Empowering Brooklyn youth to exceed their potential. This is why Brooklyn Youth Sports Club (BKYSC) exists. The mission is evident in the passion and drive of BKYSC’s founders, brothers Lyle and Harris. As BKYSC continued to grow and their 10–year anniversary loomed, they knew they needed to up their game in celebration of their work and the lives changed over the years. The organization was planning a celebration around their annual fundraising event in November. After working with us on several design projects previously, they turned to us to help promote and leverage their event as a way of strengthening their year-end fundraising strategy.

First we worked to refine their brand message to ensure that everything, from copy to design, bolstered their mission. As a community based organization, emulating the heart and soul of Brooklyn was also crucial. Playing off inspirational quotes from classic New York hip hop artists provided a foundation for the new aesthetic we developed for BKYSC.

We took a holistic approach to amp up their digital marketing efforts. We married event marketing with pivotal fundraising campaigns like #GivingTuesday and Year-End appeals, all while their mission did a full court press. Their Annual Report, which was released at the event, was also a key tool to share the impact BKYSC had made in the community since their inception. Their email campaigns were especially successful because we consolidated and cleaned their disparate data from multiple databases into one place that can power their next ten years.

The Ten Year was underwritten by a staggering 24 leadership level donors, and attended by hundreds in support of empowering Brooklyn youth to exceed their potential. Changes and refinement to their year-end fundraising emails resulted in an over 26% increase in total dollars raised. #GivingTuesday results improved as well, with over $13,000 raised from 44 donors, almost doubling previous years.