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Catholic Charities – Capital Campaign PR

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Public RelationsEarned Media

In 2021, Catholic Charities, Maryland’s largest private human services provider, embarked on the biggest fundraising effort in the nonprofit’s 100-year history. The $75 million “Greater Promise” capital campaign would propel Catholic Charities for the next century and support nearly 100 programs across 200 locations. To maximize exposure, Vitamin seized upon the campaign’s public launch event at Our Daily Bread Employment Center as the ideal opportunity to initiate a robust PR effort that would attract premier local media and flood the region with the news of the landmark philanthropic effort.

Challenge

  • Catholic Charities’ Greater Promise campaign represented the largest and most complex capital campaign in its 100-year history.

  • Vitamin was tasked with planning and executing a high-stakes campaign launch while clearly communicating impact, programs, and community benefit.

  • The effort required securing positive, credible press coverage to attract new donors, strengthen stewardship, and expand community participation.

Strategy

  • Led a comprehensive media relations strategy to drive awareness and attendance for the live campaign launch event.

  • Managed all press outreach, spokesperson coordination, and on-site interviews, including a branded media room experience.

  • Integrated earned media with the broader Greater Promise marketing campaign, aligning teaser advertising and timely thought leadership placements.

Results

  • Generated more than a dozen press placements and over 6.5 million media impressions across regional broadcast, print, and digital outlets.

  • Secured coverage in top Maryland media including The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and multiple television stations.

  • Expanded donor reach and momentum, contributing to the campaign surpassing its $75 million goal and raising more than $100 million within four months.

  • 100 M+ Capital Raised
  • 6.5 M Audience Impressions
  • 13 Regional Media Hits
Bill McCarthy, Executive Director of Catholic Charities of Maryland preparing for a TV interview.

A Seamless Process for Media

Working closely with Catholic Charities’ communications team, Vitamin built a comprehensive digital press kit that offered full details of the campaign, quotes from Catholic Charities leadership, advocates, and beneficiaries, and a full overview of Catholic Charities’ programs and services. Loaded to USB flash drives, the kits provided every piece of information journalists needed to quickly turn in thorough stories and articles. The press kits were also made conveniently available on the Greater Promise microsite, designed by Vitamin.

Alleviating Client Burden

In addition to handling the operational aspects of the capital campaign and coordinating the logistics of the public event, the Catholic Charities team was also still managing the organization’s day-to-day duties during one of its busiest times of the year. With this in mind, Vitamin seamlessly served as the PR and media relations arm of the Catholic Charities’ communications team, providing peace of mind that a critically important part of the Greater Promise campaign was being expertly managed, and with supreme brand integrity for both Catholic Charities and the capital campaign.

Fully Integrated Outreach

Vitamin’s media outreach was purposefully aligned with many other efforts, all in combined support of Greater Promise’s success. As Catholic Charities’ Agency of Record (AOR), PR was just one component of an integrated multi-faceted effort that included print, digital, and billboard advertising, Greater Promise microsite, and reimagined messaging that supported the charity’s devotion to the community and empowerment of the individual Diving into the content, reporters could quickly surmise the community impact of Greater Promise and its importance on Catholic Charities’ ability to provide continued services.

“The term ‘Greater Promise’ refers to our ongoing commitment to providing the assistance necessary to help individuals, families and communities, and our obligation to confront the modern challenges our neighbors are facing.”

— William J. “Bill” McCarthy Jr., Executive Director of Catholic Charities—as quoted in Baltimore Sun press coverage.
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