A Fundraising Story
Project: The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: “Healing Through Touch”
Client: Philanthropy Department at MultiCare Health System
Type: 4-minute video
Credits: Director, Producer, Editor
Storytelling Challenge: The challenge with this project was how to impact an audience to donate money for a piece of medical equipment - a neonatal insulated incubator and hospital bed.
Process: I met with the client to discuss what would be needed to make a real impact at the auction event. We decided on following a family whose child was saved at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Tacoma General hospital and also were a highly visible family in the community. Their baby was born 4 months premature, and was saved at this hospital. I focused on the high touch and family involvement that this equipment offered. Chose to interview a sympathetic doctor and the head nurse clinician of the unit about this equipment and human touch factor involved in saving babies’ lives. I coordinated the budget, timeline and shoot dates for the project. It was important to present their story in a video 4 minutes and under because the audience has a short attention span. I chose to save the present condition of the baby until the end of the video.
Outcome: The video raised over $550,000 at the auction, which was a first time event for the hospital. General Electric, the manufacturer of the Giraffe OmniBed, the neonate medical equipment offered to buy the video to promote national sales of the Giraffe Omnibed.