Rise Against Hunger
Rise Against Hunger, an international humanitarian organization working to end world hunger, contracted REED to help coordinate and promote a local meal-packaging event with its Nashville chapter on Feb. 4, 2025, to raise awareness of the nonprofit’s local presence, recruit volunteers and establish community relationships for future opportunities.
INSIGHT
Previous Volunteering and Civic Life in America research showed the formal volunteering rate dropped by 7 percent during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic–-the largest decrease since AmeriCorps and the U.S. Census Bureau began tracking civic engagement trends more than two decades ago. During kick-off, the Rise Against Hunger team shared that they had experienced similar effects and concerns over the decrease in volunteerism, specifically in the Nashville area. On the contrary, according to this November 2024 article, more than 33 percent of Tennesseans have volunteered through a formal organization at least once between September 2022 and September 2023 — more than any other state in the Southeast since the pandemic.
This research identified an opportunity to capitalize on this regional advantage and reintroduce Rise Against Hunger and its mission to locals in 2025. Our team crafted a plan to reach Rise Against Hunger’s longstanding volunteers and new ones in Nashville through strategic community connections, media and influencer outreach.
STRATEGY
REED submitted the local meal-packaging event to Nashville event calendars to garner widespread attention across the Nashville DMA and to provide a link for potential volunteers to sign up. Our team also pitched targeted key media contacts and outlets with details about the event, coordinating with WKRN’s lifestyle show, “Local on 2,” to provide a live demonstration of how meals are packaged and present a call to action for potential volunteers.
Lastly, REED worked with Rise Against Hunger to share the meal-packing event graphic with local and prominent content creators to reach their followers and encourage them to volunteer at the event. Furthermore, REED devised a strategy to host the event in February in honor of National Random Acts of Kindness Month to create a timely approach, further appeal to locals and encourage volunteers.
ACTIVATION
Our team worked to promote the Nashville chapter’s local meal-packing event from start to finish. We pitched local and trade media and secured pre-event broadcast, e-newsletter and online coverage. In addition, we pitched relevant local influencers in Nashville, securing pre-event social media coverage. Furthermore, the REED team pushed the chapter’s local presence even more in Nashville by establishing a partnership with ABLE for a give-back period, where $1 from each apparel purchase during February was donated to Rise Against Hunger.
As a result, the REED team secured multiple influencer partnerships to promote the activation and touch on the meal-packaging event’s recent efforts and results.
RESULTS
Throughout our four-month project, the REED team secured 33 pieces of coverage across media and social platforms, reaching over 723 million people and driving strong attendance for the Nashville chapter’s meal-packing event, which resulted in 60+ local volunteers packaging over 15,000 meals to help tackle food insecurity worldwide.