Carry Forward 5K participants putting the mission in motion by carrying another person during their 5K to symbolize one warrior carrying another in their time of need.
Overview
In a year defined by murder hornets, widespread wildfires and a global pandemic, 2020 was a year full of pivots and postponement. But it wasn’t all bad, and at Streetlight Digital, we remember 2020 as the year we joined forces with Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) to reimagine the Carry Forward 5K.
Hired initially to provide overall peer-to-peer fundraising strategy, email strategy and email execution to grow the Carry Forward 5K program, the scope of our work quickly expanded to include paid advertising strategy and execution. Just weeks after we began working together, the pandemic hit, and there was a sudden shift from in-person to virtual events that needed support. Enter: Streetlight Digital.
During a point in time when peer-to-peer fundraising events decreased by more than 33%, we helped WWP increase fundraising through the Carry Forward 5K while creating a pipeline for success in future years.
The Approach
The Carry Forward 5K launched in 2018 and centered around in-person engagement. In 2020, we focused on shifting the teams’ strategies to support fully virtual events. In 2021 — with the vaccine rollout allowing in-person opportunities — we again shifted our strategy towards a hybrid-virtual approach to keep up with post-pandemic times.
Analysis of the WWP brand, the overlap with Carry Forward and the audience opportunities to grow the program
Using high funnel tactics to drive registrations and increase brand awareness both nationally and in city markets
Creative and strategic approach to email and text content to recruit, engage and activate fundraisers
Utilizing marketing promo codes and tentpoles to encourage early registration and fundraising activation
Introducing loyalty programs and incentive tiers to retain fundraisers year-over-year
Incremental, iterative and conservative management of digital advertising channels to maximize results with minimum spend
The Impact
Carry Forward 5K was the only Walk/Run event reported to P2P Professional Forum in 2020 with a positive increase in fundraising year over year, with a 16% increase.
Virtual event registrations increased by 297%. Virtual event revenue increased by 467%.
Overall the campaign has had a 28% increase in participants and a 21% increase in total fundraising from 2019 to 2021.
Fundraising activation is at 44% in 2021 compared to 24% in 2019 (+20%), exceeding the 34% benchmark.
Email and text acquisition grew by 48% in 2021.
The loyalty program launched in 2021 and brought in 96 registrants.
13% of participants are connected to Facebook in 2021, raising $257 compared to the benchmark average of $238.
CPA was decreased -65% from 2019 to 2020, using only half the ad budget of 2019
Using a last-click attribution model, paid search and social ads brought in 32% of registrations in 2021.
“The Streetlight team jumped in to complete our re-launch with collaboration, creativity and incredible knowledge of the peer-to-peer community. We appreciated and valued their strategy, implementation process and responsiveness during the entire project. We look forward to how this hard work will give our community of supporters and fundraisers the tools and resources needed to make an impact on our nation’s brave wounded warriors and their families.”
— Robin Peeples, Former National Director Peer-to-Peer Fundraising, Wounded Warrior Project