Annenberg Schools for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California

Bishop McNamara High School

College of Notre Dame, Maryland

Education Department, State of Maine

Foundation of the American Association of University Professors

Island Press

Ivymount School

International Yacht Restoration School

Oxford University, St Edmund Hall

Saint John’s Catholic Prep

The Fund for American Studies

The Landon School

The Potomac School

University of Maryland School of Medicine

Washington Jesuit Academy

Wheeling Jesuit University

American Pharmacists Association Foundation
American Physical Therapy Foundation
ARC of Baltimore
ARC of the Northern Chesapeake Region
Arthritis Foundation – Maryland Chapter
Baltimore Reads
Family Services Agency of Montgomery County
Kennedy-Donovan Center
Saint Agnes Hospital Foundation, Baltimore, MD
So Others Might Eat
The Foundation for Physical Therapy
Mountain Family Health Centers

Association for Women in Development
National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium
National Japanese American Heritage Society
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association – International Division
The American Air Museum in Britain
Winrock International

Adkins Arboretum
Appalachian Trail Conservancy
Chesapeake Bay Trust
Chesapeake Legal Alliance (CLA)
Clean Beaches Council
Defenders of Wildlife
Galapagos Conservancy
Lenfest Ocean Program, The Pew Charitable Trusts
Mill River Collaborative, Stanford, CT
National Parks Conservation Association
National Wildlife Federation
Southern Environmental Law Center
The Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education
The Nature Conservancy
The Wild Center, Tupper Lake, NY
The Wilderness Society

American Society of Interior Designers
Communications Consortium Media Center
Hollywood Health & Society Program, USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center
National Association of Pastoral Musicians
Project for Public Places
The Brookings Institution
The Communications Network, Benton Foundation
United States Navy Memorial Foundation
University of Southern California’s Center on Communication Leadership & Policy
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Players Association (AAGPBLPA)
American Girls Baseball (AGB)

The American Air Museum in Britain is a memorial to the 30,000 Americans who died flying from the U.K. in the Second World War. For seven years, BCC served as the U.S. fundraising office for the Museum, which is located in Duxford, U.K. We created and are now implementing a planned giving program aimed at the Museum’s 50,000 member U.S. constituency as part of a $12 million endowment campaign. We provided support to the U.S.-based board of trustees and supported staff development trips to the U.S. by the Executive Vice President of the Museum; and we worked with Museum development staff to identify and recruit board members, solicit major individual gifts, and staffed fundraising events both in the U.S. and the U.K.

BCC provided fundraising counsel to APhA’s $15 million capital campaign to renovate its existing historic structure and build an additional office building on its current site on the National Mall. The entire project cost approximately $100 million. BCC advised the organization’s executives, board and senior development staff on the process of identifying program priorities, developing themes and messages, and creating a new and compelling program concept to promote the value of pharmacists in the health care system and the role they play in helping people with their medications. This program served as the cornerstone of the fundraising effort. BCC produced the campaign case for support and worked with association leadership to identify and successfully recruit an honorary chair and co-chairs from the corporate sector for the campaign as well as a campaign cabinet. BCC also coordinated the solicitation of both association and foundation boards of directors, and assisted in solicitation strategy and proposal development for major corporate and foundation prospects.

The Arc of the Northern Chesapeake Region is a private, non-profit local chapter of the Arc of Maryland and the Arc of The United States, the largest volunteer organization in the world devoted exclusively to improving the quality of life for all adults and children with mental retardation and their families. BCC developed a campaign plan and communications strategy and served as campaign counsel for a $1 million campaign to build a new headquarters building for the organization. We conducted the campaign feasibility study, interviewing civic, corporate and foundation leaders in the Harford County area. We worked with executives to recruit and solicit a campaign chair and campaign committee. We advised the organization on the staff structure necessary to conduct the campaign, created campaign documents and proposals, and guided the campaign committee until successful project completion.

BCC has been developing and implementing national and regional media relations strategies for the release of major reports for the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program (MPP) since 2008 as well as for the Brookings Institution Press. The purpose of these strategies is to garner public attention and influence policymakers in Congress and around the country. These have included the following:

• Shrinking the Carbon Footprint of Metropolitan America
• A Bridge to Somewhere: Rethinking American Transportation for the 21st Century
• Boosting Productivity, Innovation, and Growth through a National Innovation Foundation
• Clusters and Competitiveness: A New Federal Role for Stimulating Regional Economies
• Reversal of Fortune: A New Look at Concentrated Poverty in the 2000’s
• Job Sprawl Revisited: The Changing Geography of Metropolitan Employment
• The Road… Less Traveled: An Analysis of Vehicle Miles Traveled Trends in the U.S
• MetroMonitor
• Export Nation: How U.S. Metros Lead National Export Growth and Boost Competitiveness
• Brain Gain: Rethinking U.S. Immigration Policy

Our media outreach strategies for each report and book consist of crafting story angles that are compelling to journalists, strategizing on the most effective approach to placing stories, and producing press releases and email pitches that summarize the findings and messages of each report.  We develop a press list that includes reporters, editors and opinion writers in the appropriate beats for major national, regional and local print, television and radio outlets as well as blogs. We produce email blasts to journalists and conduct extensive outreach, fielding information requests and arranging interviews with spokespeople.

Media pick up on these reports and books is extensive and often results in hundreds of hits in both national and local print and electronic outlets around the country.  Outlets include The New York Times, USA Today, the Washington Post, The Economist, Christian Science Monitor, CNN, Newsweek, US News, and Time.  Major market papers such as the Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News, Baltimore Sun, San Francisco Chronicle, Cincinnati Enquirer, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Miami Herald, Denver Post, Detroit Free Press, Sacramento Bee, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and Fort Worth Star Telegram, among many others, often pick up the story depending on how their areas are affected.  Many local radio and television stations also produce stories as well.

The Chesapeake Bay Trust funds on-the-ground projects that help protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers and supports public outreach and education programs designed to engage all Marylanders in these efforts. BCC has worked with the Trust since 2009 on a number of communications projects to build its profile, brand the organization, and increase support for its cause.

For example, we provided media support to publicize the results of a statewide survey among Marylanders about efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay. We were successful in placing editorials in both the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun as well as many stories in newspapers throughout the state.

We worked closely with the Trust’s executives and board during its strategic planning and market research process to position the organization and place the group on a firm communications footing in accomplishing its programmatic goals. We also guided the Trust through a message development process to craft a compelling core institutional message that would allow the organization to more effectively reach and engage new supporters, donors, and grantees.

We launched the group’s social media strategy to support its communications and outreach efforts which involved designing, integrating, and setting up its Facebook page, blog, as well as its Twitter, Flickr and YouTube accounts. We also developed content for the Trust’s blog.

We developed and implemented a media relations strategy for the release of the Trust’s first-of-its-kind mobile app field guide (for the iPhone, iPad, and iTouch) to the animals and plants of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Our goal was to place stories in local and regional print and electronic outlets, as well as blogs and magazines throughout the watershed, in order to generate downloads of the guide. We were extremely successful with stories in USA Today, AP, the Washington Post and newspapers around the Bay region—from the Annapolis Times in MD and the News Journal in DE to the York Dispatch in PA and the Hampton Roads in VA. Magazines such as Chesapeake Life and Southern Maryland This is Living also picked up the story. In addition, we placed many stories in local TV and radio in DC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Richmond and other cities around the watershed.

The Clean Beaches Council is dedicated to sustaining America’s beaches.  For eight years, BCC managed the national release of the group’s annual list of environmentally certified beaches around the country. We organized press conferences, wrote press releases, and pitched the story to national and local print and electronic outlets. Each year, coverage was extensive with hundreds of stories in national newspapers, national radio and television networks, major market newspapers, local radio programs and television affiliates. These included USA Today, New York Times, Washington Post, NBC’s Today Show, CNN, Marketplace, CBS, and Parade Magazine.

Founded in 1947, Defenders of Wildlife is one of the country’s leaders in science-based, results-oriented wildlife conservation. BCC was retained for several projects. We conducted a comprehensive analysis of Defenders’ branding in the conservation marketplace. The analysis examined the organization’s messages, communications tools (website, reports, newsletters, PSAs, direct mail appeals, etc.), market research, and media coverage and provided recommendations on how to more effectively promote its goals and programs and improve its positioning. We produced and implemented a media relations strategy for the release of the group’s first annual national report, “Refuges at Risk,” naming the ten most endangered national wildlife refuges. We wrote press releases and pitched the story to national and local outlets. Stories ran in the major newspapers and many radio stations (some local television affiliates) of the 13 states in which the refuges are located, including AZ Daily News and Republic, New Orleans Times Picayune, Las Vegas Sun, San Francisco Chronicle, Charlotte Observer, and San Antonio Express. We wrote the annual reports for the years 2004 – 2006.

Hollywood, Health & Society, a program of the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center, is a one-stop-shop for television writers, producers and others in search of credible information on a wide range of public health topics, including free consultations and briefings with experts. Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The California Endowment, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, National Institutes for Health and the Health Resources and Services Administration, Hollywood, Health & Society, is based at the USC Annenberg School’s Norman Lear Center. BCC was retained by HH&S to promote to the Washington press an event called “Global Health in Lights: Hollywood’s Master Storytellers & Stars Highlight Global Health in Entertainment” held on the Hill. Panelists included actor Mariska Hargitay and Executive Producer Dr. Neal Baer, both of Law & Order: SVU (NBC). They were joined by Sally Canfield, Senior Program Officer from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Serving as honorary co-hosts were Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Our activities included writing, producing and distributing all press materials, developing story angles, pitching reporters, arranging and managing all on-camera, print and radio interviews with HH&S panelists and spokespeople, overseeing all press at the event, and conducting follow-up with reporters and photographers after the event. Media coverage, both before and after the event, was extensive in the Washington area. Stories appeared in the Washington Post Style Section, Politico, Roll Call, FishbowlDC, CBSNew.com, and the Wall Street Journal Washington Wire blog, and many other outlets around the country as well.

Since 1984, Island Press has provided comprehensive, peer reviewed information to help solve environmental problems which is disseminated through books, electronic media, and outreach to journalists, scientists, policymakers and the public. BCC has been retained for a number of projects in recent years. We have guided the organization through a national branding campaign and message development process to more effectively integrate biodiversity conservation into land-use planning. We then crafted and implemented an outreach strategy to teach community leaders in key areas how to transform their land-use planning processes.

BCC has also developed media relations strategies for a variety of books published by Island Press. We have written press releases, booked numerous interviews for authors, and placed stories in national and local print and electronic outlets, such as CNN, NPR, Baltimore Sun, Beacon Journal, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Fort Collins Coloradoan, Sacramento Bee, Miami Herald, Arizona Republic and Las Vegas Sun. We have also placed editorials in such papers as the Hartford Courant, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Jackson Hole News and Guide, Tucson Citizen, Reading Eagle, and Charlotte Observer.

In addition, we worked with a business and conservation consortium, supported in part by the UN Foundation, to promote the findings of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the most comprehensive assessment of the global environment ever conducted. We helped develop messages and position the MEA for media and public consumption. We prepared the press materials and conducted all the media outreach to place stories in major print and electronic outlets. We also organized a national briefing in Washington with key scientists from around the country for the media, NGO’s, federal agencies, and congressional policymakers and staff to release the findings.

The National Wildlife Federation is one of the largest conservation groups in the country with a nationwide network of 48 state affiliates which are autonomous statewide organizations that support the purposes and objectives of NWF. BCC worked with NWF to analyze the relationships of the national program with its affiliates. We recommended collaborative models for communications and fundraising that defined roles between the national organization and its affiliates. The models presented options for the national organization to administer consolidated administrative and database services and offered affiliates a menu of other services for specified fees, including direct mail solicitation management and communications materials. This allowed for more cost effective allocation of resources and promoted a more unified brand identity. We also conducted an audit of the organization’s communications operation and produced a best practices manual based on analysis of the communications departments of eight other national non-profits of similar size. To build NWF’s capacity to increase support and raise funds, we conducted a competitive analysis, or “environmental scan,” which helped the organization define its niche in the conservation arena, communicate with its audiences, and position itself for the launch of a capital campaign. As part of this project, we analyzed 10 years of market research to produce a SWOT analysis which identified key issues and messages that could be used in membership and donor outreach efforts. Finally, we wrote and oversaw production of NWF’s annual report for four years running.

FROM FEASIBILITY STUDY TO OPENING AND THEN BEYOND

The Wild Center: Celebrating the nature of the Adirondacks by mixing the indoors and outdoors in unique ways, and dedicated to a future where people and the natural world thrive together.

The building and opening of a natural history museum, “The Wild Center” was a dream come true for a native Adirondack resident who had spent a career in New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation. BCC was retained to evaluate the feasibility of building a museum in Tupper Lake NY and to provide counsel for the initial campaign raising over $30 million. In only ten years, the museum established itself as a one-of-a-kind nature museum and educational center and top NY State destination. During this time, BCC provided ongoing guidance and counsel to the Board of Trustees and the Development Department including training programs, membership development, events and annual fundraising.

BCC also provided counsel to The Wild Center’s second campaign to raise $20 million – raising $23 million – to build a trail across the treetops. “Wild Walk” was designed to transform the way visitors see into the natural world. This campaign also secured an endowment and build the capacity of the annual giving program.