CASE STUDY
Beyond the Anniversary.
A scalable communications strategy for sustained impact.
The Duke Endowment’s 100th anniversary was one moment. Formation PR & Brand built an integrated communications strategy that carried a century of grantee stories across the Carolinas and beyond — generating 401 media placements, growing social audiences and creating tools to keep the momentum going.
Client
The Duke Endowment
A century of commitment to the Carolinas.
Since 1924, the Duke Endowment has worked to enrich lives and communities across North Carolina and South Carolina by supporting grantees as they nurture children, promote health, educate minds and uplift spirits. The centennial marked more than a birthday. It was a century of impact, waiting to be told as one connected story.
One anniversary. A much bigger opportunity.
The Endowment, based in Charlotte, NC, wanted to mark its centennial by highlighting the good work of its grantee partners, honoring its founder and sharing insights from a century of grantmaking. Done well, this moment could do more than commemorate the past — it could build sustained momentum that solidified the Endowment’s position as a trusted, valuable philanthropic partner in local, state and national media for years to come.
A century of impact is told community by community.
A hundred years of impact isn’t told in a single story — it’s told in dozens of them, community by community, each carrying the throughline of mission.
At Formation, we knew that the most credible, resonant path to statewide and national coverage ran through local newsrooms and local voices first. We created a scalable communications strategy, grounded in local stories and targeted to local outlets. This gave the Endowment’s centennial the authenticity and reach that a single, centralized narrative never could.
Taking local stories across two states — and beyond.
Formation developed an earned media strategy designed to share the stories of the Endowment’s grantee partners’ successes across North Carolina and South Carolina, spanning urban centers and largely rural communities alike.
In concert with a series of 12 community celebrations in North Carolina and South Carolina, we contacted local and regional press, prepped local grantees for interviews and pitched grantee stories to larger regional and national outlets. We created a strategy for localized paid and organic social media content to build awareness of the Endowment’s impact at every level, from neighborhood to national audience.
Momentum designed to outlast the milestone.
The centennial campaign combined owned, earned and paid communications to extend the Endowment’s stories across channels and audiences.
Owned: The Endowment’s centennial website, videos and e-newsletters provided a strong foundation for core content that other communications could build on.
Earned: Strategic PR and media outreach amplified the successes of Endowment-funded nonprofits across North Carolina and South Carolina, ultimately carrying their stories to a national audience.
Paid: Geographically targeted social media and public media underwriting expanded the reach of Endowment stories across the Carolinas.
Built to continue: Formation also created scalable social media and newsletter templates that gave the Endowment’s team the tools to keep telling these stories long after the centennial year ended. Designed for consistency and ease of use, the templates helped staff create engaging, on-brand content more efficiently while carrying the storytelling momentum of the anniversary forward.
Shaheen Towles director of communications, The Duke Endowment
How far could one moment carry your organization?
Milestones create attention. A scalable communications strategy determines what happens with it. Formation helps organizations turn significant moments into stories, visibility and communications momentum that continue long after the moment has passed.