RainbowDads was founded on a simple belief: every family deserves to see themselves represented. Despite growing acceptance, when our son was born, we made it our mission to ensure he could see families like his reflected in the books read at school. As we engaged with teachers and librarians, we realized many communities simply didn't have access to LGBTQ+-inclusive literature and, in many cases, those books were being actively challenged or banned.
As a creator channel, our objective became larger than building an audience. We wanted to increase the visibility of LGBTQ+ families by normalizing their place in everyday culture, particularly through sports, parenting, humor, traditions, and family life. By leading with shared experiences rather than differences, we sought to foster understanding and show that love of family is universal.
Along the way, we discovered our community wanted to do more than engage with our content. Rocco was inspired to turn awareness into action, believing that every child deserved access to stories that reflected families like ours. His passion became the catalyst for our Pride Month book drive.
We recognized that representation extends beyond social media. By mobilizing our community to donate banned and challenged LGBTQ+ books to libraries, we transformed online engagement into real-world impact, preserving access to inclusive stories while empowering thousands of supporters to participate in meaningful change.
Ultimately, we wanted to prove creators can do more than generate content. They can mobilize communities, inspire acceptance, expand representation, and create lasting cultural impact—one conversation, one family, and one donated book at a time.
Our strategy was never built around creating a viral campaign. It was built around creating a community that believed this mission belonged to them as much as it belonged to us.
SUMMARY:
The initiative started simply. About four years ago, RainbowDads first partnered with the Buffalo Bills, marching alongside the organization in Buffalo Pride after collecting about 1500 books to distribute during the march. The campaign demonstrated that representation belongs everywhere including in sports, where LGBTQ+ families have historically had limited visibility. In the following years, we partnered with NFL Films, marching in Haddon Township Pride in New Jersey and continuing to use the power of football to bring communities together around inclusion rather than division. Over the last four years we raised more than 10,000 books to hand out during Pride.
From the beginning, we understood that our greatest asset wasn't our platform, it was our community. Every book donated represented someone who had chosen to become part of something larger than themselves. We encouraged our supporters online to buy and donate books and spread the word, inviting others to participate.
Prioritizing Inclusivity: The campaign intentionally welcomed books that celebrated inclusion broadly, not just LGBTQ+ titles. Donations included works such as Anti-Racist Baby and other books that encourage empathy, acceptance, and belonging, reinforcing our belief that every child deserves access to stories that reflect the diversity of the world around them.
Driving Engagement One to One: Our digital strategy was remarkably simple, but incredibly intentional: engage with everyone. Respond to comments. Ensure everyone feels seen. We thanked donors individually. We highlighted supporters, celebrated every contribution, answered questions, and consistently reminded people that they were making a difference. We wanted every person who participated to feel seen, valued, and appreciated.
Growing the Effort: That commitment became even more important as RainbowDads experienced explosive growth, expanding from approximately 250,000 followers to more than two million across Instagram and TikTok in less than a year between June 2025 and June 2026. Scaling community at that pace is extraordinarily difficult, but Papa Forge made it a priority to preserve the closeness that had always defined RainbowDads. He invested countless hours engaging directly with followers, remembering names, responding to messages, and ensuring that people never felt like they had become just another number.
That became the campaign's defining strategy. Rather than asking people to support our mission, we invited them to make it their mission. Every interaction reinforced the idea that they were helping another child discover a family that looked like theirs, perhaps for the very first time.
In the end, the effort showed that while almost anyone can be a content creator, being an "influencer" means you have to take care to support and engage with your community. These aren't followers, they're not just an audience, they're supporters, advocates and participants. By making people feel genuinely connected to one another and to the purpose behind the campaign, RainbowDads transformed social media influence into sustained civic participation. Followers became volunteers. Volunteers became advocates. And together, an online community built one of the country's largest creator-led efforts to place inclusive books into the hands of children and families.
Over 20,000 books raised over last 4 years, with 4,000+ raised in 2026
Tens of thousands of people engaged.