St. Francis Center

Fundraising Campaign Promotion

Challenge

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many St. Francis Center (SFC) clients – who work in the service industry – had been laid off or furloughed and were unable to pay rent. SFC Director Sister Christina Heltsley had been waging a battle since March 2020 to raise emergency funds to cover the shortfall. Finally, Heltsley reached out to PRxDigital to help publicize the shortfall and how it was impacting the Center’s programs and clients. In the words of Sister Christine: “This time, the assistor needed some assistance!”

PRxDigital was tasked with helping promote a fundraising campaign launched by Sister Christina to raise $230,000 – the money her tenants (the majority of whom are disproportionately low-income and people of color) owed in back rent – so she could keep this vibrant community going during the pandemic and beyond.

Strategies & Tactics

PRxDigital launched a media campaign to publicize the Center’s crisis, positioning Sister Christina as a “Modern-Day Mother Teresa” who needed community help.
PRxDigital crafted a press release and organized an on-site press conference to enable reporters to meet Sister Christina, and provided tours of the facilities including the school, food pantry and clothing closet. They had access to tenants’ apartments and had the opportunity to conduct tenant interviews, including an interview with Adelina Cortez, a laid-off single mother of six children who lives in one of the Center’s affordable two-bedroom apartments.

Results

As a result of PRxDigital’s publicity efforts, Sister Christina’s story was covered by numerous broadcast and print media outlets throughout the Bay Area resulting in over $1 million in donations. The Mercury News and East Bay Times featured the story on their front pages with the headline “One Bay Area Woman’s Fight to Keep Families Housed: A mile from the richest neighborhood in America, a nun battles to keep tenants who can’t pay rent.” And then the donations started rolling in. Sister Christina quickly exceeded her $230,000 goal. Sister Christina directly attributes these donations to the publicity campaign and the power of raising awareness.
We have signed the St. Francis Center on as a client and continue to help Sister Christina share the amazing story of the St. Francis Center. PRxDigital provides the extra help and know-how needed to ensure that Sister Christina and the St. Francis Center can continue to attract the support and attention needed.