For more than 50 years, SOME (So Others Might Eat) has supported DC residents who are experiencing homelessness and poverty through comprehensive and transformative services. Since 2001, this community-based service organization has also hosted the largest Thanksgiving Day race in DC, known widely as the SOME Trot for Hunger. In preparation for its 21st year, Mission Partners supported the event’s rebrand to America’s Trot for Hunger, resulting in an expanded version of the race spotlighting the issue of hunger not only in DC, but nationwide.

Mission Partners developed and activated several streams of digital communications, including social media, e-newsletters, and a peer-to-peer fundraising toolkit, to increase virtual and in-person event participation. The communications strategy for the Trot included identifying unique ways to bolster existing sponsorships and partnerships, while building new ones. Through earned and paid media engagement, Mission Partners also promoted the Trot to new audiences, locally and nationally. Mission Partners secured FOX 5 as the first official media partner for the race and engaged local nonprofits in event promotion and participation.

Anchored by these communications activations, SOME raised more than $785,000 during this year’s Trot. In addition to their paid media partnerships, America’s Trot for Hunger earned 70 media hits, resulting in a potential reach of more than 200 million views. SOME also increased their fundraising total by leveraging the peer-to-peer fundraising toolkit. To expand the impact of this toolkit beyond the Trot, Mission Partners created an evergreen version of the same tool in support of year-round peer-to-peer fundraising.