40 Years of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Indiana: Providing A Home Away From Home
Earned Media • Media Training
Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Indiana
Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Indiana (RMHCCIN) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing a “home away from home” for families with children in the hospital. Founded in 1982, RMHCCIN has been serving all pediatric hospitals in Indianapolis for over 40 years. Ronald McDonald House provides children and their families with a safe stay, a hot meal, and a welcoming community - all free of charge
BACKGROUND
RMHCCIN takes a family-centered care approach, providing a support network and resources that allow parents and family members of children who are critically ill or injured to get the rest and relaxation necessary for an improved hospital experience. This organization plays an essential role for the families of sick children as it keeps them close to their loved one by offering them convenient rooms at no cost near the hospital. In addition to housing, they provide access to kitchens for home-cooked meals, showers, laundry, play rooms and communal areas that preserve the sense of normal family routine.
Bohlsen Group partnered with RMHCCIN to develop a year-long communications plan, promoting events, sharing the history and mission of RMHCCIN, and highlighting the people who’ve made the organization what it is for the last 40 years.
Our Process
Step 1 - Messaging
In 2022, RMHCCIN aimed to differentiate themselves as a separate, but supportive organization to Riley Children’s Hospital as well as share their mission of supporting families across the state of Indiana, debunking the assumption that they only serve families living in Marion County. Alongside these goals, RMHCCIN also wanted to bring greater awareness to their events and experiences happening throughout their calendar year - including both their programming and fundraising to support the house.
Bohlsen Group worked to become experts on RMHCCIN’s events and the messaging surrounding it. With written materials, such as press releases, media alerts, contributed articles and pitches, Bohlsen Group set out to obtain coverage in order to help RMHCCIN reach their target audiences and build greater awareness of their mission..
Step 2 - Tactics
Our team focused our efforts on promoting the organization by disseminating messages to broadcast, radio, print media, online media, blogs, national facing outlets, etc. RMHCCIN events were promoted via media notifications – press releases, media advisories and pitches – within Indianapolis and additional targeted areas within the state of Indiana. In addition to earned media efforts, our team stepped in, providing media training in the face of a national story opportunity.
Step 3 - Execute
As RMHCCIN prepared for their 40th anniversary year, Bohlsen Group was tasked with telling the stories of volunteers, employees (human and canine!), and fundraising events. In April, two of Ronald McDonald House’s volunteers were highlighted for National Volunteer Month. Marsha Gordon and Sydney Conn were invited to Fox59’s Indy Now morning show to talk about their volunteer experience with the organization. Both women mentioned their love for the RMHCCIN mission, and how they help the Indianapolis community. July brought Mac’s birthday, RMHCCIN’s resident mascot and therapy dog. Bohlsen Group pitched Mac’s birthday to several news sources, and offered an RMHCCIN spokesperson and Mac’s main handler for on-site interviews. In September, Bohlsen Group began pitching Sarah Pulley’s hair salon in the Maternity Tower Family Room of the Ronald McDonald House. Immediately, this story grabbed the attention of several local media outlets. Sarah Pulley, a former RMHCCIN mother, opened up a hair salon for parents in need of some relaxation during stressful times. This story reached a national level, touching the hearts of TODAY.com and Live with Kelly & Ryan.
Results
In 2022, Bohlsen Group secured 136 media placements, gathering 151 million potential impressions for RMHCCIN. This was outstanding growth, particularly compared to last year’s metrics of 52 million potential impressions through 109 media placements.