Download to read offline
Uploaded byElena Chobanova
LivestrongExecutiveReportProject (1)
This report summarizes issues Livestrong is facing in achieving outreach to college students and recommends solutions. Key findings include: communication campaigns must be tailored to the audience and use gain frames; partnering with local organizations like Susan G. Komen improves awareness and fundraising; and connecting with university programs in nonprofit management provides opportunities for education, research, and recruiting. Recommendations are creating a campus version of Ride for the Roses event, establishing local and campus connections, and spreading awareness through social media.
LivestrongExecutiveReportProject (1)
- 1. LiveSTRONG Executive Report Team BasedCommunication May 11, 2011
- 2. Executive Summary 1.1 Study Summary This report details the issues that Livestrong is having in achieving campus outreach at The University of Texas at Austin, as well as at other college campuses around the country. In an effort to make young adults more aware of cancer, Livestrong is also striving to make young adults, more specifically college students, more informed about the services that Livestrong offers. They want people to see past the brand of Livestrong. After much primary and secondary research, we have come to several recommendations for outreach. Refer to Section 2.0 Background for Study for further details about the basis for our work. And refer to Section 4.0 Recommendations for details about specific recommendations for Livestrong. 1.2 Key Findings ● Communication Campaigns:Communication campaigns are “international attempts to inform, persuade, or motivate behavior change in relatively welldefined and large audiences.” ● Susan G. Komen and Local Connections: Many successful nonprofits partner with local organizations to create awareness and foster local advertising. Susan G. Komen is one prime example to be examined. ● University Youth Recruitment and How to Connect to Education: There has been a significant growth in university “curricular trends in nonprofit management education” and research. ● Social Media Among Young Adults: Due to the characteristics of the young adults generation, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube have a tremendous impact on the information that they come across in daily life. ● Survey and Distribution: A survey was sent out via Facebook with 6 questions in order to inquire how much the present student population at UT already knows about Livestrong and the services that they offer. For specific information on these finding, refer to Section 2.0 Background for Study and Key Findings and Section 3.0 Survey and Distribution. 1.3 Recommendations After much research and thought, we have come to several key recommendations for Livestrong. They are as follows: ● Creating and Implementing “Ride for the Roses: Campus Style” ● Establishing local connections around Austin ● Establishing campus connections with student organizations ● Spreading awareness through social media Although many of these recommendations will only be successful over a period of time, we truly believe that they will help build awareness of cancer and Livestrong services among young adults, more specifically college students.
- 3. For more detailed information, see Section 4.0 Recommendations. 2.0 Background for Study and Key Findings 2.1 Basis for Study Campus outreach, as well as outreach to the general young adult population, is crucial in making an organization’s mission known to the public. College students are some of the frontrunners to activism, awareness, and fundraising in our society today. As expressed in our initial meeting, Livestrong wishes to establish a better connection with UT. At the moment, the connections to UT are listed as follows: ● Grassroots fundraising through sororities, fraternities, and some campus organizations ● College interns that spread awareness In order to further awareness, Livestrong wishes to first establish a connection with UT through microlevel events and then further expand to the macrolevel by applying proposed strategies to other college campuses around the United States. As of right now, the number of young adults diagnosed with cancer each year is growing; however, survival rates are not increasing in correlation with rates of diagnosis. Because of this, increased awareness is needed. Many young adults do not have insurance and misdiagnosis is frequent. In order to combat these tragedies, Livestrong wants to inform the young adult and student population of the specific services that they offer. Livestrong offers the following services, as well as others: ●Patient navigation ● Free support online and via phone for people outside of Austin ● Nonmedical advice ● Onsite social workers ● Rides to treatments ● Emotional support ● Inhouse counseling for people in Austin ○ All counselors are bilingual (Spanish) Presently, most people become aware of Livestrong through friends that have used or have heard of the services that Livestrong has to offer. Livestrong wishes to overcomes this hurtle in order to expand the awareness of the young adult population about the effects of cancer as well as about what Livestrong can do to help. In addition, the majority of the population does not see “past the brand” of Livestrong. When people think of Livestrong, words such as “Lance Armstrong,” “yellow bracelet,” “yellow,” “Tour de France” come to mind. In order for the public to truly see past the corporate face of Livestrong, Livestrong will need to take steps to intentionally spread information about the organization to the correct demographic and age group. In the process of coming up with strategies to implement, we have done primary as well as secondary research. Several key findings have resulted in what we believe will help college students see past the brand and become informed about what Livestrong does as a nonprofit. 2.2 Communication Campaigns In order to successfully outreach to college students in Austin and around the nation, an accurate communications campaign needs to come into play. According to Dr. Erin DonovanKicken, a
- 4. Communications Studies professor at The University of Texas at Austin, communication campaigns are “international attempts to inform, persuade, or motivate behavior change in relatively welldefined and large audiences” (DonovanKicken, lecture, April 25, 2011). They are generally for noncommercial benefit and the messages are communicated by means of organized communications activities involving mass media. When using communication campaign messages, a gain frame is more successful. A “gain frame” is when the audience is presented with what they should do, not what they should not do. The message describes behavior that gives the audience some sort of benefit, rather than conveying to them what they will lose if they do not change their behavior (DonovanKicken, lecture, April 25, 2011). Going along with this, arousing fear is not usually successful. If fear is brought into a communications campaign, a solution or mechanism for coping with that fear also needs to be suggested. In addition, it is extremely important that the communicator knows the audience in which the message is targeted at. Messages need to be tailored to build on the audience’s needs, motives and values (DonovanKicken, lecture, April 25, 2011). In this case, we conducted a survey of UT college students in order to become more informed with the already existing needs, opinions, awareness, etc of our targeted audience. See section 3.0 Survey and Distribution. In reference to the audience, the message needs to be realistic, refined before published to the public, and communicated through multiple media channels that are heavily used by the target audience. For example, college students and young adults use Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube on a daily basis. Lastly, communication campaigns need to communicate some form of selfefficacy, meaning that the message needs to focus on the immediate, highprobability consequences of the new behavior as well as show the audience that they can actually carry out the behavior (DonovanKicken, lecture, April 25, 2011). If the message does not provide the audience any specific ways that will help them change their behavior, they will be much less likely to do so. When formulating our recommendations, as well as creating our video, we kept these concept in mind. 2.3 Susan G. Komen and Local Connections Susan G. Komen has over one hundred corporate sponsorships that support and raise money for breast cancer research and awareness. The sponsors they have range from American Airlines to the Mom and Pop local organizations. Including: ● American Airlines ●New Balance ● Nordstrom ● Crayola ● Sarah Fisher Racing ● PNY ● Planet Smoothie Each sponsor sets a goal of what they will donate that year and meets and often succeeds that donation to Susan G. Komen (www.komen.org). Not only is Susan G. Komen affiliated with sponsor’s worldwide, they also have scheduled events: ● Komen on the go ● Race for the Cure ● Marathon for the Cure
- 5. These occur in various locations throughout the year. Susan G. Komen is also in sponsorship with Zeta Tau Alpha, a women’s fraternity. If Livestrong connects with local and large corporate organizations, they will be able to make a connection with the local advertising for upcoming events (Ride for the Roses: Campus style) and, at the same time, reap the benefits from a national corporation’s donations and media campaigns. Livestrong should establish local connections with organizations with in a Greek or nonGreek organization at the University as well as with local and national sponsors. 2.4 University Youth Recruitment and How to Connect to Education According to research done by renowned Professors of Public Affairs, Drs. Roseanne Mirabella and Naomi Wish, of recent years there has been a significant growth for university “curricular trends in nonprofit management education” and research. The recent 2009 National Census of Nonprofit Management Programs provided the following statistics: 292 colleges and universities with courses in nonprofit management. An additional 132 colleges offer at least one to three such courses for undergraduate credit, with nearly seventy of these schools being in affiliation with American Humanics (an alliance of colleges, universities and nonprofit orgs. preparing undergrad students for careers with youth and human service agencies) (Mirabella, 19962009). What does all this mean for nonprofit organizations? Well, with growing rates of environmental and social awareness in recent years, more and more undergraduate and graduate programs are being directed in preparing college students for careers in nonprofits. A vast majority of these Major and Master’s programs are in Nonprofit Management, Fundraising, Strategic Planning, and Human Resource and Financial Management and are also run in close research, education curriculum, and recruitment affiliation with nonprofit organizations seeking to spread their knowledge of their purpose, services, and (career/research) opportunities across campuses throughout the US and abroad. This means that growing trends in education are now giving nonprofit organizations, such as Livestrong, a great opportunity to not only in spread the news of its services to the student populations (through grassroots, fundraisers, and speaker events) but also to directly have an impact and influence on the education and professional preparation of future nonprofit employees (Mirabella & Wish, 2001). Important Notes: (Specific information to keep in mind, ReThe University of Texas at Austin and Its Partner Colleges and Universities): ● *The University of Texas at Austin has no Undergraduate Majors in Nonprofit Management as of yet (can be created in the future); however it does offer ●Professional Certification through its Bridging Disciplines Program in “Social Entrepreneurship & Nonprofits” ● Masters/Ph.D. program in Nonprofit Management through the UT LBJ School of Public Affairs. ● Career Fairs and Career Recruitment Services for each School/Department of the University, as well as: the Leadership Institute (LEI) and TexasExes working with the Office of the Dean of Students and the Office of the University President; the AT&T Executive Center (for professional and academic presentations, competitions, speaker conferences, etc.); the Student Organizations Center and the Student Activities Center; the Student Services Building (which included the University Health Center), and numerous student clubs and Greek organizations seeking professional networking and
- 6. development opportunities. (Retrieved from: Seton Hall University’s academic page listing national programs & schools servicing “Nonprofit Management Education” for Undergraduates: http://academic.shu.edu/npo/list/php?sort=state&type=ug Graduates: http://academic.shu.edu/npo/list/php?sort=stete&type=gr) 2.6 Social Media Among Young Adults As social medias have developed over the past couple of decades, the young adult and adolescent generation has taken them on as principle forms of communication. According to M.L. Halse and B.J. Mallinson at Rhodes University, generational theory “postulates that the state of the world at a particular time in history leads to certain commonalities in the global environment and in the experiences people have in this context, particularly in early life and adolescence, which affect their attitudes, expectations, and values as adults” (Halse & Mallinson, 2009) In our present society, social medias such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtbue have become such “factors” that “affect their attitudes, expectations and values.” The young adult, or “Y,” generation is “characterized by high levels of technical literacy, is fascinated by new technologies, and is accustomed to rapid gratification, expecting uptodate and accurate information on demand, wherever they are and whatever they’re doing” (Halse & Mallinson, 2009). In reference to Facebook, it has grown so quickly and across such a large geographical spectrum, that it has become one of the top medias in our society today. In reference to Twitter (Hodgson, 2010), there are several things to consider when tweeting: ● Post important tweets 4 times a day; 812 hours apart ●You can only reach 10%24% of your followers with a single tweet Furthermore, when examining Youtube, as of 2008, over 100 million videos were watched each day (Ching, Dale & Lui, 2008). Lastly, Google currently owns Youtube. This means that whenever one searches something on Google, Youtube videos appear as results. 3.0 Survey and Distribution 3.1 Survey Composition and Distribution In order to better understand the student population at UT, we chose to create a survey titled “Livestrong: Empowering People” on www.surveymonkey.com. As a group ,we selected six questions, which we sent out in a survey to 1000+ friends via Facebook. Our purpose was to find out what people already knew concerning Livestrong and whether they were willing to learn more about Livestrong’s services. Our target audience was men and women ages 1825. Of the 1000+ invited to take the survey, 259 responded with answers. Of the 259 responses, however, SurveyMonkey only allowed us to view the first 100. Results from 100 responses are shown in the following table. 3.2 Survey Results and Explanation As predicted, nearly every participant has heard of Livestrong. However, only 11.1% know it can accommodate persons of multiple ethnicities and languages, a very small percentage that we hope to aid in increasing. Livestrong also provides cancer consultation. This is a very novel service that, based on our results, is not well known. These low percentages illustrate the need
- 7. for more awareness campaigns regarding what the nonprofit organization specifically does and offers. Moreover, most participants are unaware that survival rates for the young adult population are not increasing. An effective awareness campaign will quickly spread these facts about Livestrong. People are willing to listen, and Livestrong needs to capitalize on this. See Appendix 5.1 for full results. 4.0 Recommendations After much research, we have formulated several recommendations for Livestrong. Although these strategies will help with some immediate campus outreach and awareness, much of it will occur overtime. As more events and connections are created with college students and young adults, people will eventually start seeing past the brand and start seeing what Livestrong actually does for society. 4.1 Ride for the Roses: Campus Style Currently, Livestrong has a Bike Race called “Ride for the Roses” in order to raise awareness and money for the nonprofit. Unfortunately, though, “Ride for the Roses” is not extremely accessible to young adults and more specifically college students. Many of the events are invitation only. “Ride for the Roses” weekend is great for honoring people who are already affiliated with Livestrong, but we believe that a bike ride more open to the public is needed. Therefore, we recommend that a “Ride for the Roses: Campus Style” is created for collegeaged students. “Ride for the Roses: Campus Style” will have a similar feel to “The Longhorn Run” and “Race for the Cure.” When implementing this strategy, though, there needs to be valiant effort to make sure the audience sees past the Livestrong Brand. In order to do this, an avid communication campaign that informs college students about what Livestrong has to offer will need to be implemented. In order to effectively inform the public of what Livestrong has to offer, several things will need to supplement the “Ride for the Roses: Campus Style.” For the communications campaign we plan to: ● Have an informational speaker on campus ● Establish local connections with organizations and other corporate sponsors ●Advertise via facebook, twitter, and youtube ● Give each participant a tshirt and “bag” with information regarding Livestrong in exchange for an entry fee Public speakers on college campuses can be very successful when advertised in the right way. In order to publicize the speaker, Livestrong will need to tweet about the event, write about it on facebook, make a facebook event, and introduce a video via youtube that previews the speaker. Once these media strategies are implemented, word of mouth will take care of the rest. In this case, the speaker’s message needs to be mostly informational about what Livestrong actually does. The speaker can talk about the services that Livestrong offers, the counseling center that is on site, the bilingual counselors that are provided, and any testimonies of people that have been helped by Livestrong. In order to make the bike ride participants see past the brand, several steps need to be taken. Every year, Susan G. Komen puts on “Race for the Cure” in locations around the nation. Due to its accessibility, thousands of participants, ages ranging from teenager to senior citizen,
- 8. sign up for the event every year. When signing up, participants pay a small set among of money and in exchange participate in the race, as well as, receive a tshirt and bag of information about Susan G. Komen and how breast cancer is affecting women today. So, we have come to the conclusion that “Ride for the Roses: Campus Style” needs to take on a similar feel. In order to make it accessible to as many college students as possible, the fee to enter should be small. We recommend around a $30 fee. After paying this money, the person can ride in the race, as well as receive a tshirt and bag of information. See Appendix 5.2 for the template and information regarding the tshirt. In addition to the shirt, we recommend a bag that supplies the participant with information regarding the services that Livestrong offers as well as how cancer is affecting young adults today. When putting this bag together, the information will intend to “empower the people; not to scare them.” 4.2 Establishing a Connection Establishing a connection with local organizations in The University of Texas’ surrounding community will help Livestrong meet the young adult population, as well as tell others about what they do for the community. For example, our research found that Susan G. Komen has over one hundred national sponsors and is in alliance with the Greek community by being Zeta Tau Alpha’s philanthropy (www.komen.org). The month of October is breast cancer awareness month across the country. Throughout the month, Zeta is partnered with Susan G. Komen to sponsor the Survivor Program at Race for the Cure (www.ZetaTauAlpha.org). Establishing a connection with a Greek, or nonGreek, organization on campus will be beneficial to Livestrong. Making local connections could be the steppingstone for Livestrong that enables them to have corporate sponsors that are directly affiliated with college students. We recommend getting paired with local Austin organizations, such as: ● Tyler’s ● Academy ●Dick’s Sporting Goods Affiliating with these local businesses will help generate advertising on a much larger scale versus only using word of mouth and social media. Furthermore, the substantial support Livestrong offers to those affected by cancer is not being maximized because Livestrong lacks a strong connection with campus organizations, as well as, organizations that have high young adult involvement. According to our research, Livestrong is no doubt a familiar organization to the majority of college students, but very few students actually know what Livestrong does on a daily basis. In order to make an impact at The University of Texas at Austin, Livestrong needs to implement the following strategies: ● Communicate with The Daily Texan to get Livestrong’s name and mission out to students ● Suggest partnerships with sororities and other campus organizations that will allow them to use Livestrong in their philanthropies ● Connect with registered student organizations, namely service organizations, to spread Livestrong’s purpose and functions ● Connect with local businesses By getting in contact with campus organizations, Livestrong will be able to spread awareness of its mission, upcoming events (such as the “Ride for the Roses: Campus Style”), cancer resources,
- 9. and more. Once Livestrong achieves communication on this micro level, they will have greater success in locating national organizations that will aide Livestrong in expanding to other college campuses and young adult populations across the country. 4.3 Connecting to Campus Organizations In addition to establishing local connections in the Austin community, as well as the area surrounding campus, we recommend that Livestrong strives to make direct campus connections as well. ● In order to start working with University Career Fairs and Career Services, register your organization online. (Please use the following link to register): https://accessut.utexas.edu/register_company.cfm ● To spread news of Livestrong’s Mission and Services, as well as information about opportunities to work with the volunteer, philanthropy, and campuswide events there is no better way than using a quick and simple search engine to find the specific student organizations that Livestrong might be interested in working with, and using this conveniently organized database in order to find and use the contact information of the Advisor, PR and VP Officers of these organizations (contacting these individuals via email or phone brings the greatest results). The following search link is also easily accessible from the Student Activities and Leadership Development front page: http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sald/studentorgs/vieworgs.php ●To get in touch with faculty and university offices in order to work with them in research and academic projects, contact the Bridging Disciplines and Faculty Research representatives. They are looking for organizations such as Livestrong to connect the students to. See the following links: ○ Bridging Disciplines (Social Entrepreneurship and Nonprofits Faculty Panel, 20092011): http://www.utexas.edu/ugs/bdp/faculty/participation/panels/sen ○ Eureka~Academic Research: http://www.utexas.edu/research/eureka/ 4.4 Social Media Since Livestrong wants to make a connection with the young adult population, we recommend they advertise the race through means of social media. Almost all of the young adult population, and increasingly more middle and upper age population, have become Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube members. See Section 2.6 for key findings. We recommend establishing and revamping these social media tools. We have several recommendations for the Livestrong Facebook page: ● Have more use of the wall posts (posts from the public are great, but there should be a better balance between Livestrong statuses and posts from the public). ● Getting a Livestrong employees/ intern to be in charge of adding new picture, updating statuses/ quotes to the page ● Use Livestrong page for upcoming events, such as bike race Although we do believe it is important to keep the “personal” aspect of the page, we also believe that there is a way to balance that. Facebook is complex enough to accommodate both posts from people affected by cancer as well as information and promotion from Livestrong itself. In the weeks leading up to the bike race, Livestrong needs have someone updating their Twitter with how to get involved, signup or volunteer for the race. Twitter is one of the newest social media
- 10. outlets that a growing number of people have become fans and followers of. Having person on staff or an intern updating the twitter status with statistics, facts and events that Livestrong is participating in or hosting will aid others in seeing past Livestrong as just a “brand;” ideally, they will see everything that they actually do for the community. As mentioned above, we recommended doing a bike race on campus with a guest speaker coming to talk to the participants about what Livestrong is and what they offer. We also recommend streaming a video of the campus speaker on Youtube so people not in attendance are able to view the video online in order help increase even more awareness of what Livestrong does. Other universities/adult population will also have the ability to view the video and become interested in learning more of what the bike race is and how to get involved. We also recommend putting the video as a status on the Livestrong Facebook page, and tweeting it on Twitter in the days leading up to the race. In addition to the video of the speaker, we have created and produced a video to promote awareness of Livestrong. See presentation for video. In making the video, we strove to produce an emotional aspect, but also an informational aspect that conveys exactly what services Livestrong offers. When making the video, we surveyed an additional group of approximately 30 and asked them two questions: ● What word or phrase comes to mind when you hear the word “cancer?” ● What word or phrase comes to mind when you hear the word “Livestrong?” Their answers, as well as several of our answers, are used in making the video. In order to effectively use this piece of media, we recommend streaming it over Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and the Livestrong website. 5.0 Appendix 5.1 Survey Results Question % Yes % No 1. Have you ever heard of Livestrong? 99% 1% 2. Have you or anyone you know directly used Livestrong Services? 21% 79% 3.Before this survey, were you aware that LiveSTRONG offers onsight counseling for cancer patients and anyone else affected by the disease? 15% 85% 4. Before this survey, were you aware that LiveSTRONG strives to accommodate multiple nationalities and ethnicities by way of bilingual services? 11.1% 88.9% 5. Before this survey, were you aware that cancer survival rates for young adults (ages 1840) are not currently increasing? 12% 88%
- 11.
- 12.
- 13.
- 14.