Located in Burton, Texas, Camp For All is a nonprofit, barrier-free camp that hosts children and adults with special needs and challenging illnesses for camps year-round. This organization provides campers with a unique opportunity to explore and engage in nature and camping. Camp For All is even recognized as a national leader in creating and providing proven life-changing experiences through its adaptive activities, facilities and staff. The camp has grown immensely since it was first founded in 1993, as it now hosts around 9,000 campers every year!
Case Study: Camp For All Goes "Over The Edge"
CHALLENGE
To raise money in support of its campers, Camp For All hosts an annual “Over the Edge” event, in which donors can pay to rappel down the 31-story Woodlands Tower, all in the name of its mission. With 2023 being its third annual “Over the Edge,” second in-person (due to COVID), and the nonprofit’s 30th anniversary, Camp For All challenged the Like Minds team to increase brand awareness through media coverage and social media content in order to maximize fundraising and participation.
An Unexpected Challenge:
Originally, the event was scheduled for April 29th, but due to a wind advisory, the event had to be rescheduled to April 30th and only a few participants were able to rappel on the rescheduled date (including our media participants). Because of this, Like Minds had to quickly spread the word through social media and communicate with rappellers and media sponsorships about the rescheduling.
STRATEGY
To ensure this event’s success and assist the Camp For All team in beating the previous year’s fundraising efforts, Like Minds developed a comprehensive marketing strategy that began in January, for the event set in late April, and continued through May for post-event coverage.
Our strategy capitalized on pitching to numerous media outlets, inviting media members to rappel, securing exceptional media sponsorships, and spreading the word early on. Once the event approached, the strategy accounted for full media coverage and social media content run by Like Minds. Additionally, by utilizing the 30th anniversary of Camp For All as a “hook,” we were able to confirm strong media placements.
RESULTS
Thanks to our work and preparation, we were able to secure media sponsors from two major outlets: a TV partnership with FOX26 and a radio sponsorship with 104.1 KRBE. These sponsorships included promotional announcements, promotional calendar listings, weekly social media plugs leading up to the event, and invited participants for interviews. Additionally, we secured this great coverage early on, in the weeks leading up to the event. Camp For All also earned high profile placements on KPRC’s “Houston Life,” ABC13 Houston, Woodlands Online, Houston Press, CW39 Houston, PaperCity and more.
As mentioned, Like Minds also carried out posting across all social media channels for “Over the Edge.” We started a series on Instagram and Facebook called “Rappeller’s Spotlight” and posted consistently to bring further attention to the event. Overall, we saw an upward trend in engagement on all platforms in comparison to the previous quarter, and there were surges around the time of the event. Specifically on LinkedIn, metrics show heavy engagement around the event, with an increase from the last quarter of 63.9% on engagement and 137.2% on post clicks.
Lastly and, arguably, most importantly, the event was a major success, raising over $180,000 for Camp For All - $20,000 over its goal. With 691 donors, all experiences from the viewers and rappellers were positive, regardless of the wind delay. After this hefty project, spanning five months, Like Minds is proud to say that our efforts have resulted in an overwhelming victory for a mission-driven organization, Camp For All.