The St. Louis Disaster Relief Foundation

Table of Contents:

Overview of NPO …………………………………… 3-5

Projected Budget …………………………………… 6

Marketing ……………………………………………... 7

Logo ……………………………………………………... 8

Fundraising …………………………………………... 9

Works Cited ………………………………………….. 10

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Overview of NPO:

Mission Statement:

The St. Louis Disaster Relief Foundation strives to aid victims of natural disasters

in the St. Louis metropolitan area with essential need care packages and transportation

services.

Needs Analysis:

As a part of the mid-west of the United States, the St. Louis area is prone to

tornadic weather, especially during the spring and summer seasons. Depending on the

severity of the storms, many are left without the basic resources to survive. Often times

the community scrambles to find resources after a disaster. The St. Louis Disaster Relief

Foundation will collect supplies on a yearly basis for the goal of having them ready when

disaster strikes the area. Plenty of organizations respond to devastating weather in the

efforts to help the community. These efforts include medical care, missing persons

inquiries, and temporary shelter. The organizations also seek donations, however, in a

tornadic disaster, so much can be lost in a matter of minutes. It takes longer to collect

donations for a whole community.

The St. Louis metropolitan area is comprised of both Missouri and Illinois towns.

For both states, the average number of

tornadoes per year is twenty-seven. Average

deaths in Illinois per year due to tornadoes are

6 and in Missouri it is 2. The map on the left

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indicates the amount of tornadoes around the United States. The green indicates spring

and red indicates summer, which are the most common seasons for tornadic weather.

AmeriCorps is an organization that responds to disasters in a wider range. They

are a national organization and have helped relief efforts after the most devastating

tornado in 60 years hit Joplin Missouri. Their main focuses were setting up a call line for

missing persons, providing homeowner assistance and casework, and operating donation

and distribution warehouses (Joplin, MO Tornado).

While AmeriCorps’ relief efforts are beneficial to the community, there is a need

to help individuals make it through the rough after effects and ease their worry for

finding resources to make it through until they find temporary housing. Supplies that are

needed in this area where tornadoes are the most common natural disaster include non-

prescription medication such as painkillers, toiletries, food, clothing/shoes/coats etc., as

well as food for pets. The American Red Cross provides areas around the United States

with supplies after a tragic storm or earthquake (Disaster Relief). One supply that is often

neglected is pet food. Also, our foundation has the advantage of locality. The St. Louis

Disaster Relief Foundation will be able to quickly respond to natural disasters. By closely

monitoring weather conditions the organization can better respond to damaging weather

such as tornadoes. While the Red Cross gathers supplies and sets up a base in the area we

will be available to pick up temporary supplies from until more help can arrive.

We will also offer transportation services. Through a volunteer system we can

drive residents around the area so that they can continue to work, go to school, etc.

Proposal:

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The St. Louis Disaster Relief Foundation will be a local organization that will

benefit residents in the Missouri and Illinois metropolitan area. The organization will

provide resources, including: canned goods, personal hygiene supplies, and clothing. Our

goal as an organization is to provide basic supplies to those facing the aftermath of

disastrous weather or natural disasters, the most common of those being tornadoes. The

area is also prone to severe winter weather and, in rarer cases, face the possibility of

earthquakes.  

The organization will quickly provide care packages for families and individuals

facing these occurrences in hopes to ease their stress and help in their journey to

recovery. Donations will be collected on a yearly basis and fundraising will occur during

the months of February-April in preparation for the tornado season.

Projected Budget:

This represents the projected budget for the next fiscal year.

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*Based off average across the St. Louis Area ** Prime time day parts air between the hours of 8pm-10pm

Marketing:

The audience we are trying to reach is the whole community that makes up the

metropolitan St. Louis area. Branding will be achieved through our website, logo, and

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Type of Costs Yearly Cost Total

Rental fee for office space*

$12/sq. foot with 1000 sq. feet

$12,000

Rental fee for storage building*

$2.5/sq. foot with 4,000 sq. feet

$10,000

Advertising costs (included:

radio/television)

$500 for recurring television spots during prime time day parts**

$900$400 for recurring radio spots during

prime time day parts**

Insurance fees $300 per month $3,600

Marketing costs (included: key chains,

t-shirts, pens)

$1,000 budgeted each year (will fluctuate)

$1,000

Total costs for the fiscal year

------------------ $27,500

social media presence. During our fundraiser other branding items will be available such

as pens, key chains, notebooks, and t-shirts for free to those who participate. Since social

media is the cheapest and quickest way to advertise and reach out to the community this

will be what we focus on the most. Social media sites that will be used include:

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Our volunteers will continuously update the

sites and the site administrators will be limited to two individuals.

The website address for the organization will be: http://www.stldisasterrelief.org.

On the website, we will advertise for the businesses that have partnered with the

foundation. Links to our social media account will be included in the top right of the page

so users can easily find our accounts and follow updates.

The foundation will establish hash tags for us to track and use as an engagement

strategy with our followers. Examples include: #DisasterTips, #FundraiseFriday, #TBT

(throw back Thursday), etc.

Measurement of our social media will be done through Google Analytics. This

site allows us to track the engagement we are receiving from our followers and how we

are doing against our competitors such as the Red Cross.

Logo:

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The green is for nature and the plus sign is for relief signifying we bring relief from natural disasters caused by nature.

Fundraising:

An annual fundraiser will be held to collect money donations to help purchase

supplies for care packages and transportation services. Throughout the year donations

will be collected in the form of food, clothing, etc. The proposed fundraiser would be a

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carnival hosted by the foundation with the help of local businesses partnering to put the

event together. Funds will be collected from ticket, food purchases as well as prizes.

Through the partnership with local businesses, the only costs projected for this fundraiser

would the rental of carnival rides and games. A portion of proceeds will go towards the

vendors who supply the rides and games. Ideally, this carnival will be hosted in Forest

Park in St. Louis. Tickets will cost $2 each for the rides and the price of games will be

from $2-$5 for each play.

Throughout the year, the foundation will also be accepting donations in the form

of clothing, food, toiletries, and other miscellaneous items. Advertising for donations will

be done through radio and television commercials as well as advertising with Busch

Stadium during the baseball season. We will also advertise large events with newspaper

ads and localized television commercials.

Dependent on need, small fundraisers will be held throughout the year. If funds

collected from our carnival are insufficient volunteers will be selling door to door. Small-

scale fundraisers will be in partnership with local businesses. For example: if we are in

partnership with a bakery we will be selling their products such as cakes and cookies.

From these sales 45% of proceeds will be going towards the foundations.

Works Cited:

"Joplin, MO Tornado." AmeriCorps St Louis. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2015.

"Disaster Relief | Greater St. Louis Region | American Red Cross." American Red Cross.

N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.

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