Partnerships + Creativity + Social Tools = 150,000 Meals

Partnerships + Creativity + Social Tools = 150,000 MealsJon Lowder, Executive DirectorPiedmont triad apartment association@jlowder

What is PTAA?Local trade association for the apartment industry (think Chamber of Commerce for the apartment industry)Represent 350 apartment communities, about 54,000 apartment units, in Triad + 150 vendor companies that sell products and services to them$600,000 gross revenue; 3 employees

About the PTAA Food DriveOngoing "signature" community service project to benefit Second Harvest Food Bank of NWNCGoal is to raise as much food and cash for Second Harvest as we can in a year, particularly the summer months (because school is out the need is up, but donations are lower than normal)Started over 10 years ago. 1st year we collected a couple of thousand cans of food (about 1,750 meals)Last year we collected enough food cash to provide 156,000 meals Will talk about how it has evolved over the years and how we've leveraged our volunteers and partnerships to grow the program

Why We Do ItMember engagementOur community service events get more involvement from a wider variety of members than any other events we doGood PR9 times out of 10 when apartments are mentioned on the news it's in a negative light - fire, crime, blighted housing, bad landlord stories, etc.Developing relationships with local organizations and elected leadersBecause we feel good doing it

How the Food Drive Evolved Over Time

In the BeginningIn the beginning we just had members bring food to a dinner meeting that we had.Then we started a competition. Member companies could compete to see which could collect the most food over a set amount of time. Winner gets to keep the Owners Cup in their office for the next year.

Next LevelFive years ago a new chairperson of our committee took over and wanted to ramp up the program.

Dale Holder, Food Drive Chair Extraordinaire

Set goals to get more exposure, involve the general public and generate more excitement and involvement within our membership.

PartnershipsGreensboro Grasshoppers and Winston-Salem DashFill the Stands With Cans

PartnershipsWXII Donated 15 and 30 second adsGot the mayors of each town to volunteer to do the ads. Highlighted friendly competition between cities.

Live remotes on gamedays

Developing the PartnershipsIt took time to develop trust with our partnersFirst couple of years we had Mon/Tue games at each park. Now we get Thu/Fri gamesAds were running at 3 a.m. or on the MeTV slot primarily. Started getting much more primetime play the last couple of years

Building Around Fill the StandsStarted using the games as great networking events for our members.The games became a jumping off point for our overall food drive campaign and spawned related events run by some of our members:Matt's Run to Fight HungerGot You Floored customer loyalty programBlue Ridge Companies annual campaigns

OrganizingThank you Google docs!

Tracking donationsTracking box drop offs/ pick ups

Marketing/PublicizingSocial MediaBefore DuringAfterInternal vs external audiences

Internal AudienceOur members are very active on FacebookSet up events pages for each game250 engagements for Dash1,000 engagements for HoppersPhoto Albums After the GamesWheres Waldo Pics of Dale and Jon during box pickups at communities

Internal AudienceWe use our blog as a write once, publish many times tool (twitter, FB, etc)posts also end up as an article in our email newsletter

External AudiencePartnership with WXII exponentially increased our exposure to the general publicAds promoting Fill the Stands With Cans ran for weeks leading up to the event

External Audience

External AudienceWXII live remotes gave the Fill the Stands With Cans events a tremendous amount of local exposure and led to a lot of participation from the general public

External AudienceEach year we have the opportunity to meet with the mayors of Greensboro and Winston-Salem while filming the commercials. Very valuable for relationship building and pays off in our other workMoves us away from the evil landlord perception

After the FactAcknowledge and thank your partners!LettersPlaquesPhoto oppsShare the gloryPress ReleasesAwards/Recognition

Lessons LearnedBuilding partnerships takes time and effortEach partner needs to get a win out of itWXII Greensboro market, extension of their own program with Second Harvest, public serviceGrasshoppers and Dash promotion for a game each, public service, lots of air timeSecond Harvest Food/cash donations, lots of ad/PR mileage, strengthened partnerships in communityDont expect it to be perfect from the start. Best ideas will be generated by your volunteers create an environment that allows them to be inspired and inspiring. Just say yes!You always have to evolve to keep people engaged

Lessons LearnedRemember that your volunteers have day jobsDont expect it to be perfect from the startNever underestimate the ability of one person to completely hose your operational plan or why everyone should have to initial their changes to the Google DocHaving fun is a critical component

Remember Why We Do ItMember engagementOur community service events get more involvement from a wider variety of members than any other events we doGood PR9 times out of 10 when apartments are mentioned on the news it's in a negative light - fire, crime, blighted housing, bad landlord stories, etc.Developing relationships with local organizations and elected leadersBecause we feel good doing it

Added Bonus for MeGetting out of the office to meet the members

I WANT YOU!

Help Second Harvest by making me suffer!Jons Pentathlon of Pain9/11/2015 World Trade Center Memorial Stair Climb9/26/2015 Salem Lake 30KComing Soon Dance Video Challenge from Blue Ridge10/24/2015 Ardmore RAH! 5K+10KDate TBD Rowing ChallengeInfo at www.jonlowder.comGoFundMe Site:https://www.gofundme.com/jonsPOP

Contact Info

Day JobJon LowderExecutive DirectorPiedmont Triad Apartment AssociationEmail: jon@piedmonttaa.orgFacebook: www.facebook.com/piedmonttaaTwitter: @piedmonttaaBlog: piedmonttaa.wordpress.comWebsite: www.piedmonttaa.orgWhen Im Pretending to Work

Blog: www.jonlowder.comFacebook: www.facebook.com/jonsfontTwitter: @jlowderPodcast: beerdadspodcast.wordpress.com