Growing Power is a nonprofit organization that aims to improve access to healthy foods. It operates urban farms and provides training to communities. While Growing Power has made a positive impact, its public relations strategy could be improved. Specifically, it lacks short video content and a strong social media presence, which prevents it from engaging younger audiences. It also has not aggressively pursued influencers or grants. However, opportunities exist to promote the organization through events, hashtags, and sharing success stories online. The primary goal is to increase awareness of Growing Power on a larger scale and among youth.

1. GROWING POWER
Public
Relations
Planning
and
Strategy
Plan
6/26/15
Michael W.L.
Mott
Green Target

2. Contents
Situation Overview:............................................................................................................................2
S.W.O.T. Analysis of Growing Power:...................................................................................................3
Potential Organizational Goals and Objectives for GrowingPower:........................................................5
Audiences(Stakeholders):...................................................................................................................5
Competition Analysis:.........................................................................................................................6
Tactical Strategy:................................................................................................................................7
Campaign Measurement:....................................................................................................................9
Sample Press Release........................................................................................................................10

3. SituationOverview
Introduction to Growing Power:
Mission Statement: “To grow food, to grow minds, and to grow community”
Growing Power is a nonprofit community organization and land trust which helps better people
and their respective communities by providing balanced and equal access to “healthy, high-
quality, safe and affordable food.” Since the founding of the organization in 1993, Growing
Power has continually help develop, transform and ultimately improve various communities by
developing “Community Food Centers” to help bring whole communities fresh and whole
foods.
The efforts made by Growing Power have helped combat against major food sustainability
issues such as the contemporary epidemic of food deserts found in mostly minority
communities. Growing Power also gives hands on training, instruction and assistance and
formed whole community relationships by teaching others to help grow, process, market and
ultimately distribute their own food in order to help promote an increasingly sustainable
environment.
According to experts such as Jerry Kaufman, a professor emeritus in regional and urban
planning at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Growing Power has been incredibly successful
in their endeavors: “Growing Power is probably the leading urban agricultural project in the
United States… Growing Power is not just talking about what needs to be changed, it’s
accomplishing it.” Will Allen, the founder of Growing Power who remains very active within the
organization and all its internal and external activities believes that those who are at a
disadvantage from a socio-economic perspective need help by learning about the benefits of
fresh and healthy foods: “Low-quality food is resulting in diabetes, obesity, and sickness… Poor
people are not educated about nutrition and don’t have access to stores that sell nutritious
food and they wind up with diabetes and heart disease.”
Growing Power also has a separate entity called the Growing Food and Justice Initiative; a
network consisting of about 500 individuals whose common goal is to fight against what has
been classified as “food racism”, the structural exclusion of healthy foods to poor Latino and
African-American neighborhoods. Currently, Growing Power has set up urban farms within
urban areas to help increase access to freshly grown food, for example, in Chicago, Illinois
Growing Power has farms in Grant Park in the central downtown area and in Altgeld Gardens
on 132nd street.

4. S.W.O.T. Analysis of Growing Power
Strengths:
 The organization has an established brand image on a national scale as they are known
by people across the United States
 GP is a pioneer organization regarding their diligent work in the community as well as
the multiple types of urban farming, including vertical farming and aquaponics
 Have an established following and have made a meaningful impact in various
neighborhoods, communities and urban areas in the Midwest
 Founder Will Allen designed a unique aquaponics systems, which only requires around
$3,000 to build, instead of the usual $50,000 cost for a normal commercially built one
 Offers tours to groups which gradually increases “word-of-mouth” brand awareness,
helps lead to an increase in brand loyalty over the long term
 Horizontally integrated into selling its products grown on their farms to restaurant,
could use this for advertising/marketing purposes to increase fundraising opportunities
 Has established “Youth Corps” in Milwaukee, WI and Chicago, IL, programs for youth
which engages hundreds of youth to help educate them on food sustainability- this is a
great advantage for reaching stakeholders and target audiences for GP- the youth
Weaknesses:
 Lacks any form of multimedia shortform video content such as Vine, Instagram etc. thus
GP is not able to reach its target audience of youth, who represent the future of society
and food sustainability
 The last publicized grant GP received was in 2012, for $5 million from the W.K. Kellogg
Foundation
 Has not established a secure following; do not have an established popular market; are
not widely known or publicized at all
 Has not vigorously gone after and targeted key influencers e.g. local aldermen, City
Council, or powerful individuals with influence in Chicago
 Has not made consistent efforts to go out and actively engage others outside of the
targeted communities, in order to raise awareness the outside communities need to be
informed about GP’s mission, purpose, and organizational goals and objectives

5. Opportunities:
 GP can use multimedia shortform content such as Vine videos and Instagram to
showcase work and attract a following; video components can help GP gain more
popularity
 GP can tap into where the young audience is e.g. summer music concerts, they could try
to sponsor specific small, local events to raise awareness
 GP could also create an info graphic to pass out at events, a form of shortform
communication with URL/link to website tagged on the bottom
 GP could host information forums or networking events where they could team up with
local sports teams e.g. the Chicago White Sox or Chicago Bulls or even a local popular
venue where a portion of the ticket proceeds could go to ticket proceeds
 Create an official YouTube account with which GP can be directly affiliated with; create
a unique hashtag solely pertinent to Green Power e.g. #GPFoodOasis
 GP could run and launch an integrated campaign to help promote their brand
Threats:
 Perception of impropriety is a threat to all nonprofit organizations, simply meaning GP
should continue to stay active in all the communities it operates in
 There is a need for expansion, so the brand of GP can spread to truly be operating on a
national scale instead of a regional scale
 If the economy suffers, this would not only greatly harm the communities GP works in
on a massive scale, however it would also make the work GP does even more
challenging; people are less comfortable to donate to a nonprofit when the economy is
weak

6. Potential Organizational Goals and Objectives for Growing Power
Organizational Goals:
 Increase overall awareness of Growing Power on a much larger scale
 Increase the number of youth who intern or attend programs hosted by Growing Power
 Increase the amount of grants, donations and donors themselves
Organizational Objectives:
 Create an information graphic to hand out at local popular summer events
 Create a professional Vine, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube account
 Share success stories not only on website but also via various social media channels
Audiences (Stakeholders):
Primary target audiences:
 Minority youth who are underrepresented/living in a disadvantaged are or living in low
income neighborhoods
 Adults (young adults-senior citizens) who are living in or grew up in these same
neighborhoods
Secondary target audiences:
 All youth in general, from elementary school to high school seniors, who are interested
in the environment, sustainability and the a more fair, just and balanced world and
society
 Young adults- adults, from 18-36, who are socially active and who are also interested in
the environment, sustainability and a more fair, just and balanced world and society
 People of influence, e.g. celebrities from Chicago, or people with high profiles and
influence who live in the Chicago land area
 Potential donors to the organization

7. CompetitionAnalysis
Although there is not explicitly direct competition to Growing Power, there are many
established organizations which are potentially taking away major donors, grants and
fundraising opportunities for Growing Power.
A possible potential rival to Growing Power is Urban Farming, a global non-profit organization
which operates on an international scale. Their mission is “to create an abundance of food for
all in our generation.” Urban Farming also has two key advantages over Growing Power: first,
they operate on an international scale, meaning they are more well-known than Growing
Power; furthermore, a simple name such as “Urban Farming” also has an advantage because
people will immediately have an initial knowledge of what the organizations work entails.
Secondly, Urban Farming has a much more expansive social media presence than Growing
Power as they have a Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube account meaning that there
brand is far more accessible to the general public than Growing Power.
Surprisingly, despite Urban Farming’s international presence, Growing Power has the advantage
over Urban Farming as 467 more people are actively talking about Growing Power. In addition,
Growing Power has 9,974 more total page likes than Urban Farming. However, Urban Farming
has more New Page Likes this week, but both organizations are decreasing in the amount of
New Page Likes they are receiving this week.

8. Tactical Strategy
Tactic Notes
Social Media  Social media audit
 Create a Growing Power official Vine,
Instagram, YouTube and Twitter
accounts to help establish a young
following of people who are possible
stakeholders (people who have
interest in the activities of what GP is
doing)
 Post regularly to these social media
accounts with high quality images and
relevant, grammatical correct and
pertinent tweets
 Start a Volunteer Social Media Corp;
create Facebook groups associated
with GP, or a Google+ group
 Host Monthly Google Hangouts or
Website Podcast where
representatives are able to
communicate with the public about
their latest successes and projects and
also show interest in the public and
those who can help donate to their
cause
 Vine: post regular videos of activities
e.g. feeding the livestock or videos of
you watering the crops; post regularly,
at minimum 5 times a week; include
link to website as well as other social
media profiles
 Instagram: post high quality pictures
every other day of activities GP is
engaged in; make sure to showcase
youth as well as a diverse population of
employees and people involved; use
hashtags such as #GrowingPower,
#Sustainability #FoodOasis, etc.;
include link to website as well as other
social media profiles

9.  YouTube: post PSA style video style;
also post possible interviews videos
with Will Allen; create short
documentaries with possible deep
success stories of how GP changed a
youths life to help show potential
donors the difference GP makes
 Tweets: tweet links to social media
profiles, or YouTube where success
stories would be posted; tweet at
minimum 5 times a week, always with
a hashtag to help attract a following;
consistency and professionalismis key
to help attract a major following
Raise Increase Awareness and Broaden
Visibility of Growing Power
 Establish a young following by tapping
into where they are: e.g. music
concerts – try and partner up or join in,
help sponsor popular events such as
Lollapalooza; create a social media
graphic to help pass out at these
events
 Host information forums and
networking events e.g. try to partner
with local celebrities and organizations
e.g. contact Noah’s Arc Foundation, a
nonprofit organization founded by
popular Chicago Bulls player Joahkim
Noah, would be a great opportunity for
Growing Power’s work in Chicago as
Noah’s Arc Foundation helps
South/Westside communities and the
youth of these communications
Media Relations  Write press releases about major
events GP is engaged in and send to
reporters, pitch ideas on specific
articles to write about GP
 Try and attract donors via media
outreach, contact magazines such as
the Chicago Tribune and Crain’s
business magazine

10. CampaignMeasurement
Overall Marketing Campaign for Public Image and Growth:
 Remain active on all established social media accounts
 Reach out to other organizations such as Noah’s Arc Foundation to help increase
awareness as well as to connect with youth
 Try to sponsor a local event and hand out social media graphics to the general public at
various social events
 Write press releases to attain “earned media” and have articles written about Growing
Power to attract possible donors
Social Media:
 Create Vine, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube accounts and remain active by posting
regularly
 Analyze metrics of the website, and trace hits on website to help improve it as a whole
 Track social media presence, using qualitative and quantitative data e.g. graphs
analyzing amount in correlation to likes and followers gained and feedback on surveys
Fundraising:
 Launch a fundraising campaign while continually trying to attract donors using social
media, website as well as earned media

11. Sample Press Release
Contact: Michael Mott, Greentarget 312-806-8391 mmott@greentarget.com
For Immediate Release
Growing Food & Justice for All Initiative to be held in Chicago
Chicago – June 26, 2015 Growing Power, a national non-profit organization dedicated to the
welfare of those who lack access to healthy, safe and affordable food, and also one of the
leading urban farming organizations in the nation, announced today that it will be participating
in the Growing Food &Justice for All Initiative (GFJI), an event to be held in Chicago, IL on
September 25, 26 and 27.
GFJI is aimed at “dismantling racism and empowering low income and communities of color
through sustainable and local agriculture.” The GFJI annual conference will be an opportunity
for multiple different organizations to share vital information and strategies to create a more
ethical, equal and sustainable future.
About Growing Power:
Growing Power is a non-profit organization and land trust dedicated to supporting people and
their communities by helping to provide access to healthy, safe, high-quality and affordable
food.
To learn more about the organization, visit www.growingpower.org or contact
mmott@greentarget.com.