Grassroots Innovation Awards |
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Council Names 2012 Grassroots Innovation Award Winners
MIAMI BEACH — At its National Grassroots Conference here Feb. 1, the Public Affairs Council awarded its 13th annual Grassroots Innovation Awards for association, corporate and social media innovations to the American Heart Association, Entergy Corp. and the American Motorcyclist Association, for devising and successfully employing groundbreaking new grassroots strategies that can serve as models for other organizations. Their strategies, respectively, resulted in their overcoming budget constraints to successfully lobby lawmakers to help fight childhood obesity by better connecting farmers and school cafeterias; raising $25,000, in part through social media, to fight hunger; and inspiring nearly 1 million interactions with lawmakers to promote the safety and protect the rights of young riders of dirt bikes and ATVs while also overturning a controversial law. Association Innovation: American Heart Association In the face of budget constraints, the American Heart Association’s Florida advocacy team found a way to preserve face-to-face contact and the ability to directly lobby lawmakers without spending a dime on travel to Tallahassee. Armed with a Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet computer borrowed from Best Buy and the free videoconferencing service Oovoo, AHA staff had active discussions with legislators and ultimately won their support for the Healthy Schools for Healthy Lives Act, which connects Florida farmers with school cafeterias in a bid to help combat childhood obesity. In addition to saving money, this approach also saves time and offers greater flexibility in scheduling, since no one needs to leave the office. It also promotes a more focused, attentive audience. The legislators were so pleased with the innovation that they have since connected with AHA to learn more so that they can replicate the efforts in connecting with their own constituents. The team members were also pleased with the positive response they received from the press regarding their efforts. Corporate Innovation: Entergy Corp. Noting that three of the states it serves have significantly higher rates of household food insecurity compared with the national average, Entergy Corp. set out to help. It wanted to draw attention to the issue, provide assistance and encourage individuals to get involved. It raised $25,000, providing nearly 100,000 meals for people in need through Second Harvest Food Bank. That included a corporate donation of $20,000 and $5,000 through a social media campaign in which Entergy donated $2.50 to Second Harvest for every “like” the campaign received on its Facebook page. Entergy encouraged its employees to take some type of action every day and offered several suggestions on how to get involved. The activities included writing letters to members of Congress highlighting hunger issues, donating an hour of time to a local food bank and hosting a brown-bag lunch at work and then donating the money saved to Second Harvest. Employees also organized a food drive that collected over 3,500 pounds of food. Entergy spread the word about the Facebook campaign through a free concert series, stickers with QR codes urging people to “scan here to feed 10 people” and geo-targeted Facebook ads, which, for less than $300, generated more than 800,000 impressions of Entergy’s message. Traditional earned media targeting strategies were employed, as well, garnering coverage on local TV news broadcasts, radio and elsewhere. The campaign also dramatically raised the profile of Entergy’s corporate citizenship efforts, resulting in more than 1.12 million impressions of its message through social media alone. “Initiatives like this one often have unintended positive impacts,” Kelly noted. “The success of this campaign convinced others within the company that social media are an inexpensive way to get a message out to a large audience. The impact of this innovation was felt both within the community as they raised awareness around hunger and within the company as they raised awareness around new communication tools.” Social Media Innovation: American Motorcyclist Association Under the 2008 Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, products containing lead that were intended for children under the age of 12 were banned — including youth-model dirt bikes and ATVs, which generally contain lead in components such as batteries and engines. Ironically, the AMA noted, the bill designed to protect children instead “forced kids to ride vehicles too large and powerful for them to handle safely, or not ride at all.” In a bid to overturn this law, the AMA set out to “put a human face on the issue” by engaging families in the effort and having them speak their mind directly. It did this through a video contest and by organizing the AMA Family Capitol Hill Climb, a lobby day in Washington. More than 200 people from more than 20 states participated in the Washington event, and the campaign generated about 1 million interactions with lawmakers, including emails, petitions, phone calls and one-on-one meetings with legislators and their staff. And 143 days later, a legislative fix was signed into law, making the AMA the only industry to receive a full-category exemption. By ceding control of its messaging and empowering its members to take the lead, the AMA quickly secured members’ buy-in and recruited knowledgeable, passionate and powerful spokespeople who added a personal dimension to the debate.
The Grassroots Innovation Awards are given out annually at the Public Affairs Council’s National Grassroots Conference in Florida. First presented in 2000, the awards recognize the nation's best grassroots programs and campaigns in the following categories:
Whether it's a unique educational and recruitment campaign or a creative activation, communication or social media strategy, no grassroots innovation is too small for consideration. Past winners have created attention-grabbing lobby days, GOTV programs, bold social media outreach efforts and trend-setting employee communications. Winners receive a complimentary registration for the National Grassroots Conference and are invited to present their innovations to fellow attendees as part of a keynote session. Last year’s winners were Portland General Electric, the American Heart Association and the American Express Co. JUDGING CRITERIA 1. Is the innovation adaptable to other organizations? FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS PAST WINNERS |
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