Academic Service Learning:
Program Evaluation
Written by:
Summary:
An organization founded by cancer survivors back in 2002, the Pink Ribbon Girls (PRG) helps those who are currently fighting their battle with breast and/or gynecological cancers. With their motto, “No One Travels This Road Alone…”, the Pink Ribbon Girls provide healthy meals, transportation to treatment, house cleaning, and support for a cost of none by teaming up with local businesses to accomplish these tasks.
At the start of our semester, our main goal was to help provide PRG with social media content ideas, potential press releases, and other minor details to allow us to gain experience working with a non-profit, while giving PRG the opportunity to gain insight from two
college-aged students with small tasks to help complete the “to-do’s” on their schedule. To do so, we created our proposal to lay out each task we would be hoping to accomplish during the semester’s time frame. Within our proposal, we agreed to provide PRG with donor postcard designs, client stories, Ignite the Fight Gala invitation designs, “outsider” social media/website audits, social media content ideas, and potential press release opportunities and a testimonial video.
We knew coming in that some changes may arise as time passes. Wes made it clear that there may be no opportunity for press release writing due to the pandemic. Little did we know, but there would also be a change in our hopeful testimonial video, but to make better, Wes added tasks in their place.
From the start, we were in contact with Wesleigh Cummings, Vice President of
Development for PRG. We gained tremendous support and guidance from Wes. She gave us all of the tools we needed to succeed, always checking in that she was doing everything we needed from her. She exceeded our expectations as a supervisor for this project. Over time, we gained
community with Renee King, who was hired on as the Director of Brand Strategy and
Marketing, during our time working with PRG. Though we only had a handful of weeks with Renee, on our weekly Zoom calls, we were able to gain insight on the designs we created for the organization.
During our time writing client stories, we were able to speak with amazing women who were more than willing to share their stories about their journey with cancer. Between the two of us, we were given 12 different names to reach out and connect with. Not every lady was able to get back to us, but together we were able to get in contact with seven clients.
Throughout the creating and designing of our tasks, we both were able to walk away feeling like we accomplished something bigger than we expected. We each created our own versions of the donor postcards and of the invitations for Ignite the Fight. During this time of generating ideas for the designs, we were given the challenge of not communicating with each other. Wes wanted us each to draft our own versions to represent each of our personalities.
As mentioned above, the risk of not being able to write press releases could arise. In the end, we were not able to draft any press releases for PRG. On top of that, we also did not have a reason to create the testimonial video we had envisioned in our head coming into the project or have the opportunity to plan for the future events held in July and September. Though this happened, all is good. Wes brainstormed new tasks for us to fill the place of these duties. As for the client stories, the original plan was to connect with the clients and have them answer a few questions, along with attaching a photo of them. After this was done, Wes had us each write summaries of the answers given by our specific women. Now that PRG has our client story summaries, they will keep these on file for when they appear on radio shows and more, as a promotional tool to give insight of the impact that they leave on families. On top of this, Wes had
us research different statistics on breast and gynecological cancers for future references. We were able to find multiple sources to use, allowing us to reference on the facts we found. She also had us come up with hashtags and more content for them to post in the future. So, rather than
creating the graphics, we were just brainstorming ideas for when we are gone. Together, we came up with at least 13 hashtags and six postings for PRG.
Overall, our time with PRG was a learning experience for the both of us, in which we can only hope PRG feels the same. We were able to learn about ourselves when it came to designs, learn about each other as partners since we have never met in real life, and learn more about what Pink Ribbon Girls is all about. As for Graysen, the biggest impact was made during the client stories. She was able to get a different perspective on how cancer takes a toll on not only the individual battling, but also their family. Hanging up the phone each conversation left Graysen feeling grateful and empowered- women are so strong! Similarly, Daija was markedly impacted by the client stories. Originally assuming that the client stories would be a quick Q&A, she was pleasantly surprised to develop connections with a few of the ladies. What started as a formal interview turned into a valuable conversation, extending past the set questions PRG required us to ask them. One of the women even inspired her to look into certain aspects of her family’s health history. Also, she requested that Daija send her a copy of the final paper out of excitement to see what was achieved.
Research:
The research conducted aided in the overall development of the deliverables that were provided to Pink Ribbon Girls. Initially, we did very little research based on other cancer-based organizations. We understood that PRG is so successful because they are not like other
organizations. With this in mind, we based most of our research on PRG itself. After our first conversation with Wes we learned that PRG was looking for suggestions and content ideas more than anything else. Following this, we based our research on her wants.
First, we overanalyzed their website and social media presence. We looked into their reviews, client testimonials, comments, feedback, and interactions. By doing so, we were able to get a general idea of what PRG stands for and what their next steps should be. This helped us to develop a plan for what we wanted to do for PRG.
Also, spent time going through PRG’s media presence. We read their People magazine and watched their Megyn Kelly and Tamron Hall interviews. We did this to learn more abouT Pink Ribbons Girls’ overall story. What is their call to action? What image do they want conveyed to the public? What language do they use? What is the main focus of the interviews? What is the most important aspect of PRG that they want the public to be aware of?
We noticed how present PRG’s branding is across all platforms. Their color scheme, font choices, and logos separate them from other organizations. Knowing this, we made sure to make their branding present in all of the invitations and postcards that we would be making for them.
(May include an additional paragraph here- not sure yet.) Goals:
The original goals of the Pink Ribbon Girls included:
● Increase engagement across all social media platforms ● Increase brand awareness
● Develop invitations for the annual Ignite the Fight
● Develop press releases for promotional materials and events ● Be proactive in all interactions with PRG and what we do for them
● Apply skills learned in the classroom to real life situations
Objectives:
In our initial proposal, our outcome objectives included: ● Expand donorship by 15% by December 31, 2021 ● Maintain attendance in 2021 events
● Increase social media engagement by 20% by December 31, 2021
We won’t be able to explain if we achieved these objectives just yet because of our late deadline (December 31, 2021) but we can touch on the improvements we have seen. With our client stories, Wes posted onto the PRG Facebook page asking for volunteers to be interviewed by us. This post attracted the majority of the clients we reached out to, so this shows that social media is still up-to-speed. Within our client stories, multiple women mentioned that they attend and volunteer at almost every event they can that PRG puts on. This leads us to believe that the attendance in 2021 will still be top notch because of the cause.
Output Objectives and Programming: The output objectives in our proposal included:
● Run a social media audit ● Run a website audit
● Provide 2-3 social media suggestions to improve and increase engagement ● Provide content ideas for the website
● Create a 60-120 seconds video of client testimonials for the website home page ● Design donor postcard designs (3)
● Design invitation options for the Ignite the Fight Gala (2-3) ● Write potential press releases if opportunities arise
● As events arise, develop a preliminary plan for Family Picnic and Get Moving Challenge. ● Create client stories for the monthly newsletter (roughly 2 each)
We immediately started off with our website audits. Since we did not gain access to the PRG accounts, we ran our audit from an “outsider” perspective. This actually worked out great, because PRG is also teaming up with the University of Dayton to have students work with them, too. The Dayton students ended up already running an actual audit on everything for PRG before Daija and I came along, so Wes was able to send us their information packet they put together from their audit.
Next, we tackled the Ignite the Fight invitations. Wes wanted us to do three designs each, without discussing with each other about what the other person was doing. With this task, we each ended up using Canva to create our designs. We ended up presenting our designs to Wes during our weekly Zoom meetings.
Soon after, we started working on our client stories. We started off with only having three names, Daija taking care of one and Graysen with two. We soon received an email from Wes with nine more names. In the end, we split 6 and 6. We connected with these women via phone call or email, whatever their preference was. Because some of the women could be from not just Ohio, but also Missouri or California, we had to make sure we were mindful of the time we were reaching out. We didn’t want to call them over the phone when it was insanely early or later for them, only because it was convenient for us. One we got a hold of the women, we had a
questionnaire sheet we ran down during the conversation. This involved them explaining what their diagnosis was, how PRG has impacted their journey, what services they utilized, and more.
By the time we were done reaching out, we heard back from seven ladies. Though we were going to be done after filling out the questionnaire, Wes had the idea of taking it a step further and having us write summary paragraphs for future radio show features and such. We each wrote the summaries for the women we spoke with, so Graysen wrote three and Daija wrote four.
We then tackled the donor postcards. The idea for this was to remind the donors who gave a gift during 2020 that roughly a year ago, they donated. This will hopefully put it in their head to donate during 2021. Using Canva, we each designed our own creations without
discussing, once again. Daija came up with three and Graysen with four. Again, this allowed us to create from our own personal preferences, which we later presented to our supervisor. We had small amounts of information that Wes wanted us to include on the postcards, including a thank you note and explaining what donating helps. For all of the creating we did this semester, Wes sent us the PRG logo, motto, color pallet, and font selection for the brand.
As said above, Wes ended up sending us a list of new tasks to accomplish because we weren’t able to write press releases or create the testimonial video for them. She listed out drafting a document of statistics on breast and gynecological cancers, why health screenings and mammograms are so important, social media content ideas for the future after we are done working with them, and different hashtag ideas that they can utilize on their posts. For this task, we decided to use a shared Google Doc so we could add to each other’s findings. We found out a lot of information on breast cancer, mammograms and health screenings, but not as much on gynecological cancers. We eventually would be told by Wes to come back and add more detail to these specific cancers.
For the content ideas and hashtags, we came up with six suggestions for social media and 13 hashtags. We dug deep through not only the Pink Ribbon Girls social media accounts, but also
others, as well, to see what others were posting about. For the content, some examples are Donor Spotlights, “Ask a Survivor” posts, and posting information on where inexpensive screenings can be done in different areas. As for the hashtags, some examples are #KnowYourNormal,
#SelfExamSaturday, #MetYourMatch (for metastatic breast cancer) and #BaldIsBeautiful. For the hashtags, some we thought of ourselves, but some were taken from research done on social media on various other accounts who are advocates for cancers like these.
Throughout the entire semester, we’ve been on weekly Zoom meetings with Wes,
including Renee for the last couple of weeks. These weekly check-ins have been very helpful for the two of us, it allowed us to stay on track and get the approval from Wes that we needed to succeed.
Evaluation:
● We were able to develop content ideas that can be used across all social media platforms ● We constructed Ignite the Fight invitations that will be used in the development of the
final invitation
● We constructed donor postcards
● We wrote several client stories that will be used to show Pink Ribbon Girls’ impact
Content Ideas:
Instead of solely focusing on graphics, PRG wanted content ideas that they would be able implement across all social media platforms. With this in mind, we created six new concepts for PRG to use. These included: donor spotlights, where are they now posts (about former clients), post cancer support information, client story highlights, ask a survivor, and locations where
people can receive low-cost screening in their area. Also, we included 13 hashtags for their use, seven of which can be used based on the day of the week. For example, #MetYourMatch for Mondays, #WarriorWednesdays, and #SelfExamSundays. They have not been put to use yet, but the new content ideas and hashtags will increase traffic to Pink Ribbons Girls’ social media. Ignite the Fight Invitations:
Between the two of us, we developed six different Ignite the Fight invitations. Our invitations helped PRG to see what two fresh sets of eyes have envisioned for the event. Our invitations will serve as templates for PRG in the development of the final invitation. They may pull ideas and aspects of only a few or all invitations to aid in the creation of the final product.
Donor Postcards:
We developed 7 donor postcards for PRG. Graysen made four while Daija made three. Similar to the invitations, the postcards will serve as a template for PRG to base their final postcards on. They may even use one of the postcards in its entirety. It is based on what they want. (Add more here?)
Client Stories:
We conducted seven interviews that were used to develop seven client stories including pictures. (Daija- Add More!!!!!)
The total amount of money spent on this project was ZERO DOLLARS. Fortunately, we were able to stick to our proposal and not spend any money. This was very important and helpful to Pink Ribbons Girls, as they are working with a limited budget overall.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, we believe that this project will be valuable in Pink Ribbon Girls future success. Unfortunately, we were not able to complete two of our initial objectives. Those being the client testimonial video and the press releases. However, we were able to supplement these objectives with other tasks. These included a fact sheet for information on breast and gynecological cancers as well as content and hashtag ideas. Nevertheless, Wes was more than satisfied with our
deliverables and expressed that they will be very useful as PRG progresses.
Although all of the work that we did with Pink Ribbon Girls was impactful, we truly felt that the client stories were our biggest success. What began as a basic Q&A turned into authentic conversations and developing relationships. Through our interviews, we were able to construct profiles with pictures included that PRG will be able to use on social media, traditional media and for promotional purposes. The seven women who participated were able to share their stories and help countless women throughout their journeys. Their impact will extend far beyond the scope we originally imagined. What we were able to accomplish with our client stories will serve PRG for years to come.
Working without a budget forced us to become really creative and crafty in our
deliverables. What originally could be seen as an obstacle actually worked to our benefit. It truly helped us to dig deep into our PR knowledge and not rely on the easy way out- using money.
Our advisor, Wesleigh Cummings, was integral in the success of our project. Our weekly meetings with her helped us to all stay on track and stick to our plan. Since we met weekly, it was very easy to readjust if we needed to- like we did with two of our objectives. Wes provided us with everything that we needed from her either that same day or the next day. Outside of our meetings we were in constant communication with each other through email. She responded very quickly and efficiently. Overall, she was very hands on and became an invaluable resource throughout the duration of our project.
All in all, Pink Ribbon Girls was a dream to work with. It feels great to know that we were able to work with an organization that has significantly impacted the lives of so many men and women in a plethora of ways. From car rides to meals and parties to family events, PRG truly goes above and beyond to assist their clients across five different regions. We thrived in knowing that the work that we were doing mattered. We are more than grateful for the opportunity and would be honored to work with PRG again if given the opportunity.
