Integrated Campaign & Brand Storytelling
Kids Can Because You Care Campaign
Created an integrated campaign to translate complex pediatric rehabilitation outcomes into clear, emotionally intelligent stories that drive donor intent. Unified messaging across channels, strengthened donor understanding of impact, and drove measurable engagement and conversion.
Role: Creative Director, Campaign Strategy, Messaging, Creative Leadership
Scope: Campaign concept and messaging; visual system; multi-channel creative; storytelling framework; market research and audience analysis; competitor analysis; digital and print execution
Industry: Healthcare, Nonprofit
Results:
240% increase in website traffic, year-over-year, with 22% of visitors converting to email subscribers (vs 8% pre-campaign)
Email open rates increased from 11% to 23% with click rates doubling from 2.1% to 4.4%
Donation conversion rate improved by 38% among first-time website visitors
Social media engagement increased by 40%, with video content achieving 3.4 million impressions
THE CHALLENGE
Children’s Specialized Hospital Foundation needed a unifying campaign that could emotionally engage a broad donor audience while clearly articulating the real impact of philanthropy. While the Foundation supports children with complex medical needs, the nuances of pediatric rehabilitation were often difficult for donors to fully understand, making it challenging to communicate how fundraising dollars translate into meaningful, long-term outcomes for children and families.
The challenge was to bridge this understanding gap. The campaign needed to simplify a complex mission without diminishing its depth, reinforce trust with long-time supporters, and resonate with new audiences encountering the organization for the first time. It also needed to inspire action across multiple channels while maintaining a tone that was hopeful, respectful, and emotionally intelligent.
STRATEGIC APPROACH:
Audience Research & Insight Development
Conducted audience analysis across existing donor segments (major gifts, annual fund, lapsed/lapsing, first-time donors) and prospective audiences to understand levels of interpretation of our mission and impact. Performed competitive analysis of peer healthcare foundations to identify common messaging patterns and differentiation opportunities. Facilitated focus groups with current donors to understand what motivated continued giving and what created confusion about their impact. Surveyed lapsed donors to identify barriers to reengagement and communication gaps.
Identified core insight: Donors understood that children needed help, but struggled to visualize what specialized rehabilitation is and how it creates long-term, life-changing outcomes.
Campaign Concept Development
Developed a campaign framework that flipped the narrative from “children need care” (problem-focused) to “kids can [achieve specific outcomes] because you care” (solution-focused and donor-centric). Created a messaging architecture showing progression from clinical intervention to functional achievement to life participation, making abstract rehabilitation concepts tangible.
Designed a storytelling system that personalized impact by following individual children’s journeys, showing specific capabilities unlocked by donor support. Established an emotional tone that balanced home and celebration with respect for medical complexity, privacy, and family challenges.
Multi-Channel Integration Strategy
Built a flexible campaign system capable of scaling across digital (email, social, web), print (direct mail, newsletters, ads), in-person events, and merchandise. Created a modular messaging framework that allowed the campaign to adapt to different donor segments while maintaining a consistent narrative.
The visual system used authentic patient photography and design that respected each child’s pride while maintaining emotional resonance with donors. Established a content production workflow allowing the creative team and development team to continuously generate new patient stories within the campaign framework.
Measurement & Optimization
Defined campaign success metrics across awareness (website traffic), engagement (social & email metrics), and conversion (donation rates & average gift size). Established A/B testing protocols for email subject lines, CTAs, and story framing to optimize performance throughout the campaign. Created feedback loops between campaign performance data and content strategy, using engagement KPIs to refine the storytelling approach. Developed a donor survey measuring comprehension of impact pre- and post-campaign exposure.
Stakeholder Alignment
Navigated a complex stakeholder environment requiring medical accuracy, HIPAA compliance, family consent, and board and leadership approval. Created a streamlined approval workflow that maintained quality and compliance without slowing content production. Trained the internal team on the campaign messaging framework to ensure consistent application across all communications.
Key Strategic Decisions
Rather than creating separate campaigns for different fundraising initiatives, I recommended one unifying campaign that could flex across all Foundation needs: annual giving, peer-to-peer fundraising, and events. This approach built cumulative brand equity and donor comprehension over time rather than fragmenting the Foundation’s voice across multiple competing narratives.
LEADERSHIP & SCOPE
Project Duration: 4 months
Team Led: 12
Campaign Scope: Multi-channel integrated campaign spanning email, social media, print, website content, event materials and merchandise
Stakeholder Coordination: Collaborated with clinical staff, legal/compliance, patient families, development team, and executive leadership/board of trustees