Learn more about how our consultants are helping Drew CDC fund programs for Southern LA children and families.
Problem Statement
How do we utilize the USC STEAM community, consisting of students, faculty, and organizations, to create sustained donors for Drew CDC to raise unrestricted funds for events and center developments?
About Drew CDC
Since 1987, Drew Child Development Corporation (Drew CDC) has established its presence in Southern LA as a nonprofit that provides education and security for at-risk children. Drew CDC serves 14,000 families and children per year in services from mental health, child care, trauma-informed care training, and early childhood education. To enforce an impact in the lives of children, Drew CDC creates enriched learning environments, promotes holistic development in all families and supporting caregivers. They are authorized as a 501C serving the families of Willowbrooke, Compton, South Los Angeles, and Watts. 44% of adults in this area do not have a high school diploma and have a median income of about $36k. Drew CDC works to produce the next generation of leaders from these families. Drew CDC operates six licensed daycare centers in South Los Angeles which offer a STEAM curriculum for 18-month - 5-year-old children. They create stimulating environments, so children enrolled in their programs, may live and learn in a place where experiences are always within reach. Drew CDC promotes holistic development, which is why their education, developmental, subsidy, and mental health programs work together to support families and help them access the services they need. Drew CDC also supports caregivers, since families and caregivers are children’s first and best teachers. Therefore, Drew CDC provides services and resources to help them succeed in this critical role.
Problem Description
Drew CDC receives an annual budget of $50,000,000.00, which comes from the State of California and from Los Angeles County. These funds give Drew CDC the ability to provide quality educational programs and supportive services to the community. However, these are restrictive funding programs and do not permit them to conduct other activities such as their Back 2 School Event and Winter Wonderland. These events help alleviate family stress at a time when they need to provide needed items for their children. Therefore Drew CDC is looking to increase their revenues from donorship so that they can use the funds to support their events that are not funded through their restrictive funding from the government. Drew CDC is interested in creating sustaining donors. With 180 Degrees Consulting’s help, Drew CDC would like to plant a seed for longtime sustaining support from USC STEAM students, faculty, and administration. Drew CDC’s goal is to provide those who have already either achieved or are on their way to realizing their dream of a STEAM career, an opportunity to support the scientists, engineers, and artists of the future.
Project Agenda & Objectives
Research: We started our research phase with how to create sustained donorship through social media, email outreach, and on-campus interactions. Simultaneously, we researched target markets within the USC community to reach out to for donors and partnerships. This phase aimed to see how sustained donorship could be achieved on college campuses.
Creation: To reach out to student donors we first created a social media campaign on Instagram for 15 days. Within this campaign, we created post templates, a social media campaign, a branding template, and caption examples so that the Drew CDC could implement it anytime. We then created email templates for organizations and faculty and a pitch deck to send for potential donations and partnerships.
Implementation: We then put all these deliverables into action by posting the social media campaign over 15 days and tracking the analytics behind each post. All of the email templates were also sent out to the organizations and faculty that we collected in a USC Connections Database. Lastly, we hosted an on-campus event to gauge student interest in Drew CDC's mission and bring awareness to Drew CDC's brand.
Analysis: From all the deliverables we implemented, we created analysis and feedback on how to improve the process so that Drew CDC could repeat this campaign in the future with greater success across college campuses.
The Impact of 180DC's Work
Our impact on Drew CDC was to raise unrestricted funds for Drew CDC so that they can focus on center developments and support the families behind the children they impact. Drew CDC daycares give children an escape from their situations with their families and provide them with an education. However, when the go back home they enter the same situation they try to separate themselves from. If Drew CDC can create supportive family environments as well they can help to foster a more successful future for the children they impact. The unrestricted funds from donors we can help Drew CDC acquire will help towards creating programs for these families.