Running head: ENCOURAGING STUDENTS TO GET INVOLVED IN PROJECT ELF 1

Encouraging Students to Get Involved in Project Elf

Andrew Gardner
Felicia Walton
Ilonna MacGregor
Tristen Szwedko
Salt Lake Community College
Business 2200
November 8, 2016
Lon Schiffbauer

ENCOURAGING STUDENTS TO GET INVOLVED IN PROJECT ELF

Encouraging Students to get Involved in Project Elf

The Christmas Box International was founded in 1996 by Author: Richard Paul Evans,
his goal was to create a safe place for children in Utah; he named the charity after his first novel:
The Christmas Box. The Motto is simple; every child deserves a childhood.
The Christmas Box International assists to prevent child abuse and provides services to
improve the quality of life to children who have been abused, neglected or abandoned.
In 2015, The Christmas Box served 3580 local children and youth in need during the
holiday season. We are looking to increase that number in 2016 by encouraging Students at Salt
Lake Community to donate to The Christmas Box by helping them stock Santas sleigh for
several populations of abused and neglected children, teens, and young adults in our community.
Purpose / Objective
The purpose of our campaign is to encourage Salt Lake Community College students to
get involved with Project Elf through The Christmas Box International. The goal date for our
campaign will be November 1st through December 6th.
We will promote our campaign through the faculty here at Salt Lake Community College
by making a video that can be shown during class periods or through their announcement pages,
in addition to creating flyers and posters to post throughout the campus.
The reason we are encouraging students to participate in our campaign is to develop a
communal sense of responsibility to help the local children who deserve a happy childhood,
along with giving the students an opportunity to build an impressive resume for their future
careers.

ENCOURAGING STUDENTS TO GET INVOLVED IN PROJECT ELF

Learning Objectives
This project will help us learn how to listen, think, speak, read and write critically and
effectively, as well as increase our ability to work well in groups. The ability to communicate
well is essential in the business world and will help us in any field we choose to go in.
Audience
The target audience for this campaign is Salt Lake Community College students. Below
is a demographic and psychographic profile of this audience:
Demographics

50% male, 50% female, (Salt Lake Community College Fact Book, 2016).
Median age is 23 (Salt Lake Community College Fact Book, 2016).
69.95% White Non-Hispanic, 16.17% Hispanic, 3.71% Asian, 2.48% More than one
Race, 2.33% Unknown, 2.02% Black Non-Hispanic, 1.30% Non-Resident Alien,
1.20% Pacific Islander, .83% American Indian/Alaskan (Salt Lake Community

College Fact Book, 2016).

29% Work full-time, 45% Work part-time (Salt Lake Community College Who Are
SLCC Students?, 2015).

Psychographics

41% of Students chose Salt Lake Community College because it was a more
affordable/cheaper option, 15% chose it due to flexibility of classes and class time,
12% chose it because the location was convenient, and 4% for the high quality
programs and classes. (Salt Lake Community College Who Are SLCC Students?,
2015).

ENCOURAGING STUDENTS TO GET INVOLVED IN PROJECT ELF

41% of Students indicated obtaining or updating Job-related skills is a primary goal

while 39% indicated that self-improvement/personal enjoyment is a primary goal
(Center for Community College Student Engagement, 2014).
Audience Analysis

The majority of our audience is made up of Millennials. Millennials are different than any
generations prior to 1989- 1996, they are not motivated through their jobs to volunteer their time
or donate to just any charity, only 11% had their donations deducted from their checks, prior
generations had set a standard to donate through the office. The Millennials are motivated
through their peers and are more willing to volunteer their time and donate to charities they care
about. (Schulte, 2015).
Millennials are known as The Cause Generation, they have grown up with Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR), studies show that Millennials are passionate about causes and are
motivated to connect, get involved and contribute to the greater good.

Millennials regard their resources, such as time, networks and money, as having equal
values, resulting in individuals often going beyond monetary donations as a way to

become personally invested in a cause.

Millennials prefer technology to find volunteer opportunities or donate online.
When inspired, Millennials share in micro ways, from small donations to short

volunteer stints.
Peer influence plays an important part in motivating Millennials to volunteer, donate

and raise funds for causes they care about.

Millennials are most likely to get involved with causes when organizations offer a
range of volunteer opportunities, from short- to long-term projects, especially those

that allow them to lend their knowledge and expertise.

Millennials give to make an impact. They want their contributions to have tangible
results and know exactly who and how they helped. (YouCaring Team, 2016)

ENCOURAGING STUDENTS TO GET INVOLVED IN PROJECT ELF

Messaging Goals
Given the purpose and objective of our campaign, and our target audience, we have set
the following messaging goals.
Think

Understand that this is a local organization.

Understand who is receiving the help.
Understand we all have times when we need help.

They can help someone less fortunate.

They are helping people in their community.

Donate to Project Elf.

Spread the word about the organization.
Help those in need.

Feel

Do

Key Messages
Our campaign is designed to help bring awareness and contributions to a local charity
project within the community. By bringing this to light we hope to encourage others to help with
this charity. Project Elf is a great organization to get involved with and it has a cause that
everyone agrees with: all kids deserve to have a good Christmas. It gives hope to local children
who need help throughout this holiday season and can really influence if a child receives
Christmas presents or not. By doing this, we hope that everyone can give a little to help others
enjoy their holidays and to make it worthwhile for children in need.
Channels

ENCOURAGING STUDENTS TO GET INVOLVED IN PROJECT ELF

When selecting channels we thought of different ways that students would be able to see
our campaign. The purpose of our channels is to get the word out about the charity and they can
help. Based on our research weve chosen the following channels:

Videos for classes Millennials prefer technology and short video clips for information.
Clips and pictures that explain the charity and how they can help.
Handouts They can be distributed to a large audience and are inexpensive.
Lets us get the word out about the organization to a mass audience.
Goes into detail what the charity is, and how they can help.
Has the dates and time of the charity.
Face to face presentations Develops a personal connection on an emotional level.
Face to face communication is the best way to communicate. By doing face to face
communication were able to expound more on the charity and answer any questions that

they have about the drive.

Drop off boxes for donations Drop off boxes are convenient and draw attention.
The bright colors will catch students notice and placing them in the halls will make it
more convenient for them to donate.

Tactical Planning
Who(Audience)
Sherri Engar

SLCC Students

What(Message)

Information
about the charity.

Clear statement
of key messages.

How(Channel)

Em
ail

Pho
ne Call

Vid
eo

Han
douts

Mes
sages on video
boards

Fac
e to face
presentations.

When(Timing)
Before creating
content of campaign
2 weeks before the
end of the charity
drive on December
6th 2016.

ENCOURAGING STUDENTS TO GET INVOLVED IN PROJECT ELF

Debrief
The project was successful overall. As a team, we put together a flyer, a video and a
presentation for our classes. We were expecting this to be a little more complicated when we first
started, but as we moved forward we found that this project was simple, even fun as we dressed
up boxes and pushed our limits of gift wrapping our donation boxes. We decided not to include
the video board in the hallways in the Business Building, due schedule conflicts we were unable
to contact the administrative who is responsible for the video posting. A couple of us presented
our project in other classes to reach a broader body of students. We decided to add a couple of
boxes into the hallway of the Business Building at Salt Lake Community College so that the
students have local access to donate.
Conclusion
The design, audience analysis, and summary of what our campaign represents, is made to
help us connect with Salt Lake Community College students. The design of our campaign is built
on the on the foundation of the Project Elf and made so it appeals to our audience. Our channels
have been designed in ways that students will more frequently notice them throughout their day
at Salt Lake Community College. As we approach the holiday season its important for us to
remember those who are in need, through our campaign and with the help of Salt Lake
Community College students well accomplish that.

ENCOURAGING STUDENTS TO GET INVOLVED IN PROJECT ELF

References
Center for Community College Student Engagement. (2014). Overview of 2014 Survey Results
Salt Lake Community College. Retrieved from http://i.slcc.edu/ir/docs/ccsse/ccsse-2014overview.pdf
Salt Lake Community College Fact Book. (2016). Salt Lake Community College Fact Book. Salt
Lake Community College. Retrieved from http://performance.slcc.edu/factbook/
Salt Lake Community College Who Are SLCC students?. (2016). Salt Lake Community College
Who Are SLCC students?. Salt Lake Community College. Retrieved from
http://performance.slcc.edu/students/index.html
Schulte, B. (2015). Good Teaching: The Top Ten Requirements. Retrieved from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/24/millennials-are-actuallymore-generous-than-anybody-realizes/
YouCaring Team. (2016). Millennials: The Cause Generation. Retrieved from
https://www.youcaring.com/blog/2016/millennials-cause-generation