Things We Fancy

MENTORING A STUDENT HEADED FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN

Over the last ten years public school funding has taken a major hit. As the gutting continues, at the top of the budget-chopping block are school’s sports programs. The burden of keeping these programs funded often falls squarely on the parents. Parents are asked to contribute not only money but also their precious time; they are tasked with creating various fundraisers from bake to banner sales.

The thought occurred to me; what if we empowered the students to create their own fundraising platform using the communication tools of the 21st century: Internet, social media, and content strategy?

The idea is to create a webpage where the students can ask for and receive donations via a paypal button. In essence, it’s the Kickstartercrowd-funding model for school athletics. The webpage will be content driven with student created videos, photos and copy. The students would then embark on a marketing campaign using social media, PR and whatever creative ideas they can come up with to spread the word.

I took this idea to my old friend Oly Norris. Oly teaches the Business Development class at San Dieguito Academy High School. Automatic Media offered mentor a group of students who were interested in being involved in this fundraising project. In the process the students will be actively practicing the fundamentals of marketing and project execution.

The intention of this project is to not only raise funds for SDA Athletics but also to provide students valuable experience in: Brand Strategy, Creative Direction, Art Direction, Advertising, Marketing, PR, Copywriting, Content Creation, Video production, Social Media Marketing, Photography, Event Production, and Event Marketing. The opportunities for learning are enormous!

If successful, the plan is to pay it forward. The students will share the strategy and help empower other students at other schools to do the same. The idea has been fully embraced by SDA and I’m happy to report we are 2 months into this project with an absolutely amazing and inspiring group of students. The students are currently looking for inspirational stories on how involvement in high school sports saves lives. If you have such a story or know anyone with such a story (and are willing to be interviewed on camera) please feel free to contact me at migdol@automatic99.com. Follow the progress of this project here and our facebook page.

Automatic Media is a full-service creative agency for the digital age. We specialize in content marketing, design, social media, and SEO strategy.

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