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Don’t Miss Your Organization’s Next Rally Squirrel Opportunity

By: Ashlyn Brewer | 11/01/2011

Recently, my colleague Beth blogged about the St. Louis Cardinals' "rally squirrel" and the lessons marketers could learn from it.

We recently spoke with Rose Fogarty, communications manager at Cardinal Glennon Children's Foundation.  She shared more insight into how the Foundation developed and enacted their plan to leverage the rally squirrel hubbub to support their organization's strategic goals, including fundraising and growing their awareness and volunteer base.

Below are a few interesting insights from that conversation.  Keep these in mind so you don't miss your organization's next "rally squirrel" opportunity!

1. When you see a great opportunity, move quickly.  When Cardinal Glennon Children's Foundation Executive Director Dan Buck developed the idea to leverage the rally squirrel in marketing efforts, Rose and her team sent a news release out the next day and hosted a press conference a couple days after that. By refusing to allow a good idea to get squashed in an endless and overcomplicated planning process, they were able to capture the city's (and media's) attention while the news was still hot.
2. Trust your team.  In order to manage all the moving pieces of the rally squirrel opportunity, Rose moved the other projects she'd been working on to Cardinal Glennon's hospital communications team. By letting go of her original plans and trusting the team to keep things moving, she was able to maintain a singular focus and achieve excellent results for the Foundation.  Those results include a strengthened volunteer base, extensive media coverage and more than $300,000 in funds raised to support the organization's mission.
3. Extend the opportunity.  Even though the World Series is over (and the Cardinals are champions!), Rose and her team are continuing to develop ideas to leverage the rally squirrel to engage volunteers, donors and the hospital's patients.

To follow the Cardinal Glennon Children's Foundation's rally squirrel efforts, and learn more about all of the exciting initiatives they are developing, visit their website.

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