Downtown Boxing Gym Fundraising Campaign

Downtown Boxing Gym is a nonprofit organization that does, well… a lot for underprivileged kids in Detroit. Much more than a simple out-of-school time program, DBG breaks down economic, academic and societal barriers, and creates a safe, supportive environment for kids to build invaluable life skills and self-confidence.

While DBG has been incredibly successful, it worried that the public was beginning to take its success for granted, undermining its fundraising efforts. To remedy that, my partner and I created a “Never Tell Us the Odds” fundraising campaign that recontextualized DBG’s lopsided fight against an inequitable system. With hard-hitting messaging and a striking reimagining of the brand’s lion logo, we aimed to shake lapsed donors out of their complacency.

Campaign Tactics

With our concept fleshed out, my partner and I set to work bringing it to life across DBG’s organic marketing channels, including direct mail, email, social media and its website. We orchestrated every aspect of the campaign; in addition to developing dozens of creative assets, we also set the campaign timeline, coordinated with print vendors, built out the fundraiser microsite, provided ongoing strategic recommendations post-launch and much more.