Case Study

Client: One of the best-known charities in the world, the American Red Cross provides relief to victims of disaster and helps people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies.

Challenge: The Red Cross is the nation’s top charity when it comes to donations for disaster relief. Donations to the Red Cross after large disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, regularly break records. But in disaster relief, it’s the money raised before disaster strikes that enables the Red Cross to respond right away. Before the first shelter is opened, the first volunteer arrives, or the first meal is served, the proper supplies and systems have to be in place to respond effectively.

Solutions: Social Capital works closely with the Corporate Partnerships and Principle Gifts teams at the American Red Cross during every stage of the revenue generation process, specifically to:

• Create programs and campaigns that support fundraising before disaster
   
• Develop supporting sales materials (presentations, brochures, proposals, web sites, etc.
   
• Conduct sales training sessions for development staff at headquarters and in the fiel
   
• Support the sales teams as they seek and secure partners and donors

Key Results:

Re-launched the Annual Disaster Giving Program. Social Capital led an overhaul of the Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP), the corporate membership program that is a core source of funds for Red Cross disaster relief.  Since the re-launch, revenue from ADGP has grown. All existing corporate partners have renewed their membership and seven new partners have joined ADGP in the past year.

Launched the “Do More Than Cross Your Fingers” cause marketing campaign.  Most Americans haven’t taken the steps they need to get prepared for emergencies. “Do More Than Cross Your Fingers” makes it easy to prepare for emergencies. Social Capital was involved in every step of the campaign — from conceptualization, to consumer message testing, to crafting the persuasive letter that helped secure a noteable spokeswoman to developing customized sales materials and partnership models. With Social Capital’s support, the Red Cross secured three campaign partners the first year.