The Magic of Marketing

By Kayla Arnesen, Director of Marketing & Strategic Communications

Last December, did you tweet about #COGivesDay? Did you post a yard sign? Did you share a ColoradoGives news story with a friend? If you did, then thank you for being part of Colorado Gives Day’s marketing magic!

Colorado Gives Day is more than just a day, it’s a statewide movement to inspire giving. One of the greatest benefits of being a ColoradoGives nonprofit in December is being able to market your organization as part of the state’s largest day of giving.

At Community First Foundation, the marketing and communications team worked to elevate excitement for Colorado Gives Day to a fever pitch leading up to December 6, 2016. The results were outstanding: generous donors gave $33.8 million to more than 2,000 nonprofits on ColoradoGives.org.

We wanted to share a few fun highlights! Media relations and community outreach from August to December 2016 resulted in:

759 news stories for a total potential reach of 373 million individuals.
Colorado Gives Day trended locally on Twitter for most of the day. In the morning, #ColoradoGivesDay was the top trend in the Denver region. In the afternoon, #COGives was the trending hashtag.
657 users visited the ColoradoGives blog 880 times. These users generated 1,397 total website page views (947 unique page views).
500 Colorado Gives Day yard signs were posted across the Front Range.
A sponsor-produced 30-second video was shown on 182 screens at 23 movie theaters across Colorado. Total impressions, based on average attendance, is 264,999.
The in-kind value of media sponsorships totaled $446,111. Sponsors included KUSA-TV (Denver NBC affiliate), 5280 (Denver’s premier lifestyle magazine), two public television stations, Univision Denver, iHeartMedia (owner of eight radio stations), Comcast cable, Outdoor Promotions of Colorado (bus shelters) and Mile High Outdoor Advertising (electronic billboards).

Colorado Gives Day has changed the giving landscape in Colorado. The numbers show overwhelming support for Colorado nonprofits and the important work they do to make our lives better.

Bus shelter in Jefferson County; yard sign; results posted in Times Square

[1] Numbers calculated using Meltwater, a media intelligence company that provides media monitoring services. Meltwater.com

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