The objective for the TEAK Stories campaign was to bring to light our TEAK students' incredible journeys from some of the poorest communities in NYC to the most prestigious secondary schools and colleges in the country. TEAK students are resilient, bright, and driven and overcome obstacles and financial circumstances that are compelling to our supporters. Our goal with this campaign was to use these stories to bring awareness to our audiences.
TEAK Stories was the campaign platform for our 2016 Annual Appeal and was showcased at our annual gala in mid October of 2016.
The stories were selected from TEAK students' high school applications and recorded in a studio last summer. Additional sound design and photography was added to enhance the presentation and one story, Geovanna's, was animated with select words being highlighted to emphasize their importance.
Several TEAK students were equipped with iPads and headphones at the Annual Gala and mingled among the 340 guests during cocktail hour inviting them to listen to our students' stories. Geovanna's story was showcased at the end of the evening. TEAK's founder, Justine Arrillaga, said a few words and at the end of the evening and in closing asked that everyone focus their ears and eyes on what they were about to hear. The room went dark and Geovanna's story played for the attendees.
Additionally, a print version of the TEAK Stories was sent out to our constituents in November for our end of year appeal and all of the content was added to our website. https://teakfellowship.org/stories/
The TEAK Stories Campaign was very successful with highlights that included:
We received over 40+ emails from attendees congratulating TEAK on the evening and praising the campaign.
The event raised over $1.1M, an increase of 35% from the previous year's fundraising event
2016 ended with a 25% increase in overall fundraising for the year
