CONNECTFostering a better future for LA youth by expanding a successful foster family recruitment campaign.
A non-profit coalition united on behalf of foster youth to increase participation in foster parenting, mentoring and educational opportunities.
Please describe the activation your organization seeks to launch.
To help meet LA County’s urgent need for foster parents and mentors, the effort combines predictive analytics and powerful digital content to generate foster parent and mentor leads across LA County. This effort will connect with over 500,000 residents generating thousands of recruits and sharing a positive message about youth in foster care.
Which of the CONNECT metrics will your activation impact?
Rates of volunteerism
Will your proposal impact any other LA2050 goal categories?
LA is the healthiest place to LIVE
In what areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?
County of Los Angeles
How will your activation mobilize Angelenos?
Digital organizing or activism
Connect Angelenos with impactful volunteer opportunities
Describe in greater detail how your activation will make LA the best place to CONNECT?
With state-level reforms taking place, the need for foster parents in Los Angeles County is at crisis level. With this in mind, our team of communications experts conducted research and focus groups to develop a winning, digital campaign to recruit foster parents and mentors, while at the same time reintroducing viewers to the potential of foster youth.
In a new approach for the field, FosterMore uses21st century techniques to engage people in the lives of youth in care. This kind of specific targeting works at two levels—at best we have recruited a new person to actively support foster youth, while at the same time we have promoted the larger mission of FosterMore, to change hearts and minds, reducing stigmas for foster youth.
In 2016, we ran a pilot campaign which produced 133 leads for local agencies at a cost of roughly $68 per lead. To build upon that success, the online media buy began employing predictive analytics and big data to provide accuracy and effectiveness. In 2017, armed with the latest in digital targeting and additional creative content, we produced over 1,800 leads and referred 260 prospective foster parents for just $26,000 (or $14/lead).
The campaign messaging features uplifting stories of individuals and families whose lives were positively impacted by foster care. Set to the One Direction hit song “The Story of My Life” with voiceover provided by Emmy winning actor Ty Burrell, the moving ads received a prestigious Cynopsis Social Good Award for best ad over 30 seconds and earned FosterMore a commendation from the County Board of Supervisors.
The funds from the LA2050 grant will enable us to continue this campaign for two additional years, reaching and connecting with 500,000 Angelenos, who will view the content during the run of the campaign. Using a conservative estimate, the funding will also generate interest in foster parent opportunities from over 10,000 County residents.
How will your activation engage Angelenos to make LA the best place to CONNECT
The grant will allow us to reach millions of Angelenos and we will engage 500,000 to connect by watching our ads. We will be able to provide realtime reports while the ads are being run.
There are numerous ways to measure success (as defined in the next question) but for the purposes of connecting Angelenos, we believe that our greatest offering is the sharing of FosterMore’s message, to developing empathy for our young residents facing the challenges of foster care, and providing opportunities for individuals to support them in their journey to reach their potential.
Please explain how you will define and measure success for your activation.
We believe it is important to look at the impact of the ads through three different lenses, aligned with FosterMore’s goals. Each of the three goals has a metric to measure success.
* Recruitment of Foster Parents: The number of referrals made to LA County Foster Family Agencies is a clear metric for success and evaluation. The cost/referral allows for comparison with the efforts of other organizations to reach the same demographic.
* Reintroducing Foster Youth to the Public—The overall number of individuals who see the ads and watched the films is a strong metric for success because the ads are purchased to reach a specific demographic of potential foster parents.
* Long Term Culture Shift: Based on previous research of our partner organizations that states that the average foster parent spends two years in the prospecting pipeline, we may be able to project interest starting in 18-24 months, assuming appropriate follow up is conducted. It is our belief that a periodic investment of advertising (targeting the same demographic) could yield a conversion rate of 0.005% from those who view the ad.
Where do you hope this activation or your organization will be in five years?
We will have provided a significant resource to Los Angeles County to address the needs of foster youth and we hope that they will adopt and utilize the template in their ongoing efforts to recruit foster parents. If we are successful, there will be sufficient foster homes to address the need and the public will see foster youth as they are — children facing a difficult time, not simply difficult children.