The Fisheni Project

Cedarville University

I provided public relations support for the university’s chapter of Women of Vision in its effort to raise $30,000 to fund three years of sponsorship of a village in Zambia, Africa. I worked with the two faculty members who were joint-chairs of the campus chapter to strategize communications and develop a fundraising campaign.

A goal of the campaign was to ensure everyone on the campus knew about the fundraiser. The campaign included branding, literature development, weekly videos that were played in chapel, and interactive PR tactics. Another aspect of the campaign was encouraging students to donate money they would have spent on a coffee drink.

Campaigns must begin with research to better understand the target publics. My PR class was divided into several teams that each conducted focus groups of students on campus. In class, we discussed findings of the groups and determined the best messaging and tactics to reach students.

The chapter chairs and I created a one-week pre-campaign prior to the primary campaign to create anticipation for the start of the major fundraising component. The primary campaign ensured everyone on campus was informed about the effort. One finding of the focus groups was that we needed to employ visual tactics. During the three weeks of the primary campaign, we highlighted the biggest needs of the village that the organization wanted to sponsor, including fresh water wells and children’s educational supply needs. The campaign reached its goal for the sponsorship.