The Greater Washington Community Foundation ignites the power of philanthropy to respond to critical community needs and build a thriving region where every person prospers. The region’s largest local funder, the Community Foundation has invested $1.7 billion since 1973 to build racially equitable, just, and thriving communities so that people of all races, places, and identities reach their full potential.
The Greater Washington Community Foundation celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2023, which it commemorated by launching a $50 million fundraising campaign specifically focused on closing the racial wealth gap in the DC area. After conducting a thorough discovery, campaign branding and messaging process which reflected how the Community Foundation has evolved in its commitment to equity, KAH Consulting was tasked with identifying and pitching reporters with deep community roots who have a greater understanding of the impacted audience.
This led us to pitch and place an article with Ana Lucía Murillo at the Washington Business Journal, who expertly focused on the potential impact of such a campaign. We also secured major placements and interview opportunities for CEO Tonia Wellons in publications including the multicultural and woman-owned , where Tonia was able to speak to the transformational impact the Community Foundation has had for the last five decades – as well as what the next 50 years looks like.
Then, in 2023, the Greater Washington Community Foundation partnered with Prince George’s County to launch Thrive Prince George’s, the first-ever guaranteed basic income program in the County. The program is providing $800/month for two years to seniors and youth who’ve aged out of the foster care system with the goal of providing an outsized impact on people’s lives long term, and, ultimately, helping to close the racial wealth gap.
The Community Foundation brought in Storytelling for Good to support ideation around the launch of the program as well as its accompanying event and media push. Recognizing that the heart of this story rested with the community members whose lives could be transformed by guaranteed basic income, we made it a priority to ensure residents who were likely to become recipients of the program were on tap to both speak at the launch event and provide interviews to media outlets. Storytelling for Good drafted the press release and media advisory for the event and pitched out the story of the transformational impact that this new program could have on the lives of many for years to come.
Our sustained media outreach resulted in wall-to-wall local media coverage for the last two weeks of November. Media outreach resulted in at least 48 unique news stories in outlets including The Washington Post, Yahoo! News, Prince George’s Suite, ABC 7 News, DC News Now, FOX 5 DC, NBC4, News Talk 105.9 WMAL, Telemundo 44, WAMU and WTOP. Broadcast TV and radio stories amassed a total local viewership of nearly 700,000 with a total local market publicity value of nearly $80,000. Print/online and social coverage garnered nearly 400,000 views and an audience of nearly 120 million.