Challenge
Bridge to Home, an organization dedicated to helping individuals and families in the Santa Clarita Valley transition from homelessness to stable housing, faced a critical need to increase funding for a new permanent shelter. With limited dedicated social media engagement, they needed support to effectively reach potential donors and raise awareness for their cause. To meet this challenge, I directed and launched targeted social media campaigns within two months to drive fundraising efforts through the Virtual Cowboy Chili Cookout, with proceeds from this event supporting Bridge to Home’s essential services, including emergency shelter, case management, housing navigation, and referrals for health, mental health, and substance use treatment.
Approach
I began the campaign by developing a social media strategy that included an editorial calendar, content guidelines, and a style guide for design assets. I used Google analytics and analytics on various social media platforms to track the effectiveness of different communication approaches, refining messaging based on what resonated most with potential donors. I applied behavioral science principles, such as the endowment effect and crowd-out effect, to optimize social media posts.
I crafted engaging content for Facebook, Instagram, and the website, including client stories, achievements, donor spotlights, facts and figures, service updates, news, events, and sponsor promotions. I created a content calendar with targeted calls to action for the primary demographics and presented the strategy to the Fundraising team and Board of Directors. I also coordinated partnerships with sponsors and partners to amplify our reach through cross-promotion.
Results
The campaign raised nearly $20,000 for the Chili Cookout event (excluding sponsorships), with $2,800 (14%) generated from social media traffic. It also increased awareness among new supporters and redirected new followers to the Capital Campaign, which aims to raise $1M for a new shelter. The content and designs I developed were published on Bridge to Home’s Facebook, Instagram, and website, effectively reaching a wider audience and driving engagement. Published content and design are available on Bridge to Home’s Facebook, Instagram, and Website. Sample content is listed below.
Citation
@online{ali2022,
author = {Ali, Elham},
title = {Bridge to {Home}},
date = {2022-08-15},
url = {https://www.elhamyali.com/},
langid = {en}
}