Mission: Outdoors with PRSSA Fundraiser Success
As a student majoring in public relations at the University of Colorado Boulder and a chair position in PRSSA, I am passionate about PR and the impact it has on the world. This summer, myself and a team of members from CU and Colorado State University PRSSA worked together to run the annual PRSSA fundraiser. The goal of the fundraiser was to help our chapters raise money to help send students to PRSA’s prestigious international conference, ICON.
We took on the job of organizing and implementing strategies for the fundraiser. Our team wanted to find a way to eliminate Zoom fatigue that the world had experienced in the past year and get outside. With this in mind, our objective became getting PR professionals and students out, up and active to walk with a PR pal on our “Mission: Outdoors with PRSA.”
Another goal of our fundraiser was to raise awareness on the mis-, dis- and malinformation epidemic. We were inspired by the focus PRSA put this year on the persistent problem. Our student groups wanted to do our own part to help put an end to the spread of mis-, dis- and malinformation that is sweeping across the media in our lives creating misleading information.
Once the PRSSA mission was set, we were ready to conquer the task of raising awareness, money and support for the fundraiser. Our plan of action was to develop a website and social media posts to create an understanding and awareness of the fundraiser. The website was designed to be a landing page for many things, including information on donating, hiking trails and sponsor recognition. We put out engaging social posts, designed to bring in sponsors, as well as increase engagement between PRSSA and PRSA members. One way we did that was by posting pictures of ourselves outside. We wanted potential donors to see the actual people their money would help get to ICON.
The next step was to come up with sponsorship levels and what each level would offer. We decided on five different levels, or people could just pay a modest entry fee. We created different incentives with each level including opportunities for social media mentions on our channels and being entered into a drawing for prizes such as gift cards. We were also fortunate to have 2021 PRSA National Chair Michelle Olson do an exclusive video for us discussing mis-, dis- and malinformation. Designing these levels took strategy and communication among different positions within our chapters to make sure we were able to follow through with our promises and ensure we were all on the same page.
Additionally, we reached out to potential sponsors by phone and email to deliver the message of our mission to get outdoors and that any donation would help this cause. Contacting sponsors also gave us the opportunity to network with and connect with influential and prominent PR professionals in the community. Receiving a sponsorship from those pros felt so special because it meant they cared about the future of our industry and supporting students to give them a meaningful experience at ICON.
The goal of the campaign was to raise $6,ooo for our chapters. Not only did we achieve our goal, but we raised more than $8,000 total in the fundraiser. We were absolutely thrilled about this and what it meant for our chapter members and the success of the fundraiser. We received support from more than 20 sponsors and donators. The funds raised will help increase the Chapters’ ability to send students to ICON who would not otherwise get the chance to attend.
We are so thankful for the support from the Colorado PR and PRSA community. We would also like to extend our sincere gratitude and appreciation for the mentorship of our university and PRSA advisors who guided us through the process. The opportunity to work on this fundraiser taught me so much about strategy design and implementation, social media and networking. We are grateful for the experience that working on this fundraiser and the chance to attend ICON has given us.
