Charitable Words Scholars, Starfire Council Partner For “Story Soiree”

For the second year, Charitable Words Scholars have assisted The Starfire Council in marketing, event publications and multimedia graphics for its Annual Celebration event.

Starfire Council is a Greater Cincinnati nonprofit “focused on decreasing the social isolation felt by people with developmental disabilities.”

Charitable Words Scholar Tyler Mechlem, a graduate of Cincinnati State, worked with Starfire to design the event program and motion graphics for the event, which showcased success stories related to that mission. “Tyler’s work helped make the event seamlessly tied together, said Katie Bachmeyer, researcher and storyteller at Starfire.

Story Soiree event co-chairs Meghan Tullis and Katie Bogenschutz

The event brought over 300 people who participated in watching video stories and Starfire was able to raise $40,000 through sponsorship and donations.

The Starfire/Charitable Words partnership continues from last year, when similar success was achieved when a team of Charitable Words Scholars, whose internships were funded by The Hatton Foundation, were able to help Starfire reach a turning point in its awareness and fundraising.

Last year, “Starfire’s message was broadcasted on local television, radio, and print due to Charitable Words in the days leading up to the event. Through this work, Starfire was able to bring an additional 250 people in audience members (audience participation increase of 63% from last year),” said Rachel Almendinger, Director of Donor Relations.

The summer campaign enabled Starfire to raise $40,000 in sponsorships and $23,500 the day of the event, also gaining a new audience of volunteers and donors to reach out to through their registration for the event on Eventbrite. This was the first year Starfire’s Annual Celebration was considered a major organization fundraiser and raised $58,500 more than last year’s event,” Almendinger said.

Bottom line: Our partnership has brought in more than $100,000 for Starfire – and many friends and supporters. What Starfire does for its community is important. Thank you for your support.

AN INSPIRING STORY FROM STARFIRE’S STORY SOIREE:

Here’s an uplifting example of a Starfire success story. Pictured are Starfire community builder Doug Goering and Regina Carswell-Russo, Chief of Communications at the Contemporary Arts Center. Doug was recently hired on in the communications department at the CAC. He has started a video series of the exhibits.

Please take a moment to view Doug’s video:

Best wishes to Starfire, Doug and all those engaged and involved with this important work.

Onward to next year!

ABOUT CHARITABLE WORDS SCHOLARS:

Since 2012, Charitable Words has connected more than 30 nonprofits with 70 students and recent graduates and hundreds of hours of pro bono engagement by our network of volunteer advisors. Their impact has been evident. Yet to be measured: The lifelong impact of purposeful scholarship, internship and special assignment experiences on their personal growth, and how much they will give back to their communities over time.

The Scholars’ superb work has been supported by other resources available to our nonprofit partners:

Charitable Words’ “Differentiated Audience Database”

Too often, nonprofits are operating from outdated “media contact” lists (the media landscape is constantly changing) and The Hatton Foundation funding and other supporters have helped Charitable Words develop a breakthrough “differentiated audience database” project to help nonprofits identify and reach the right friends and supporters, potential donors and volunteers. The database is customized for each nonprofit partner.

“Starfire’s message was broadcasted on local television, radio, and print due to Charitable Words in the days leading up to the event. Through this work, Starfire was able to bring an additional 250 people in audience members (audience participation increase of 63% from last year),” Almendinger said.

Charitable Words’ Network of Volunteer Professional Advisors:

Student interns and nonprofit partners collaborate with pro bono assistance from some of the area’s top media and PR professionals. Social media expert Krista Neher of Bootcamp Digital is in Charitable Words’ network of volunteer advisors.

Krista provided the Starfire team with an invaluable pro bono consultation of our social media channels. After this meeting, Starfire’s reach on Facebook went from an average of 150 followers reached, to over 1,000 followers reached, Almendinger said.

“On social media, Starfire saw a 23% increase in our reach over the span of three weeks, leading to a reach of 4,478 people the day of the event. This spike in attention on our social media has meant greater outreach and messaging, which leads to more donations and support from the community. We are grateful for what Charitable Words can do for nonprofit organizations to extend our capacity for impact by networking us with our city’s finest media talent and resources.”

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Please use the social media links below to share this with students, causes you care about…and new friends and potential supporters.

Thank you.

Tom Callinan, Charitable Words