THE CHALLENGE
Traditional annual fundraising campaigns created a familiar problem: each year required a new theme, new creative, and a new story. The Tulsa Area United Way needed something more enduring, an idea capable of connecting donors to the impact of their contributions year after year.
THE IDEA
Because of You. We made the donor the hero instead of the organization.
MY ROLE
Created and led the award winning
Because of You platform
and directed its expression
across fundraising, advertising,
publications, photography, video,
annual reports, environmental
graphics, and live events.
THE APPROACH
Because of You became more than a campaign theme. It became a repeatable storytelling framework. Individual stories demonstrated how donor support created tangible change throughout the community, allowing the creative to evolve continuously while maintaining a recognizable and consistent brand idea.
The platform extended into major fundraising and recognition events combining environmental design, live production, motion graphics, photography, video, music, and storytelling.
IMPACT
The platform supported nearly $200 million in fundraising during its run.
IMPACT
Helped create an emotional connection between donors and community impact.
IMPACT
Developed a brand strategy that remained consistent while introducing new faces.
CAMPAIGN STORYTELLING
I managed video shoots with some of the top production companies in the state to produce award-winning campaign videos annually. Before the Because of You branding platforem, the Tulsa Area United Way campaign videos focused on business leaders and campaign chairs encouraging donors to give to the United Way. The Because of You videos let real people – people who had been helped by United Way Partner Agencies – talk about how donations helped them and their community.
EXPAND THE BRAND
Subjects were interviewed and then photographed in isolation, allowing me to add them to community-specific collateral which helped donors see how their dollars were spent. These communities were part of the larger metropolitan area served by our United Way.
HUMANIZE THE NUMBERS
Data played an important role in reporting the success of the annual giving campaign and our United Way Partner Agencies. For the annual report, we used data from our Community Relations team combined with our subject’s stories to help drive home how our donor’s giving impacted the community across our three Building Blocks of Success.
REPORT AND RECOGNIZE
The annual Live United Awards was an opportunity to bring together our large corporate donors and award some of the best run corporate campaigns while also delivering the annual report. I deployed the Because of You brand across every aspect of the 1,000-peron event including opening videos, on-stage visuals and even custom made centerpieces.
