Love, Live, Learn

withpurpose
Campaign Proposal

Alyssa Zinar, Lizzy Fletcher, Yara Jouzy,

Carli Thomas and Christina Connolly

COMM483

December 15, 2017

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INTRODUCTION
TEAM INTRODUCTION:
This proposal was created by Simon Says PR Firm. The following team members
were involved:
• Alyssa Zinar, Creative Director
• Lizzy Fletcher, Events Coordinator
• Yara Jouzy, Strategic Planner
• Carli Thomas, Financial Analyst
• Christina Connolly, Community Coordinator

SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS:
With Purpose is an organization dedicated to advancing the treatment of childhood
cancer. Erin Benson and Mike Lee created the organization in 2009 when their two-
year-old son, Sam, was diagnosed with a fatal form of brain cancer. After his death,
the couple started With Purpose to inspire “a youth-led movement dedicated to
creating a world where kids with cancer have access to safe and effective
treatment,”(With Purpose).

With Purpose functions to address the shortcomings in the childhood cancer
research process. Childhood cancer is currently the leading cause of death from
disease among children in the US, yet there has been no advancement in treatment
in over 30 years.

This organization works to address these issues by tackling three main “pain
points.”

First, a lack of funding for research is seen in the National Cancer Institute’s budget
that designates only four percent to childhood cancer research. Second, it’s not often
that research surrounding childhood cancer is translated into treatments and
clinical trials the kids will get to take advantage of. Third, the lack of profitability for
pharmaceutical companies discourages them from developing cancer drugs to help
children.

The organization works to support advocacy initiatives and innovative research
through its partnership with youth and community leaders. With Purpose relies on
youthful volunteers from local businesses and college campuses to mobilize the
organization’s efforts. Together, With Purpose and its partners are working to
remove the barriers for advancing childhood cancer treatment.

PROBLEM STATEMENT:
With Purpose must raise awareness about its organization or it will not be able to
expand its youth-led movement to make sure children with cancer have better
treatment options.

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RESEARCH
SECONDARY RESEARCH:
The following are four key insights that were gathered from online sources to help
drive the creation of the campaign:
Key Insight 1: With Purpose lacks exposure
With Purpose is not visible to many people outside of Minnesota. In a search for
cancer charities in the United States, With Purpose was not even listed, according to
the Cancer Index. The organization’s digital footprint is severely lacking and
outdated in many of its items, according to With Purpose. This lack of exposure has
allowed for its competitors to maintain their stronghold in the market.

Key Insight 2: Pediatric cancer rates are increasing
Unlike other cancers, “childhood cancer incidence rates have slowly increased by
0.6 percent per year since 1975,” according to The American Cancer Society. With
the cancer rates still increasing among people ages 0-14 years old, the data shows
that there is a need for more donations and charities, like With Purpose, to help fund
research and clinical trials. Additionally, in 2017 there will be an estimated 10,2070
new pediatric cancer cases diagnosed in the U.S. alone, according to The American
Cancer Society.

Key Insight 3: Youth-led activism is the basis of With Purpose’s mission
With Purpose focuses on getting youth involved in creating change. Through this,
they offer opportunities to integrate charitable choices into the activities people are
already doing every day. There is currently one college chapter of With Purpose and
it is at Texas A&M, known as With Purpose College Station (WPCS), according to
With Purpose’s website. The chapter has partnered with local organizations to host
profit sharing events that have been successful in generating profits and press. Local
news station, KBTX-TV, has produced stories and invited WPCS members for
interviews, according to With Purpose College Station’s website. Through this
successful chapter on at Texas A&M, it is apparent that youth-led activism is a good
way to garner support and increase awareness of With Purpose.

Key Insight 4: Americans, and Millennials, are willing to donate
In order to make a difference, With Purpose needs to solicit donations. Luckily,
research shows that from 2015 to 2016 Americans’ monetary donations to
philanthropic organizations increased by 4.2 percent, according to Charitable Giving
Statistics. Considering that Millennials are the largest living generation, it is
important to note that they are willing to donate. In 2017, “52 percent of Millennials
made a donation to a cause affiliated with a social issue,” according to The Millennial
Impact Report. People’s willingness to donate and interest in pediatric cancer
should be reflected in the government funding allocation; however, “only four
percent of federal government cancer research funding goes to study pediatric
cancer,” according to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation.
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SWOT:

Strengths Weaknesses

• Unique organization, one of the few nationally • Have not updated blog (other than Bateman
recognized childhood cancer foundations. announcement) on website since 2016/early 2017
• Already have an established “advocate” program • Underdeveloped website with little content
• Have an established academic partnership • Not many events available for the public or volunteers
program that recruits many enthusiastic and to get involved in
educated students to further the cause. • No media presence (articles posted on the website)
• Passionate founders with first hand experience since December 27, 2016 and lack of presence on
with childhood cancer and the system’s lack of popular social media platforms
clinical trials • No visible improvement in the organization
• Current partnership with a Greek advocacy • Small number of community partnerships
organization that has credibility and a successful
fundraising history

Opportunities Threats

• Not an oversaturated market, so there is room for • Other established and well-known organization’s
expansion dedicated to childhood diseases/cancer pull on
• Many local and national Children’s Hospitals donations
available for nationwide partnerships • TerpThon
• Annual growth in the donations, grants and • Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation
endowments industry pave way for more action • St. Judes
from the foundation • Penn State THON
• Small research budget for childhood cancer from the
National Cancer Institute
• Treatments are continuously changing
• Threats to cancel funding by Trump administration

PRIMARY RESEARCH:
We conducted a survey using a Google Form and held two focus groups with
University of Maryland students. The content of both these methods included topics
such as donating, volunteering, student involvement on campus and connection to
cancer.

Survey
We created a survey of 9 questions (see appendix a) and asked UMD students about
their volunteering/ donating habits and their perspectives on charity organizations
they support. This survey was posted on a UMD Facebook group and was taken by
50 students. These questions consisted of both closed-ended and open-ended
questions that ranged between answers such as yes or no, scales and short
answers. We began by asking them if they volunteer or donate, and if their answer
was yes to identify the organization. The questions were general and then became
personal when we asked them for information such as “have you ever known
anyone that’s been affected by pediatric cancer?” Lastly, we ended the survey asking
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the students if they knew about With Purpose and how willing they are to buy
merchandise knowing it will benefit a charitable cause.

Survey Main Findings:
• 50 percent of respondents volunteer and 50 percent do not
• 96 percent of respondents know or have known someone with cancer
• Almost half of respondents know someone affected by pediatric cancer
• 98 percent of respondents had not heard of With Purpose
• 96 percent of respondents are willing to buy something if the proceeds go to
charity

We also found that our primary public is more willing to support health-related
charities. This finding is important for With Purpose because it provides insight into
whether undergraduate students are be willing to get involved and donate to their
organization.

Focus Groups
We had two focus groups with seven people in each group. The participants were
selected through the University of Maryland Class of 2018 Facebook group, where
we asked students if they wanted to participate. Based on the responses, we then
sent the students the Google Form survey and ensured there was a diverse group of
students in age, gender, student involvement and lifestyles. These focus groups will
allow us to get more detailed information that could be left out from the survey
responses. The surveys will be helpful because we can gather information from a
larger, more representative sample of UMD students.

We conducted the focus groups in study rooms in McKeldin Library on campus. Each
meeting was approximately one hour long. The questions were based on
volunteerism, willingness to donate to causes, motivational factors and what
personal connections the participants have to this type of disease/children. During
the sessions, we also had students read Sam’s story. After reading the story, we
discussed methods of volunteering, raising awareness and donating and how they
felt about the messages we showed them. See Appendix A for a list of the questions
asked during the sessions.
Focus Groups Main Findings:
• “I love to help and volunteer, but I feel like I won’t unless it’s something
related to me. If my friend is sick and battling a disease I would be there one
hundred percent.”
• “I know TerpTHON has a big following on campus, but I’m not involved. I
think Greek life is really active in it.”
• “I think Sam’s story is really propelling. It made me want to learn more about
him and how I can help raise the budget for childhood cancer research.”
• “Sam’s story reminds me of another kid I know in my hometown who has
cancer. I like being able to follow along with her journey, that way I feel
involved.”
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This word cloud shows students’ responses to the question, “What drives you to
donate, support and volunteer a particular philanthropy?” Most students said
emotional stories and personal connections are what drive them to support, donate
and volunteer. The topics/factors that drive students to do the least is easy
volunteer and children. Students will participate if there is something in it for them
as well, such as merchandise, events or free giveaways. Overall, there were many
factors that drive students to help and this highlights the most important ones.

PLANNING
GOALS:
• Advance the brand identity of With Purpose and its unique, youth-led
approach to raising awareness of childhood cancer treatment.

• For With Purpose to become a leader on-campus for activism in the fight
against pediatric cancer.

OBJECTIVES:
Outcome:
• Increase the UMD community’s understanding of the problems surrounding
childhood cancer treatment in the US by 15 percent by the end of our
campaign
• Establish a With Purpose chapter at the University of Maryland with 50
active members by the end of the campaign
• Attract at least 150 attendees to the Care-nival taking place in April 2018
• Fundraise at least $10,000 by June 2018
• Fundraise at least $25,000 by end of campaign
Output:
• Gain at least 500 followers for @TerpsWithPurpose on each social media
platform (Twitter, Instagram and Facebook) by February 2019
• Garner 500,000 social media impressions across @TerpsWithPurpose
accounts by the end of the campaign
• Engage at least 50 participants in the #MyPurpose design contest from June
to December
• Sell 100 beanies at Back to School Beanies
• Attract 150 runners to participate in the Reasons to Run 5k
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PUBLICS:
Primary Secondary

• UMD undergraduate • UMD staff and faculty

students • Other students from surrounding
colleges

Intervening Moderating

• The Diamondback • Spokespeople

• WMUC
• President Wallace Loh

BIG IDEA:
Divide With Purpose into three themes, which are love, live, and learn with
multiple corresponding events.

MESSAGES:
Primary
• Start loving, living and learning with purpose
• LOVE: Do the things you love, but with more purpose!
• LIVE: Live your best life with purpose!
• LEARN: Learn how YOU can make a difference

Secondary
• Through education, events and volunteering, With Purpose motivates the
community to get involved in the fight against childhood cancer
• You can integrate charitable choices into your everyday purchases
• Expand the fight for childhood cancer treatment to social media and your
online community

SPOKESPERSON:
Through primary and secondary research, it became clear
that students at the University of Maryland are more
inclined to participate in organizations like With Purpose
if they have a personal connection to the cause. To foster
this personal connection, our team has chosen a
spokesperson named Luke Engler to be the face of Love,
Live, Learn With Purpose.

Luke is a 6-year-old boy who was recently diagnosed with
brain cancer. We feel he embodies With Purpose and its
foundation, especially because the organization was
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created in honor of a little boy who had brain cancer as well. Luke and his family
are from Olney, MD, just about 20 miles from the university. His parents, Nancy and
Rich Engler, created a Facebook page entitled “Luke’s Squad” and encourage
surrounding communities to follow Luke’s journey and offer their support. Because
of the proximity to UMD, he has a large following on campus. The Facebook page
has over a thousand followers, and we know that at least 70 of them are UMD
students. We plan to have Luke and his family or a representative from Luke’s
Squad present at all of our events throughout the year so that the UMD community
can follow his journey and find a personal connection to With Purpose.

COMMUNICATION THEORY:
Kenneth Burke’s theory of Dramatism most closely
aligned with our research and campaign. Burke’s
Dramatistic pentad is made up of five components that
work to understand human motives for action (Burke,
1978). The first component, act, explains what action
we are trying to get people to take. In our case, we are
trying to rally community support for the With Purpose
chapter at UMD. The scene, or context, we created
around the act, motivates people through our theme
line: Love, Live, Learn With Purpose. The people we are
targeting through our campaign, or agents, are UMD students and Luke’s Squad who
will come out and support With Purpose. The agency, or means used to support
With Purpose, comes through participating in events, volunteering at children’s
hospitals and interacting with the social media campaign. Tying all these aspects
together is the purpose, or reason for doing the act, which is to advance the brand
identity of With Purpose and its unique, youth-led approach.

IMPLEMENTATION
STRATEGIES:
Strategy 1: Partner with Love Your Melon, a Minnesota based apparel brand
Strategy 2: Engage UMD students with educational, volunteer and lifestyle events
Strategy 3:Generate local media coverage surrounding the campaign’s public events
Strategy 4: Position With Purpose as of one of the leading childhood cancer
organizations to UMD students

LOVE YOUR MELON PARTNERSHIP:
Love Your Melon is an apparel brand founded in 2012 in Minnesota by two college
students. The organization partners with multiple nonprofits all dedicated to the
fight against pediatric cancer. Love Your Melon donates 50 percent of its profits to
these partners, which means With Purpose would be among the recipients. The
brand sells apparel ranging from beanies to sweatshirts and other accessories, and
they have proven to be very popular among college students. In fact, Love Your
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Melon has an established chapter on UMD’s campus and has several hundred
followers on each of their social media accounts.

TACTICS:
Love
Tactic 1: Back To School Beanies
We will host a pop-up shop with Love Your Melon to
sell merchandise adorned with the Terps With
Purpose logo. We want to capitalize on the back-to-
school season, so hosting this pop-up shortly after
school begins will give students the chance to collect
and show off their swag as soon as they can. Love
Your Melon beanies are already popular on campus,
so we can use the UMD chapter of the company to
help support the event.

Tactic 2: Puppy Palooza
With this event, we will engage University of
Maryland students with something they love, puppies.
Terps With Purpose will hold Puppy Palooza during
winter finals week to help students de-stress. Puppy Palooza will be held at
McKeldin Mall. The charge to attend the event will be $1 or more with a donation,
and the money will go to paying for the space, dog group and With Purpose.

Live
Tactic 3: Reasons to Run 5K
To kick off the “Live” category of our
campaign, we will host a “Reasons to Run
5K.” We want our members to get active
and run to help raise money for childhood
cancer research. There will be a
registration fee of $15 for each participant.
The fee covers the cost of a T-shirt and the
remainder will be donated to Terps With
Purpose and childhood cancer research.
We will invite Luke’s Squad to give a short
speech before and after the run so that
students know exactly who and what they
are running for.






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Tactic 4: With Purpose Care-nival
Our Care-nival aims to bring together the UMD community in a day of lighthearted
fun. We will rent carnival games and activities such as a dunk booth, a moon bounce,
paint balloon darts and face painting. We will heavily brand the event with the
Terps With Purpose logo and host the carnival on McKeldin mall to ensure that any
student or faculty member who walks by and wants to play a game knows that With
Purpose is responsible for the event. We will also invite Luke’s Squad to the event so
that Luke can have fun with Terps With Purpose members and other college student
attendees.

Tactic 5: #MyPurpose Design Contest
In an effort to promote our social media
channels, we will host a design contest to
create a special Terps With Purpose logo
that will be printed on limited edition
Love Your Melon beanies and other swag.
The contest will be held on Instagram and
submissions must include “#MyPurpose”
to be judged. We will announce the
winner before we host the Love Your
Melon pop-up shop so that the design can
be printed on beanies. Throughout the
summer, we will also offer promotions for following @TerpsWithPurpose on
Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. They will range from coupon codes for Love Your
Melon merchandise to discounted admission rates to Terps With Purpose events.

Learn
Tactic 6: Terps With Purpose
Before we can hold any events or activities, we will establish a University of
Maryland chapter of With Purpose, which will be called Terps With Purpose. The
chapter will recruit undergraduate students to participate in monthly meetings and
events. In addition, the chapter will use social media platforms to advertise and
promote the chapter’s mission, With Purpose’s mission and organization, and
events. The main goal will be to raise money for With Purpose and pediatric cancer
research while getting students actively involved with the cause.

Tactic 7: Volunteer Visits
To educate students involved with Terps With Purpose about pediatric cancer and
give them an opportunity to volunteer, we will hold visitations at local children’s
hospitals and pediatric cancer centers. During these visits, students will have the
opportunity to meet with children currently receiving treatment in Children’s
National, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and University of Maryland Children’s
Hospital. They will play games, read stories, and participate in other activities.
Students will be given the chance to volunteer three times during the year.

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Tactic 8: Protest With Purpose
In order to increase awareness for With Purpose and garner
support for their purpose of funding pediatric cancer
research, Terps With Purpose will create a petition on
Change.org. The petition’s mission will be to increase the
government allocated budget for pediatric cancer research.
Student volunteers with the Terps With Purpose will
exercise activism both online and in person. There will be
places around campus for students to sign the petition such
as McKeldin Library, STAMP Student Union, and Eppley
Recreation Center, as well as links to be shared on Twitter
and Facebook. Through this, the primary public will be able
to get involved by learning about the current status of
pediatric cancer research and what they can do to help. The
sharing nature of a Change.org petition will allow us to
reach all of our publics.

Tactic 9: Maryland Day Booth
To increase awareness on campus, Terps With Purpose will leverage the activities
occurring on Maryland’s campus. Terps With Purpose will have a booth at Maryland
Day. At the booth, there will be informational fliers, the petition, and a place to make
donations to the chapter and With Purpose. Additionally, there will be place where
students, visitors and faculty members can sign-up to be on Terps With Purpose’s
email list to stay updated on the chapter’s mission, goals, events, and progress.

CHANNELS:
We want to capitalize on the growing reach of online communities, so our main
channel will be social media. We will create our own Twitter, Facebook and
Instagram account for @TerpsWithPurpose. Luke’s Squad is extremely active on
Facebook, so we will direct students who want to get involved with us to also like
and follow Luke’s page. We also hope to gain coverage from the student-run
newspaper, The Diamondback and student-run radio station, WMUC.

THEME LINE:
• Love, Live, Learn With Purpose

TIMELINE:
When organizing a timeline for our campaign, we tried to be mindful of the
academic calendar. Since our campaign is targeted at UMD students, it’s important
that we organize events and social media promotions around students’ schedules.
With that in mind, we began our campaign by building up the social media following
for @TerpsWithPurpose so we could use these outlets to publicize events later on. It
was also important to establish the UMD With Purpose chapter at the beginning of
the campaign so these students could carry out the events.
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Events like Maryland Day and Puppy Palooza fit naturally into the schedule because
of Maryland Day’s set date and the idea of bringing in puppies during finals week.
We chose to host Care-nival during the first weekend in May because of the nice
weather and the opportunity to have a semester-end event. This would take place
during the first weekend in May to ensure it is not too close to finals when students
are busy studying. Back to School Beanies works best in September after the
conclusion of the design contest and will allow students to buy warm accessories in
preparation for fall. The 5k fit well in November because there were no other events
scheduled at this time. The weeks leading up to Thanksgiving are also a popular
time for running events when people are inspired to participate while supporting a
worthy cause.

Visits to children’s hospitals will take place when there are no major With Purpose
events being held. This allows supporters to focus on donating their time to the
children and the visits can be shared on social media. The #MyPurpose design
contest was also strategically placed in the summer because students can still
participate and support With Purpose without being on campus. It also affects the
Back to School Beanies event that will take place soon after in September.

February March April May

• Create social media • Begin promotional • Booth set-up at • Host Care-nival

accounts for offers for following Maryland Day
@TerpWithPurpose @TerpsWithPurpose
social media • Promote Care-nival
• Develop With Purpose
Chapter and recruit • Create and get support • Volunteer at hospitals
members for petition

June July August September

• #MyPurpose Design • Promote #MyPurpose • Release winner of • Host Love Your

Contest on social media Design Contest contest on social media, Melon Back to
start to promote pop- School Beanies
• Volunteer at hospitals up shop
• Begin to promote
5K run

October November December January

• Continue to raise • Host 5K run • Host Puppy Palooza • Volunteer at

money and encourage event during finals hospitals
participation for 5K • Promote Puppy Palooza
on social media
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BUDGET:

Event Cost

Maryland Day $250

• Printing (flyers, petition, email sign up), booth decorations, candy

Care-nival $12,000
• Game supplies/rentals, food, DJ, space rental

5K run $800
• Flyers, t-shirt design, street permit

Love Your Melon Pop-up $500

• Snacks, flyers, space rental

Puppy Palooza $450

• Flyers, space rental, puppy transportation

Transportation $200
• Uber, taxi, bus or train for Luke and Luke’s squad to travel to and from events

Total: $14,200

EVALUATION
Outcomes
• Did With Purpose increase awareness about childhood cancer?
• Did UMD’s community increase understanding of the problems surrounding
childhood cancer treatment?
• Do UMD students want to be involved in With Purpose?

Outtakes
• Do UMD students consider With Purpose to be one of the leading childhood
cancer organizations?
• Do UMD students want to attend the events, volunteer at the hospital and
become a member at the chapter?

Outputs
• Did With Purpose gain at least 500 followers on each of its social media
platforms?
• Did With Purpose create at least 500,000 social media impressions?
• Did With Purpose recruit 50 members for the chapter?
• Did at least 50 people participate in the #MyPurpose design contest?
• Were at least 100 beanies sold at Back to School Beanies?
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• Did at least 150 runners participate in the Reasons to Run 5k?

Outgrowth
• Did any other student organization not associated with With Purpose share
the information, sponsor events or get involved?
• Did other communities in Maryland get involved with With Purpose?

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Appendix A: Research Report

SWOT
Strengths Weaknesses

• Unique organization, one of the few nationally • Have not updated blog (other than Bateman
recognized childhood cancer foundations announcement) on website since 2016/early 2017
• Already have an established “ advocate” program • Underdeveloped website with little content
• Have an established academic partnership program • Not many events available for the public or
that recruits many enthusiastic and educated volunteers to get involved in
students to further the cause. • No media presence (articles posted on the website)
• Passionate founders with first hand experience with since December 27, 2016 and lack of presence on
childhood cancer and the system’s lack of clinical popular social media platforms
trials • No visible improvement in the organization
• Current partnership with a Greek advocacy • Small number of community partnerships
organization that has credibility and a successful
fundraising history

Opportunities Threats

• Many local and national Children’s Hospitals • Other established and well-known organization’s
available for nationwide partnerships dedicated to childhood diseases/cancer pull on
• Annual growth in the donations, grants and donations
endowments industry pave way for more action from • TerpThon
the foundation • Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation
• Seasonal activities or other on campus events • St. Judes
• Penn State THON
• Small research budget for childhood cancer from the
National Cancer Institute
• Treatments are continuously changing
• Threats to cancel funding by Trump administration

SECONDARY RESEARCH

THESIS:
The focus of this research proposal is to understand college students’ awareness of
childhood cancer research and assess their awareness of With Purpose. We are also
interested in understanding college students’ willingness to donate and support
charitable organizations.
Our secondary research process consisted of reviewing the With Purpose website
and other cancer organizations. We looked mainly into online sources that gave
insights in three general categories: childhood cancer statistics, With Purpose and
its college partners, and general American charity donations.
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INSIGHTS:
Childhood Cancer Insights
In order to figure out how to help With Purpose and create a campaign for them, we
needed to understand why childhood cancer research needs donations. Unlike other
cancers, “childhood cancer incidence rates have slowly increased by 0.6 percent per
year since 1975” (American Cancer Society, 2017). It was also important for us to
define which age ranges constitute childhood in childhood cancers, which we found
to be ages zero through 14 (American Cancer Society, 2017). Knowing many
charities that focus on providing donations to childhood cancer research, we were
hesitant to believe that With Purpose could stand out or even be necessary.
However, through research we learned that “an estimated 10,270 new cancer cases
will be diagnosed among children zero to 14 years of age in the US in 2017”
(American Cancer Society, 2017). Unfortunately, the growing number of cancer
cases is a bad thing for society, but shows that there is room for more childhood
cancer charities in the market.
With Purpose Insights
With Purpose is not visible to many people outside of Minnesota. In a search for
cancer charities in the United States, With Purpose was not even listed, according to
the Cancer Index. The organization’s digital footprint is severely lacking and
outdated in many of its items, according to With Purpose. This lack of exposure has
allowed for its competitors to maintain their stronghold in the market.
The most important insights we found are related to the organization’s Youth-led
Activism, specifically their involvement on college campuses. In 2015, With Purpose
partnered with Texas A&M to create a student-run chapter. Since its inception, With
Purpose College Station (WPCS) regularly organizes fundraisers by contacting local
businesses and encourages students to participate (College). According to a blog
post in May 2017, WPCS currently has 40 members (College). Based on College
Station’s website, With Purpose appears to be an integrated part of Texas A&M. This
semester the chapter has already partnered with three organizations to host profit
sharing events. They are also hosting a “Spike It With Purpose” volleyball
tournament event on Texas A&M’s campus (College). Most notably, WPCS hosts an
annual “With Purpose 5K” that invites college students and community members to
donate money and raise awareness for childhood cancer (College). Last year their
third annual 5K garnered earned media coverage from local news station KBTX-TV
in an article titled “Run With Purpose 5K supports cancer treatment for children,”
(Falls). In past years, KBTX-TV has invited WPCS members on their morning show
for an interview to help promote the event. With the help of Texas A&M students,
With Purpose’s reach has expanded from Minnesota to College Station. This
exemplifies the fact that the issue of location can be overcome. Before starting their
chapter at Texas A&M, students did not have a tie to Minnesota, but they did have
one to childhood cancer advocacy. With Purpose can expand by finding students on
college campuses across the country (but specifically at UMD) that want to actively
contribute to their mission.
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General Charity Donations
While researching American’s donation habits we found that from 2015 to 2016
Americans’ monetary donations to philanthropic organizations increased by 4.2
percent (Charitable Giving Statistics). However, in 2016, “only 9 percent of
charitable dollar donations went to health” related charities (Charitable Giving
Statistics). Other insights we gathered could have major impacts on the publics we
target our campaign to. We found that previous donation decisions influence
subsequent decisions (Leliveld and Risselada, 2017). Meaning that in most
situations, people are less likely to donate if they have already done so previously in
most capacities. Considering that Millennials are the largest living generation, it is
important to note that they are willing to donate. In 2017, “52 percent of Millennials
made a donation to a cause affiliated with a social issue,” according to The Millennial
Impact Report. People’s willingness to donate and interest in pediatric cancer
should be reflected in the government funding allocation; however, “only four
percent of federal government cancer research funding goes to study pediatric
cancer,” according to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation.

KEY FINDINGS:
• An estimated 10,270 new pediatric cancer cases will be diagnosed US in 2017
• Youth-led Activism-With Purpose partnered with Texas A&M to create a
student-run chapter
• “Spike It With Purpose”
• “With Purpose 5K”
• KBTX-TV has invited WPCS members for interviews
• From 2015 to 2016 Americans’ monetary donations to philanthropic
organizations increased by 4.2 percent
• In 2017, “52 percent of Millennials made a donation to a cause affiliated with
a social issue,” according to The Millennial Impact Report

How Research Shaped Our Program
Through our secondary research we found that youth-led activism is important to
With Purpose and effective in spreading its message. We also learned that more
than half of Millennials are willing to donate to social cause issues like childhood
cancer. Therefore, we decided to limit our primary publics to undergraduate
students at the University of Maryland. In addition, as Millennials we know that the
best way to reach Millennials is through social media. As a result, we crafted our
campaign to utilize mostly social media and digital channels. Lastly, we chose a
small primary public in order for our campaign to be a trial that if successful can be
transplanted into other universities throughout the country.




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How Research Shaped Evaluation and Measurement Tools
Research showed people were motivated to donate to health related organizations,
didn’t know about with purpose, volunteerism → evaluated based on levels of
awareness (of With Purpose), money raised, and level of student involvement

Partnership: Love Your Melon
Love Your Melon is a Minnesota based apparel brand founded in 2012. Fifty percent
of their revenue goes to their multiple nonprofit partners who are all dedicated to
the fight against pediatric cancer. Love Your Melon has raised over $3.8 million for
pediatric cancer and has a large following on the University of Maryland’s campus.
The organization has an established chapter on campus as well as Facebook and
Instagram accounts with over 500 followers each.

Spokesperson: Luke’s Squad
Luke Engler is a 6-year-old boy who was just diagnosed with brain cancer this past
October. His family is from Olney, MD, which is approximately 20 miles from
College Park. Additionally, Luke’s family has created a Facebook page for him
entitled “Luke’s Squad,” and they encourage the surrounding communities to like
the page and follow his journey. Looking at our group’s mutual friends alone, over
70 UMD students we know of like and follow Luke’s page.

What We Learned By Doing This Research
Through this research, we learned that students are not very involved with pediatric
cancer. Although there are popular clubs dedicated to childhood cancer on campus,
like TerpTHON, there is not enough visibility on the issue. We also learned that
undergraduates are more willing to donate, raise awareness or volunteer if they
have a personal connection to the cause.

GRAPHICS:

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PRIMARY RESEARCH
We conducted a survey using a Google Form and held two focus groups of UMD
students. The content of both these methods included donating, volunteering,
student involvement on campus and connection to cancer.

SURVEY:
We created a survey of 9 questions (see appendix a) and asked UMD students about
their volunteering/ donating habits and their perspectives on charity organizations
they support. This survey was posted on a UMD Facebook group and was taken by
50 students. These questions consisted of both closed-ended and open-ended
questions that ranged between answers such as yes or no, scales and short
answers. We began by asking them if they volunteer or donate, and if their answer
was yes to identify the organization. The questions were general and then became
personal when we asked them for information such as “have you ever known
anyone that’s been affected by pediatric cancer?” Lastly, then ended the survey
inquiring the students if they knew about With Purpose and how willing they were
to buy merchandise knowing it is for a charitable cause.

The following questions were asked on the survey:
1. Have you ever donated to charity? (Y/N)
2. What type of charitable causes are you most willing to support? (You may
choose more than one option)
a) Health-Related
b) Homelessness/Poverty
c) Animal Rights
d) Environment
e) Education
f) Arts and Culture
g) Other
3. Do you currently volunteer with any charitable organizations? (Y/N)
4. Are the organizations on-campus? (has a Maryland chapter or is specific to
Maryland) (Y/N)
5. If you do volunteer with an organization, what is the organization's name? If
you don't please put N/A (Open Ended)
6. Have you known anyone with cancer? (Y/N)
7. Have you ever known anyone that's been affected by pediatric cancer (ages
0-14)? (Y/N)
8. Have you ever heard of the organization "With Purpose"? (Y/N)
9. Would you be willing to buy something (food, clothing, etc.) knowing that a
portion of the proceeds will be donated to a charitable organization? (Y/N)

FINDINGS:
• 50 percent of respondents volunteer and 50 percent do not
• 96 percent of respondents know or have known someone with cancer
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• Almost half of respondents know someone affected by pediatric cancer
• 98 percent of respondents had not heard of With Purpose
• 96 percent of respondents are willing to buy something if proceeds go to
charity

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FOCUS GROUPS:
We had two focus groups with 7 people in each group. The participants were
selected through the University of Maryland Class of 2018 Facebook group, where
we asked students if they wanted to participate. Based on the responses, we then
sent the students the Google Form survey and ensured there was a diverse group of
students in age, gender, student involvement and lifestyles. These focus groups will
allow us to get more detailed information that could be left out from the survey
responses. The surveys will be helpful because we can gather information from a
larger, more representative sample of UMD students.

We conducted the focus groups in study rooms in McKeldin Library on campus. Each
meeting was approximately one hour long. The questions were based on
volunteerism, willingness to donate to causes, motivational factors and what
personal connections the participants have to this type of disease/children. Below
are the questions we used:
• What drives you to donate, support and volunteer a particular philanthropy?
• Do you or someone you know have family members or friends who are
affected by childhood cancer?
• Are you more inclined to participate in a charitable cause that includes
children? Animals? Why?
• What causes have you recently been involved in?
• Are you a part of any clubs on philanthropic clubs campus? How involved are
you?
• Do you feel that there is an adequate number of charities on campus
supporting childhood cancer?
During the focus group, we had students read Sam’s story. After reading the story,
we discussed methods of volunteering, raising awareness and donating and how
they felt about the messages we showed them. The following is Sam’s story:
From the founders of With Purpose...
“It all started when our then two-year-old son, Sam, was diagnosed with
DIPG, a uniformly fatal brain cancer. Ten days later, his twin sisters Ada and
Mae were born. We were told the best modern treatment could offer would
give him, on average, another year. Because he was only 2, Sam was not
eligible for clinical trials.
So we began planning our escape. We would go everywhere, and do
everything. We would manufacture joy at any cost; scrape the fun out of each
moment because we knew they were limited. We would make Sam happy. In
order to execute a plan like that you have to run. You have to pack up your
newborns and your very sick child, put a smile on your face and turn off the
part of your brain screaming “SAVE HIM!”….and just run.
So we did. We took more than twenty trips around the United States. We ran
from our home and jobs in South Carolina, relocating with family and friends
 21

in Minnesota. We ran to museums, zoos, toy stores, beaches and parks. But
we weren’t fast enough.
Near the end, we knelt down before that beautiful child and pleaded with him
to tell us what we could do to make him happy. His response, “I am happy.”
He died the next day.”

FINDINGS:
• “I love to help and volunteer, but I feel like I won’t unless it’s something
related to me. If my friend is sick and battling a disease I would be there one
hundred percent.”
• “I know TerpTHON has a big following on campus, but I’m not involved. I
think Greek life is really active in it.”
• “I think Sam’s story is really propelling. It made me want to learn more about
him and how I can help raise the budget for childhood cancer research.”
• “Sam’s story reminds me of another kid I know in my hometown who is has
cancer. I feel like because the story has been shared, I feel more connected
and involved in her recovery.”

This word cloud shows students responses on the question, “What drives you to
donate, support and volunteer a particular philanthropy?” Most students said
emotional stories and personal connections are what drive them to support, donate
and volunteer. The topics/factors that drives students to do the least is easy
volunteer and children. Students will participate if there is something in it for them
as well such as merchandise, events or free giveaways. Overall, there were many
factors that drive students to help and this highlights the most important ones.

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Appendix B: Graphics

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