By Roxanne Joffe, lead communications strategist to The Patterson Foundation
I’ve always been intrigued about how communities galvanize around issues they care about — whether it’s hunger, homelessness, kids, cancer — and advocate for causes that are near and dear to their hearts. This passion, this spark is what starts movements that accelerate change and awareness.
In my line of work, we look for ways to make a difference in this world. We’ve worked with The Patterson Foundation to build a movement raising the profile of the 100,000 veterans in our local community (Legacy of Valor campaign) where I moved from personal knowledge about veterans to emotion and passion about what they and their families do for our country.
What fueled the shift from specific intention and desire about raising awareness of the role of veterans in our community to a heartfelt groundswell of support? By empowering more than 100 community partners under a strategic communications umbrella. Communications wasn’t an after thought. It is integral to the way The Patterson Foundation works by providing capacity-building resources beyond the check.
A multilayered communications approach, which was anchored by the foundation’s work with the National Cemetery Administration to create Patriot Plaza, added fuel to the fire and helped an emotional shift occur. We knew these factors had to be in place in order for the Legacy of Valor campaign to be successful:
1) Passion – Leveraged the communications power of more than 100 community partnerships — including events and activities already focused on veterans.
2) Emotional Connection - Created a campaign featuring a dozen local veterans from different backgrounds and various branches of service. The campaign's call to action “Freedom. Pass It On.” encouraged our region to use time, talent and treasure to make a difference.
3) Engagement – Each of the 100 community partners — including staff members and partnerships that spun off from the campaign – all became Legacy of Valor ambassadors, sharing key messages of the campaign with their own networks.
4) Digital Fuel - Each partner had the opportunity to attend capacity-building workshops on everything from social media to fundraising strategy. These sessions equipped partners with communications tools to share about Legacy of Valor to far more people than the foundation could have ever done alone — and provided the time and space to enhance future events.
What does success look like? There was a mix of anecdotal and measurable outcomes.
Events honoring veterans – Throughout the year, partners hosted more than 200 events honoring veterans — from a kayak build for veterans with PTSD to jobs and services fairs for veterans and their families. Many of our partners pledged to continue to host events honoring veterans.
Unified Legacy of Valor Campaign – This fundraising campaign raised more than $272,000 benefiting veterans programs at a dozen participating Legacy of Valor partner nonprofits. The Patterson Foundation matched donations.
EdExploreSRQ – During the campaign, the local Military Officers Association partnered with the school system to create the first voluntary curriculum about the American flag. This curriculum will live on in schools and through EdExploreSRQ, a platform created in partnership with The Patterson Foundation, to connect teachers with experiential learning opportunities for students.
Community Touches - Each interaction during events and activities as well as event attendance resulted in more than 475,000 “touches” throughout the community during the yearlong campaign.
Time will tell how our community will continue to embrace veterans, but it’s clear that The Patterson Foundation’s interest and investment in building a movement of support jumpstarted the process.