Warm Hearts Winter Drive

Content DevelopmentPublic RelationsCorporate CommunicationsCommunity Relations
Written By Maura White

Challenge

Homelessness is an unfortunate challenge in communities across the Northwest, particularly during the winter months. As of 2015, Washington state was the fifth largest in the nation when it came to people who were experiencing homelessness. At Columbia Bank, we wanted to do our part to help those who were struggling and engage our employees and customers in making a difference within the communities we served.

Solution

In 2015 the Marketing and Communications team created a way for the community bank to give back consistently to a collection of human and social services organizations, and drive a larger impact in our communities during a season of highest need: the Warm Hearts Winter Drive. It was an instant success, raising $130,000 in the first 30 days. Heading into the 2019 winter season the team had successfully raised $841,000 but we wanted to surpass $1 million mark since the initiative’s inception.

Process

From 2015-2018, the team raised, if not surpassed its fundraising goal of $100,000 each year. And each year we upped the ante in our work, increasing the number of partnerships, employee and community events, influencer relations, marketing materials available, paid ads, social marketing, sponsorships (Seattle Sounders FC) , ease of mobile donations, and communications with our employees, community members, and allies. My primary contributions during the campaign included supporting employee and community events, paid ads, social marketing, copywriting and content development for all materials ahead of design, and internal communications.

Employees at all of Columbia Bank's over 140 branches were actively engaged in securing cash donations and new warm clothing from clients and community members. One hundred percent of the clothing and funds collected during the Warm Hearts Winter Drive were donated directly to shelters and relief organizations in the communities where the collections originated.

Among the list of benefiting organizations are the Portland Rescue Mission, Mary's Place of Seattle, Tacoma Rescue Mission, Northwest Housing Alternatives Eugene Mission, Bonner Homeless Transitions in Idaho, and the Women and Children's Alliance.

The Warm Hearts Winter Drive accepted cash donations in addition to new winter clothes. Donations could be made at WarmHeartsWinterDrive.com, and both cash and new warm winter clothing could be donated at every Columbia Bank branch across the Northwest.

Outcome

The campaign was successful raising more than $315K of the $250K goal for the year. The team at Columbia Bank raised nearly $1.5 million in combined donations since the program began in 2015. Employees across all of Columbia Bank's 145 branches across Washington, Oregon, and Idaho helped secure the donations alongside warm winter items.

Social media ads that featured motion on Instagram performed the best with an $0.18 CPC via 48K impressions. Our static ads on Instagram landed a $0.21 CPC via 21K impressions. Together the ads earned a strong 14% CTR. We also tested out a collection of ads that centered on items of warmth. with a CPC of $0.35 and 9% CTR among a much larger audience.

Sample of media coverage in lifetime of campaign:

Through generous donations from customers, employees, and friends in our communities, over the past eight years the campaign raised over $2,000,000 and collected more than 49,000 warm winter items for our shelter partners. The campaign has even continued beyond the sunset of the Columbia Bank brand and following a merger with Umpqua Bank, the program continues now as the Umpqua Bank Warm Hearts Winter Drive.

Maura White
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