Sharing Entries For Awards-Part Four, The Fundraising Video

We continue sharing the Greater St. Louis Area Council, Boy Scouts of America’s entries in the National President’s Marketing Awards, a marketing and communications contest held by the National Council of the BSA.

The Friends of Scouting campaign video is submitted in the Finance Support Material category.  (Friends of Scouting is the council’s annual fundraising campaign.) If we are recognized with an award, it goes to Marc Tenholder, a Development Director at the council, and Chuck Voss, a veteran Scouter in Cape Girardeau, Mo., who works in the creative services department at KFVS.

Objectives
The Friends of Scouting campaign video is produced to accomplish a number of objectives:
• Explain how Scouting influences the lives of thousands of young people throughout our council
• Show families of Cub Scouts that more fun and adventure await them if they remain in the program
• Explain how the council is funded
• Show Scouts and volunteers enjoying the program and talking about its value and outcomes
• Ask prospective donors to make a Friends of Scouting contribution

The video is primarily created for use during Friends of Scouting presentations at banquets and other unit gatherings where families will be asked to contribute. The video is posted on the council’s YouTube site so it can be accessed from other websites and e-mail solicitations.

The video was produced in 2011 for use during the 2012 campaign.

Planning
We received positive feedback from the previous year’s video that featured youth members in all levels of the program. We wanted to improve this year’s video by including more ethnic diversity, featuring all council camps and properties, and showing all levels of the Scouting program.

Council staff members used FlipCameras to record interviews and activities taking place at our council camps during the fall. The raw video was cataloged. A script was developed and a rough outline was produced. A member of the council’s marketing committee, who also is a video producer at a television station in the council, reviewed the video, the script and the outline. He performed the editing, sound mixing, and recruited the professional announcer from his television station to perform the voice over.

More than 150 DVDs were produced and distributed to volunteers throughout the council’s 15 geographic districts. The video also was played during the council’s Friends of Scouting kickoff dinner and Executive Board meeting.

Impact
This campaign raises approximately $750,000 each year. To date in 2012, the campaign raised $324,450, which is tracking approximately 5 percent ahead of 2011.

Lessons Learned
Scheduling the editing and production of the video needs particular attention during an election year as our producer communicated to us that his workload will be quite heavy between July and November. We also plan to get more video of Cub Scout day camps and Boy Scout summer camps to better showcase the wide variety of programs and activities made available by Friends of Scouting donations.

We also received some negative feedback on the professional announcer reading the script. Instead of the more polished approach, some believe the script should be read by an articulate older Boy Scout or Venturer.

Where I Read ‘Ice Age’ To Describe Philanthropic Climate

A  number of people gasped Wednesday afternoon when I made a comment at the joint meeting of the Community Service Public Relations Council and the International Association of Business Communicators.

During the panel discussion, it was clear that corporate giving in St. Louis might never return to what it once was. Furthermore, businesses and corporations across the nation are more focused on survival than their philanthropic role or image as a corporate citizen.

I made a comment at the end of the discussion that nonprofits should be looking to businesses to engage their employees as volunteers and begin the process of cultivating them as donors because corporate philanthropy appears to be heading for an ice age.

I read that term in a Nov. 9, 2010, article on the Washington Post website: Nonprofits struggle to survive and maintain services. Here’s the paragraph that caught my attention:

Since the economy began to plummet, Chuck Bean, executive director of an association of local charities, the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington, has pushed organizations to make lasting changes such as shedding nonessential duties, sharing back-office functions, reducing staff size and in some cases merging with other groups. His core message, he said, was this: “If you think this is a storm, or you can batten down the hatches, maybe tap into your reserves and the storm will pass and things will go back to normal, then you’re wrong. I think of this as less of a storm and more like an ice age.

I sincerely hope that businesses and corporations will maintain or enhance levels of philanthropic giving in St. Louis and throughout the nation. But nonprofits cannot rely on previous levels. And nonprofit communicators will be critical to help organizations develop communications strategies that will increase volunteers and advocates and convert them to donors.

Conducting Successful Special Events

Photo by Jonathan Deamer

   

Special events are critical for nonprofits. They give organizations an audience and a platform to tell stories. They build communities.     

Dinners, golf tournaments, trivia nights, walks… there are many ways to draw a crowd and to engage or re-engage people with your mission. Join the Community Service Public Relations Council for its next luncheon as we look at how to succeed at special events.     

Our panelists will be Stephen Phelps of Doorways, Inc., and Laura Cohen of Trailnet. Both organizations conduct popular and successful annual events. I participated in a conference call with both panelists and really enjoyed the conversation. This luncheon promises to be another session where both new communicators and experienced nonprofit professionals can learn something new.     

Join us: Tuesday, April 13, 2010
11:30 a.m.  to noon: Registration and Networking
Noon to 1:15 p.m.: Lunch and Program
Meeting Fees: Members: $25; Non-Members: $35; Students: $20
Meeting Location: Sheraton Clayton Plaza Hotel, 7730 Bonhomme Ave., St. Louis, MO 63105
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
Please note: Make reservations no later than noon on Friday, April 9th. Walk-ins may not be able to be accommodated. Cancellations must be made at least 24 hours in advance; no-shows will be billed.    

(Disclosure: Joe Mueller is the current president of the Community Service Public Relations Council.)