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Challenge

For three years, the Danforth Foundation annually gave $100,000 to a St. Louis area religious congregation for its outstanding social outreach. Vector Communications handled the media relations for the announcement of the winner and the subsequent celebration events. In 2001, the Danforth Foundation decided to take its awards program to the next level by sponsoring a regional conference on faith-based social outreach for 500 lay volunteers. The purpose was to bring together for the first time lay volunteers of all denominations to create an energy and synergy that would encourage them to play more of a leadership role in solving the area’s social problems.

Action

Vector planned, coordinated and managed every aspect of the two-day “I Dare You” conference, which included 16 workshops, two plenary sessions, and a dinner with a half-hour prayer and musical celebration honoring St. Louis’ religious diversity. Guest speakers included well-known local and national figures involved in social outreach. Vector also planned and executed a promotional campaign to encourage attendance. This included making presentations at area religious congregations to promote the conference. There was also a Religious Leaders Conference three weeks prior to the lay volunteer conference. This was done to show the leaders the importance and value of their members attending the conference.

Result

Nearly 700 people attended the first-time ever conference and gave it rave evaluations. As a result, several religious groups that had never been together ended up forming partnerships to enhance their social outreach.