In this addition of #TBT we jump back to September 2013 . Susan Griffin, Founder and CEO of our firm, is one of the past presidents of the Fundraising Executives of Metro Louisville (FREML). As part of the 30 year anniversary last year, many of them gathered to be honored for their hard work by the organization. She was flattered to be invited to participate and is proud to be part of Louisville fundraising industry. Still today Susan and Liz are dues paying members of FREML.
It’s Throw Back Thursday! (AKA: #TBT) GF&M is combing through our archives and collecting the cool memorabilia we have at our office to hop on the band wagon. Our first installment takes us all the way back to 1997. During that year, Louisville flooded almost as bad as the ’37 flood, Kentucky Kingdom was sold to Six Flags and Silver Charm won the Kentucky Derby.
America’s Promise is a national non-profit organization
The Facts
The Date: September 1997
The National Non-profit: America’s Promise
The Campaign: Campaign For Kids
Campaign Chair: Mayor Jerry Abramson
The Client: The Mayor’s Office (Louisville)
The Partners:
Bank of Louisville, BellSouth, Children’s Hospital Foundation, City of Louisville, Office of the Mayor, City of Louisville, Dept of Community Services, Community Foundation of Louisville, Metro United Way, UPS Foundation, IGLOU, Elizabeth Lawler, Videobred. Business First, Cox Radio, Public Radio and more
America’s Promise is the national organization with a mission to keep five promises to American’s young people. 1. Caring Adults 2. Safe Places 3. A Healthy Start 4. Effective Education 5. Opportunities to Help Others
Campaign for Kids was in intensive six-week campaign to challenge the citizens of Greater Louisville to commit volunteer time, service, and other resources to benefit children and youth in our community.
Our role: Griffin Fundraising and Marketing was requested by the Mayor’s Office to develop the local program for Louisville to “raise” volunteers. With just a little over seven weeks, we developed the materials, tracked volunteers and corporate involvement, and kept Mayor Abramson informed of progress. By the end of the campaign over 65,000 volunteers had been “raised”.
GF&M’s All Access Pass to the Kick Off event for Campaign For Kids
Colin Powell, the chairman of the national campaign, visited Louisville in September because of the success Louisville was having and to inspire other cities to rise to the occasion. It was a true demonstration of the compassion Louisville has for the city and its community members. Susan Griffin reminisced about the campaign and remembers, “The city [of Louisville] really showed up to help kids.”
To this day you may still see a Campaign for Kids’ plaque in the businesses that “gave” volunteers to the campaign. America’s Promise just recently had a youth Summit here in Louisville. Making Louisville a continued example of stepping up for the youth.