Ditto's analysis of the unique challenges facing the philanthropic and nonprofit sector and how to run a successful public relations campaign for impactful results that support company business goals and build brand equity.

1. Case Study: Philanthropic Communications

2. Open Road Alliance
The Client
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Background:
Founded in 2012, Open Road Alliance is a private philanthropic initiative that
provides capital to non-profits and social enterprises for mid-implementation
projects facing an unexpected roadblock.
Across the philanthropic sector, most organizations do not systematically assess risk
or implement risk management activities during the grant making process. As a
result, projects are stalled and even completely shut down when small amounts of
additional funding could solve the problem at hand. Open Road provides this fast,
flexible capital.
Open Road seeks to change how non-profits communicate with foundations and
donors by addressing potential risk during the grant process.
Challenge:
Open Road began working with Ditto in February 2016 with the goal of elevating the
profile and brand recognition of Open Road as an expert in risk management, and to
elevate its advocacy messaging within the philanthropic community and the media
at large. Prior to engaging with Ditto, Open Road had engaged with media on a
reactive and ad hoc basis.

3. Open Road Alliance
Objective: Establish a Communications Foundation
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Strategy:
Over the first half of 2016, Ditto sought to educate key audiences on the issue of risk
in philanthropy and introduce Open Road as the leading voice working to address
this problem. This was successfully accomplished through:
• Messaging - Before engaging with media, Ditto created a messaging platform to
clearly define Open Road’s positioning and value in a positive, persuasive way
that could easily be understood by multiple stakeholder groups.
• Media Relations - Ditto identified key outlets and reporters at both trade and
mainstream outlets where coverage would positively impact Open Road’s agenda.
Ditto’s targeted media relations program was designed to reinforce the key
messages and grab the attention of grantees, funders and thought leaders.
• Features - Secured interviews for Open Road’s executive team resulting in
feature stories profiling the organization and its mission.
• Bylines - Crafted and placed byline articles highlighting the themes and topics
developed in the messaging.
• Case Studies - Collaborated with Open Road’s portfolio companies
showcasing how Open Road helped them overcome unexpected obstacles.
As a result of its efforts, Ditto secured ten pieces of media coverage for Open
Road within the first six months of working together. This strategic groundwork
laid the foundation for communications activities in the second half of 2016.

4. Open Road Alliance
Objective: Promote Solutions and Elevate Credibility
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Strategy:
If the first half of 2016 was to educate the marketplace on the issues, the second half
was to discuss and provide the solutions. Open Road co-convened the Commons, a
task-force of 25 leaders from across the philanthropic landscape, to develop a Toolkit
of adoptable and adaptable policies for addressing risk and implementing risk
management procedures in grant making.
To promote these efforts, Ditto implemented a multi-publication, multi-platform
engagement campaign to maximize the impact of the Commons’ work, including:
• Trade Blog Series - Ditto secured a four-part blog series with the Chronicle of
Philanthropy to introduce the Commons and discuss the broader topic of risk each
month leading up to the Toolkit’s official release.
• Influencer Story - Ditto initiated conversations with New York Times reporter Paul
Sullivan regarding the Commons and its efforts. This resulted in a feature story on
the front page of the Times’ Business Section.
• Mainstream Story - In order to maximize exposure with a broad, younger audience,
Ditto secured a feature on the Commons with Fast Company.
• Academic Publishing - To validate the Commons’ work, Ditto helped to secure
placement of the Commons’ final research and findings with the Stanford Social
Innovation Review.

5. Open Road Alliance
Objective: Expand Reach and Amplify Impact
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Strategy:
To maximize the exposure and build upon the impact of Open Road’s traditional media
results, Ditto developed an integrated strategy to promote and share content online
utilizing a combination of earned, owned and paid tactics. This included:
• Online Executive Positioning - Ditto’s OEP program was designed to ensure Open
Road’s leadership team would serve as primary sources of information about
themselves in search results, while differentiating each from others with the same
names.
• LinkedIn - Given its high search ranking and influential user base, Ditto created
LinkedIn profiles to highlight professional experience, promote executive thought
leadership content and connect with others.
• Integrated Tactics - Ditto placed bylines linking back to the LinkedIn profiles and
Open Road website in outlets with favorable search rankings, resulting in SEO
link building, increased visitors and thus improved search results.
• Social Advertising - Ditto developed and executed social ad campaigns to promote
and extend the reach of the Commons Toolkit and Open Road stories in influential
outlets. This included crafting messaging for different stakeholders who were micro-
targeted on social networks based on key demographics including location,
education, employment and interests. As a result, Ditto extended the life of important
content and coverage, which increased awareness with relevant audiences, drove
traffic to Open Road’s website and generated email capture opportunities.

6. Open Road Alliance
The Results
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Results: Since partnering in February 2016, Ditto has secured over 25 pieces of media coverage for Open Road Alliance.

7. Ditto
Strategy. Execution. Impact.
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