SICKKIDS CHANGE CRUSADERS

For years, one of the most effective fundraising time for SickKids Hospital has been their annual Spring Radiothon. Media company Astral Media sponsors this four-day event which results in some of the most significant revenue from the entire fundraising calendar. The media event is the culmination of a coin-canvassing program that raises awareness and serves as a grassroots fundraising campaign.

When we were asked to rebrand the coin canvas, the campaign had been successful for years, reaching thousands of participants across the province of Ontario, but had an image and a name – Change Bandits – that wasn’t received very favourably by all Foundation stakeholders. The image of bandits was a cute one, but not entirely appropriate for a program benefitting a children’s hospital.

We moved to give the program a name that was more empowering to children. It needed to carry more gravity, but still be open to imagery that – like all SickKids graphic treatment – was child-friendly without being childish. The task-oriented change exchange was then transformed into a campaign with an ongoing online presence – one with a much greater capacity for name and contact retention.

The result is a grassroots fundraising program that is slowly spreading to children’s hospitals across the country.