485 Final Report

Client: Dr. Julie Padowski
Final Campaign
December 10, 2015

Calvin Bright, Natalie Tyson, Macy Utley, Chloe Pietrandrea

Washington State University:
Green Fund

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WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY: GREEN FUND

Table of Contents
I. Executive summary 4
II. Research needs 5
Problem statement 9
Situation analysis 5
Target Publics 7
Strengths & opportunities 9
Communication goal 10
Timeline 10
III. Research goals 10
Formal statement 10
IV. Research strategy 11
Explanation of methodology, sampling approach 12
V. Results 13
Qualitative findings 14
Surprises 15
Quantitative findings 15
VI. Implications of Results 20
VII. Proposed PR Campaign Plan 22
Campaign goals 22
Campaign objectives 23
Campaign strategy 25

WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY: GREEN FUND 3

Campaign Timeline 29
VIII. Concluding Statement 30
IX. References 33
X. Appendices 34
Focus Group 1 Transcription 34
Research Questions 64

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I. Executive Summary
In a successful effort to establish a better understanding of the perceptions and attitudes
toward the Green Fund at Washington State University, Cascade PR utilized formative research
methods to acquire valuable data. The results have been used to construct future strategies and
tactics to establish better communication between the Green Fund and their target population.
A series of three focus groups in different locations were used to explore students’
attitudes, opinions, behaviors, beliefs, and recommendations of the Green Fund. The purpose of
the focus groups was to define problems, gather reaction to proposed solutions to these problems,
and explore feelings and reasons that exist between the group and the organization. Results of the
focus groups indicated that participants were greatly lacking knowledge of the Green Fund. This
was the common theme throughout all three focus groups. This helped Cascade PR explore the
client’s strengths and weaknesses relative to other environmental organizations on the
Washington State University campus. Furthermore, an online survey was administered to collect
information directly from members of the target population. The collected data came from a
widely dispersed sample and maintained a high-degree of anonymity, ultimately eliminating an
interviewer bias. The data from the online surveys is displayed in graphs and charts throughout
the report.
Overall, participant responses emphasized the importance of increasing communication
between the Green Fund and its target population. The data collected serves as quantifiable
leverage for recommended strategies and tactics outlined throughout the report.


II. Research Needs
Situational Analysis:
Washington State University is committed through its Environmental Management
System to continually improve its environmental performance. The Sustainability and
Environment Committee (SEC) is a Presidential Committee made up of students, faculty, staff,
and administrators promoting the advancement of sustainability at Washington State University.
The committee provides proposals, advice, and support on policies and procedures related to
sustainability, along with coordinating and communicating sustainability policies, procedures,
and issues to departments at Washington State University. The Washington State University
student Environmental Science Club and Associated Students of Washington State University
(ASWSU) Environmental Task Force helped create the Green Fund to provide resources for
student sustainability and environmental projects on the Washington State University Pullman
campus. During registration each semester, students have an option to donate five dollars as a
student fee to contribute to the Green Fund. The main problem the Sustainability and
Environment Committee faces is that there is not enough awareness among undergraduate
students that the Green Fund exists. The purpose of this analysis was to gather information on
The Sustainability and Environment Committee and the Green Fund itself to determine strengths
and weaknesses, as well as areas of opportunity.
Background on Organization and Industry
The Green Fund has been in place for five years. It is a student-sourced pool of money
for environmental projects and sustainability programs on the Washington State University

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campus. During registration, students are given the option to donate five dollars to the Green
Fund. This is the only source of funding the Green Fund currently has in place. The Green
Fund has accumulated $50,000 in donations since its inception. The first year the fund raised
$10,000. After the first year, funds decreased to an average of $7,000 a year. In just the first year,
the fund reached 12,000 dollars (Cougar Green Fund reduces WSUs footprint, 2012). Students
are able to submit proposals for projects utilizing the Green Fund, which are reviewed by the
Washington State University Sustainability and Environment Committee (“Green Fund”).
The goal of the Green Fund is to get undergraduate students involved on campus in
sustainability projects they believe in. The Green Fund is currently active, but has not been
receiving many proposals. Their primary issue is insufficient information for students to access
and learn more about the Green Fund. Not many students on campus are aware the Green Fund
exists because there has not been any awareness campaigning or advertising done. Another
weakness the Green Fund faces is there is no staff dedicated to promotion. Faculty members on
the committee for the Green Fund would like to see the money for the Green Fund go toward
student proposed projects. They would also like to see more recycling on campus and more input
on what would make Washington State University more sustainable.
Currently, the Green Fund’s only communication technique is a website that has not been
updated recently. This website is not easy to locate, and it is not clear it is their website. They are
in need of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to boost their social
media presence and be available to the undergraduate students at Washington State University.
At the University of Idaho, they have a student-led and student-funded organization, the
Sustainability Center. They have a website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, email address, and


student office located on campus (Sustainability Center). They have been successful by keeping
their sites up to date and always being available to students.
Target Publics
Overview
The main target publics for the Green Fund are undergraduate students at Washington
State University. Our conversation with Dr. Padowski led to numerous insights; there could be
capstone projects for undergraduates enrolled in courses such as Environmental Science. At the
end or beginning of any specific science course, similar to Environmental Science, it would be
beneficial if a representative from the Sustainability and Environment Committee (SEC)
discussed the different opportunities students could get involved in through the Green Fund.
Potential opportunities we identified were participating in projects, research, possible internships
and more. Dr. Padowski said if this idea were pursued, faculty would support students and their
research efforts. Other students including communication, business and engineering majors could
also be targeted. There could be an internship for College of Communication students in order to
report the progress being made and different projects, research, etc. occurring throughout this
process. A College of Communication student intern could also run the social media accounts for
the SEC. If not only students who are passionate about the environment were involved it would
make this multi-platform campaign more known around campus in general.
Undergraduate Statistics
In the fall of 2014, the Washington State University student body consisted of 17,147
undergraduates and 2,609 graduate/professional students. Undergraduate students make up
approximately 87% of this student body. Due to the fact undergraduates are such a large number

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of the Washington State University student body, it would be beneficial to target those students
in years to come by raising awareness for the SEC’s multi-platform campaign.
Possible Target Courses for SEC
Due to the large amount of undergraduates, it is predictable there are always a large
amount of people taking courses like Environmental Science, Communications 101 – large
university core requirement courses. It is important to target these courses if somebody from the
SEC is physically going to reach out to students about possible opportunities regarding the Green
Fund and helping the SEC. Washington State University’s latest research for the Pullman
campus shows that in the fall of 2013 there were 2,155 students out of 6,830 undergraduates
certified into the College of Arts and Sciences. In the College of Communication there were 685
out of 6,830. These are the two colleges discussed as being targeted for students to help develop
research for the Green Fund. It is important to understand the amount compared to other the
colleges within Washington State University, however not strictly limiting to these colleges. The
College of Business consisted of 1,049 students. Business is one of the larger colleges; it may be
interesting to incorporate business students and research based around developing plans for
partnering with organizations that will help this campaign succeed. An example of this would be
taking on opportunities, such as getting permission to have signage in certain areas of the
community.
Targeting undergraduates would be a good start for the SEC because there are
Undergraduate Research Awards that began in 2006. Being mentored and completing research as
an undergraduate can earn a student research scholarship and creative activity. The awards
presented by the Office of Undergraduate Research are the Auvil Scholars Fellowship award,


Scott and Linda Carson Undergraduate Research Excellence Award, DeVlieg Foundation
Awards and the Norma C. Fuentes and Gary M. Kirk Undergraduate Research Award.
Evidence and Rationale for Problem Statement
The Green Fund has a large lack of awareness throughout the university. This problem
seems to be an ongoing issue for the organization. The Green Fund has been around for the last
five years and there is about 50,000 dollars raised in the fund. There has been little history of the
SEC organizing a campaign to build awareness of the Green Fund. The SEC needs to think about
different aspects of social media and utilizing as many diverse mediums as they can. The SEC
needs somebody in charge of their website or creating awareness of the Green Fund.
Issue or Opportunity Background
Problem Statement:
The Green Fund experiences low awareness among target publics due to their minimal
social media presence and lack of a communication campaign.
In the analysis we conducted our firm believes the above statement best represents our
client’s main areas of vulnerability. The main issue, however, is that the Green Fund is not
understood or recognized by the student body at Washington State University. This is a
substantial problem because our client relies heavily on the undergraduate student population at
Washington State University for donations. In addition, our client has a suffering social media
presence, lacking an appropriate website and other social media profiles such as Facebook,
Instagram and Twitter. These contributing factors are limiting the Green Fund’s vast untapped
potential. Through the use of proper and ethical public relations tactics our firm believes we can
alleviate our clients main shortfalls.

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Communication Goal
After conducting our analysis, our firm has a general understanding of what needs to be
done to best help our client. Our main objectives are to increase awareness among
undergraduates at Washington State University and develop a social media presence. Before we
accomplish these objectives we must conduct research within the student population to better
understand the student’s knowledge, what would grab their attention, etc. After we have acquired
our results we will begin forming tasks that will help us reach our goals, and once our goals are
met, our objectives will be rewarded.
Timeline
October 22, 2015 – All research complete and data from focus groups and surveys will be
collected
November 17, 2015 – Research Report complete
December 10, 2015 – Campaign Proposal complete
III. Research Goals
Formal Statement:
Our agency’s main purpose of conducting research was to identify exactly what the
undergraduate student body knows and what they do not regarding the Green Fund at
Washington State University.
Areas of Research:
1. Awareness among undergraduates
2. Social media presence

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It is exceedingly important that the Green Fund become relevant on campus and in the local
media. Relevance can grow once people have knowledge on the topic. Currently, the target
population lacks proper knowledge on what the Green Fund is and what the organization does.
Goal #1: Determine the extent to which undergraduate students are aware of the Green Fund and
what its purpose is.
Goal #2: Examine the Green Fund’s presence on social media and which social media platforms
undergraduate students use the most.
Goal #3: Determine projects that undergraduate students would be interested in participating in.
Goal #4: Assess amount of financial contribution students would be willing to donate to the
Green Fund.
IV. Research Strategy
Hypotheses:
1. If students are familiar with the WSU Sustainability and Environment Committee (SEC),
then they are likely to have heard about the Green Fund.
2. If students have heard about the Green Fund, then they are likely to know about the major
environmental projects on or around the Pullman Campus.
3. If students have registered for classes, then they have been given the option to donate five
dollars to the Green Fund.

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Sampling
Qualitative
For our focus groups, we utilized the snowball method of non-probability sampling. We
asked undergraduates at Washington State University to be a part of our focus groups and then
had them ask their friends to participate as well. We used this sampling method to create
unbiased estimates, which allowed for effective data.
Our focus group consisted of nine participants: eight females and one male. Through this
focus group, our goal remained to acquire qualitative research about WSU students’ thoughts and
concerns towards the Green Fund. We touched on many different aspects including if students
thought WSU is an environmentally friendly campus, if students have ever heard about the
Green Fund, how to raise awareness on the Green Fund, how to contribute to the Green Fund,
etc. In addition to listening to various opinions, participants’ body language and non-verbal cues
were also observed to gauge how comfortable the discussion was. Our focus group proved to be
highly informative and beneficial toward our overall research for the Green Fund. The use of
focus groups allows for members to be honest and let conversation evolve based on the students’
level of participation.
Quantitative
We gathered quantitative data through probability sampling. We designed a questionnaire
using Qualtrics that consisted of closed-ended questions. These questions are easier for students
to process and can allow for more control when it comes to statistical analysis. The formats of
closed-ended questions we used were multiple choice, Likert scale, check all that apply, and
yes/no. Furthermore, undergraduates at WSU served as our target population. The survey was

3

published on a Qualtrics account within the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication.
Once the survey was open, we published the link to various social media platforms, WSU
undergraduate pages, and e-mailed it out. Our agency, Cascade PR, received a total of 42 survey
responses; all of which were valid.
The questions covered many different aspects of the Green Fund including awareness,
contribution and participation, sustainability and environmental projects and demographics. The
primary purpose of our survey was to collect data from a variety of students on campus. This
allowed us to gather different perceptions about the Green Fund and collect concrete evidence to
support our hypotheses. Our qualitative and quantitative research provided us with a more clear
interpretation of how aware students on campus are of the Green Fund and the SEC.
V. Results
Through analyzing the focus groups that were conducted, our group was able to identify
important qualitative data regarding undergraduate students opinions and knowledge about the
Washington State University Sustainability and Environment Committee (SEC) Green Fund. Our
findings revealed that very few undergraduate students at Washington State University even
know what the Green Fund is. Many of the participants in our focus group were able to make
some educated guesses about the purpose of the Environmental and Sustainability Committee but
none knew about the Green Fund or its purpose. This report will give a detailed overview of the
problems we identified through our focus group as well as provide examples and suggestions on
how to improve knowledge of the Green Fund in undergraduate students at Washington State
University. Participants will be identified by their participant number throughout the report.

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Qualitative Findings
From our focus group a common theme that was brought up was recognizing different
“green” practices on campus. Participant 1 recognized the different options on toilet flushers in
order to be eco-friendly. Participant 3 and 5 noticed the Green Bikes around campus. Participant
7 discussed The REC Center’s efforts to be environmentally friendly; they have the option to
recycle ink cartridges. Participant 8 also mentioned how they have noticed this aspect of
recycling and said people have the option to throw certain items away, it is almost like little drop
boxes.
Participant 8 and 9 mentioned how they live near Ruby Street Park, which is why they
are familiar with it. The Green Fund developed Ruby Street Park and participant 9 mentioned she
thinks she recognized it because when construction was going on her sorority mentioned the
project. Ruby Street Park is in their sorority’s backyard, Alpha Chi Omega.
Participants offered suggestions for the Green Fund to raise awareness around campus.
Participant 1 said, “There are some organizations that go around the first week of school and say
a little blurb about what they do in front of different classes. I’ve learned a lot about different
organizations that way, maybe they could do that?” Participant 4 mentioned how she receives
many announcements about different organizations at her sorority’s weekly chapter meetings.
Participant 5 said she gets her information from the Daily Evergreen and participant 6 said “I
know for me since I’m also apart of Cable 8 we will announce it every week before auditions and
stuff.” Participant 8 discussed how developing a social media presence would be beneficial

5

because “everybody’s on Facebook and Twitter.” She also mentioned how she notices posters in
classrooms.
Common forms of social media that are used throughout the participants are Facebook,
Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter.
Surprises
One major surprise our group experienced was after asking, “Students can contribute $5
to the Green Fund when they register for their classes. Have you ever contributed to the WSU
Green Fund when you were registering for classes on Zzusis?” There were a few participants
who donated. However, it was because they click “Yes” for all of the options of donating/buying
on that page. None of our participants seemed to donate for specific reasons. Another surprise
which was already discussed was all of the suggestions our participants had for the Green Fund
to raise awareness and be successful. Suggestions included going to different classes, developing
a relationship with Cable 8 in order to get information released from their channel, pursuing a
social media presence and more.
Quantitative Findings
Undergraduate Knowledge of the Green Fund
Our group wanted to determine the knowledge that undergraduate students at Washington
State University have of the Green Fund. Through our survey results we determined that a
majority of undergraduate students do not know the Green Fund exists, let alone what it does.
We asked survey participants if they had ever heard of the Green Fund.

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Figure 1. Have you heard of the Green Fund?
According to Figure 1, over half of the undergraduate students we surveyed had not ever
heard of the Green Fund. These numbers show that although some students have heard of the
Green Fund, majority has not. This was not surprising to our group because we were expecting a
high volume of respondents to not have heard of the Green Fund.
Green Fund Exposure to Undergraduate Students
Of our participants who had actually heard of the Green Fund, our next survey question
asked them how they had heard of it. We wanted to get an idea of what platforms are working
the best for the Green Fund to raise awareness about it because we knew they did not have any
social media sites or a up to date website.
34%
57%
9%
Yes
No
Unsure

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Figure 2. How did you hear about the Cougar Green Fund?
Figure 2 shows that of the undergraduate students that have heard of the Green Fund, the
most of them have heard of it through MyWSU, formally known as Zzusis. There were many
different outlets identified as options for undergraduate students to have heard of the Green Fund
so responses were slightly spread out. However, MyWSU was a clear leader. Considering they
Sustainability and Environment Committee does not have any social media sites and their
website has not been updated, we were impressed at the alternative outlets through which
undergraduate students had heard of the Green Fund.
Awareness of Green Fund Projects
Since awareness of the Green Fund and what it does is low among undergraduate
students, we were interested to know if any of the students had heard of projects funded by the
Green Fund. To determine this, we asked survey participants if they have heard of projects that
28%
9%
15%
11%
12%
17%
5%
3%
MyWSU
Email
Friends
Professors
Information in the CUB
I don'ʹt know/don'ʹt remember
Signs near Green Fund projects
Other

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have been funded by the Green Fund. Our survey question asked participants if they have heard
of the Ruby Street Park or the Frog Pond; projects funded by the Green Fund.
Figure 3. Have you heard of the Green Fund’s sustainability projects?
This survey question showed us if undergraduate students have heard of projects funded
by the Green Fund. The graph shows the number of survey participants who answered that they
knew of either Ruby Street Park or the Frog Pond. The results showed how much more
awareness of the Ruby Street Park project there is compared to the Frog Pond. Figure 3 shows
that a large majority of survey participants who knew of Green Fund projects knew more or have
heard of Ruby Street Park much more than the Frog Pond. This information is helpful because it
could help the Sustainability and Environment Committee become more aware of the extent of
the knowledge undergraduate students have regarding their projects.
Potential Projects for the Cougar Green Fund
We asked survey participants what types of environment sustainability projects they
would be willing to participate in. Our group wanted to determine interests that undergraduate
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Ruby Street Park
Frog Pond

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students have in environmental sustainability in order to identify the largest potential future
projects for the Sustainability and Environment Committee to implement using the Green Fund.
Figure 4. What types of environment sustainability projects would you want to participate in?
Figure 4 shows what types of environment sustainability projects the undergraduate
students we surveyed would be willing to participate in. This gives the Sustainability and
Environment Committee a good idea of what undergraduate students are interested in. The SEC
can use this information to identify potential future projects for the Green Fund that
undergraduate students would be interested in, therefore gaining more participants in projects.
Social Media Usage
To find out the most popular social media platforms, we asked survey participants how
many hours a day they spend on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, or all four. We asked
this question to find which platforms would be the best option for the SEC to utilize in order to
promote the Green Fund.
29%
17%
19%
21%
12%
2%
Recycling
Water conservation
Animal conservation
Energy conservation
Food conservation
Not Interested

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Figure 5. How many hours a day do you spend on the following social media platforms?
Figure 5 shows us the average number of hours a day our survey participants spend on
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and/or YouTube. This gives the Green Fund an idea of which
social media platforms are the post popular so they can use them to target undergraduate
students. The Sustainability and Environment Committee can use this information to get an idea
of which social media accounts students use most so they can start using these platforms to raise
awareness about the Green Fund.
VI. Implications of Results
We identified four goals for our research, the first one being that we wanted to determine
the extent to which undergraduate students are aware of the Green Fund as well as what its
purpose is. Our second goal was to examine the Green Fund’s social media presence while also
determining which social media platforms undergraduate students use most in order to target
those in our campaign plan. Third we wanted to determine projects related to the environment
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
Facebook
Twier
LinkedIn
YouTube

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and sustainability that undergraduate students would be interested in participating in. Our last
goal was to assess the amount of financial contribution undergraduate students would be willing
to donate to the Green Fund.
After reviewing our research, we came up with four strategic recommendations for the
Green Fund. The first is to create a new and interactive website. The Green Fund does not
currently have an up-to-date or easy-to-find website that we could locate, so creating or updating
it would help students gain information and knowledge about the Green Fund as well as raise
awareness to undergraduate students. It would also be beneficial to add as part of registration so
that students can click the link to find more information before donating. The second
recommendation is to create social media accounts for the Green Fund. The platforms that we
identified as most used by undergraduate students were Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Since
most undergraduate students have accounts on these social media platforms it would be an
efficient way to make undergraduate students aware of the Green Fund. Our third
recommendation is for representatives of the Green Fund to visit classes at the start of the
semester to inform students about the fund. Participants in our focus group said they have
learned about many groups and organizations through members coming and talking to their class
and explaining what the purpose of their group or organization is. Especially targeting courses
such as Environmental Science and other environment and sustainability related classes would be
helpful because those students would most likely have the highest interests in the Green Fund.
The fourth and last recommendation we have for the Green Fund is to incorporate a project into a
relevant course at Washington State University. Many classes such as Environmental Science
have to do projects relevant to the environment and sustainability, so incorporating a project

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funded by the Green Fund would be a great way to get involvement and raise awareness about
the Green Fund and what it does. This would also be a great way to find students who could be
interested in pursing future projects with the Green Fund.
We identified four areas through which we gained or identified information in our
research. The target public for our research was undergraduate students at Washington State
University and the media communication vehicles we identified should be used are a website and
social media platforms. The messages and themes we identified in our focus group were
participants recognizing different green practices on campus, having knowledge of Ruby Street
Park but not the Frog Pond, and giving suggestions on how to raise awareness. The evaluation
strategies we used were surveys and focus groups.
VII. Proposed PR Campaign Plan
Campaign Goals
The main purpose of our agency’s research has been to establish a better understanding of
the perceptions and attitudes toward the Green Fund. We identified exactly what the
undergraduate student body knows and what they do not regarding the Green Fund. We
established two overarching campaign goals to guide our plan:
1. Erect multiple social media platforms of which include an interactive website,
Facebook page, Instagram page, and Twitter.
2. Launch an on-campus campaign to increase awareness of the Green Fund’s past and
present environmental projects.

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Campaign Objectives
1. Increase awareness of the Green Fund and the environmentally sustainable projects they
provide on the WSU Pullman campus by 30 percent or higher within the next year.
When analyzing the survey that we provided for undergraduate students at Washington
State University, our agency came to the conclusion that very few people knew that the Green
Fund exists. The results of the survey indicated that 57 percent of the students did not know
about the Green Fund, 34 percent of students knew about it, and 9 percent of students were
unsure.
Through implementing a consistent and vigorous campaign that informs students about
the environmentally sustainable projects on the Pullman campus, the Green Fund could increase
the number of students who participate in these projects. The Green Fund could accomplish this
by measuring how many students are aware of these projects during the spring 2016 and fall
2016 semesters. During spring semester 2016, the Green Fund could launch the campaign. At the
end of spring 2016 semester, they could determine the effectiveness of the campaign by
measuring the numbers from the beginning of spring 2016 to the end of the spring semester in
2016. They could then start to evaluate the fall semester. They could take note of students aware
of these projects at the beginning of fall semester 2016 and then reevaluate them at the end of fall
2016. Once this has all been done, the Green Fund can measure numbers from the beginning of
spring semester 2016 and the end of fall semester 2016. If this number increases from semester
to semester, it could be argued that the 2016 Green Fund Campaign was effective in raising
awareness of the Green Fund and its environmentally sustainable projects.

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2. Develop one social media platform that undergraduate students at Washington State
University are using most to raise awareness of the Green Fund.
Of the undergraduate students who have heard of the Green Fund, a majority of them
have heard it through MyWSU, formally known as Zzusis. There were many different outlets
identified as options for undergraduate students to have heard of the WSU Green Fund so
responses were slightly spread out. The options consisted of MyWSU, friends, information in the
CUB, signs near Green Fund projects, email, professors, I don’t know/don’t remember, and
other. MyWSU lead this poll at 28 percent.
Considering there were so many options for students to choose from, this was a difficult
concept to quantify. However, through conducting a survey and focus groups after implementing
a spring 2016 and a fall 2016 campaign, the Green Fund could determine whether or not the
campaign was successful in informing students. If the Green Fund could choose one of the
options we listed in our survey, then they could target how they want to raise awareness. For
example, if they were to choose emails, then they could send out monthly emails to students
regarding the projects coming up, how to participate, how to donate, etc. If they were to choose
information in the CUB, they could take advantage of the free digital signage, have members of
the committee set up an information table and give out prizes, etc. If they chose professors, they
could have environmental science professors talk about upcoming sustainability projects,
information regarding how to sign up, hand out flyers, and much more.
3. Increase the number of people who have heard about the Ruby Street Park project and
the Frog Pond project; both completed by the Green Fund.

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Considering awareness of the Green Fund and the projects they have completed around
the WSU campus is low, our agency was interested in knowing if any of the students had heard
of projects funded by the Green Fund. To get these results, we asked our survey participants if
they had heard of the Ruby Street Park or the Frog Pond.
The results of this survey question showed how much more aware students were of the
Ruby Street Park project than the Frog Pond. Of the survey participants, 82 percent had heard of
the Ruby Street Park project and 18 percent had heard about the Frog Pond. The reasoning of this
may be because the Ruby Street Park is located in the center of Greek Row where many students
are frequently. Students use this park to host events, hang out, and play different types of sports.
The Frog Pond, however, is located off campus and is not in a location that many people have
heard of. This information is helpful because it could help the Sustainability and Environment
Committee become more aware of the extent of the knowledge undergraduate students have
regarding their projects. In order for the Green Fund to make more people aware about their
projects, they need to advertise them. If they made the Frog Pond better known, they are more
likely to have students visiting it and wanting to help participate in further projects.
Campaign Strategy
To increase awareness associated with environmentally sustainable projects through
implementing a consistent and vigorous signage campaign during the spring 2016 semester that
informs students and familiarizes them with the Green Fund, and resources on campus.
This campaign offers initial steps that can be taken to launch a Green Fund campaign. It
may take years to create a wide-spread reformation of the program, but this plan offers the first

26

steps of providing knowledge and awareness that can later lead to changed minds and behaviors
towards environmentally friendly projects.
This campaign is primarily concerned with providing consistent, helpful and engaging
information about environmentally sustainable projects and resources on the WSU campus. It
begins with a knowledge focused signage campaign during the first month of the spring 2016
semester. This will highlight resources for students who are interested in participating in
different environmental projects. The second phase of the campaign focuses on educating
students on all things involving the environment by using informative signage around campus.
The WSU Green fund will do this at the end of April 2016 to help promote and raise awareness
of Earth Day. The third phase of this campaign will be a special event featuring a prominent
guest speaker whose story resonates with students, helping them realize the importance of going
green. The speaker could highlight why becoming environmentally friendly is good for the
environment, good for a student’s bank account, and good for their health.
Campaign: Raising Awareness of the WSU Green Fund
The goal of the campaign is to engage and interact with students to raise awareness of
environmentally sustainable projects on the Washington State University Pullman Campus. The
campaign will not only raise awareness of the different resources and projects offered to
students, but also engage students in the campaign to encourage participation within the Green
Fund.

7

Tactics
The first tactic we will utilize is tabling on the mall and in the CUB on campus during
three separate weeks of the spring semester. During these times, students will be able to engage
with the WSU Sustainability and Environment Committee members. These members will inform
students on the sustainability projects that are coming up, how to participate in them, how to
donate, etc. At the table there can either be a prize wheel that someone spins for a prize as an
incentive to come over to the table, or trivia on the environment that will also result in a prize if
the student gets the answer correct. Tabling is important because it creates interaction and
engagement throughout the campaign. If students are interested, then it will be easier for the
Green Fund to find students to participate and volunteer.
The second tactic is creating all forms of social media accounts for the Green Fund. The
Twitter account handle will be @wsugreenfund with the featuring hash tag #WSUGreenFund.
Sustainability and Environment Committee members can start out using this hash tag when they
are holding something on campus, when they create a new project, when they want new project
ideas, etc. Other WSU students can search our twitter handle or click on our hash tag if they want
to find out information about the Green Fund and its upcoming projects.
The Instagram handle will be @wsu.greenfund and will use the same hash tag as Twitter
(#WSUGreenFund). This account will feature images of projects that the Green Fund has
completed or is in the process of completing. For example, they could have posted pictures of the
different steps it took for the Ruby Street Park project. The images could have started out with a
sketched out plan to get students excited about the project followed by frequent updates when
they were getting closer to finishing.

28

The Facebook page will be called Green Fund at Washington State University and
members on the Sustainability and Environment Committee will post updates of projects,
pictures, a link directing students to a donation page, and much more. These social media
accounts will help the Green Fund spread awareness and will gain followers that could
potentially be interested in participating within the organization.
The third tactic we will utilize is the Greek community. All sororities and fraternities are
required to reach a certain amount of community service hours in order to stay in good standing
with their chapter house. If the Green Fund creates a project that multiple students can do and
can promise community service hours for it, then the work they need done will get done
voluntarily. The Green Fund would have to get in contact with the Center for Civic Engagement
(CCE) located on the bottom floor of the CUB to get this approved. Once it is approved by the
CCE, then students would have to bring papers to for someone on the Sustainability and
Environment Committee to sign agreeing that they did the work. This is a good way to get
participation in projects, and increase awareness of the Green Fund.
We will hire a graphic designer to create informative yet visually appealing marketing
posters to post around campus. We will also take advantage of the free digital signage in the
CUB that WSU students are granted. With this, we anticipate creating a sense of awareness of
the Green Fund and hope to gain new participants. These posters would allow direct student
involvement with the Green Fund Campaign. We would attach our Twitter, Instagram, and
Facebook information to the posters along with the hash tag we have decided to use.

9

The last tactic we will apply is handing out flyers and posting flyers in classrooms. This
is an easy way to target a large majority of students and is a way to spread awareness of the
projects and resources on campus that students might not be aware of. In order to post flyers in a
classroom, a member of the Sustainability and Environment Committee must get permission.
Once the Green Fund is granted permission, they will be given a list of classrooms. Members of
the committee can disburse the rooms amongst themselves and post the posters accordingly.
Timeline
January 2016
- Reach out to graphic designer through University Communications to design
informative yet visually appealing marketing posters.
- Print marketing campaign posters from Cougar Copies and post them around campus
where students will see them.
- Tabling on the mall and in the CUB to raise awareness of the Green Fund.
February 2016
- Have interns create all forms of social media accounts (i.e. Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram) and begin to gain followers.
- Tabling on the mall and in the CUB to raise awareness of the Green Fund.
March 2016
- Hand out flyers and post flyers in classrooms regarding the upcoming events and
projects the SEC has coming up.
- Talk with the CCE about potential community service projects.
April 2016
- Tabling on the mall and in the CUB to promote and raise awareness of Earth Day and
the guest speaker the Green Fund will be bringing to WSU at the end of the month.
- Host guest speaker event in the CUB Senior Ballroom for Earth Day (April 22nd
).

30

May 2016
- Have interns go to each chapter house and give philanthropy chairs flyers to hand out
for the community service project.
- Host an environmentally sustainable community service project that allows Greek
community members and all other students to gain community service hours.
Budget
Item Quantity Cost Per Unit Total
Printing (Flyers) 500 minimum $3.00/per B&W $1,500
Graphic Designer 1 $12/per hr Max. $75
Cougar Copies 20 $29.99 $600.00
Guest Speaker 1 TBD Max. $1,000
Tabling Incentives 400 minimum $.10/per bag $40.00
Total: $ 3,215.00
Note: This is an estimated budget
This budget may increase or decrease according to the funds allocated by the WSU Green
Fund. It is highly encouraged to seek partnership with a student organization in order to assist in
financing the proposed budget. The final budget will be determined according to the guest
speaker that is selected and the amount of flyers printed.
VIII. Concluding Statement
Through thorough research and evaluation our firms have compiled an accurate analysis
of the Green Fund. Currently, the Green Fund participates in environmental projects and
sustainability programs on the WSU campus. These projects include the Ruby Street Park and

1

Frog Pond. Primarily, the WSU undergraduate population funds these projects. This is the Green
Fund’s specific target audience, while also their largest issue. The Green Fund is suffering from
a lack of awareness among this target audience. Our research and analysis show that
undergraduates at WSU do not have an idea of what the Green Fund is or what they do. The goal
of the Green Fund is to increase student involvement on their sustainability projects. In order to
do so, the Green Fund must increase their awareness among the undergraduate population at
WSU. They experience low awareness due to their minimal social media presence and lack of a
communication campaign.
Our firms put tremendous effort into gathering both qualitative and quantitative data
representing the undergraduate population at WSU. First, an online survey was administered to
collect data from our target audience. The collected data came from a widely dispersed sample
and maintained a high-degree of anonymity, ultimately eliminating an interviewer bias. Next, all
three firms conducted focus groups to acquire one-on-one perspectives and attitudes regarding
the Green Fund. As expected, many people did not know what the Green Fund was. This
gathered research formed the foundation of our further communication implementations.
After evaluating the research data, our firm recommends that the Green Fund increase
their social media presence and launch a communication campaign. Creating a new and
interactive website will give the target population a place to fully understand the Green Fund’s
purpose. Furthermore, erecting social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook
will generate awareness while also forming a followership among their target population.
Additionally, a communication campaign focused on educating undergraduate students about the

32

many sustainability projects will help bridge the information gap between the target audience
and the Green Fund.
In the years to come, we expect the target audience to dramatically become more
involved with Green Fund sustainability projects. People like supporting pro-social issues like
the environment. The Green Fund has tremendous potential. However, lack of awareness among
the undergraduate population is hindering their success. By following this proposed campaign
plan we believe it will be an effective way to increase participation and awareness of the Green
Fund at Washington State University.

3

IX. References
Cougar Green Fund reduces WSUs footprint. (2012, February 23). Retrieved
September 18, 2015, from https://news.wsu.edu/2012/02/23/cougar-green-fund-
reduces-wsus-footprint/#.VgBrXbSRPzI
Green Fund. (n.d.). Retrieved September 18, 2015, from
http://sustainability.wsu.edu/student-involvement/green-fund.html
Student Data (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2015 from https://ir.wsu.edu/Student Data
Sustainability Center. (n.d.). Retrieved September 18, 2015, from
http://www.uidaho.edu/outreach/sustainability-center
Sustainability & Environment Committee. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2015, from
http://sustainability.wsu.edu/File/Committee.html
Undergraduate Research. (n.d.). Retrieved September 19, 2015, from
http://universitycollege.wsu.edu/units/undergraduateresearch/programsfunding/at
wsu/undergradresearchawards/
University Operations. (n.d.). Retrieved September 18, 2015, from
http://sustainability.wsu.edu/Operations.html

34

X. Appendices
Focus Group Transcriptions
Focus Group 1
Agency: ROOTS Communications
Client: SCC
Date: October 22, 2015
Sound File Name: FocusGroup1_SCC
Speaker Information:
M: Moderator, Karley Peynor
A: Assistant, Bri Bennet
A1: Assistant, Becca Southwell
P1: Participant 1
P2: Participant 2
P3: Participant 3
P4: Participant 4
P5: Participant 5
P6: Participant 6
M: Hello! Thanks for coming today guys, we are Roots Communication agency
from The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication and we have been
asked by the SCC to conduct focus groups. The reason we are having these
focus groups is to find out more about the WSU Green Fund and we need your
input and want to share your honest and open thoughts with us. We will begin
here with the opening question. If you could be anywhere in the world where

5

would you be?
P4: Sleeping [laughing]
P1: Not in America? Cab
P3: Thailand
P4: Germany
P5: Japan
P2: Sleeping in Cabo [laughing]
M: Alright, do you think WSU is an environmentally friendly campus? Why or why
not?
P1: For the most part it tries to be, it recycles, it has recycling bins on campus but
doesn’t seem to promote it very much.
M: Is there any way they could fix that?
P1: I don’t know
P1: Encouraging people some how —raising awareness
P5: I think it tries to be, I mean I see a variety of different receptacles around
campus but it will say co-mingled, trash, recycled, I don’t think its cut, and it’s
not very clear to people what items can go where. I think the effort is there,
it’s just not clear to me.
P2: I think the school is doing what they can do, like they can put the recycle in
habit there but they can’t make every person who throws away a plastic bottle
like put it in the right garbage can. So it’s like they have the tools there but
they don't have the students following what they want them to do if that makes
sense.
P1: For my environmental science class I wen to visit the trash compact place on
campus and co-mingled is like a big issue because they can't do anything with
it now. So if we could separate trash bins and have them more specific--
P6: I don't think students understand the difference between compost and co
mingled [agreeing] even though the names are labeled right there, I don't think
they realize and that sometimes they don't really care that much

36

P1: We need more directions
P2: I was at the zoo this summer and I was like nannying kids and they loved it
because there was a picture of everything they served of in that cafeteria like
above the three wholes, like they could look at it and like even though those
are kids, it was way easier for your brain, you could look at it and be like "Oh
this is where the water bottles go or this is where the plastic cups go"
M: What about the other -- they try to be environmentally friendly with toilets and
stuff like that. Do you guys think --
P1: It just sounds good but --
P2: I never understood the green toilet and then I actually read it one time and was
like oh that makes sense
P1: Like where you push up or down
P5: Oh I've never seen the type of toilet
M: Oh yeah, because you guys probably, you have less toilets
P5: I’ve seen the type of toilets that say up for pee and down for you know fecal
matter or whatever --solids-- if were being scientific -- its not -- it doesn't say
these toilets are green
P2: So basically I think like it’s a lack of direction or lack of -- promoting and
direction
P1: It’s a good idea though [phone alarm ringing]
M: Alright, have you ever heard of the WSU Green Fund?
P5: I’ve heard it mentioned before
P4: I’ve heard it mentioned
P2: The only time I’ve seen it is when you are registering for classes and then it says
do you want to donate but then I never probably donate to it
P3: I’ve donated to it before
M: Can you tell me anything about it? Do you know anything at all?
P2: I mean when you hear green fund you kind of understand it is something
environmentally friendly

7

M: Ok well I am going to read you a description of the sustainability and
environment committee and the WSU green fund. This should give you a
better idea for the rest of the study. The sustainability and environment
committee is a presidential committee consisting of students, faculty, staff and
administrators advocating for the sustainability and environment at
Washington State University. Part of their job is administering the green fund.
The green fund is a student funded revenue source that provides resources for
students or student groups to create environmental projects on or around the
Pullman campus. There have been two major projects, one project involved
turning an empty university lot on Ruby Street into a park. The other project
was the development of the restored pond area on the east side of campus
which is over by the rec. Does any of this sound familiar?
P6: Ruby Street Park
P5: No
P2: I feel like I know where Ruby Street is but I don't know where that park is
P6: It’s not even a park it’s a patch of grass with like one tree
M: It's right behind A Chi O.
P2: Oh ok I know where that is
M: What do you guys think about that park?
P1: It sounds like it needs more trees
P6: I’ve seen it being used for sororities and fraternities for events and I've seen
students playing football or laying out.
P2: We went sledding last year
P6: But other than that I don't see how it’s being used for like the green fund --
P2: I didn't really know it was a park, I thought it was like that sorority's property of
something
P6: I thought it was an empty lot for another building or something
M: That's the one where they do like --
M: Students can contribute $5 to the green fund when they register for their classes.

38

Have you ever contributed to the WSU green fund when you were registering
for classes in ZZUSIS? I know some of you have already answered this
P5: I don't think so
P1: I think I might have once
P2: I’ve never done it
P6: I haven't
P4: I have once
M: For those of you who donate or not donate, why or why not?
P5: There is not enough knowledge on it. If I knew it- it sounds legit, it's an offered
thing through the university so it's probably legit but I just wanted to get my
classes and get through it, but now that I know, I’m more likely to do it
P1: Yeah I’m more likely now --
P2: I feel like at the point of the year where I’m like signing up for classes like I
don’t really – I just want to register for my classes and get it over with, just
kinda click click click
P4: I don’t remember it saying anything specifically about how much they’re asking
to donate you kind of assume that, I know I wouldn’t have the money to just
donate to whatever but you saying that its only five dollars but I wasn’t
aware—
P6: There’s not enough information on it right away.
P1: If it was more specific too on what the funds were being used for …
P2: Yeah like if it said to donate five dollars to blah blah blah project and it was
more specific I’d be more willing to give than just saying the Green Fund
cause I have no idea what it’s going to.
P1: Students are more likely to donate too
M: Yeah. Ok. What projects or clubs are you guys involved in at WSU?
P5: I went to an amnesty international meeting, I’m in the Facebook group so
[laughing] yeah.
M: Can you talk a little bit more about that group?

9

P5: Well at the meeting we went to we decided on what like the cause would be for
the year and I think we voted on women’s reproductive rights kind of around
the world and I think that there was a bake sale within the last couple weeks
and then like a Halloween dance today or tomorrow or something like that but
--
M: What attracted you to that group?
P5: Human rights basically I’ve been getting really interested in that the last year or
two
M: And how was the, what was the initial way that you heard about it like how did
you get involved with it?
P5: I heard about it through the COM138 class, the COM overview. Someone said,
or I heard it in my COM105 and 138, they said Amnesty International meeting
and this is where it is so, I just went and checked it out
M: Anyone else?
P4: Not this year
M: Not this year? Anytime while you have been here at WSU?
P4: I was in ASWC, and then I was checking out the PRSSA and those were both in
women and communications and then at advertising club which both kind of
go hand in hand with the communications major and then I hear about it
through the classes and I see a lot of flyers that are up and people that
advocate for it, just how it looks good on your resume and how they teach you
certain skills and how they bring people in to give you life lessons and things
that will help you progress to a career
M: Anyone else? Ok. If you wanted to get more involved with an organization how
would you go about it? How do you get information about organizations on
campus?
P5: Coug sync
P3: Facebook
P2: I feel like if I see an email, or I know we get like random, or in my major my

40

advisor will send us emails that are related to something in our field that have
different groups and then I’ll just like Google the group and read more about it
before I try to ask more questions or get more involved
P5: If I don’t actually search for the information then, I actually look at a lot of
bulletin boards around campus, I’ve learned a lot about like what classes are
offered that I might not have seen otherwise or what clubs that are around
campus. The bulletin boards actually have a lot of information.
P4: Yeah I usually see flyers that are posted up and then I find all the information,
basically everything has a Facebook page nowadays so you learn a lot about
the kinds of content that group has to do with and then I usually try and find
something that can advocate or give me more information, cause I’d rather
hear about it personally from somebody else that’s in it or has been a part of it
to know if it’ll suit my needs and my interests and whatnot that have to do
with the group.
P6: Yeah I see flyers around campus and then usually sometimes in my classes there
will be representatives from clubs coming in to talk about the,--but usually at
the beginning of the year I know that’s not really common for business majors,
to join their clubs and stuff
P2: With the bulletin board I feel like when I’m going around class to class I don’t
have time to like stop and look at he bulletin boards but I’ve noticed that when
I’m like sitting waiting for an advising appointment or in an area where I’m
just waiting like in a coffee shop or something then that’s when I look at the
bulletin boards so I feel like flyers in areas like that where people are like
more relaxed and not like on the go
P1: I look at the library one a lot too
M: What forms of social media do you use most?
P5: Twitter, is the one I use most
P2: Instagram
P1: Instagram

1

P3: Facebook
P4: Instagram and Facebook
P4: Pinterest is up there too
M: What kind of environmental sustainability initiatives would you be willing to
participate in or donate to, like speaker-series, recycling projects, restoration
projects?
P5: Recycling
P1: And restoration projects I think that would be interesting
P5: Yeah
P3: Yes, restoration
M: Any other projects? That could benefit WSU environmentally?
P5: Um like solar power I guess. Yeah make it so they have a neutral footprint or
whatever the term is. Like carbon neutral
P3: Yeah it always seems like all the lights are on at all times like I’ll go into a
building at eight o clock at night and they’re always on.
P5: Like there’s no motion sensors or anything
P2: One of my art teachers told me that the art building, because people can go in
and work on projects anytime of the night and anytime on the weekend, the art
building all the doors are always unlocked the heats always on and all the
lights are on and so its just like I don’t know if they do that over breaks or I
don’t know, over thanksgiving and Christmas break I don’t know if they do
anything differently but there’s so many buildings and rooms here and so
many different lights and that’s just insane to me, and green houses and there’s
just so much energy being used
P5: When a school is green or eco friendly they’ll usually tell you about it and
they’ll be like gung-ho about it but I haven’t heard anything about that from
Washington State. I wouldn’t know if they’re green or if they do things to
help the environment or anything like that
P2: You would think they could turn the heat off because it’s so hot

42

P5: Yeah, right
P2: Yeah all the time
P1: Oregon State does this really cool thing where they use treadmills as a source of
power
M: Oh really? For their buildings?
P1: Yeah. I don’t know if it’s just the fitness building or other buildings but they
have solar power…
M: So they’re building energy off of other buildings?
P2: If you’ve ever been to the rec here where there’s always people running even in
the sports facilities
P6: For the person and the school
M: I did not know that, that’s really cool
P2: When I toured Oregon State too, I toured there when I was like a senior in high
school they talked about all their environmental stuff like a lot more I don’t
really remember hearing anything when I toured here
M: Do you guys have any other ideas about sustainability projects that others may
be interested in?
P2: There is so much paper and stuff wasted I feel like by professors like everyone
does not need a printed syllabus, I look at it the first day, I look at my syllabus
the paper form, the first day they pass them out on syllabus week and then
every time I need to refer back to my syllabus after that I always just do it
through blackboard or online so --
P1: Just the schedule part changes
P6: Usually a lot of the things are already online so I don’t see why they don’t put
all the other lecture notes or handouts just online
P2: It would be a lot more efficient
M: If you were strictly thinking about just outside, environmental restrictions, is
there anything else you think people would be interested in?
P3: More trees around Pullman

3

P5: Recycling more, making it clear what you can and can’t recycle and where you
can recycle it
P6: I think there should be more recycling and trash can areas where a lot of people
live, like outside the Greek row area cause when you’re walking along you see
cans and paper and plates all over the streets, especially after a weekend so
people can be environmentally friendly and throw their trash away not just on
the streets
P2: I don’t know if they do this anywhere in Washington but in Oregon they have
those machines where you take your cans to and you put the cans in a machine
and you get money back and I feel like if they had one of those here people
would actually, like frats and sororities and outside on Greek row, they have
so many cans and stuff that if, like college students needs money so its like,
that would get them to
P6: Even the idea, they would definitely do that
P3: With how much beer they drink…
P5: I heard about this store on NPR actually this morning where they were talking
about incentivize recycling and how they would, trucks would weigh their
recycling bins and see how much they were actually recycling and then once
they got to a certain amount of pounds or whatever, you can redeem the points
you get from recycling for like a movie ticket or an ice cream coupon or
something like that, so if it was incentivized, I think a lot more people would
do it, may be more excited about it
P1: In the beginning it would help to spread the word around
P5: Yeah like small businesses around the area could sponsor
P4: Or even just at WSU I mean it’d be, like the hands on projects and stuff like if
students couldn’t donate but they could put their time in and then they’d get
like extra credit or they’d get a credit or they’d get some kind of you know
that incentive was there for them to come and help plant trees or pick up
garbage or…

44

P2: It’s like sad that incentives are the only way to do it but obviously these projects
are things that have incentives probably would get way more attention
P4: I know extra credit gets me to go to any seminar or anything they want me to go
listen to or go participate in as long as it works with the schedule then.
P5: I will say campus is really clean. I don’t really see a lot of litter on the ground
but maybe that’s just me but the only things I see on the ground are leaves
honestly
P2: Over towards Greek row or like in town there’s probably way more garbage
than on campus itself
P5: Yeah but like the mall is pretty clean
M: So you think that incentives would be the best option to get students to …
P4: Like extra credit
P4: And once they had those incentives then hopefully it would spark the actual
interest for them to give back or keep donating or participating in
P5: The incentives can start building a habit after awhile
P6: They will actually see because they are getting involved with it
M: Essentially the Green Fund what it does is, you give money to them and then
they want students to get involved and give them ideas on what they want to
happen on campus, like what we want to see on campus environmentally, so,
its hard because a lot of students aren’t aware of it so it makes it a little bit
harder to do that and that’s why we’re trying to put this together.
P2: I think if students knew that they wanted to know our ideas and know what, I
don’t know…
P3: That we’re paying for our ideas
P2: Like that’s kind of a cool thing to think about
M: Do you guys have anything else?
P2: Like, with the local businesses, like selfishly that would also make their image
look better to be like “oh we’re trying to be environmentally friendly and
promote environmentally friendly activities and practices around our

5

community and stuff so, it will help the community and it will help them look
better.
M: That’s a really good idea. So that concludes my questions, thanks for the
awesome discussion. We have now learned more about your attitude towards
the green fund, where you get your information, and some ideas for some
interesting sustainability initiatives on campus is there anything we’ve missed
or that you would like to add?
P2: Who runs the Green Fund?
M: It’s the sustainability and environmental committee and they are teamed with
ASWSU.
P6: So it’s a large group
M: There are a lot of partners but SEC is essentially
P2: So there are head adult people who run it and then students help is that it?
M: It was created in 2011 I believe.
P4: Wow that’s really new
M: Yeah it’s a new program.
P2: Are there other similar environment programs?
M: There are tons on there that have similar names but they all do it together and,
P4: Most of the ones I hear about are agricultural or have to do with the animal
science or those kinds of things that are organic or natural informing people
not necessarily just environmental friendly, like you hear about the green
houses and the different little farms that are around and those kind of things
but (--)
P6: Have they noticed a difference since they started the environment on campus?
M: We will just have to see I guess!
Focus Group 2
Agency: Wilson PR
Client: Sustainability and Environment Committee

46

Sound File Name: Focus Group.m4a
M: Moderator
P1: Participant 1
P2: Participant 2
P3: Participant 3
P4: Participant 4
P5: Participant 5
P6: Participant 6
M: Ok, so, I have given you some time to go over the consent form and sign it. Does
anybody have any questions about it?
P1: Nope
M: Alright, we can go head and get started then.
M: So we can get started with a little icebreaker question for you all.
M: What is the most exciting thing that happened to each of you today?
P1: Uh I met with a bank loan officer.
P2: Uh I met my group today and got some of my project done finally.
M: Nice.
P3: I walked into my classroom and realized my class was cancelled so that’s
always a nice surprise.
M: Awesome
[Laughter]
P4: I was in a cancelled class.
P5: I had a study group.
M: Cool.
P6: Uh one of these computer programs I’ve been trying to use for the past few
weeks just finally started working today so that was really nice.

7

M: Alright umm--so do you guys think WSU is an environmentally friendly
campus?
P1: Yes and no.
M: Explain that a little bit.
P1: Umm--I think a lot of what I’ve heard was rumors that the recycling bins like
we use, actually don’t recycle on WSU campus so it kind of just like puts a
persona that were umm--green friendly but we’re not.
M: You sir.
P2: Uhh--I’d also agree with yes and no. Yes is because we have a steam plant that
we actually have on campus that actually does electricity and heats the campus
and that is actually more efficient than most.
P6: Um--I would also say yes and no. I think a lot of our newer buildings they have
so many windows like curtain walls and that runs out a lot of heat and in cold
in the winter or--yeah it gets cold in the winter and it’s not very efficient.
P5: Certain things can be replaced like paper towels. There could be more you know
blow dryers and stuff for hands and stuff like the ones that are at the rec are
pretty efficient. More of those can be installed.
M: Uh hmm
P4: I think the campus is more green than like the residential areas cause it’s kinda
controlled but I don’t know a single person that actually pays for recycling off
campus so.
P3: Yeah I have no idea--couldn’t tell ya
M: Um--have you guys ever heard of the WSU Green Fund?
P1: I haven’t.
P2: I have not.
P3: Isn’t that brought up when you--yeah, when you register for classes or
something?
M: Yes it is actually brought up.
P2: It’s what you pay for--in that little--when you register, right?

48

M: Yeah.
P3: It’s around with the sports pass and all that.
M: Yep right there and all that.
P6: Um--isn’t it kinda like a budget? That’s supposed to go towards like making our
campus more sustainable? Is this current?
M: Yeah.
P6: That’s all I know.
M: Okay.
P6: I kinda heard about it.
M: Um so we are going to read you a description of the sustainability environment
committee and the WSU Green Fund that should give you an idea of what the
Green Fund is and what it’s used for. So the Sustainability and Environment
Committee is a Presidential Committee consisting of students, faculty, staff
and administrators advocating for sustainability in the environment at
Washington State University. Part of their job is administering the “Green
Fund.” So the Green Fund is a student funded revenue source that provides
resources for students or student groups to create environmental projects on or
around the Pullman Campus. There have been two major projects: One
involving turning an empty university lot on Ruby Street into a park and the
other project was the development a restored pond area on the east side of
campus. So basically it’s--is a fund as you said and it’s just used by this
committee and those different projects around campus. How does this sound
familiar to anyone? At all? Any of like the Ruby Park project, or the pond?
[Inaudible]
M: Never heard anything about it?
P4: I know they were kinda redoing Ruby Park but I didn’t realize it had anything to
do with the Green Fund.
M: Okay
P6: Yeah I heard about the pond but didn’t know it was a part of this.

9

M: Ok. Um did you see something on campus about it at all?
[Inaudible]
P6: No I kinda just heard it around.
M: Ok. Um--so you guys were talking about the registering for classes thing. Um--
students can contribute five dollars to the Green Fund when they register for
their classes. Have you ever contributed to the WSU Green Fund when you
were registering for classes in Zzusis?
P4: No
M: The drop down option--you guys always clicked no?
P1: I clicked yes.
[Laughter]
M: You clicked yes. Okay.
P1: I felt like a guilty person.
M: Do you know why you did it? Or did anybody explain it to you when you were
going through the classes.
[Inaudible]
P1: No it was kinda like I might as well contribute.
M: Might as well contribute. Okay. Um--do you guys remember seeing the option
though at least?
P1: Yeah.
[Everyone showing agreement]
M: Ok um--did it make it clear to you? Was there any type of description or
definition underneath it about what it was?
P3: Not that I can remember.
P1: I don’t know.
P5: I think there was a tiny one but I mean I kinda just clicked. I went just right by it
so.
[Laughter]
M: Um--so what kind of projects or clubs are you guys involved in at WSU?

50

P1: I’m a part of the business club and I’m also part of the entrepreneurship club.
Um--I used to be in a sorority. Uh-- went alumni and [Pause] I think that’s it
for this year.
M: Um--ok sorry go ahead.
P2: Oh--uh-- I’ve never really been a part of a club. But--uh I was in a fraternity for
four years and uh--I’m also alumni now so.
P3: Yeah I’m just in a fraternity.
P4: Yeah leadership in the fraternity.
P5: Fraternity alumni.
P6: I’m in a business fraternity for architecture.
M: Okay. Um—what kinds of things attracted you guys to those groups?
P1: Um-- a lot of them have been helpful because they offer me business
experiences. Just going out there and networking. Um-- it has also helped me
to get potential internships too.
P2: Yeah just kinda the help they can give you. The older members in my fraternity
have helped me in classes-- study files-- they can always give you good insight
in what you are trying to do. I know personally for my major they have really
helped me a lot.
P3: Yeah I just really wanted to meet new people an-- yeah know-- um-- develop
some connections for the future.
[Cough]
P4: Uh-- pretty much what he said.
P5: Yeah-- Um-- definitely networking and creating lasting friendships.
P6: Yeah mine had a lot to do with getting to know people within my major. To help
with studying and stuff and also with networking. We do a lot of like
professional lectures and seminars-- and-- things like that.
M: Um-- How did you guys initially hear about the organizations or clubs that you
are apart of?
P1: Um-- classes.

1

M: Classes?
P1: Uh hmm
M: Okay.
P2: Just friends from high school.
P3: Um-- I just met someone in a class.
P4: An older friend from high school.
P5: A friend that I met here.
P6: Um, we had speakers come in from it and talk to our class. We also have posters
all around the building that my major is in.
M: Do you guys remember seeing any other posters or anything that attracted you to
your groups at all? Or what? I mean, did you use social media to get that
connection at all?
P1: I know that my professor was the director of our group so he made us go like
them on Facebook for 10 points extra credit. When you went to the page it
gave you more information on the kind of things they do and the kind of
events they attend.
P3: Um-- there was clubs that would come into the classrooms and they would
introduce themselves and stuff. I heard a couple but never joined-- obviously.
M: Okay. How do you guys-- I guess this is similar to the first question-- but how
do you guys get information about organizations on campus? So when you are
curious about something and want to look it up, where do you guys go
initially?
P2: Usually in the building-- like for my major they have a bunch of posters up so
you can see the kind of clubs they offer. They have a certain billboard you can
go to and they have all these different clubs you can go join. My advisor also
tells me about some when I go and see her.
P3: Yeah I just see bulletin boards and posters here and there on campus. That’s
about it.
P1: I would say there is a lot of group marketing through-- the-- the C.U.B. They are

52

usually sitting in booths as you walk by and that’s a really good place to go
and get more information.
P4: I would say the C.U.B.-- billboards and if I know anyone in the organization.
M: Um-- are there any methods to the billboards or from what you have seen online
that you think just don't work at all? Like they don't catch your attention--or--
do you think it has more to do with the club rather than the--
P1: Just-- I would say like when there gets to be too many posters up-- or there are
just old ones up that were never renewed or taken down. Just making sure that
it looks cared about. I look more when its organized verses clutter.
P2: Um like colors that stand out usually draw more attention.
[Pause]
P6: I would say placement of them too because I know now, like, all of the posters
for our clubs within the architecture program are in the student lounge. Which
isn't effective because it isn't used very often. But in previous years they have
had them in the hallways--so just walking by to class you would see them.
M: Anyone else?
P5: Not that hasn't already been said.
M: Okay. What forms of social media do you guys use the most?
M: Just in general. Not related to clubs necessarily.
P5: Facebook.
P4: Yeah Facebook.
P3: Yeah probably Facebook.
P2: I usually start with Instagram, then move to Facebook and then onto Twitter.
[Laughter]
P1: Yeah.
participate in and or donate to?
M: Like-- what is going to get you to donate those five dollars and not just stroll
over it?

3

P1: Um-- maybe knowing the long term affects of it because I know it would
provide a reality shock verses a temporary-- outcome-- yeah--
P2: I guess I kind of agree with that. Really if they put statistics on what it would
actually go towards and what it would really help than I would be much more
inclined to donate money. You know, five bucks obviously really isn't a lot but
if they actually put stuff on there that really lets us understand what we are
contributing towards-- then-- yeah, I would be more likely to donate.
P6: Yeah and I would say specific projects too.
M: So what kind of projects would you guys like to see?
P6: Well--I know you talked about the pond being-- was it made? Or like--restored?
M: Restored.
P6: Okay restored. Well there isn't anything said about that. At least I didn't see it
when I registered for classes. There isn't a big thing telling us what our money
is going towards. We just know its going towards the Green Fund and that
they can use it for whatever they want. I think actually seeing a list of projects
maybe-- getting more interested in those--
P1: Also I had a couple professors bring certain like projects up in class and if we
ended up donating to it we got extra points on a certain assignment. So that
kind of thing really produces a high incentive for some people.
P2: Yeah definitely providing examples that can show you where the money is
going. Not just the Green Fund because then you have no idea what--
M: So in general a better awareness of what is going on with the money--
P1: Maybe even an example of a before and after for a project in the past.
M: And how would you guys like to get that information? For instance, would you
like that on posters? Social media?
P1: I feel like posters in the C.U.B. would be the most effective because I know
when I get emails or anything like that I ignore it. I think that would be better
than social media because I would probably just scroll past it and not even
look through it.

54

P2: I would almost say that when you are on that page to pay for your sports pass
and stuff-- maybe-- put a link or even a couple of examples. I think that would
kind of intrigue people to click on the link to get more information about it. I
don't know-- I just don't really look at posters.
P1: You know, even a photo on that link could be really beneficial. I think it would
draw your attention more then just clicking yes, no, no, no--
P6: Yeah and maybe this is a long shot but I know during half time at football
games they play advertisements. So even just having a small clip showing the
before and after photos of certain projects could be cool.
P3: Yeah I would have to say just having a little more-- uh-- information on the
registration screen would go on a long ways.
M: Do you guys have any other ideas about sustainability projects others might be
interested in? So this whole fund--um-- I don't know if you got this from the
description or not-- but the whole fund is a faculty member and a student as
well. So the student kind of pitches an idea to the faculty member and then
they make it happen. So it is a student--kind of--based organization. So the
students have an input on what happens with the money as well. That being
said, do you have any ideas of the kinds of things you would be willing to do
or things you think your friends would be willing to do? Like for projects
specifically?
P1: I don't have any specific projects but I know if you could get the Greek
community involved it would be a really big and easy following. Just because
they are already required to do a certain amount of community service hours
and if you have a project and it said it would sign off two of your hours if you
just came out and passed out fliers for this-- or um-- anything different like
that, that would be good.
P4: Also linking philanthropies to it too. I think that would be a big thing. Would
give a big incentive to the Greek system, definitely.
M: Um-- so again, you guys can't think of anything specific to environmental

5

sustainability? Like a recycling project? Something on campus restored?
Something along those lines?
P1: I would say maybe just like making certain products more recyclable-- just
because I know-- um-- the Bookie with their Starbucks cups those are all
recyclable but its not-- it says on the cup, but it wouldn't say where you put it
or anything like that. So if there was a trash can that maybe had a picture
showing that cup-- then um-- it would be better.
P2: Maybe even with old buildings too-- like you know older buildings like Sloan.
They don't have a lot of things like this building has. Like when you walk into
a room the lights will turn on when it senses you coming in and then they will
turn off when nobody is in the room for like 10 minutes. Sometimes lights just
get left on-- you know and it wastes a lot of energy. It’s just not very efficient.
M: Can anyone else think of anything? Projects you would like to see done? Maybe
not necessarily something you would want to participate in but you wouldn't
mind seeing done.
P3: Um-- I mean-- a campus cleanup-- or campus pickup wouldn't be a bad idea. I
mean our campus is fairly clean always but it would be nice to get the
surrounding areas. I think people would do that.
M: Um-- have you seen examples on other campuses involving sustainability and
environmental projects?
P5: Never really looked to be honest.
M: What about in the media in general? Not necessarily on a college campus.
P1: I know just like-- um-- going more electric with electrically cars and stuff has
gotten really big. So maybe doing something where-- um-- like how he said
the lights will turn on and off in some more energy efficient buildings. Like
maybe replacing new technology into some of our older buildings-- applying
solar panels and producing our own energy on campus.
M: Alright--um-- thank you for the great discussion. We have now learned about
your attitudes towards the Green Fund, where you get your information and

56

some ideas for some interesting sustainability initiatives on campus. Um-- is
there anything we have miss or anything you would like to add?
P1: Nope
P3: No I think that is all.
P6: Nope
P4: No
P5: No
P2: Yeah, no I think we are good.
M: So we all agree that we need a little more awareness of the project and you are a
little in the dark about what your money will be going to.
[Everyone Agreeing]
M: Thank you very much.
Focus Group 3
Agency: Cascade PR
Client: Sustainability and Environment Committee
Sound File Name: Focus Group.m4a
M: Moderator, Macy Utley
A: Assistant, Chloe Pietrandrea
P1: Participant 1
P2: Participant 2
P3: Participant 3
P4: Participant 4
P5: Participant 5
P6: Participant 6
P7: Participant 7

7

P8: Participant 8
P9: Participant 9
M: Thanks for coming you guys, we really appreciate it. We are Cascade PR from
our capstone class within the College of Communication. We have been asked
by the Sustainability and Environment Committee, whom does the Green
Fund, to conduct a focus group. We are doing this in order to find out your
knowledge on the Green Fund, just to get your thoughts, input and share your
honest and open thoughts about this. We want you guys to do all the talking
and for everybody to participate. There are no right or wrong answers and
everybody’s experiences and opinions are important, so speak up whether you
agree or disagree we want to hear a wide range of opinions. We will be
recording as you guys can see, so we don’t miss anything. To start off, we’re
going to have an icebreaker question. Also feel free to grab pizza if you guys
want, its there for you guys.
M: What is the most exciting thing that happened to you today?
P1: I took an hour and a half nap.
P2: Slept through my alarm.
P3: Oh! I got paid!
M: Oh, that’s a good one!
P4: I turned 19!
M: Oh my gosh, it’s your birthday today? Happy Birthday!
P5: I literally had nothing exciting happen to me.
P2: I put my fangs on my teeth for Halloween.
[Laughing]
M: Anything else exciting happen to anybody today? Was it a pretty boring day?
M: Okay, to get more into it, do you think WSU is an environmentally friendly
campus? Why or why not?
P2: I don’t know.
P5: Well, I’ve never really noticed anything besides like --

58

P1: Well they have those separators for the garbage --
P5: Yeah they have those separating garbage cans and green bikes.
M: Yeah, that’s a good one.
P5: Yeah, the green bikes are all I’ve noticed.
P3: There are plants.
P6: Most people walk around campus.
P3: Aren’t there those bikes all about going green?
P5: Yeah, but nobody ever uses them.
P7: The REC Center is pretty green, they have the option to recycle ink cartridges.
M: Wow, really? I didn’t know that.
P7: Well, not ink cartridges but laptops and stuff.
P8: I always just notice, too at buildings on campus you can throw things away, its
almost like little drop boxes --
P2: And actually the toilet flushers go up or down which is pretty interesting.
M: Is that it? Any other thoughts?
P3: Greek Row sucks for recycling.
P9: Yeah --
P8: Yeah, it’s really gross and dirty.
P4: Maybe not because they make us take notes.
M: What?
P4: They make us take notes.
P2: You can do it electronically.
P9: They do make us print out a lot of paper --
P5: Oh they make us print a lot, a lot of stuff.
M: All of those are really good thoughts. Have you guys ever heard of the WSU
green fund? If yes, can you tell me anything about it?
P8: I hadn’t heard of it until you guys posted that survey thing --
P5: Yeah, same.
M: I’m going to read you guys a description and that should give you an idea about

9

what it is. The Sustainability and Environment Committee is a Presidential
Committee consisting of students, faulty, staff and administrators advocating
for sustainability in the environment at Washington State University. Part of
their job is administrating the “Green Fund.” The Green Fund is a student
funded revenue source that provides resources for students or student groups
to create environmental projects on or around the Pullman Campus. There
have been two major projects: One project involved turning an empty
university lot on Ruby Street into a park. The other project was the
development of a restored pond area on the east side of campus. Does any of
this sound familiar to you guys?
P5: I feel like I’ve heard about the park.
M: Nothing?
[Inaudible]
P6: The Ruby Park is in our backyard.
M: Wait, what?
P6: The Ruby Park is behind A Chi O.
M: Oh, very cool.
[Inaudible]
M: Did you guys just hear about that or know about it from where you live?
P9: I think they probably announced it to us at some point, when they started
construction.
M: Oh, okay. Very cool.
M: Based on the description of the Green Fund we just provided you, what do you
think the WSU Green Fund does?
P5: Good question.
[Inaudible]
P2: Restores ponds?
P1: Tries to make WSU greener?
M: Yeah.

60

P8: They try to get students to raise money and to raise awareness to do these things
because obviously we don’t know about it.
M: Yeah. Do you guys think they would do that in any specific way or maybe any
thoughts on what they could do to raise awareness? Anything you think they
might do?
P1: Well there are some organizations that go around the first week of school and
say a little blurb about what they do in front of different classes. I’ve learned a
lot about different organizations that way, maybe they could do that.
P8: Social media too because I feel like I haven’t seen them on Facebook and
everybody’s on Facebook and Twitter.
M: Students can contribute $5 to the Green Fund when they register for their
classes. Have you ever contributed to the WSU Green Fund when you were
registering for classes on Zzusis?
P5: I did my freshman year because I didn’t know what it was.
M: Its when you guys check off the sports pass --
P5: I just clicked yes for everything.
[Laughter]
M: Does anyone else remember clicking yes for that?
P4: Yeah, same situation.
M: Did you donate for a specific reason or --
P5: I just clicked everything I didn’t know what it was.
[Laughter]
M: Anyone else? No? Okay, that’s okay!
M: What projects or clubs are you guys involved in at WSU and what attracted you
to those groups?
[Inaudible]
P2: I was in the tennis club.
P5: Soccer and nursing club.
P2: I’m a member of Alpha Gamma Delta.

1

P8: PCMA.
[Inaudible]
A: Has anyone been on SEB or anything?
P2: I was a Rho Gamma.
P6: I’m on ASWSU.
M: What attracted you to that?
P6: You get paid.
[Laughter]
M: That’s a good reason!
P5: I didn’t know that.
P6: I didn’t know either until I applied!
[Laughter]
[Inaudible]
M: What attracted you to be apart of the nursing club?
P5: Well there was food every time I went --
P5: But besides that they said it would look really good on my resume when I apply
to nursing schools.
M: What attracted you to be a member of PCMA?
P8: Just because it is good for HBM and got me involved with the Atrium Café.
[Inaudible]
M: How do you get information about organizations on campus? Whether its one
you’re apart of or not.
P5: The Daily Evergreen.
P9: There are a lot of posters around campus and in classrooms.
P8: When they come to classes, I think that’s a way a lot of people hear about
organizations.
P4: We get announcements in chapter.
[Inaudible]
P1: Faculty who run them --

62

P4: Sometimes I get emails too.
P5: Oh yeah.
P6: I know for me since I’m also apart of Cable 8 that we will announce it every
week before auditions and stuff.
[Inaudible]
M: What forms of social media do you use most?
P5: Instagram.
P1: Instagram and Facebook.
P4: Snapchat.
M: Any other forms that haven’t been mentioned?
[Inaudible]
P8: Pinterest.
M: That’s a good one.
participate in or donate to?
P5: Recycling is the easiest.
P1: Yeah in high school we had this thing called Super Saturday when everyone
would go around and collect recyclables from businesses and clean up parks
and stuff. I think that would be cool.
A: Have you guys ever done Greek Sweeps?
P5: Yeah.
P2: Yeah.
P5: Those are helpful.
[Inaudible]
M: Would you guys be interested in anything besides recycling? Anything around
campus?
P7: I feel like we’re all so busy that it would have to be through an organization
we’re involved with already.
P2: Yeah like a requirement.

3

P4: Or community service.
[Inaudible]
P6: I’d plant a tree for an hour!
[Laughter]
P9: Didn’t they just tear out the trees in Ruby Street Park?
A: Someone did, or they tried.
P6: They tore them out but then they planted new ones.
M: Any other thoughts that haven’t come up? Haven’t heard from you back there!
P3: I would recycle!
[Laughter]
M: There you go!
M: Do you guys have any other ideas about sustainability projects that others may
be interested in?
P5: I did a project when I was in middle school if you brought in a certain amount of
cans or recyclable things you get a prize or community service hours. I feel
like a lot of people would do that.
M: Yeah, that is a good one.
P7: If I got money maybe.
[Laughter]
P8: I feel like a lot of people that took environmental science had to go do projects
like those, so maybe integrate them into a class?
M: Yeah, they are such big classes.
P8: Tons of people take those classes, yeah!
M: Well that is the end of the discussion, thank you guys for participating!
P5: Thank you!
P2: Nice!
P4: Perfect.
Research Questions:

64

• Are you 18 years old or older?
• Are you an undergraduate student at WSU?
• Are you willing to participate in this survey?
• The first few questions we will ask will focus on your use of national,
regional, and local media. How many hours do you spend doing each of the
following activities each day? (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube)
• Are you a member of any WSU clubs or organizations?
• Please indicate which WSU organizations or clubs you are a member of
(check all that apply):
o Greek Chapter
o Associated Students of Washington State University
o Student Entertainment Board
o Organization related to major
o Organization related to environment
o Other: ____________
• Please indicate your level of agreement or disagreement with the following
statements:
Strongly agree – agree – neither agree nor disagree – disagree – strongly
disagree
o WSU is an environmentally friendly university
o I am environmentally friendly
o I am interested in environmental sustainability projects
o I feel concerned about the amount of waste produced at WSU
• Have you ever heard of the WSU Green Fund?
• How did you hear about the WSU Green Fund?
o MyWSU (zzusis)
o Email
o Friends
o Professors

5

o Information in the CUB
o Other:
o I don’t know or remember
• Have you heard of Ruby Street Park?
• Have you heard of the restored pond area on the east side of campus?
• How much time would you be willing to dedicate to an environmental
sustainability project per month?
• What types of environmental sustainability projects would you want to
participate in? (Check all that apply)
o Recycling
o Water conservation
o Animal conservation
o Energy conservation
o Food conservation
o Other
o Not interested in participating in environmental sustainability
projects
• Please indicate your level of agreement or disagreement with the following
statements about participating in the WSU Green Fund:
Strongly agree – agree – neither agrees nor disagrees – disagree – strongly
disagree
o I would participate in projects if I received community service hours
o I would participate in projects if I received extra credit for a course
o I would participate in projects if it gave me experience I could add to
my resume
• What would be your more preferred method of communication to learn more
about the WSU Green Fund? (Choose only one)
o Facebook
o Twitter

66

o Daily Evergreen
o Email
o Online Newsletter
o Other:
• Have you ever donated to the WSU Green Fund?
• Based on the description, how much would you be willing to donate to the
Green Fund?
• Please select the option that best represents your current standing toward an
undergraduate degree: (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior)
• How old are you?
• What is your gender?
• What is your major area of study?

7

68

Cascade PR
Calvin Bright, Natalie Tyson, Macy Utley, Chloe Pietrandrea
The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication
COMSTRAT 485
Amanda Boyd

485 Final Report

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