Darkness RISING Project (DR) has established itself as a nonprofit leader operating at the intersection of mental health awareness and programming and the performing arts through the reputation, relationships, and referrals of its founder. 

That model had served them well for ten years of steady foundation-building and growth, but there were various threats to the organization’s evolution: dwindling funder and government investment as well as shrinking individual donations, resulting in financial strain that stopped them from hiring full-time staff.

In addition to these financial landscape challenges, project management tools were strewn across silos with no owner beyond institutional memory; email strategy was driven by reactivity and event marketing; the event marketing strategy was broad, unmeasured, and heavily founder dependent; and the Content Creator program – a core element of the marketing strategy – lacked structure. 

Despite these challenges, Darkness RISING Project entered the Spring/Summer season—their busiest time of the year—preparing to host multiple in-person events across various venues in both Raleigh, North Carolina and New York, New York. 

My Role

Fletcher Virtual Ventures partnered with Darkness RISING Project with Morgan Fletcher as the lead consultant for a concentrated 4-month engagement (May - August). 

My job was to turn the organization’s vision for its summer event roadmap into something the organization could operate: a clear market narrative for community wellness events, a refined marketing strategy; a formalized Content Creator Program; and the infrastructure to capture and nurture potential program participants, supporters and donors during and after in-person events. 

For these in person-events, I nurtured B2B partnerships and project managed event activations that provided attendees with the opportunity to interact with wellness offerings, Black-owned small businesses, and mental health organizations and their resources in an organic, engaging way.

The scope of work evolved in real time, revealing an urgent need for development services. I worked directly with the Founding Executive Director to build a 12-week mid-year fundraising campaign, as well as a peer-to-peer fundraising toolkit to be used by Darkness RISING board members and donors. 

This work required both strategy and execution. I worked directly with the Founding Executive Director while coordinating and collaborating with internal stakeholders, board members, small business owners, nonprofit organization leaders and staff, press, photographers, videographers, designers, and content creators. 

Building the Foundation

The first priority was the email marketing strategy. 

I led the strategy, structure, messaging, copy, requirements and delivery of a strategy refinement process. An initial audit was provided within the first 30 days, with updates and solutions surfaced and implemented as the engagement continued. 

Behind it, I worked directly with the DR team to build a repeatable system for turning the organization’s email marketing experience into structure. I established a multi-channel content calendar and email strategy methodology. 

The second priority was project management infrastructure. 

I built a top-to-bottom event marketing strategy organized around Darkness RISING’s website, donation pages, social media channels, SMS alerts, partnerships, and press and radio coverage. I collaborated with internal and external stakeholders to execute across this infrastructure for both NYC and Raleigh-based events. 

I also conceptualized and produced four B2B Wellness Partner Activations, as well as templatized the process. Wellness Activation Partners would be provided with a shared reference tool for the scope of the engagement, providing a juncture to confirm shared understandings around what was agreed upon, what resources would be provided to support it, and who the points of contact would be for the engagement’s duration. 

Lastly, I built a 12-week individual giving campaign strategy organized around 4 key elements: donor and program participant testimonials, a match campaign, an email and social media campaign, and Darkness RISING community wellness events. 

Connecting the Systems

Creating strong content and strong partnerships was not going to solve the underlying problem if every lead, be it a content creator or an activation partner, still required manual intervention and cultivation. 

I designed an integrated system connecting lead capture, supporter relationship management, welcome series cultivation, and individual donor cultivation automations. Email list signups could be captured and grouped by program as well as automatically categorized by event.

The system was intentionally lightweight. Darkness RISING Project would be burdened by an elaborate technology stack as well as strained financially. Team members needed to be able to understand and operate the platform quickly, as well as maintain the platform(s) sans issue.

Special care was taken to gain internal stakeholder buy-in throughout the engagement as needs evolved in real time. This effort helped to ensure that the formalized framework and standards of success were co-created, leading to a successful internal shift and long-term adoption. 

The Result

In 120 days, Darkness RISING went from a collection of informal marketing efforts to a connected foundation that not only resulted in a successful event season, but could grow with them into their next phase. The components included:

• A refined event marketing strategy

• A project management SOP and Event Activation SOP with supporting resources that the team can use independently 

• Darkness RISING Creator program SOP for future program management

• Integrated lead capture, outreach, and nurture automations for potential program participants and donors, supporters, and future event attendees

• An individual giving campaign strategy that can be refreshed and repurposed as the organization grows

The organization did not just host well-attended events. It gained a foundation of multiple repeatable systems that shored up functions across the organization and created room to grow. 

This all exemplifies a broader pattern of how I operate: I work holistically across an organization to strengthen all systems while leveraging the lens of my marketing and communications expertise.

I step into organizations where the vision is clear but execution is not. I connect the strategy, services, people, and processes to build an initial system that supports all and empowers the organization to step into their next chapter. With me “We get it done” becomes a confidently stated “We have a plan for this.”

This is what community looks like…

Photography: O. Vivrette Studio LLC