Challenge 

Share Our Spare is a Chicagoland organization that provides essential items for families with young children, such as diapers and baby wipes, to make sure every child has a healthy start to life. While many parents in financial stress can turn to service agencies for food and other necessities, these organizations often struggle to provide baby hygiene items – which is where Share Our Spare fills the gap. Since its founding in 2011, the organization has reached over 50,000 children and distributed millions of diapers, baby wipes, and other essential items across the Chicago area.  

Yet Share Our Spare has struggled to raise awareness about both the critical need for diapers among parents in the community and its work collecting and distributing resources. Its leaders knew that a higher profile locally, particularly among parents, could expand the donor base and allow them to help more families in need. The organization came to Greentarget with the goal of raising awareness and boosting donations at a time of acute diaper need. 

Solution 

Greentarget met with Share Our Spare leaders to learn to learn about its upcoming donation efforts, such as the March Madness Diaper Bracket and the Christmas in July event. The team then developed a strategy that would leverage Chicago media outlets and timely news stories to bring attention to SOS and its mission.  

To put Share Our Spare in front of a broad Chicago audience, Greentarget focused on outreach to local broadcast media and Chicago event calendars. Local TV and radio’s focus on human stories enabled SOS to reach its target audience and convey the emotional impact of its mission. Event calendars also provided a practical way for families looking to give back to the community to connect with SOS, since it is one of the few Chicago nonprofits that allows parents to bring children when volunteering. 

Results 

In just three months, Greentarget secured nine pieces of media coverage for Share Our Spare in both local and national outlets, including WGN TV (two separate segments),  Wintrust Business Lunch, Fox 32, Outside The Loop Radio, Yahoo News, MSN, and more. Additionally, the organization was featured in six local event calendars.  

In the coverage, Share Our Spare was able to advance its signature donation drives, ensuring that relevant audiences consistently heard about their mission and how to help. In March, the organization’s diaper bracket was listed in event calendars from Choose Chicago, WGN, and Daily Herald. In May, WGN featured an interview with SOS Executive Director Alex Goodfellow about how Mother’s Day was the perfect time to donate diapers. Greentarget also secured a full-length TV story with Good Day Chicago for June to create visibility for their Christmas in July campaign. SOS said that these efforts helped revitalize donation campaigns and significantly boost interest in their mission.