Case Study: Nonprofit Raises More Than $221K for its Flagship A Night in the Cold event, Exceeding Fundraising Goals

Author: Kaitlyn Wilcoxson Category: Marketing Case Studies Date: August 25, 2023

OVERVIEW

Homeless Solutions (HSI), a nonprofit organization that helps the homeless and working poor rebuild their lives and become self-sufficient, wanted to increase the impact of its annual flagship event, A Night in the Cold (ANITC). They partnered with Paradigm to execute a multi-faceted marketing campaign, which resulted in their exceeding their fundraising goal and created a greater awareness of the organization’s community impact.

Challenge

Homeless Solutions wanted to broaden its reach, boost participation, and foster greater public awareness for its flagship event, A Night in the Cold (ANITC). While the annual event had a positive track record of success, the non-profit wanted to surpass previous achievements. With a fundraising goal of $220K for the night, they turned to Paradigm to help them raise awareness, boost community engagement, and garner greater public support in their resolute battle against homelessness.

Taking Action

Paradigm created a campaign aimed at amplifying the organization’s voice, bolstering community involvement, expanding their online presence, and raising funds. The team created two static billboards designed to raise brand awareness and drive traffic to an ANITC page with donation and registration information. The campaign also included three unique train ads and yard signs in high traffic areas to increase event awareness. These ads featured images of ANITC supporters and unique QR codes that made it easy to measure traffic to the page while offering a simple way for users to register and donate. This print campaign was also tied to a robust social media strategy to expand the organization’s reach and increase audience engagement. Additionally, the campaign included a strategy to attract participants to an elite donation threshold. These “Champion’s Club” members were supplied with social media badges that were leveraged to recognize them as major donors and brand evangelists. This strategy not only allowed donors to showcase their impressive level of support, but also expanded audience reach and awareness for HSI and the event. Last, Paradigm’s PR team gained significant press for the event. Not only did news outlets promote the event prior to its launch date, they also attended the night of the event and produced live coverage. The event was live streamed on social media so those not attending could participate and donate to the cause.

Result

By raising awareness for the event and offering an easy way to register or contribute by way of QR codes, and via website link, the multi-faceted campaign helped HSI exceed its fundraising goal. Additionally, they saw a 23.86% increase in attendance over previous years.

The two billboards alone garnered more than 100K impressions in the community, while the number of sessions to the A Night in the Cold landing page skyrocketed. Additionally, the event was picked up by 2 news outlets, The Morris NewsBee and The Daily Record, further solidifying HSI’s impact message to its community.