Background and Overview
For this final project, you will take on the role of strategic communications manager for the nonprofit organization Ode to Our Warriors. In this hypothetical scenario, the nonprofit is holding an open house and ribbon-cutting to its newly renovated facilities, and you are responsible for preparing a packet of written materials for the event.
You are not to contact the organizations or individuals in the scenario.
Scenario:
Ode to Our Warriors is a non-profit established in Baton Rouge in 2018. Its programs include Fort Baker Veterans Village, a facility that provides transitional housing for up to eight veterans experiencing homelessness. Since its opening, more than 100 veterans have lived at the Village before moving to more permanent housing. Most residents stay three to six months, but there are no minimum or maximum limits to their stay.
The OTOW home is a temporary home meant to provide support for homeless veterans as they rebuild their lives. It gives them a secure place to live, free of drugs, alcohol, and violence. Staff also help veterans access social services and other resources.
The OTOW board hopes to use the open house to inspire local organizations and individuals to support the program and underwrite operating costs. It costs around $40,000 per year for housing, transportation, and food.
Hypothetically — Last year, Ode to Our Warriors received $200,000 in funding from the Home Depot Foundation to renovate its facilities. The improvements included new paint and flooring, upgraded kitchen appliances, and remodeled bathrooms. Thanks to new heating/air conditioning, lighting fixtures, and better insulation, the home is more energy efficient. The outside of the home has been painted, with new landscaping.
The Home Depot Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Home Dept, the world’s largest home improvement retailer. The Foundation is dedicated to improving the lives of veterans, their families, and their communities. Supporting veteran causes is authentic and personal to The Home Depot as more than 35,000 associates nationwide are veterans or active-duty military.
The Home Depot Foundation’s Veteran Housing Grants Program was created to help nonprofits fund the development and repair of multi-unit veteran housing facilities. Awards typically range from $100,000 to $500,000.
To date, the Home Depot Foundation has invested more than $375 million in veteran causes, including making critical home repairs for combat-wounded veterans, providing financial assistance, and helping senior veterans age independently in their own homes.
Additional information:
https://corporate.homedepot.com/foundation/veteranhousinggrantsLinks to an external site.
https://www.otowarriors.com/Links to an external site.
Estimated Time for Completion: Five (5) Hours
Course Objectives
Develop written materials that adhere to rules of punctuation and grammar, follow industry standards and abide by legal and ethical considerations.
Differentiate strategic communication writing from other types of writing.
Prepare written materials that align with organizational goals, principles of strategy, priority publics, and messaging.
Write content for a variety of strategic communication purposes, channels and platforms, including paid, earned, owned, and shared media.
Analyze communication research and materials for strategic messaging and content development.
Create high-quality documents for use in a variety of strategic disciplines: public relations, advertising, sales and marketing, and business communication.
Instructions
All previous writing assignments should have prepared you for the final assignment. The final assignment consists of writing a packet of materials with at least six documents from the following document categories:
Required:
Packet Cover letter
Prepare a letter addressed to Charles Landreneau, president and founder of Ode to Our Warriors, about the packet. Consider the guidance presented in the text in section 5C.
The body of the letter must be between 200-400 words, not including address information salutation or signature area. Bullet points are allowed in the letter. Your letter must be error-free and formatted correctly.
Project Overview
Prepare a one-page overview for the OTOW board of directors, outlining your PESO-based approach to the project. This document should demonstrate your understanding of the four types of media as covered in Modules 3 and 6-10. You may choose to approach this as a brief proposal (Section 4E) or as confirmation of plans already approved. Bullet points are allowed.
Quotes
Write quotes to be used in your other packet elements from these individuals:
Charles Landreneau, president and founder of Ode to Our Warriors.
Shannon Gerber, executive director, Home Depot Foundation.
Daniel Brown, a veteran who lived at OTOW’s Fort Baker Veterans Village for six months and now volunteers to help current OTOW residents.
The individuals each have different perspectives about the funding and renovations that should be reflected in the quotes you develop for them. Each quote should be 1-4 sentences. Refer to Module 7 materials for guidance.
Advertisement/Flyer
Write the copy for a printed promotional piece, such as an advertisement or flyer. Follow the Attention-Interest-Desire-Action formula and other guidance in section 3E of the text.
The Print Ad or Flyer must include a headline, swing line, body copy, zinger, and call to action. Bullet points are allowed in this element. Word count must be between 200-400 words. Any visuals or design elements will not be considered in the grading.
Blog Posts
Prepare a blog post with a headline, introductory section, body copy and closing section for the OTOW website. Your informative post will help OTOW tell the story of the funding, the renovations and their impact on the organization to an online audience. Refer to section 2D of the textbook for specific tips on format and structure. Word count must be between 200-400 words.
Scripts for PSA
Write a script for a 30-second and 60-second public service announcement that OTOW can send to local radio stations. Section 3J of the text includes guidance on format and structure.
Write your documents as if they are to be issued by Ode to Our Warriors and from the perspective that the Home Depot Foundation funding has been used to renovate the OTOW facilities.
This work is designed to reflect your writing capability. Your content may include some of background information provided above or details from the organizations’ websites. You must transform the wording in the source materials so that you use facts from them but you do not exceedingly rely on their precise phrasing.
You may use the quotations you write in your documents. Quotations cannot comprise more than 30% of any document by word count.
Do not look upon these merely as separate documents; they should be developed as cohesive messages. In fact, please construct each of your six (6) writings into a single document and label each appropriately. Note the instructor’s comments on all your assignments and exercises. Adjust your writing and formatting as necessary for each of these documents.
Overlapping of some message points from document to document is allowed and to some extent expected, but the strategic direction of each document must be focused on the intended public as instructed by the readings, lessons, and the instructor’s notes and critiques.
You are not expected to include graphics, photographs or other visual components in the materials, and any such elements will not be considered in grading.
