Campaign title: Walk a Mile for Autism Client: Autism Society of Cumberland County (ASCC) Campaign team: JulieAnna

Carsen, Mellisia Clarke, Matt Greene, Allison Griffin, Kim Stepp Faculty advisor: Dr. Dandan Liu SITUATION ANALYSIS The Autism Society of Cumberland County in Fayetteville of North Carolina was focused on offering support for families with children and/or adults living with an autism spectrum disorder. One of their biggest challenges for the organization was inadequate funding. The organization had held several fundraising events such as the annual golf tournament, a Vera Bradley bingo tournament, and dinner at Joes Crab Shack, with a moderate level of success. The ASCC wanted to increase funding and community awareness of the support offered to its individuals and families. RESEARCH Initial research was conducted to clarify the client's mission, prioritize the client's needs, and discover the existing efforts to meet the needs. The team conducted both primary research and secondary research to gain in-depth knowledge about the issue of autism in general and the status of this issue in North Carolina in particular. The team also collected information to design and refine strategies for their own campaign. Primary research included interviews with four local organizations associated with the issue of autism, such as the Special Olympics of Cumberland County (SOCC), the Exceptional family Member Program at Fort Bragg (the military base near Fayetteville, NC), the Health Occupation Students of America, and the Director of Social Works Department at UNC-Pembroke. Secondary research was conducted through web-based research on key statistics on the issue of autism in North Carolina and how similar organizations raise funds in their communities. Research showed that many organizations held run/walk events that involved families and community members from various organizations and businesses. The team learned that, although popular within Cumberland County, no run/walk events were ever organized solely to benefit the causes related to autism. Research also helped the team to identify and redefine the audiences as the statistics highlighted the particular needs of military families, which took a great portion of the population in Fayetteville, NC. PLANNING The campaign plan closely correlated with the findings through both primary and secondary research. The team planned the main event of the fundraising campaign, a non-competitive run/walk, in addition to two promotional activities prior to the event date. The rationale came from the following research findings: Run/walk events were effective to draw a large crowd, especially in the spring months. April happened to be the National Autism Awareness Month. Successful run/walk events received the greatest number of entries due to early registration, either through online or in-person submission. The non-competitive run/walk attracted family members of all ages. Successful run/walk events all focused on local issues and tailored the messages to local target audiences. The overall goals were to bring awareness to the local community about the ASCC's services and improve the organization's financial status. The main objective of the campaign was to raise at least $500 for the ASCC from January to April 2012. The target audience consisted of: Families of children and/adults living with an autism spectrum disorder o Military families o Non-military families Cumberland County Schools

Local businesses

The campaign strategy was to create an interactive event for the target audiences and promote the event through a combination of multi-media channels and interpersonal communication. The team tailored the messages to the target audiences according to research findings and took an aggressive approach to publicize the main event (the run/walk) through information tables at a popular local clothing retailer, dinner night at a local restaurant, radio interviews, press releases for newspapers and magazines, customized flyers for public schools, military families, and local businesses, Facebook postings, Scribd promotion of the registration form, and personal visits to the local community. The team had a zero budget at the start of this campaign and covered the expenses through early registration fees and donations. EXECUTION The team successfully executed the plan to organize the main event of the fundraising campaign, a run/walk, in addition to implementing the pre-event activities. The outcome was very successful as the campaign exceeded the objective and raised $1293. In general, all activities flowed smoothly as the team strategically set up the publicity channels and worked hard to solicit sponsorship and donations from local businesses. Tactic #1: Information Table & Early Registration The team set up an information table, with a donation jar, at Old Navy for both the Easter weekend and the military pay weekend. Both weekends were the peak sales periods at this popular local clothing retailer. A large crowd was exposed to the flyers and posters about the ASCC and the upcoming run/walk event. Early registration forms were distributed at the store. Tactic #2: Buffalo Wild Wings Dinner, Eat Wings for Funds The team also teamed up with Buffalo Wild Wings to develop a customer coupon validating 10 percent of the customer receipt as donation toward the ASCC. Two dinner nights honoring the coupon were set up close to the run/walk event day so that customers would be aware of the event. Tactic #3: Walk a Mile for Autism The main event was held at 8:00 am on April 15, 2012. The team made extensive efforts to publicize the event through both multi-media channels and interpersonal communication. The SOCC co-hosted the event with the ASCC and provided the location and the activity materials. At the beginning of the event, the team was a bit overwhelmed by the turnout of the participants and had to quickly set up the site to respond to the crowd and adjust to the situation when they ran out of the 50 free t-shirts for the participants. The event day included activities for kids, gift-bags, t-shirts, snacks, a one-mile walk around Reid Ross Track, and a raffle drawing. The team also collected registration fees, donations, and raffle ticket payments, and surveyed the participants. EVALUATION Through diligent research, planning, and execution, the team exceeded the campaign objective. Objective: Raise $500 for the Autism Society of Cumberland County within three months. Outcome: The campaign raised $1293. The team also conducted a survey during the event to assess the participants experience and receive 36 responses out of 100 participants. Survey results showed that the publicity efforts reached over 65% of the respondents while the remaining respondents learned about the event from word of mouth. Survey results also found that 19% of the participants surveyed said they received their registration form Facebook, 31% were directed to the ASCC website for official document downloads, 3% signed up at the Old Navy promotion, 16% received the form from a series of email blasts to organizational members, and the remaining 31% registered the day of the event. The general consensus of those surveyed was that, they were extremely satisfied with the event and felt strongly about future events of this nature.

Campaign title: Walk Mile For Autism Client: Autism Society of Cumberland County (ASCC) Campaign team: JulieAnna Carsen, Mellisia Clarke, Matt Greene, Allison Griffin, Kim Stepp Faculty advisor: Dr. Dandan Liu SUMMARY The non-profit Autism Society of Cumberland County struggled with funding and public awareness for their services and support for families with children and /or adults living with an autism spectrum disorder. Public relations seniors from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke conducted a fundraising campaign, Walk a Mile for Autism, for the ASCC during the National Autism Awareness Month in 2012. The campaign successfully raised $1293 and boosted the awareness of the ASCC's services with extensive publicity in both traditional media and social media outlets.