An eight-week awareness campaign a volunteer team can run

Illustrative case study, not a client. This is a hypothetical case study created by AAJ to show how it would work with a local nonprofit on a pro bono basis. The organization, scenario, and numbers are illustrative; the structure and methods are the ones AAJ would use.

Background

Community Table (fictional) serves evening meals and basic support to low-income families, with one part-time director, two staff and 15–20 volunteers. The goal is more awareness before a seasonal fundraising dinner. Many potential donors and volunteers have never heard of it, social media is sporadic, and there is no consistent story about impact.

Objectives

• At least 2.5× the local reach of the previous eight weeks
• +100 new local email subscribers and +200 relevant social followers
• Fill every volunteer slot for the next quarter, and raise dinner attendance and donations

The plan

One story. From "We're a local nonprofit that provides meals to people in need" to "Community Table helps neighbors who are struggling to eat tonight, by serving warm dinners and connecting them to longer-term support."

Three channels. Instagram and Facebook, an email newsletter with two campaign sends, and 10–15 local partners. TikTok and an SEO blog are left out of this first sprint on purpose.

Eight weeks, one theme: "Neighbors Helping Neighbors Eat Tonight." Weeks 1–2 launch the story, weeks 3–4 focus on volunteers and donors, weeks 5–6 build up to the dinner, and weeks 7–8 cover the dinner and the thank-yous. Staff and volunteers run it from templates.

Modeled results

These numbers are modeled for a fictional organization. They are not measured results and not a promise of what any campaign will achieve.

• Reach: about 8K in the previous eight weeks against about 26.4K in the campaign, 3.3× (+230%)
• +465 new followers on Instagram and Facebook
• +145 new email subscribers, about 46% opens and about 5% clicks

For comparison, Mailchimp's nonprofit averages are a 40.04% open rate and a 3.27% click rate (Mailchimp benchmarks, data to December 2023). The volunteer and dinner goals are targets, not modeled results: nothing in the model supports a number for them.

What other nonprofits can learn

• Clarify one core story and repeat it
• Choose fewer channels and do them well
• Make volunteering and giving extremely concrete
• Show the humans, not just the logo
• Share outcomes quickly and clearly

AAJ supports mission-aligned nonprofits with pro bono sprints where capacity allows.

See the method on your own numbers

This example is invented. A Growth Audit runs the Diagnose phase on your real funnel, positioning and channel mix and names the three fixes to make first. Or start with a free 30-minute strategy call: talk to AAJ.

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