Chicago nonprofit SurvivorHope inaugurated a new campaign targeting its home city to help survivors of Rwandan genocide and Chicago women with HIV.
The pro bono effort from DraftFCB Chicago, Hall Event Group and other organizations was timed to break with World AIDS Day on Dec. 1. It is to benefit SurvivorHope’s three Chicago-based organizations: Chicago Women’s AIDS Project, Crossroads Fund, and Women’s Equity in Access to Care and Treatment for HIV.
“We do a lot of pro bono work, particularly when they’re local efforts,” said Amy Larson, senior vice president and group account director at DraftFCB Chicago. “For this particular effort we’re trying to benefit the local Chicago area and the women of Rwanda.”
Campaign messaging includes photographs of Rwandan victims and headlines like, “The Lucky Ones Were Murdered.”
The goal is to raise funds for SurvivorHope, which offers medical attention to Rwanda, an African nation where more than 250,000 women were systematically raped and exposed to HIV.
SurvivorHope said $42 is enough to supply a women with a year’s medical care. It suggests that a day’s salary can help provide even more. Eighty percent of the funds raised will reach Rwanda and the rest is earmarked for the Chicago Women’s AIDS Project and Crossroads Fund.
Ads will run in print publications including Chicago magazine, Chicago Sun-Times, Time-Out Chicago, Crain’s Chicago Business and Chicago Reader.
The media plan also includes fliers and handouts; posters in office lobbies, bulletin boards and bathrooms; T-shirts; and 250 female volunteers to canvas streets citywide – one woman for every 1,000 of the 250,000 Rwandan women genocide survivors.
Pro bono contributors to the campaign include Nimrod, Oriole Enterprise, Venus Works, IPP Lithocolor, OEC Graphics, Hall Event Group and DraftFCB, which created the site at www.survivorhope.com.
