Giving Day
CSUB Giving Day | 2022,2024,2025
Since moving into the Marketing and Communications Specialist role, I have worked as lead for the digital content during CSUB’s Giving Day: Raising for `Runners! I worked closely with then director of marketing and communications to create captions, a full timeline of posting, as well as including artwork.
I feel that each year has gotten stronger, especially as our amounts raised continue to grow higher. I think all of our collective efforts on the fundraising and marketing sides speak for itself.
Marketing plan
The past three years, I’ve created an all-encompassing marketing plan involving CSUB Alumni, the Office of Marketing and Communications and the Annual Giving & Stewardship office. I’ve listed the complete timeline for the save the dates, including in newsletters, as well as for emails to be sent out, social media timeline and finalizing details for social media videos and other content necessary;.
Social Media Plan
I am the lead of the social media content, creating and scheduling content for the full 24 hours. While most posts are scheduled ahead of time, others are posted in the moment with updates on challenges, resharing others who have tagged us and overall monitoring of the posts and any comments that might be received. I would then also work with the Giving Day Ambassadors team to go over best practices for posting, sending reminders to our campus communicators teams, providing them with the toolkits needed for social media and serving as a resource for the team. That also means collaborating with the Alumni Association, as well as the four colleges.
Rebranding Name
Our committee decided to revamp the entire campaign after skipping the 2023 event. We renamed it and came up with a new look. We all brainstormed names and taglines, then voted anonymously in the end. The final outcome was mine, “Raising for `Runners” as the chosen name.
Social Media Graphics
When we rebranded “Giving Day” to “Raising for `Runners,” we’d talked about creating a new logo. I nudged the team with the ideas I thought, including bubble lettering and sent examples to our graphic designer, Chris, who brought that vision to life.
I’ve also worked to create fun and creative graphics, not only for myself to use during the 24-hour period, including stories with “Why I give…” prompts, using templates for their profile photos on social media, LinkedIn and Facebook covers encouraging others to give and where to donate, along with other graphics of campus with how to give.
Ambassador Social Media Toolkit
While having created the essential graphics for the, it also morphed into me creating a toolkit that was provided when people on campus signed up to be an ambassador. They received all the graphics. I’d created, along with sample messaging for emails and social media posts, encouraging them to send to their circles or post on their social media pages.
Social Media Scheduling
Throughout the process, I work closely with the Annual Stewardship Director, Eric, and coordinator, Grace, to ensure that all challenges, information and graphics are up to date leading up to the main event in the springtime. We are in communication with one another leading up to and, of course, the day of, depending on what needs to be pushed more on social media and other reminders for challenges, etc. This year, we also partnered with local restaurants for various
Filming/scripting
Last year, I worked with Athena to get a video together for the Alumni Association, but couldn’t make it to the filming. We brainstormed together, sending each other videos, while mapping out a plan for the filming. This year, we didn’t have a chance to record a full video, but I filmed and edited a quick video of Sarah Hendrick and Eric Weis for a call on their challenges of meeting the donations and giving toward whatever area had the most donations from alumni, as well as faculty and staff.
Giving Day is a true team effort that couldn’t happen without all the areas on campus, especially the University Advancement division collaborating and communicating with one another.
Other notable achievements:
The Education Digital Marketing Awards (EDMAwards) || Outstanding work in the category of: Social media campaign - Giving Day 2022 (Bronze winner)
2022: The university raised $49,424 from 429 gifts during the 24-hour engagement and fundraising marathon. This year’s Giving Day had 368 donors, of which 131 were new donors to the university. In addition, CSUB saw 91 new email address signups for the event.
2024: CSUB’s Raising for `Runners Giving Day, which ran from noon on April 2 to noon on April 3, brought in $175,000 from more than 1,000 gifts, a new record. The university’s previous three Giving Day events combined raised more than $400,000 from nearly 1,700 gifts. This year’s Giving Day brought in 891 donors, shattering the university’s previous record of 535 donors in 2021. More than 600 were first-time donors.
2025: Raising for `Runners Giving Day — which ran from noon on April 8 to noon on April 9 — brought in $168,000 from nearly 1,000 donors, topping the university’s previous record of 891 donors last year. Over 600 were new donors to CSUB this year.
Charizma Co. Social Media
Charizma Co.| Client Social Media
I was hired on to write captions and blog posts for Charizma Co., as well as the clients we had taken on. They were all from a variety of industries - A DJ in Hollywood, real estate agents and so on. We had a specific schedule and content calendar that we’d work out each month
In order to fully understand the clients who were brought on before, I suggested us sending questions to our clients each month, for me to get to know them better. I wasn’t included in some of the earlier meetings, so aside from doing my research on their business, I wanted to get a better sense for who they were as people. From there, we started implementing the questions and sending to our clients to be able to craft messages and blog posts from there.
From there, the Charizma Co. podcast has since been born.
When working on the content for Charizma Co., I would brainstorm questions, then sit with Rubi Zetino, our creative director to take notes on her responses. I would then craft messaging around that and include for the particular brand pillar day.
Captions
Your captions are more than just throwing a random quote or a few emojis. It needs to tell a story, and learning more about the clients and their audience is key to grabbing their interest and making them engage with the content you’re posting.
Scheduling content
I was in charge of navigating the scheduling system.I connected our platforms to the scheduling system and from there, would work to get as far ahead on scheduling content for the clients we were assisting. This included video, photos, captions and any necessary tagging and hashtags.
Visuals
Charizma Co. specializes in visuals, whether it stunning videography or beautiful, detailed portraits to best convey the message. Pulling the best photo to go with the caption/specific day for the brand pillar was crucial. It all plays a role. It was also a matter of collaboration, working with Liz and Rubi on the artwork, finding them in the right catalog of work and so on.
Stories
This was a chance for me to learn more about crafting videos - editing the right clips, working alongside Liz to create a strong message within the videos and imagery included.
All of your content should work together to tell a cohesive story. But, it isn’t just about image. It’s important to also create content that is engaging and informative. I learned a lot about social media storytelling and learning to be quicker with changes, grabbing the moment and being ready to post at any time.
Charizma Co. Studio Launch
During my time at Charizma Co., the brand also launched the Charizma Studio space, which included a launch party for its grand opening to the public. This space is used as a private meeting area for events, creative and strategic planning, as well as collaborative work, productivity and a variety of workshops organized with Charizma Studio.
For the grand opening, I offered my expertise in media relations and contacts, as well as writing press releases, reaching out to the media to alert them of the opening and working on a timeline for the event and how to capture an event from start to finish.
Before the space was ready
Before the space was ready to go for the Launch Party, we were there every afternoon. Some days, I had to stay at the office alone (which downtown was no easy feat.), if people would be there to do work, I’d let them in or coordinate anything necessary, if needed.
Planning
Several weeks to one month prior for the event, we sat down as a team with our director, coordinator and myself. We discussed everything from the guest list, the planning stages of what should be included at the event (food, live performances, etc) to the flow of the evening and what each of our roles would be. I reached out to my friend who worked with local government to find out more on how to get the mayor to the event, as well as checking in with local media contacts should we try to open it up more to the community.
Making it happen
Our entire team worked on sending out invitations, whether it was via Instagram or creating a FloDesk account to send out high-quality invitations for those we knew personally. Liz and I hunkered down in the office to send out the invitations, reminders and kept track of those who had RSVP’D.
Adaptability
With any event, no matter how much you’ve planned or prepped, things don’t always go accordingly. There were many things thrown at myself and Liz at the last minute, just minutes before the opening and the time we were called to be there. We picked up water, soda and snacks at Sam’s Club, then event went to our office down the street to carry a desk downstairs and to the party for check in. Aside from that, I thought I might need to put together some graphics to print out from Kinko’s. It didn’t end up happening, after all, but I was eager to help where I could - Putting graphics together, asking questions and staying on top of it if I needed to.
Building connections
Throughout the evening, I mingled and met with people - some I’d known and others I hadn’t met before. Events truly come down to the art of connection. I was essentially a floater, able to wander around and see if anyone needed help, while also capturing digital content on my phone, just to make sure we had plenty of perspectives of the evening and guests attending.
This role and specifically being part of the studio’s grand opening taught me so much about planning and execution, the timing of everything and how important details are.
Grad Cap Contest
CSUB Alumni Grad Cap Contest
This is one of the campaigns that has proven the most engagement of just about anything we do, especially as a partnership/.collaboration with the Alumni Association and Office of Marketing and Communications.
While our messaging and content is catered to students, this is something that they are able to proudly jump in on with no problem. It’s open to all graduates during the fall and spring commencement seasons. We’d done it a few years prior to Covid, and had a decent turnout. However, after Covid, it was a bit down, as was plenty of other things.
When I returned to campus and our new Alumni Marketing Specialist was hired, we started collaborating more on ideas – growing the Alumni channels and pulling more people in.
And, so, we brought the Alumni Grad Cap Contest back to life.
Collaboration
This particular project allows us to, not only work with the Alumni Association, but also informs our graduating students of what the Alumni Association is all about. It encourages them to follow the pages on social media and to stay connected.
Smoother system
Previously we’d asked students to tag us and the Alumni Association on their photos from Instagram. However, we noticed that everyone ended up doing it in their own way, or you couldn’t fully see the cap. I suggested creating a form that they could attach their photo to and submit online. I worked with Dina, the commencement office lead to get it set up on the website, while Athena worked with ITS to build the form. It proved to work much better as we received 65 entries, the most I believe, we’d ever received, while doing this contest.
Social Media
On many of the posts, I’d take the lead in putting a video or seamless carousel together to display grad caps from previous years, either entered or shown off at commencement ceremonies. From there, I’d use to post, primarily on Instagram, but often Facebook and X, as well. I would be sure to tag the Alumni Association or use the collaboration invitation on Instagram.
CSU Chancellor White Visit
During Chancellor Timothy P. White’s visit to CSUB, I was the primary lead for the videography and photography crew that would be on campus capturing his time at the university. In addition to that day, I was in contact with our local media, coordinating the press release and important information, as well as follow up calls about his visit prior to being on campus. It was an important visit, and I ensured that we grabbed the necessary content and assisted wherever needed throughout the day’s festivities.
Media coordination
I worked alongside my director on the schedule and day’s events, but took the lead when it came to drafting the press releases, ensuring the edits, working with the Chancellor’s Office for any necessary information and passing along important times to the media contacts. I was there to greet members of the media that decided to come, as well as get them situated for their time on campus and leading them to the next event, if they were staying.
Social Media captures/marketing
Throughout the day, I was in charge of posting any prominent spots and events on campus. I followed the team around, grabbing important images and quick notes about the events and what took place.
Press Conference with Chancellor White and President Mitchell
Perhaps one of the biggest events of the day was the press conference/ Q&A between Chancellor White and President Mitchell. I not only helped in pushing out the information to encourage those on campus to attend, but also monitored social media and asked any questions should they come up online.
Logistics
Other logistics included, having the media kit updated and ready to go with information about Chancellor White, President Mitchell, the California State University system, as well as CSUB. I also coordinated with a team on campus to provide their golf cart and driver for the day, so we could allow for smooth transitions from Point A to Point B in a timely manner. After, it was working with the photographer and videographer to make sure we had all the footage and best photos to file away and archive in our photo files should we need them in the future, and to provide to the Chancellor’s Office for their records.
This was one of my first major events on campus and to play such an integral part of the day and events was an honor. The fact that the Office of the President staff trusted me and had faith in me to be the primary contact for the day and guiding them around is something I’ll never forget. It gave me a boost of confidence early on, that I don’t think I even realized at the time.
[Photo by Gregory D. Cook]
CSUB President’s Annual Reports
(2013-14,14-15, 15-16,16-17,17-18,18-19,19-20,20-21)
CSUB President’s Annual Reports
When initially hired on, it was primarily for the President’s Annual Report, I became an expert in planning and executing with this project, while working alongside the director of marketing and communications.
The first year was different, as the outline had already been provided to my colleague and I who were hired on. We were hired to focus more on the stories. But, because we worked so quickly through that, we were given other tasks to work on.
It was a major lesson in ensuring that we not only capture the main events throughout the year, but also to keep a clear line in communication when managing and organizing the publication at the end of the year.
I was able to have a hand in just about every aspect, from piecing the timeline together, based on our news releases and events that took place during that academic year, as well as being aware of what should be captured throughout the year as archivable items that might come in handy for us down the road.
Organization in timeline
This was the first step before anything else. I’d compile the most important stories and events from the previous year. I’d meet with my director, whoever it may be at the time, to discuss the important items, what will officially be included and breaking into the various sections. From there, we’d either start on the research/interview aspects, or pull the important pieces needed from the stories already written about a particular event or highlight.
Collaboration
This is one of the most collaborative projects I’ve worked on. There are many hands involved, at one time, and the trick was always to bring in the necessary people when needed. It’s making sure there’s always communication, whether that’s in email, any important updates (not hearing back from a source, not being able to meet a certain deadline or a holdup with the printing process).
Design
Once all of the stories were written, I would work alongside our graphic design artist on campus throughout the entirety of the project. We would meet, discuss the vision, any ideas we had for layout and design, then she would get to work. From there, there were usually countless edits back and forth between our team and the print shop designer team.
Review/Edits
As we moved further into the process, we started working more efficiently. We’d make the edits within our documents, then send to the designer, so the edits and design process wasn’t quite as tedious.
I learned so many valuable lessons during my time of working on these publications.
It highlighted the importance of branding and presentation; how we were showing ourselves off to the rest of the community and beyond.
Keeping track of the process, from first drafts and notes in emails, to the timelines and status of specific items. Organization was a key factor in the success and continuous movement of the publication.
It also gave me a chance to learn more about the design process. I was able to see the project from start to finish, and also researched more ideas on how to keep the designs fun and more modern.
Being that this was one of my first major projects at the university, it was a great way to introduce me to so many important contacts on campus, as well as taking leadership over a specific task and making sure others follow suit.
CSUB Fact Book
CSUB Fact Book
The Institutional Research Planning and Assessment Office reached out to our Public Affairs & Communications Office for a representative guide of the university with fast facts and figures that they could put on the website. We’d never had something like that, aside from the President’s Annual Reports.
“Divide and conquer” became a motto with my colleague, Veronica Catalan and myself. We were the dynamic duo always together on campus, tackling whatever assignment or project given. We were a small team, but mighty in our reach.
This was no simple task. It was just before the holiday season and we had nothing else to go off of. We were paving the way.
Veronica and I got to work immediately, writing on the marker board in our office, brainstorming possible ideas and how it should be arranged. There was a lot of information to condense into a thinner guide that gives only…Well, the fast facts that people would want to know.
Organization/Timeline
We went through all of the important headlines, possible sections, various areas on campus that should be included. We created an overall outline of the flow - once that was approved and revised, we were able to get into the nitty gritty and details.
Teamwork
Again, this is where the dynamic duo comes into play. Veronica and I were in constant communication, along with the IRPA team, and of course, our director. We reached out to those around campus, including Campus Programming, Athletics, Sustainability, Academics and more, for the vital information and important statistics that should be included. Each of us had our own sections and contacts to reach out to. We worked quickly and efficiently, always informing each other of where were with the project and responses we were awaiting.
Visuals/Design
Once we’d compiled all the information and knew what would be included, we got to work on the visuals. We’d compile our favorite/best photos in the folder to correspond with the necessary text/copy, once it was approved. Much like the President’s Annual Reports, we would move on to working with the graphic design artist in our Print Shop on campus.
Once all the final approvals and edits had been given, we were ready to print. Again, working with the Print Shop, we were able to print out the necessary amount of Fact Books to go to the correct offices around campus.
This was another important project, as it required teamwork to make it all happen. It was jumping into action, since we didn’t have time to delay or wait around for the next steps. It was moving forward and we’d figure out the rest as we went along.
Bakersfield: It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
Bakersfield Book: It’s the people, and a whole lot more | CSUB profile
While working in the Office of the President, under the leadership of Dr. Evelyn Young Spath, I helped with the CSUB profile in a book about Bakersfield, a publication from Mayor Harvey Hall’s office. It was entitled, “Bakersfield: It’s the People, and a Whole Lot More.”
Research
This was a major overview on the history of the university, which meant an in-depth search of important dates, key people on campus, standout images and getting the tone of the storytelling right. I combed through our archives of photos, worked with the Walter W. Stiern Library’s archivist and referenced headlines and information the university had taken the lead on.
Staying on task
Dr. Evelyn Young Spath didn’t call me the “Task Master” for nothing. Whether it was a response to an email, meeting a deadline or getting a request, I made sure to communicate it to Dr. Spath and work on what I could. I would write drafts based on information and storied I’d heard, as well as making sure we had a selection of photos and all the necessary materials, along with any important due dates and deadlines quickly approaching.
The Mediator
For much of this project, I served as the mediator, between the publishing company’s editor or the billing department and Dr. Spath. Whoever the contact was, I relayed all relative information to Dr. Spath and assisted with any urgent matters to make them happen in a timely manner.
I absolutely loved working on this project, because it allowed me to put my journalist/storytelling cap on, as well as learn more about this organization that I’d only known as a student. It taught me so much about the spirit, tenacity and passion of our university and the people.
