Amplify Austin Day From The Perspective of Texas Tower PR
Amplify Austin Day is the annual community-wide day of online giving in Austin. Weeks prior to the day, nonprofits across Austin are given the opportunity to register for Amplify Austin Day through I Live Here, I Give Here. For a period of 24 hours, Amplify Austin provides an easy and fun way for the community to help nonprofits.
Here at UT, Texas Tower PR, the only student-run public relations firm on campus, works with a handful of nonprofits throughout the academic year. In the spring semesters, one of their main focuses is creating campaigns for Amplify Austin Day. I interviewed members of Texas Tower PR to get their opinions on the importance of Amplify Austin Day.
How has your client and team prepared for Amplify Austin Day?
“For PAWS of Austin, we’ve put together a success rescue story video to share on social media. A few weeks ago, we got together with a family that fostered the dane, Faith, who is featured in the video. She is trained in a different way because she is differently-abled. We made a video of her story which will be shared to increase awareness of the organization and to encourage people to donate during Amplify Austin.” -Wes Roa, account manager for PAWS of Austin.
“For Amplify Austin, we try to brainstorm ideas that are unique, creative and different from what other nonprofits are doing. From our perspective, our main focus is raising awareness and getting our client’s name out there. During those 24 hours, all the nonprofits are reaching for the same goal: trying to get as many donations as possible. Everyone has a unique and important cause but we want our client(s) to stand out .” -Angel Cantu, director of accounts for Texas Tower PR.
As a firm, why and how do you think it’s beneficial for nonprofits to participate in Amplify Austin Day?
“It’s vital for organizations to participate in Amplify Austin. It’s a great way for us, the students in Tower PR and the Austin community to see and understand the aspect of fundraising for an organization.” -Wes Roa, account manager for PAWS of Austin.
“Some nonprofits have other events going on around the time Amplify Austin Day takes place, but they still make Amplify Austin a priority. Every nonprofit participating puts together a campaign and it’s important. It doesn’t matter how short or long it is.” -Alina Agha, account manager for Teatro Vivo.
“Amplify Austin is extremely important for nonprofits in Austin because it’s an opportunity for nonprofits in Austin to get the community involved and ask for donations in a very fast and efficient way especially since donating is easily accessible. People can do it online, on their phones or computers which takes out the burden of having people take money out and lets donate from the comfort of their home. It’s really important for Texas Tower as a student firm to focus on Amplify Austin so we can help the nonprofits we work with.” -Angel Cantu, director of accounts for Texas Tower PR.
How far in advance do clients contact you to start working on Amplify Austin content?
“We usually start planning the campaign for Amplify Austin about two months before the deadline. But when producing content like the success story video for PAWS, we actually started setting that up earlier in the fall semester. Sometimes, the content for Amplify Austin falls into our laps and the clients love it. I think most of the nonprofits we work with have a similar timeline.” -Wes Roa, account manager for PAWS of Austin.
What would you tell the the community to incentivize them to participate?
“Amplify Austin is set-up to help the nonprofits that directly serve us, the Austin community. Take a couple of minutes, sit down and do your research. Donate whatever you can, even if it means skipping a trip to Starbucks this week because as much we need them, they need us.” Alina Agha, account manager for Teatro Vivo.
This year’s Amplify Austin Day 2017 took place from March 2nd at 6p.m. to March 3rd at 6p.m. Amplify Austin’s goal was to raise $9,000,000 and ended up raising a total of $9,839,103.
Story by: Teresa Reyes-Flores
