How we helped a non-profit go from $0 to $1.5 million in donations in 2 months
Strategic storytelling that makes a difference
America was on lockdown due to COVID-19.
On the farms…
With restaurants and schools closed, and the supply chain shut down, farmers are forced to destroy millions of pounds of fresh food that they can no longer sell.
Meanwhile, in the cities and suburbs…
Americans across the country were losing jobs, depleting savings and turning to food banks for the first time. Overwhelmed by the demand, food banks are forced to turn away families empty-handed, leaving them in hunger.
Seeing this stark juxtaposition on World News Tonight…
8 friends got together
to bring food from
Farms to Food Banks.
Within two weeks…
An 18-wheeler driven by a U.S. Veteran was hauling 42,000 pounds of produce from farmlands of Idaho to the food lines of New York City. And farmers, drivers, volunteers, media and thousands of donors had joined the effort.
The Results
Within two months…
$1.5+ Million Raised
200,000+ People Fed
1 Million+ lbs. of Food Distributed
2.5k Individual Donors
10+ Corporate Donors
Hundreds of Volunteers
Global Media Coverage
the story MADE PRIME TIME
Our storytelling and press outreach via Twitter got us on World News Tonight three times, Good Morning America twice, local and regional TV news, and printed press around the world.
Our Role
Co-founder. Naming, branding, all written, social, press outreach. Donor relations. This was a pet, pro-bono project done from the heart.
THE STORYTELLING KEY ELEMENTS:
In a time of desperate need when all of us felt so hopeless and helpless, eight regular people came together to solve a problem.
Key demographics: the heartland, the urban centers, the suburbs
Follow the cross-country trip of US Veteran truck drier from Idaho to NYC
Show the power of the everyman
The Storytelling Strategy
GoFundMe
All communications drove to the GoFundMe. This served as the central hub for this grassroots, pro-bono project and allowed us to message donors with updates.
Website and Blogs
A website and blog served to capture and communicate the story as it unfolded and give major donors and key volunteers recognition.
With a primary goal of 1:1 press outreach, the Farms to Food Banks twitter account was extremely successful, landing us on World News Tonight three times, Good Morning America and many regional and international outlets.
Media Alert
We invited the press to the delivery of the tractor trailer hauling the food pulling into the south bronx neighborhood to make its delivery. World News Tonight, Good Morning America, ABC local, News 12 and others sent camera crews.
Interview Coaching
All people interviewed were prepped to align around the central story.
LinkedIn Posts
Co-written LinkedIn posts for select co-founders alerted their circles to the initiative.
