Out: Food Security | In: Food Sovereignty — DC’s most-💖 charitable campaign get a messaging makeover.

In partnership with King Productions. There's so much to love about Bread for the City. This DC nonprofit is a name brand institution known for providing a holistic suite of family support services for over two decades.

Bread for the City has done a great job establishing a fundraising pool and experimenting with many different marketing tactics. In-person events and mailing campaigns have raised millions of dollars to support the programs that have positively impacted the quality of life for many district citizens.

That has worked....until now.

As COVID and the concurrent pandemics of Social Inequality and Economic Scarcity have impacted the number of people actually needing support, traditional fundraising is no longer  enough.

What’s more, where pre-Pandemic in-person camaraderie tugged at heartstrings and opened up checkbooks, it’s quite a challenge to express that vibe in a virtual world clamoring with many other voices with the same needs.

The Art of Fundraising in a world where in-person events are cancelled.

Wait, what?

Bread for the City wanted virtual fundraising efforts that are fun, resonating experiences that people would continue to talk about for the rest of the year. It must feel “so DC,” an homage to the history and tradition of the various communities across the city and surrounding counties.

They wanted fundraising that emanates an engaging style, something that both social justice warriors and social butterflies alike can get with. They need strong messaging targeting the  right people saying the right things; an online experience that people can relate to.

Bread for the City had some big shoes to fill. After all, with no IRL event to attend; this was a virtual leap of faith/Proof of concept for ROI on a LIVE/Virtual event.

How can we energize a fan base when we’re not actually in the room with them? What are the right messages / the right words to motivate folks to answer the call to action (donate, plz)?

Even more perplexing: how would we convince people — both inside the organization and out — that the old ways of addressing food insecurity are archaic and anti-thematic to food sovereignty?

The elephant in the room? Security vs. Sovereignty

The “new guard” at Bread for the City had a tough row to hoe, convincing just about everybody that they were DONE with grocery bag handouts at Thanksgiving and dictating the way people received support.

It’s a new day in social support work, and thy name is sovereignty.

Anyone who asked now got a cash assist in the form of a gift card. Make your own decisions on how to use it. 

It was a tough sell to people very used to seeing “charitable giving” happen one way.

HALP!

Luckily, an early strategic partner suggested engaging a professional video production company to do the heavy lifting. Enter Paul King.

King Productions is here to bring the Bread for the City Virtual Fundraising to life.

Me + Paul King, we’ve been partnering on projects for a few years. I love the way that he approaches every project with cultural awareness, technical chops, and programming ideation that just makes for smooth production and great TV.

His unique brand of video storytelling keeps people in their seats (and not hitting the Fast-Forward button on their remote controls). High production value, relevant and relatable content, and entertaining experiences, that’s the name of his game.

• You: get people to tune in.
• We: get them to stay there.

Paul knew that Bread for the City needed deep support on messaging and positioning. After all, they had to stand out amongst doomsday headlines, earnest calls to action, and evergreen fundraising efforts from other change agencies and nonprofits.

What’s more, Bread for the City saw this as an opportunity to evolve the way they were “doing” charity/social work. They needed a facilitator well aware of the historical underpinnings and the role of Black culture. They needed someone to help them articulate these new attitudes about the communities and people they serve. They needed someone to help tell the stories to make it stick.

#1 Priority: To evolve the old way of doing things and create a whole new playing field for fundraising through virtual events and programming.

Enter Rebecca. That’s me.

From that very first kickoff meeting, the wonder twin powers of PK + RG and the rockstar folks with “Bread,” as they are affectionately known, and we their “breadcrumbs,” it was clear that we were going to become a highly effective team.

Roles were clear, processes put into place, and no one was afraid to get to work.

If you know me, you know I am a squawkbox for Positioning. I never start a project, no matter how small, without identifying the key points to any effort in a Positioning Statement. (Learn more about the Power of Positioning to Build Brand.) As it follows, we came together as a group and did the sticky work of parsing out our approach to Virtual Fundraising for this household name in social work in DC by developing a Positioning Statement.

(Shout out to the brave folks at Bread for committing to the realest positioning statement I have ever had the honor of drafting 👇

BREAD FOR THE CITY VIRTUAL FUNDRAISING POSITIONING STATEMENT

For White people and for Black people who have survivor's remorse and feel like shit about all of the historical underpinnings, social injustice, and downright cruelty done to communities of color, and need to be part of the solution (rather than part of the problem), Bread for the City is THE investment opportunity not-for-profit social impact initiative that delivers real economic impact and upward mobility, because this is how you put your money where your mouth is.

Brand foundations ready, set, go:

•  Workshopped and collaborated to get crystal clear Branding, Messaging, and Calls to Action; spun that 411 into the blueprint of the overall project so that everyone was playing from the same sheet of music.
•  Doubled down on core strengths of the partners and teaming practices, we put our collective heads (and networks together) to source talent and programming support and stay on theme. As a team, we used the art of storytelling, the power of brand building, and the accessibility of the internet to inspire engagement...to the tune of $1.5mil+.
•  Created media that was equal parts risk taking and commercial appeal. Our team worked hand-in-hand with #teambread through the entire process so that the content being produced hits the mark. We leveraged our magic where possible so that we get the most mileage out of the content, before and after the event.
• Produced two LIVESTREAM events that were culturally appropriate from nose to tail and followed the Positioning Statement and Brand Strategy to a T.
•  BOOM! 💥 Proof positive that a curated blend of live streaming, high-production, pre-produced video content, and mixed media can stand in for in-person events. In fact, it can exponentially expand your reach.

At the end of the day, Bread has more powerful assets in its arsenal of anti-racist programming, media, and asset development, wherein a solid cross-section of the community enjoyed heavy-handed involvement and decision-making about in how things were done. The voices and stories were their own… and DC was listening.

Show me the Deliverables!

What were the results of this fine work? Well, take a look-see for yourself.

👀 Holiday Helpings
https://www.youtube.com/live/_ke-vo9X8AQ?feature=shared

Laundry List

•  Strategic Event Planning
•  Casting
•  Storyboarding
•  Intro/Outro Voiceover Scripting
•  Positioning Statement
•  Talking Head Interviewer
•  Digital Pics & Video for Social Media

Bread for the City is well on its way to becoming a way for caring and compassionate people to show their commitment to seed and support efforts and opportunities for civil society in their own city. #winwin

Oh yeah, and we also doubled our fundraising goal on the Virtual Ribbon Cutting and smashed the $1MIL goal on the StepRally. So, we got that going for us.

Exit through the gift shop.

If you are hankering to create something that mirrors the culture of your nonprofit organization and makes an impact, reach out to King Productions. 

Get involved with the hella-important work at Bread for the City. You’ll be glad you did. If you have expertise in legal, medical, dental, job readiness, financial literacy, child care, clothing donations, food pantries, community building, advocacy, social justice, or anything else that seems like it’s something good people need, reach out.

Read the testimonial

“You ROCK! You held the vision for this entire event. THANK YOU! Thank you for your dedication to this work and for pushing us to think through how we were going to pull this together. Thank you for always challenging me and growing our capacity to explore options. I am looking forward to working with you again in the future! Lina Permut, Associate Director, Individual Giving

See the testimonial
https://youtu.be/U88qkLtq6S0?feature=shared