Expanding the reach of the Midlands’ largest grant-giving charity
350
media mentions
6.5
million impressions
Meet Tina…
Tina Costello is Chief Executive of Heart of England Community Foundation, the Midlands’ largest grant-giving charity.
As the charity prepared to launch its largest capital grants programme – with £3.1 million being awarded to Black Country Women’s Aid, St Basils, and YMCA – they engaged EAST VILLAGE. to shout about the project far and wide. On the back of this initial success, we were then the charity’s retained agency for two years: taking them through the Covid-19 pandemic and their 25th anniversary celebrations.
Our PR objectives were to:
- Increase awareness of the charity beyond Coventry and Warwickshire, positioning them as a region-wide charity
- Secure business and vertical trade coverage to get the charity in front of prospect donors and corporate sponsors
- Position Tina, the Chief Exec, as a thought-leader in the charity sector; through interviews, comment opportunities, and award nominations
THE RESULTS
We worked closely with the charity’s internal marketing team, creating a 12-month marcomms strategy that was broken down into quarterly campaigns. PR played its part in supporting the overall strategy, focusing on awareness of the charity, showcasing its impact through grant-giving, and placing a spotlight on the people at the helm.
We ensured a steady stream of press releases, which helped secure coverage in local and regional media every month. In addition to weekly news monitoring to uncover comment opportunities for Tina in charity and business media. We also capitalised on the interest in local community work during the Covid-19 pandemic, using Heart of England Community Foundation as a pioneer in local grants at a time when people needed it most.
In two years, we achieved 350 pieces of coverage, with 6.5 million reach.
Coverage highlights include Business Live, Birmingham Post, Midlands Business Insider, and The Business Desk. In addition to Charity Today and Fundraising Magazine.
THE IMPACT
“EAST VILLAGE. have been an integral part to our Marketing and Communications work at the Foundation through supporting us with press releases, coverage, and campaign planning; all whilst being a delight to work with. Our account manager was imperative to representing the work of the Foundation within the region. We can’t thank Tara and the rest of EV. enough for believing in us and being part of the HoECF team!”
Tina Costello, Chief Executive, Heart of England Community Foundation
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