Keep America Beautiful launches year-end fundraising campaign

Keep America Beautiful, a Stamford, Connecticut-based national nonprofit, has announced the launch of its year-end individual giving campaign, “100,000 Miles of Beautiful Things.”

Central to the campaign is the debut of a new Keep America Beautiful mission video, called #DoBeautifulThings, which the organization says aims to build upon its history while introducing a new generation of community stewards to the work of Keep America Beautiful.

In the past year, Keep America Beautiful and its national network of more than 620 state and community-based affiliates cleaned, improved and beautified more than 100,000 miles of roads, parks, trails, public spaces, shorelines and waterways across the nation. The organization says it delivered more than $236 million in measurable benefits to tens of thousands of communities nationwide.

To surpass that milestone and help more Americans #DoBeautifulThings, Keep America Beautiful says it is asking individuals to help raise $100,000 for 100,000 Miles of Beautiful Things between Giving Tuesday, Nov. 29, and Dec. 31, 2016. (Giving Tuesday is a national day for charitable donations and giving back.) For every $1 donated via the 100,000 Miles of Beautiful Things campaign, Keep America Beautiful’s national staff and board of directors will match the first $25,000. Individuals can contribute via the organizations website at KAB.org or its Facebook page.

Mike Rosen, senior vice president, marketing and communications, Keep America Beautiful, says, “As we approach our 65th anniversary in 2018, we’re eager to show a new generation of community stewards—those who were not alive when our historic ‘People Start Pollution. People Can Stop It.’ PSA campaign was released in the 1970s—how the work we do continues to make a tangible and substantial economic, environmental and social impact on communities nationwide, and why it matters more today than ever.”

Rosen continues, ”Our powerful affiliate network offers a snapshot of America’s diverse urban, suburban and rural communities and the positive impact individuals, working together, can have to effect meaningful and lasting behavior change.”

Becky Lyons, chief operating officer, Keep America Beautiful, adds, “Through our signature Great American Cleanup and America Recycles Day programs, among our key educational and motivational programs and resources, more than 5 million individuals volunteer their time annually to help advance our goals and to fulfill a vision of a cleaner, greener and more beautiful America.”

She adds, “A successful year-end fundraising appeal will empower us to build upon our proud history as America’s leading steward in the fight to end littering, improve recycling and beautify America’s communities.”

In addition to the “100,000 Miles of Beautiful Things” campaign, Keep America Beautiful is providing a variety of other ways to contribute during the holiday season, including:

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  • Through a “Give $30, Get $20” gift card promotion in which an individual donates $30 or more to Keep America Beautiful and receives a $20 Amazon.com gift card; 
  • Making a donation and receiving a free “How Will You?” Keep America Beautiful t-shirt made from 100-percent-recycled content; 
  • Purchasing a Keep America Beautiful-branded reusable water bottle from Liberty Bottleworks, responsibly made in the USA from 100-percent-recycled content by a company that gives hiring preference to Veterans who have served our country; and 
  • Selecting Keep America Beautiful as the charity of choice when shopping for gifts via Amazon Smile.
  

“#DoBeautifulThings,” the new Keep America Beautiful Mission Video, was conceived and produced by Oberland, an ad agency for purpose-driven brands.

Oberland founder Bill Oberlander says, “The strategy for #dobeautifulthings came from understanding what the benefits of clean, green communities are for each individual in it. A clean park to play ball in. A safe neighborhood to walk home through. A green Main Street to open a business on. It’s not about cleaning for clean’s sake. It’s about changing and improving behaviors which enable a community to #dobeautifulthings.”