YMCA of the Triangle’s We Build People Campaign

For the past two years, we’ve collaborated with our friends in the Development Office at the YMCA of the Triangle on their We Build People campaign, an annual fundraising effort to raise money for individuals and families in need to participate in Y programs, such as after-school care, youth sports, health and wellness, summer camps, teen leadership and more.

Every day, the Y works to address the most pressing needs in the community by making sure that everyone – regardless of age, race, income or background – has the opportunity and resources to learn, grow and thrive. It doesn’t matter if the people in need are members or attend programs at a branch – the YMCA operates without walls for the betterment of everyone in the community.

Our work on the We Build People campaign begins in February, when we head out to the 10 branches in the Raleigh-Durham metro area to speak with staff members about the people they meet and stories they hear. Once we zero in on a few stories we’d like to learn more about, we meet with the families to learn more about their involvement with the Y.

Though the really fundraising doesn’t begin until August or September, the first piece of the campaign is the Y’s “Philanthropic Report to Donors and Friends,” an insert that runs in the Triangle Business Journal every May. In it, the Y recaps the previous year’s efforts, acknowledge donors for their support and introduce some of the faces and stories that will be a part of the new We Build People campaign.

Next, we develop the case statement for the campaign, which outlines the goals of We Build People and tells the story of the impact of the funds raised through the campaign on the lives of a few people. From there, we shoot the photography for the printed case statement and begin designing the piece which will ultimately serve as the foundation for the year’s campaign. At the same time, short films are created to tell the stories through viral videos that will be used on the campaign’s website, YMCATriangle.org.

The peer-to-peer volunteer campaigns kicks off at the end of the summer, with case statement packages going out to donors and prospects while signage and storyboards get posted in all the association’s branches, so that folks coming into the Y begin to see the people that serve as the face of this year’s campaign.

The last element is the direct mail effort, which reiterates the message communicated in the case statement, videos, signage and TBJ articles. This drops in September and goes to members and program participants within the YMCA of the Triangle. The direct mail is supplemented with email reminders, which drives recipients back to the campaign website to watch the short videos and read additional stories.

Sound exhausting? It is a lot of work, but it’s also really rewarding when everything comes together, and a story we first heard in a conference room of one of the branches in February comes to life in a video in September and compels people to give.

Here are just a few of the stories we featured as a part of this year’s campaign.

Lee King

Bob Grant

Le & Rodrigo Florez