Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS Environmental Analysis Background Funds PAGE 3 PAGE 4 PAGE 4 PAGE 4 PAGE 5 PAGE 9 PAGE 9 PAGE 10 PAGE 11 PAGE 11 PAGE 12 PAGE 13 PAGE 14 PAGE 14 PAGE 15 PAGE 16 PAGE 18 PAGE 19

Opportunity and Issue Analysis SWOT

MARKETING OBJECTIVES MARKETING STRATEGY Segmentation Target Market Marketing Mix

ACTION PROGRAMS Objective One Objective Two Objective Three

FINANCIAL PROJECTIONS

MONITORING AND CONTROL

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Relay for life is the main volunteer-driven fundraising event of the American Cancer Society. Relay events comprise of a number of people including survivors, caregivers, friends, and family members of survivors who get together and raise money by participating in activities and fundraising attempts for ACS. Relay For Life has the ability to empower every community to help fight back against cancer. An ongoing challenge for ACS has been successfully running Relay For Life events among the densely populated communities due to safety, increased costs, cultural differences, and county ordinances that ban overnight activities. Running Relay events in these markets has the potential to reach more survivors and caregivers and establish strong relationships with multicultural organizations within the communities. The American Cancer Society wants to establish and enhance Relay events in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. ACS attempts to integrate Relay For Life in Chapel Hill by reaching out to the top three largest employers, featured churches representing a variety of denominations, and the top five high schools. ACS employees will build relationships with these three markets and inform its publics about Relay For Life, its philanthropic benefits, and how they can help. ACS aims to host Relay events through these targets and attain large turnouts at the events through educating the varied publics. For schools, ACS will host mini fundraising events for a couple years to build a Relay presence then transition into actual Relay events. 3

SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS
Environmental Analysis Background I. Relay For Life Relay For Life is the main volunteer-driven cancer fundraising event for the American Cancer Society. Relay events are mainly held during the summer months but can take place all year. Most events are held at colleges, high schools, fairgrounds, and military installations. The purpose of Relay For Life is to raise money and awareness for cancer. Relay For Life embraces all types of cancer and has its own cancer research team. In the mid-1980s, Dr. Gordy Klatt a Tacoma colorectal surgeon, wanted to increase the income of his local American Cancer Society office and decided to personally raise money by running marathons. He spent 24 hours circling the track at a local college in Tacoma and raised $27,000. Dr. Klatt thought about ways after much support on the track from volunteers and committee plans, the vision turned into over 5,200 Relay For Life events across the United States today. Relay teams consist of approximately 8-15 people and are led by a team captain. The team captain recruits members for the team and facilitates fundraisers for the event. Relay events are 24 hours long to represent that when someone has cancer, it is present 24 hours a day and does not sleep. Teams of participants camp overnight at local athletic tracks, taking turns to run or walk laps. It is required for only one member from a team to be on the track at all times. The registration fee to participate in a Relay event is $10. The American Cancer Society asks each participant to have a goal to raise at least $100, but it is not required. II. Event Features Relay For Lifes slogan is Celebrate. Remember. Fight Back which is represented by each event. 1. Celebrate. The Survivor Lap signifies the start of Relay and is used to celebrate the survivors. During the Survivors lap, friends, families, and caregivers cheer on the survivors while they take the first lap around the track. Sometimes survivors speak during this time to encourage others with cancer to keep fighting. A survivor who cannot attend the event is called a Virtual Survivor. A Virtual Survivor is someone who has been diagnosed with cancer, but due to distance, time, or illness, is not able to physically attend the event. In this case, a family 4

member will represent them by creating a poster, photo collage, or t-shirt featuring them and walk the Survivor Lap in their place. 2. Remember. The Luminaria Ceremony honors loved ones who lost to cancer or still fighting cancer. It takes place after dark and has decorated bags spelling out HOPE or CURE around the track. Each participant lights a candle inside their personalized bag, honoring their loved ones who have lost to cancer or are still fighting. Participants and guest speakers are invited to share their stories during this event. After the Luminaria Ceremony, participants walk a lap around the track in silence to respect those who have lost their lives to cancer. At certain Relay events, pictures of cancer patients are shown and Amazing Grace is performed. 3. Fight Back. The Fight Back Ceremony is held at the end of each event and symbolizes the emotional commitment made by every single person volunteering in Relay For Life. It is when participants pledge to take action and spread awareness for cancer research, treatments, and prevention. Participants are encouraged to hold events in their community that help others quit smoking and educate about cancer in minorities, and to volunteer their time to the American Cancer Society. Sometimes representatives from ACS come and speak about legislations that are trying to be passed. Funding Funds received by Relay For Life are allocated to the following areas: 1. Research Programs Intramural Research department is comprised of five programs: Epidemiology, Surveillance and Health Services Research, International Tobacco Control Research, the Behavioral Research Center (BRC), and the Statistics and Evaluation Center (SEC). 1. The Epidemiology Research Center studies factors that influence health and disease occurrence in populations. This is the scientific foundation of public health preventative medicine. This research program conducts and communicates high quality epidemiologic research to advance the understanding of cancer causes, prevention, and survivorship. 2. The goal of Surveillance and Health Services Research is to analyze and disseminate population-based information on cancer occurrence. This causes prevention, treatment, and survival. In addition to its own independent research, the group also collaborates with other surveillance and health services organizations nationally and internationally and provides scientific expertise to other components of the Society.

3. International Tobacco Control Research conducts original research on international tobacco control, emphasizing on the economics of tobacco control and policy. This work is done in collaboration with national and international investigators and serves to build capacity for collection and analysis of economic data to provide the evidence base for tobacco control in low- and middle-income countries 4. Behavioral Research educates the public on what family caregivers should do, tobacco, the quality of life, and survivorship. The American Cancer Society was one of the first organizations to recognize the importance of behavioral and psychosocial research in the prevention and control of cancer. 5. The Statistics and Evaluation Center assists society researchers in the design, analysis, and preparation of manuscripts for publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals. It functions as part of the Society team that evaluates selected mission delivery interventions. And it conducts methods on cancer-related problems for publication in peer-reviewed journals. 2. Prevention Programs There are three major areas of research within the Cancer Control and Prevention Research Program. 1. Psychosocial and Behavioral Research: Applications that focus on the following population groups: Studies that focus on reducing disparities in the following population groups: African Americans, Hispanic/Latinos, Asians/Pacific Islanders, Native Americans/Alaskan Natives; Low Income/Rural Poor. Studies of interventions designed to reduce measurably cancer health disparities across the cancer continuum, especially in reducing risk; enhancing screening or informed decision making; effective population-specific messaging; improvement in provider-patient relationship; treatment decision- making or treatment compliance; and improvement in quality of life of patients and/or caregivers. Community-based participatory research or research conducted in partnership with other groups or organizations. 2. Health Policies and Heath Services Research: Studies that focus on health care costs, system structure or capacity, delivery of healthcare services or state or Federal policies that have the potential to contribute to a decrease in unequal access to care and/or treatment in populations of focus. 3. Palliative Care and Symptom Management: 6

Palliative care is defined as research that focuses on prevention and relief of suffering by the early identification, assessment and treatment of pain, as well as of other physical, psychosocial and spiritual problems associated with cancer. 3. Patient/Family Support Programs I Can Cope- An educational program for people with cancer and their family. The program includes physicians, nurses, social workers, and other health care professionals who discuss issues related to cancer. Coping with Breast Cancer- A support group designed to educate and provide emotional support for patients and their families. Dialogue- An ongoing support group designed to help patients, their families, and friends better understand and learn to live with cancer. Man to Man- Provides accurate, factual information to men and their partners about prostate cancer. Look Good, Feel Better- Licensed cosmetologists team up with oncology health professionals to provide information to women undergoing cancer treatment to help them look great and feel more comfortable with the changes in their appearance. Life After Loss- A grief support program for anyone who has experienced the loss of a loved one with in the past two years, regardless of the cause of death.

4. Treatment Programs American Cancer Society offers treatment programs in the following areas: Understanding Your Diagnosis Finding and Paying for Treatment Treatments and Side Effects Survivorship: During and After Cancer Treatment Children and Cancer Caregivers Nearing the End of Life

5. Fundraising The money raised from Relay For Life goes to creating other local fundraising programs for the American Cancer Society. A few of these fundraisers include: 7

 Bark For Life Garage Sale Rose Bush Memorial Turkey Raffle Little Black Dress Night Radio Station 6. Construction of Hope Lodges Hope lodges offer cancer patients and their caregivers a free, temporary place to stay when treatment is in a city that they are unable to get to. There are currently 31 Hope Lodges across the United States. 8

Opportunity and Issue Analysis SWOT The Customer Satisfaction Study was designed to evaluate event quality and participant experience at Relay For Life. Every Relay volunteer who participated in a Relay from January 1 August 31 were emailed an online survey. Over 75,000 surveys were completed for the study, making this one of the largest and most comprehensive studies ever conducted by the American Cancer Society. These results will allow Relay For Life to set benchmarks for quality and customer service, and allow for monitoring of ongoing performance. The Strengths and Weakness section of the SWOT analysis was taken from the results of this survey. Strengths Weaknesses Overall event Image Event Activities / Programs Location and quality of Relay o Public Address System / Sound sites System Check-in / Registration o Closing Ceremony Committee Meetings o Entertainment Team Captain Meetings o Games/activities Kickoff Meetings Recognition o Participants are not feeling recognized/appreciated for their involvement and fundraising efforts Advertising / Communication o Lack of clear signage to event o Participants dont have access to promotional materials Opportunities Threats Reaching out to elderly (65+) Other major Cancer Associations: they are more likely to have (ACS was rated #2 nonprofit by experience with cancer and http://www.myphilanthropedia.org/, support it organizations in the Top 5 would be its major competition) Susan G. Komen for Breast Cancer (#1) LIVESTRONG (#3) The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society(#4) St. Jude (#5) 9

MARKETING OBJECTIVES
1. Build relationships with largest organizations and businesses that are trusted in these communities. Through these relationships, educate and inform society of how Relay events can save lives and promote awareness for cancer. 2. Build trust of religious institutions such as churches. Establish a presence of faith and church within Relay events and this will engage religious communities towards Relay. 3. Establish fundraiser events to raise money for Relay through school systems. This spreads awareness to young populations and will help build a broader base of citizen involvement for the future. (Goal of transitioning this into a community Relay event within 2-3 years)

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MARKETING STRATEGY
Market Segmentation Chapel Hill currently covers 5 zip codes: 1. 27514 2. 27515 3. 27516 4. 27517 5. 27599 Demographics of Chapel Hill, NC
Estimated Current Population: Population: White Population: Black Population: Hispanic Population: Asian Population: Hawaiian Population: Indian Population: Other Population: Male Population: Female Population: Avg House Value: Avg Household Income: Median Age: Median Age (Male): Median Age (Female): 87,389 91,595 71,512 9,322 6,468 9,136 82 801 3,248 43,221 48,374 $217,950.00 $49,850.00 32.67 32.27 33.23

Avg Persons Per Household: 2.44

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Age Census
Total 2012 Census Population for CHAPEL HILL, NC Under 5 years 5 to 9 years 10 to 14 years 15 to 19 years 20 to 24 years 25 to 29 years 30 to 34 years 35 to 39 years 40 to 44 years 45 to 49 years 50 to 54 years 55 to 59 years 60 to 64 years 65 to 69 years 70 to 74 years 75 to 79 years 80 to 84 years 85 years and over 57,233 2,391 2,909 2,896 7,693 12,065 4,410 3,069 2,823 3,199 3,016 2,911 2,518 2,052 1,553 1,085 950 803 100.0% 4.2% 5.1% 5.1% 13.4% 21.1% 7.7% 5.4% 4.9% 5.6% 5.3% 5.1% 4.4% 3.6% 2.7% 1.9% 1.7% 1.4%

Target Market

The American Cancer Society is aiming to reach out to large businesses, churches, and school systems in Chapel Hill. ACS first wants to establish strong relationships with these groups, spread information about Relay For Life, and eventually have a decent turn out of people (100) at Relay events in these areas. 1. Large Businesses ACS will reach out to the top three employers in Chapel Hill which are: 1. Harris Teeter 2. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of NC 3. A Southern Season 2. Churches The featured and most advertised groups are the ones ACS will choose first: 1. Church of Holy Trinity Chatham (Anglican) 2. Mount Carmel Baptist Church (Baptist) 12

 Marketing Mix 5Ds of Relay Mission Delivery is a critical part of the development of community-based outreach for Relay For Life. American Cancer Society aims to reach the town of Chapel Hill by integrating the 5 Ds of Relay, which need to be considered when reaching objectives. 1. Leadership Development 2. Team Development 3. Event Development 4. Survivor Development 5. Fundraising Development 4 Ps Place: Relay For Life is a part of The American Cancer Society but can be found locally in every major city during Relay season. This current project is to expand Relay For Life in the nations most densely populated communities. Product: Relay For Life event sign-ups and fundraisers for schools. Price: Donation amount of personal choice, the event registration cost is $10. Promotion: Through building relationships and dispersing promotional material to selected business organizations and churches, fundraising with selected high schools in Chapel Hill. 13

3. Chapel Hill Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) 4. University United Methodist Church (United Methodist) 5. Newhope Church (Non-Denominational) 6. True Praise and Deliverance Tabernacle (Pentecostal) 3. School Systems ACS will reach out to high schools that are rated with 4 or more stars on greatschools.org: 1. Woods Charter School 2. East Chapel Hill High School 3. Chapel Hill High School 4. Phoenix Academy High School 5. Emerson Waldorf School

ACTION PROGRAMS

For Objective One: Build relationships with organizations and businesses that are trusted in Chapel Hill. This approach to establishing a Relay For Life event focuses on demonstrating the impact of our mission to save lives in order to build relationships with local organizations and businesses that already have the trust of the community. By creating and strengthening relationships with these organizations, ACS employees will be better positioned to establish the American Cancer Society as an advocate for everyone affected by cancer and a resource for those who have never had the disease. Through these relationships, ACS can educate and inform the community about how the Society saves lives and helps people in their community get well, stay well, find cures, and fight back against cancer. Once those relationships are established, trusted groups will be more likely to join the American Cancer Society to fight back through Relay and to encourage the community to do the same. 1. Meet with finance departments of each business to see which charities they have previously supported and analyze which strategies worked and which did not. 2. Integrate ACS mission speakers at company and business meetings and job fairs within the community. 3. Design a mission tent (a table with Relay promotional materials) for upcoming Relay events at monthly business meetings. This tent should display and demonstrate community programs that help people stay well and get well. 4. With a monthly focus, create a plan to engage and educate new Relay volunteers in Chapel Hill about the American Cancer Societys mission and the role that Relay plays in helping save lives. Engaging volunteers in the Societys mission and encourage them to pass along the message into the community. How this will fulfill the 5Ds: Leadership Development: An organization or business that collaborates with the American Cancer Society because they believe in and feel connected to the mission to save lives will most likely provide leadership to help further efforts to create a world with less cancer and more birthdays. Team Development: When Relay For Life teams are recruited through a combined effort of Health Initiatives and Income Development, they will be teams who 14

come to the event with a strong knowledge of why they are participating in Relay. Strong, dedicated, informed teams develop strong, dedicated, informed advocates and supporters for the American Cancer Society. Event Development: By introducing the American Cancer Society with a focus on its mission to save lives and create more birthdays, your event will most likely have a strong mission component. When people understand what the American Cancer Society does and why our work together is so important, they are more likely to get involved, stay involved, and encourage others to do the same Survivor Development: Through regularly established meetings with collaborating organizations, committee members and teams will have the opportunity to learn more about survivor and caregiver development as well as organize recognition events within the collaborating organization. This approach also presents an opportunity to engage survivors and caregivers year-round, educating them that the American Cancer Society is in their corner around the clock to help guide them through every step of the cancer experience and beyond. Fundraising Development: When donors understand how their dollars make a difference, they are more likely to get engaged and stay engaged with our organization. By deepening understanding of how the American Cancer Society saves lives using funds raised through Relay For Life, collaborating organizations and constituents will be more inclined to give For Objective Two: Build trust of religious institutions such as churches This strategic approach utilizes an existing church to establish and organize a community Relay For Life event. 1. Identify churches that are highly visible with good reputations within the communities and get groups to host a Relay event in their place of worship. a. Use Mission First approach when reaching out to these groups. People in churches may suffer from cancer and will be willing to get involved when they learn that they will be helping others as well. 2. Analyze current staff and volunteer base, is there someone who is a trusted member of a church? This person needs to be the one to reach out initially. 3. Cultural inclusion is necessary; cultures of the particular religious organization need to be included throughout the event. (Dancers, singers, people sharing personal stories, etc.) 15

How this will fulfill the 5Ds: Leadership Development: The benefit of a faith-based engagement approach is that volunteer leaders can be recruited from within the organization, which works well since most people who participate in that organization are from the community and often present a diverse group of people. Team Development: Several hundreds of people will sign up to participate at one time. The choir and other members of the church will be wearing the same Relay shirts and engaging with each other. Event Development: In this strategy, location can be secured either on the property of the faith-based organizations church/or by leveraging members relationships in the community. This will give the Relay event exposure for people interested in the church while the event is going on. Survivor Development (same as business): Through regularly established meetings with collaborating organizations, committee members and teams will have the opportunity to learn more about survivor and caregiver development as well as organize recognition events within the collaborating organization. This approach also presents an opportunity to engage survivors and caregivers year-round, educating them that the American Cancer Society is in their corner around the clock to help guide them through every step of the cancer experience and beyond. Fundraising Development (same as business): When donors understand how their dollars make a difference, they are more likely to get engaged and stay engaged with our organization. By deepening understanding of how the American Cancer Society saves lives using funds raised through Relay For Life, collaborating organizations and constituents will be more inclined to give For Objective Three: Establish fundraiser events to raise money for Relay through school systems. This strategy focuses on establishing a school-based Relay fundraiser as a revenue enhancer for a community Relay event at its inception, until it engages the community with the American Cancer Society and mobilizes it to become a Relay For Life community event. 16

1. Analyze projects that the school system has previously supported 2. Look at youth leadership within the schools such as Key Club, honor society, athletics, etc. 3. After schools and groups within the schools are chosen, team recruitment needs to happen to educate committee members within the groups on how to promote Relay and get donations. 4. Provide participants with enough information about fundraising activities. Encourage friendly competition between school systems with reward programs. How this will fulfill the 5Ds: Leadership Development: Identifying a volunteer champion with influence in the schools supporting your Relay event is key. Champions are able to open doors to recruit leaders and identify contacts in each of the school systems. Team Development: Team recruitment occurs within each school location requires multiple team recruitment subcommittee members Team captain meetings hold tremendous potential to promote competition, so meetings must be in central, visible locations. Event Development: Events illustrate the relevance of Relay within schools and the American Cancer Societys mission to the participants and solidify the engagement. Survivor Development: Identifying survivors within the systems, faculty, and student body is a realistic approach. Promoting the mission is another strong component for clubs and organizations from the school to provide creative energy. Fundraising Development: Educating participants at all levels on the importance of how dollars raised through Relay help save lives and create more birthdays is vital. A school Relay fundraising event also has the potential for small business involvement for sponsorship and activities. Encourage friendly competition among the schools with acceptable rewards offered by the district. 17

FINANCIAL PROJECTIONS
Businesses and Community Organizations Educational messaging and materials for Relay tents in community programs, this includes posters, brochures, business cards, and other promotional items: $1,500 Churches Special ceremonies that have religious themes for churches (hiring singers, dancers, preachers): $3,000 School Systems Team Recruitment materials for school systems: $500 Promotional items for subcommittees to hand out and use for donations: $700 Rewards for winning schools: $2,000 18

MONITORING AND CONTROL

After 6 months of promotion using businesses, is the community member base growing? Or at least to a number that is acceptable to have a relay event (100)? If not, then study promotional items and think of a different, more centralized approach. This includes speakers and marketing editors (people who create marketing messages on brochures and other promotional items). Do not stop educating and informing business leaders and employees about Relay but meet with ACS marketing department to think of new approaches. Are people willing to let Relay events happen inside their churches? If yes, visibility will be maximized and Relay will be at a greater success. If they are hesitant about activities happening inside their churches, then for the time being be open to holding church-based Relays at other locations and keep educating and informing main church members about the purpose of Relay, focusing on how this will be help others. Are groups targeted at school systems successfully collecting donations? Are the fundraising attempts bringing in an acceptable amount of donations? If so, are they increasing over time? If not, keep educating schools about teamwork and how volunteering is an important part of college applications. If there are not enough donations coming in, limit the amount of fundraising activities per month until schools are more excited about Relay. Last case scenario would be to maximize incentives (prizes, pizza parties, etc.) Theses are all initial ways to monitor and control. Currently, there is no Relay activity in densely populated areas. After 6 months of promoting to businesses, churches, and schools, ACS needs to determine if there is enough progress to continue to spend time and money on promotion. The only way to make this judgment in the beginning is based on the number of relationships made. After Relay events are successfully implemented in different communities, monitoring tactics will change along with promotion and goals.

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