Case Studies

The saying reflects the historical reality that many social movements have been born on college campuses, and the biographical reality that many leaders of social change were first inspired as college students. 

California Campus Compact is a consortium of 58 universities and colleges in the state, including Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and others.  Campus Compact seeks to advance “service-based learning.”  It is a growing movement that aims to develop in students a commitment to social benefit by integrating community service with educational programs.  Campus Compact acts as a key catalyst and resource for the movement.

Campus Compact can influence many colleges, which in turn can influence many programs, which in turn can influence many students, which in turn can benefit many recipients of service.  This position makes our client a highly leveraged opportunity for social impact.

It also makes our client a particularly challenging exercise in marketing. 

Campus Compact is a classic example of an important organization that doesn’t directly provide services to those in need but is actually several layers removed.  There is no heartwarming story of a homeless person fed directly by Campus Compact or a picture of an endangered animal saved by its staff.  With this type of organization, it can be challenging to communicate the compelling nature of the cause, especially to potential donors.

Executive Director Elaine Ikeda asked Consulting Within Reach to help the organization solve this dilemma.  CWR listened to numerous individuals within the consortium to truly grasp its message.  Then we identified the potential audiences of that message and interviewed them to understand their perspective.

Out of this comprehensive understanding, CWR produced Campus Compact's first ever "Message Guideline."  This document showed Elaine how to communicate her mission with a new self description, tag line, elevator pitch, value propositions, and more - all in ways that were clear and compelling to outsiders.  The Message Guideline now serves as the starting point of all of the organization's external communication.

To further make the Message Guideline a practical reality for the staff, CWR provided additional tools like a "story bank" that illustrated Campus Compact's impact in narrative format.  A new web archtiecture (awaiting implementation) based on the new marketing direction was also delivered. Finally, we provided some initial training and advice for the staff team to take the next steps needed.

The message of service based learning deserves to be heard.  We're glad to help.