Magnifying the impact of a fundraising campaign through the power of press relations: Mères avec pouvoir, Mother’s Day 2023.
A remarkable impact beyond media coverage
Every year, Mères avec pouvoir welcomes dozens of families, with the aim of supporting single mothers in their desire to restore meaning to their lives. In December 2022, to expand its capacity, the organization launched a fundraising campaign to build a second home for these women.
Objectives
In the run-up to Mother's Day 2023, Mères avec pouvoir called on Exponentiel's expertise for a media relations campaign. The objective was to increase the organization's notoriety, visibility and impact, publicize the major fundraising campaign underway and encourage donations, as well as expand their list of volunteers.
Strategies
Given the nature and objectives of the mandate, the Exponentiel team drew on its expertise to propose a three stage media relations strategy:
- Invite selected media to an open house event orchestrated by the organization. Selected media had the opportunity to meet resident women, talk to professionals, stakeholders and representatives of partner organizations;
- Make personalized media approaches to journalists and columnists to arrange in-depth interviews with selected spokespersons;
- Approach the media to share the press release unveiling updates on the fundraising campaign aimed at raising $2M over 5 years to help 50 additional families annually.
In addition to the organization's spokespersons (Valérie Larouche, Executive Director, as well as accompanied mothers), we collaborated with spokespersons from outside the organization to highlight different facets of the organization's message. These included Alex Perron, a Mères avec pouvoir ambassador raised by a single mother, and the communications director of the Observatoire des tout-petits, to highlight the impact of the housing crisis on children's development.
Impact
The strategy was a resounding success, making Mères avec pouvoir stand out in the mix of Mother's Day conversations, and achieving major results during the campaign period.
Highlights
- Between May 3 and 19, 2023, 37 stories appeared in print, web, TV and radio. The overall reach of the operation is estimated at nearly 19 million media impressions.
- Seven interviews were given by Mères avec pouvoir spokespersons and stakeholders to major media outlets: La Presse Canadienne, 98.5 Montréal, Salut Bonjour on TVA, La Presse, and Journal Métro, providing significant coverage across the province.
- Over and above the media impact, the results of this operation, expertly managed by Exponentiel, enabled Mères avec pouvoir to record a 50% increase in private donations collected during the campaign, compared to previous editions. What's more, the organization saw a number of new subscribers to their Facebook page, and especially on LinkedIn, where the number of subscribers increased by 41%.
- Thanks to these positive results, this operation once again demonstrated the significant impact that media relations can have on an organization and the achievement of its objectives, over and above media exposure. Thanks to the efforts of the Exponentiel team, the results obtained exceeded the organization's expectations.