January 12, 2006 | Read Time: 2 minutes
When the YMCA of Central Ohio, in Columbus, decided to celebrate its 150th anniversary last year, its top
officials chose to focus on ways to use the milestone to attract attention, and not to focus so much on fund-raising opportunities.
Planning for the year-long series of anniversary activities, including a gala, commemorative book, and celebrations at its 11 regional branches, began at the end of 2003, with a large brainstorming session for 50 people from all facets of the organization.
Says Tina Badurina, associate vice president of marketing and public relations: “Everybody recognized the importance of a 150th anniversary. It was pretty universal thinking we needed to do something special.”
Ms. Badurina offered the following tips to help charities get the maximum bang out of an anniversary celebration:
Get companies to provide publicity. Ms. Badurina persuaded Pepsi-Cola to help publicize the anniversary by agreeing to carry Pepsi products exclusively in its facilities.
A local Pepsi distributor put the charity’s anniversary logo on cans it distributed during August in central Ohio, and from September to December 2005 added a line to its local radio advertisements congratulating the group on its anniversary.
Create public-service advertisements. A local company, Columbus Radio Group, agreed to produce 15 short public-service announcements featuring local leaders talking about the YMCA and broadcast them on three local radio stations.
Tell the charity’s story. The organization produced a 10-foot display, with old photographs and information about YMCA history, that traveled to each branch’s anniversary celebration. Some of the photos and other memorabilia were also used to compile a book, which was sold at cost.
Throw a party — with help. A gala for 600 people at the charity’s oldest branch broke even, in part because the charity relied on volunteers to help organize it.
“If I had tried to do this with just myself and my staff we would have buried ourselves,” she says. “Be very realistic when you take on a large effort. It’s very time consuming. Just for the gala alone, I had subcommittees with more than 40 volunteers.”
Ms. Badurina says other YMCA’s are now asking for advice.
She says her organization will measure the impact of the anniversary activities on membership and donations over the next year. But she says the events helped the organization attract the kind of publicity, including extensive local news-media coverage, that would not ordinarily be possible.
They also brought new names to the attention of the group’s fund raisers. “They have expanded their list of people they are having conversations with and people they want to have conversations with extensively,” she says.
