Helping Henry Ford SandCastles Keep Funding Flowing
At PopSpeed Digital Marketing LLC, we’re drawn to support organizations that do important work in the community. One of our clients, Henry Ford SandCastles, provides a fantastic example of how it works.
SandCastles is a grief support program for families who have experienced the death of a loved one, helping children and teens learn how to cope with grief in emotionally healthy ways. They have been serving the metro Detroit community since 1997.
SandCastles offers year-round community-based grief support groups and an annual weekend-long summer camp for children and teens.
Pivoting during the Pandemic
Henry Ford SandCastles successfully pivoted to remote programming and events in response to the pandemic. They offered bi-weekly virtual support groups for children, teens, and families. They also virtually hosted their 25th annual summer camp in August 2021.
In August 2022, SandCastles camp returned to in-person programming. And beginning in January 2023, have coordinated both virtual and in-person groups ensuring that families and participants are able to select the service that works best for them, their comfort levels, and their schedules.
Beyond their support groups, SandCastles offers community education and a wide range of resources for families.
Our collaboration with SandCastles
We collaborated with SandCastles to develop the Build the Castle campaign in 2021. PopSpeed Digital Marketing LLC helped promote and host various virtual fundraising events throughout this campaign. Using branded tees, a trivia night, and specialty coffee and chocolate tasting events, SandCastles raised money, provided valuable information, and offered engaging support to the community. This campaign ran all summer long from June to September.
We helped launch and promote the Grief in Brief series. In this monthly series, SandCastles program manager Peggy Nielsen and program coordinator Kailey Hanrath dig into topics like resiliency, talking to kids about grief and death, and the healing power of humor. These short educational discussions are shared and promoted across SandCastles’ social channels to spread helpful information and create assets for future sponsorships.
PopSpeed also helped to launch the Humor is Healing campaign. Throughout October 2021, we shared how laughter and humor are essential parts of the grief process, offering lightness in what can be dark times. We shared research and tips about the benefits of humor as a coping tool along with funny jokes, stories, and videos to help the SandCastles community learn more about the grief process. October 2021 proved to be just the beginning of Humor is Healing. Today, it has become a weekly #TGIF series that sends our community into their weekend with a laugh via social posts. In addition, we have created an Instagram page dedicated to this initiative that we run as well as all other SandCastles social channels. Humor is Healing is another sponsorable asset that we are building for future fundraising efforts.
Most recently, PSDM spearheaded SandCastles’ participation in the Rocket Community Challenge (a month-long fundraising effort during which non-profits compete for donation matches and grants from Rocket Companies). The goal is, of course, to raise the most money but also to have the most unique donors. Out of dozens of organizations, SandCastles ended in 3rd place for the Detroit contest, with 190 unique donors and more than $25,000 raised.
Our results for Henry Ford SandCastles Grief Support
Through successful social media promotion, outreach, and virtual programming, SandCastles grew its fundraising results at a time when the majority of the nonprofit sector was facing reduced donations and less funding.
Though there was an initial increase in charitable donations across the nonprofit sector at the beginning of the pandemic, the overall number of donations has decreased over time. Many nonprofit organizations rely on in-person events like annual walks to raise funds, but the pandemic has made it difficult to gather safely. Without in-person fundraisers, many nonprofits saw a large decrease in their fundraising numbers.
Henry Ford SandCastles experienced the exact opposite. Their successful pivot to virtual programming and increased social and email marketing helped them keep the funds flowing and continue to attract sponsors, program participants, and individual donors.
How Can We Help?
At PopSpeed, we’re focused on results as a part of overall quality measurements for our work. And we’re so enthusiastic because we get to help fantastic organizations affect real change in the community. Can we help you?
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