The Client

Prostate Cancer Foundation

The Challenge

The donor base and constituency of the Prostate Cancer Foundation as one would imagine, was a demographic that either did not understand the value of social media or viewed it as nothing more than a distraction for another generation. The challenge that founder Michael Milken presented was to educate and create advocacy with supporters, and at the same time create a Social Media presence. At that time the Foundation did not have any social media accounts.

The Solution

The first step was to create an entirely new brand for all of the event programs and Athletes For A Cure was born. The program did not threaten the equity in the Prostate Cancer Foundation and created a portal to the new initiative especially for the wives and children of men who had been diagnosed.

The second step was to build a large group of followers in both the the Facebook and Twitter communities within one year. Having been one of the pioneers in creating social media programs since the days of dial-up all we needed to succeed was our system and a large team of volunteers willing to implement the plan to the letter. One of the great advantages of working with a powerful nonprofit is access to an immense amount of volunteers. We were out to accomplish the impossible.

The Shorty Award was created to be the Academy Awards for social media. Within one year Athletes For A Cure made it onto the worldwide initial ballot. we made it into the finals alongside foundations with years and years of experience in social media and entire departments devoted to social communication. We were up against brand name nonprofits such as; The Susan G. Komen Foundation, Livestrong, The Leukemia Lymphoma Foundation, and The American Cancer Society. In the final vote Athletes For A Cure had won in the nonprofit category. The next day CNN was leading with the story of David overcoming Goliath at the Shorty Awards.

To learn more visit: www.shortyawards.com