The Project: Partners for Sacred Places PR Strategy and Implementation: Fort Worth Eye Clinic Opening
Thrive was retained for a PR strategy project to help Partners for Sacred Places (PSP), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit headquartered in Philadelphia, get the word out about a charitable eye clinic opening in its client’s beautiful, historical building in downtown Fort Worth. First Christian Church was a PSP consulting client and had participated in the nonprofit’s New Dollars/New Partners program.
Through the consulting program, Partners for Sacred Places had helped the church’s leaders identify potential options for its underutilized spaces. The new clinic was one of those options. It would serve an estimated 7000 homeless and other patients in need. And it would utilize the building’s second floor, providing needed revenue for the historic downtown church. A win-win!
The Challenge
The main challenge of this PR strategy project was that Partners for Sacred Places was only one player among many making the eye clinic happen. The other players included the City of Fort Worth, Alcon, First Christian Church, the University of Houston College of Optometry and the University of the Incarnate Word School of Optometry.
How could we get the word out about Partners for Sacred Place’s role and NOT get lost among all the players and, at the same time, honor the others’ important roles?
The Solution
PR Strategy and Messaging
Thrive quickly helped Partners for Sacred Ppaces develop a compelling strategy and communications/PR plan.
We positioned Partners for Sacred Places and its New Dollars/New Partners program, which First Christian Church participated in, as the catalyst for the new charitable eye clinic that was under construction at the time.
A key part of the strategy was Thrive’s recommendation that Partners for Sacred Places host a sneak peek tour and luncheon at the church, before the construction was entirely completed. To ensure that key influencers would attend, we invited all the project partners, community members, other local church leaders plus the media.
Branding + Marketing Postcard/Invitation
Thrive developed a consistent brand and message for the event plus wrote and designed a marketing postcard/invitation for it and helped our client strategize and expand their invite list.
Email Marketing
Thrive wrote, designed and sent an email campaign, informing and inviting a targeted list to the event. We also helped research and identify key people and organizations to invite (via email or mail).
Social Media
We partnered with the Partners for Sacred Places staff to write and implement weekly posts on Facebook related to PSP and the upcoming eye clinic, including info about the clinic, PSP’s program, photos from the pre-opening lunch and tour, links to media coverage, etc.
Media Relations
Thrive also managed media relations for the project, telling our client’s story related to the eye clinic and invited media to the lunch/sneak peek tour.
The Results of This PR Strategy Project
We were successful in spreading the word about Partners for Sacred Place’s programs, their impact and honoring all the partners involved in the unique charitable eye clinic (still open today in Fort Worth).
Strong Luncheon Event Turnout
PSP had a huge turnout for their luncheon event, gained a feature story in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, a brief in the Fort Worth Business Press and reached an expanded audience via not only media relations but via the event, the email campaign, the printed invitation postcard and our social media campaign.
Media Coverage
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram article, written by longtime religion writer Jim Jones, started with “Seeking new ways to utilize underused space, First Christian Church in downtown Fort Worth will open an eye clinic this spring to aid the homeless and others who can’t afford vision care.”
It included all the partners involved, quoted the eye clinic’s director and PSP’s client and ended with a quote from Fort Worth civic leader Marty Leonard.
It included PSP’s role: “Partners for Sacred Places, a national organization whose Texas branch first facilitated the planning conversation between the church, the city, and the two schools …”
The content Thrive wrote for the press release and media pitches was also used by Partners for Sacred Spaces for its website and its quarterly magazine, to tell the story nationally.
Client Feedback
“Thrive took the time to learn about and truly understand our mission, programs, and the nuances of the eye clinic project. They identified and crafted a smart, creative strategy none of us involved had considered! Kelly and her team then helped us identify and grow our target audience, tell our story and reach our audience in a way that was consistent as well as engaging. We couldn’t be more pleased with the results!”
