At tomsheehan worldwide, we complete over 500 assignments each year, but the pro-bono ones that make a difference in our own community are among our favorites. In early 2010, we were approached by two National Football League players, John Gilmore of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Chad Henne of the Miami Dolphins, to help brand and support their new Community Fund. The purpose of the Gilmore | Henne Community Fund is to revitalize local parks and recreational facilities in Berks County, as well as provide support for community programs and offer scholarships to local high-school graduates. Both are local guys who graduated from Wilson High School just down the road from our home office, and through local connections, ended up in our conference room seeking help. That was around the middle to end of March.
By that time, they had already developed their own grassroots campaign using local resources to generate graphics and stationery. While it helped get them up and running, they didn’t have the brand they were looking for nor a plan to make it sustainable. Enter tomsheehan worldwide. The task? Brand their Community Fund and develop a campaign to promote their principal fundraiser happening in just a couple of (very) short months. As a leader in branding and strategic and marketing communications, we jumped at the opportunity to get this Fund off the ground. First up, a new logo.
It was a no-brainer to utilize their professional team colors, with permission of course, as the starting point to the brand. The deep Tampa Bay red tied in with the Miami teal was the perfect color combination for it all. Just a week after we started, we had an approved logo; a real professional logo designed exclusively for real professional athletes. Thankfully too. Tickets were on sale and nobody knew it. It was time to start advertising for the event.
As a new Fund, they had extremely limited resources to promote this event. Using our contacts, and through their hometown connections, we were able to bring the local media on board, including newspaper, radio, and billboard; a killer combo with virtually no out-of-pocket expenses. Plus, John and Chad hooked themselves up with a local printing resource to grind out and provide posters, handbills and event programs along with friends and family who created a street team to distribute materials in order to make this a successful event. And a successful event it was.
Close to 900 people attended this extraordinary event and just about everyone took part in bidding on silent and live auction items, vacations, one-of-a-kind experiences, and spectacular sports memorabilia; not to mention the fun they had in the ultra-luxe lounge and nightclub created in a ballroom on the third floor of the theater! In all, the Gilmore | Henne Community Fund netted $100,000 that night, not to mention awareness of the need for programs like this in Reading and Berks County. Money raised from this event alone was used to revitalize the Second and Oley playground, one of the most distressed parks in the city, sponsor programs at the Olivet Boys and Girls Club, award scholarships to two student athletes at Wilson High School, provide a grant to Berks Parks and Recreation for the revitalization of the Stone Cliff Recreation Area, and start work on the first of this year’s projects, Barbey’s Playground in Reading. 
Through our creative and strategic planning efforts, the Gilmore | Henne Community Fund was able to get their Fund off the ground and host an incredible fundraiser in just a couple of very short months. John and Chad were impressed and thankful for the outpouring of support; the community really took this newfound Fund to heart, and most importantly, everyone involved did their part in giving back to the place we all call home. Kudos to our community! And to John and Chad.-Kevin Bezler is Vice President, Client Services, at tomsheehan worldwide. He can be reached at kevinbezler@tomsheehan.com.
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