Nonprofits build communities. I love supporting their work, and have throughout my career. Here are some of my favorite examples.
Closing the Last Mile Gap: Launching, Growing and Sustaining an Innovative Transit Service
Challenge
FlexRide Milwaukee is a “last mile” transit service connecting workers in Milwaukee to the front doors of employers in area suburbs. It launched in February 2022 as a pilot of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission. A month later, awareness was low. The startup needed more riders and participating businesses to deliver on promises made to the government granting agency and prove the concept – and eventually bring additional funding to sustain the service. That required telling the story of FlexRide with multiple audiences on a very limited communications budget, including no paid media dollars.
Insights
Using the power of government influencers, public/media relations, events and social media you can break through on a limited communications and marketing budget – building buzz and delivering a big brand experience for a startup.
Solution
Through Brooks Communciations and later another agency, I provided much-needed support, starting with planning and executing FlexRide’s launch event at Sherman Phoenix, a Black entrepreneurial hub. It was attended by key local, county and state elected leaders, who offered their public endorsement of the service, and covered by every significant local Milwaukee-area media outlet. Building on this momentum, strategic social media and PR efforts were deployed to further increase awareness and generate buzz around FlexRide.
Results
The event served as a defining moment for FlexRide. The earned media captured the attention of local businesses, nonprofit leaders and elected officials across the region and state, building credibility with key stakeholders. Ridership grew steadily. And with it came more than $5 million in new state and county funding to sustain FlexRide through 2024 and additional services — including expanded coverage areas, connections with child care centers, and 24-hour service Monday-Friday. “The additional funding would not have happened without the kickoff event,” said Kevin Muhs, the former executive director of the Regional Planning Commission.
Living United – and Finding Innovative Ways to Give Back Through a Corporate Campaign
Challenge
It can be hard to break through in a large corporate giving campaign. How do you engage all employees and meet your campaign fundraising goals, especially in a multi-location company with both salaried and hourly workers? And how do you do this year over year? Such was the challenge facing MillerCoors and its Milwaukee Brewery and corporate campus, which set an ambitious goal for its annual United Way campaign: Raise the most money of all company locations every year.
Insights
It starts with a strategic plan, diving deep into goals, objectives, audiences, messaging and ultimately tactics. Consistency matters – find ways to engage your employees throughout the year vs. solely during a one- or two-month campaign window. Build a team to deliver an effective company campaign – a cross-functional committee of employees informing and helping execute the plan. Tactics can not be “one size fits all”; they should vary across audiences (hourly vs. salaried workers, front-line workers vs. C-suite, etc.). Innovation is key, being unafraid to try (and fail) in delivering new strategies and tactics.
Solution
I proudly served on the MillerCoors Milwaukee Campus campaign committee for six years, with my role ranging from leading campaign communications to targeting major donors in unique ways to planning and executing a large vendor golf outing. A few tactics that proved effective:
- A focus on leadership donors included a kickoff luncheon for our largest donors and an incentive program that rewarded them with prizes, VIP opportunities and donation matching.
- Raffles open to all donors focused on experiences they could only get through the United Way campaign (a week at a Costa Rican condo donated by a senior leader, prime Brewers and concert tickets from our sales team, etc.)
- A golf outing was a great way to engage your company’s partners and vendors and bring “new money” into your campaign.
- Be nimble, and act quickly to seize on opportunities. For example, when the Brewers played in Game 5 of 2011 NL Division Series we raffled two prime tickets, and raised $5,000 in just two days.
- Small contributions add up. Our “spare change” and “round up” campaigns at the company store and cafeteria helped keep United Way on employees’ minds throughout the year.
Results
We consistently led the company in contributions despite being one of the smaller campus locations, regularly raising more than $1 million annual for the United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County. United Way leaders regularly credited our innovative approach, and other MillerCoors locations began to model our work.
Changing Lives Through Basketball … and Delivering a Big Brand Experience on a Small Budget
Challenge
There are plenty of summer basketball programs for teens across the country, including many aimed at helping children in need. But Cream Skills Basketball is special. On the court, it delivers an NBA-style experience with team owners and general managers, a draft, an All-Star game and skills competition. Off the court, through a partnership with Milwaukee Area Technical College and others, it teaches entrepreneurial and other life skills through weekly training camps, hoping to lift up teenagers from some of Milwaukee’s most economically disadvantaged ZIP codes. The league has a unique story to tell. But how do you break through with communication, creating a big brand experience on a shoestring budget that youth want to be a part of?
Insights
Even with the smallest of budgets, you can use strategic communications to deliver big value and demonstrate the big impact of a small organization. Effective storytelling starts with compelling content shared on a well-organized website. Earned media and media partnerships are low-cost, high-value ways to amplify that content and raise the profile of an organization.
Solution
It started with content – ensuring the story of the unique league and its history is clear and compelling. In a short time, I then refreshed, reorganized and relaunched the Cream Skills website, making it the focal point of telling the compelling story of the league. I now actively manage the site, which remains the critical “here” in the “click here” of the league’s social media channels and general promotion efforts. I also forged a partnership with a local TV station to provide coverage of Cream Skills throughout the year – stories that helped quickly raise the profile of the league and show its legitimacy to potential players, owners, sponsors and donors. We have also launched a professionally designed Constant Contact email newsletter aimed at raising our profile with community partners.
Results
The league has grown to become Milwaukee’s largest inner city basketball league, and new team owners and sponsors have come to the organization. Cream Skills was the subject of five significant stories on our local NBC affiliate in less than a year.
Telling a Tragic, yet Inspiring, Story to a Broader Audience, for Bigger Impact
Challenge
Since 2011, the Grebe family has been honoring the death of two of their children to a rare genetic illness through its annual Bridger & Essex Grebe Softball Challenge. They wanted to take their fundraising efforts to the next level, raising awareness of infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy, the tragic yet inspiring story of Bridger & Essex, and the family’s charity efforts – moving from an event supported by friends and extended family to telling their story to the broader community.
Insights
Getting the basics (like the promoting the game and registration process to ensure fundraising goals are met) right is job #1. Storytelling matters, too, and video is a terrific way to share a very personal and emotional story in a compelling way. You own your story, and if you don’t tell your own story in the way you want it told, it may not get told at all.
Solution
I have led annual event communciations across platforms for almost a decade — making significant changes to more clearly and compellingly tell the story of the Grebe family, INAD and the annual softball game. It started with launching and maintaing a new Softball Challenge website and upgrading the back-end registration process. I also led a media/PR strategy for the first time and drove production of a video about the Grebe family, so anyone coming to the website can engage in the family’s story.
Results
As awareness for the game and the family’s story has grown, so has the event’s fundraising impact, with the family raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past decade and the Grebes being honored for their work with the national INADCure Foundation. The game has found a new permanent home at a ballpark honoring the legacy of Bridger and Essex for generations.
Brooks Communications + Community 