Total

The V Foundation (Local Cancer Research Foundation for reference)

25,900-Twitter 987-Instagram

33,415-Facebook 60,302-Total

46

C.1 Susan G. Komen website homepage

C.2 Susan G. Komen Instagram

47

D.1 St. Jude website homepage

D.2 St. Jude “Meet our Patients” page

48

E.1 St. Baldrick’s website homepage

E.2 St. Baldrick’s blog

49

F. Sunshine Kids “Kids Activities” tab

G.1 American Childhood Cancer Organization website homepage

50

G.2 American Childhood Cancer Organization twitter post with visual

51

H.1 Humans of New York Instagram

H.2 Humans of New York Instagram post with emotional diction

52

I. The “V” Foundation Events page

53

J. Sample Food Truck Rodeo Flyer

54

K. Sample First Friday Flyer

55

L. Sample Restaurant Night Flyer

Documents

Me_Fine_Campaign_Proposal