Rachel Armbruster - Banding Together for a Cause: Proven Strategies for Revenue and Awareness Generation

Preface

Yellow wakes me up in the morning.

Yellow gets me on the bike every day.

Yellow has taught me the true meaning of sacrifice.

Yellow makes me suffer.

Yellow is the reason Im here.

Lance Armstrong

The wristband campaign was the official start of the transformation of the Lance Armstrong Foundation (Foundation). Initially, the brand LIVESTRONG really represented a new online resource center program within the Foundation. When we responded to Nikes original concept, we included the resource center in our plans to mobilize our constituents. Nike immediately recognized the power of LIVESTRONG and the band that was sold worldwide simply said LIVESTRONG.

If I hadnt personally been involved in the campaign, I almost wouldnt have believed how it came about and the magnitude of the changes that came with it for the organization, the people involved, and, most importantly, the cancer community. If you are working at a nonprofit today or for a company that is doing standard outreach and community relations, my guess is that you hear about these types of campaigns but cant really imagine how to make this happen at your own organization. It can sometimes be hard to even think about what the first step might be to go down this path.

This books goal is to provide key insights, present meaningful questions to start your thinking, and some sense of the yellow wristband journey. Hopefully, these insights and memories will offer up best practices to help take your organization to the next level. You will notice that there is a process, a focus on improvement, and a passion for relationships that drive success. There should be nothing in this book that you cannot create for your own cause.

Knowledge is Freedom: hide it, and it withers; share it, and it blooms.

P. Hill

One of the wonderful things about working in the nonprofit space is the willingness of everyone to work for the greater good. We are all trying to change the world. When one group finds a program that works, it should be leveraged by others for other worthy causes. The key is to be the organization that creates the programs that others replicate and to only implement those ideas that make sense for your organization. Be a leader in the marketplace and be selective about how you spend your resources.

The best businesses are those that have figured out how to combine profits, passion, and purpose.

Tony Hsieh

While all of our organizations represent various causes, there is one thing that we all have in common and that is a desire to help people. Programs teams are able to help people through direct services, but for people in accounting, marketing, or development, it happens in the creation of campaigns; the development of partnerships that make people think and create lasting change in the world. Sometimes it is hard to connect the dots from how data entry in the donor-operations department plays into the larger mission of an organization. The wristband campaign and the opportunity it presents to share the experience both provide a very tangible way to connect. Dont neglect those chances to give back and help people.

Its important to note, when reading this book, that talking about your failures or those experiences that did not end in millions of dollars raised is a great opportunity for learning. Success is usually preceded by failure. Be willing to share both the successes and failures with others. The failure may even have more of an impact than the successful campaign stories. That is one of the main reasons I am documenting my experience with the wristband campaign here. I am hopeful that other nonprofits and companies are able to learn from the experiences contained in these pages. I hope the lessons I am sharing can help organizations to create campaigns to benefit poverty, diabetes, education, asthma, or any number of worthy causes. Its humbling to think, then, that my legacy would be about creating a world of change instead of being linked to one amazing campaign. In turn, maybe this will help you ask yourself these questions: What is my legacy? How are others learning from my experiences? Have I made myself accessible?

Sharing should be a part of every stage of your routine and process. Imagine a non-profit partnership director training a new member of the team. Typically, the scenario includes a watch and learn comment and then the new person is left on their own to recreate that scene with other partner prospects. All the while, the new person is hoping they get the script right. What if that same partnership director prepared with the new person pre-meeting to share what they had prepared for the exchange, and then reviewed the entire exchange post-meeting. This is something development professionals apply often to major giving opportunities. When we are headed to a meeting with a potential donor, we take time to send a donor overview to our accompanying board member or executive. We talk through our recommended approach including the conversation starters, ask amounts, back-up plans, and more. Then, immediately after the meeting, we spend time talking about how the meeting went and where we were right on or how we missed the mark. When sharing your wisdom, experience, and insights, dont wait until you have checked off every box on your to do list. Sharing at every step of the campaign and partnership is valuable and can result in you achieving your goals even faster on your own.