OARS (Old and Ancient Rowing Society) of RI is a nonprofit organization that oversees the operations of the Club Crew Rowing Program at the University of Rhode Island.

The Problem

The URI boathouse had fallen into disrepair and was in desperate need of updates. The physical boathouse needed upgrades to keep it on level with other collegiate programs across the country. Following a generous $1 million donation from a former alumni, OARS launched “Project Tailwind,” which aimed to match the donation to ensure that the Club Rowing program at URI had a viable future. The issue was, OARS had no way of effectively communicating to other past alumni or anyone who could donate to the cause. They were stuck in the water. 

The Solution

We were approached by OARS to create a comprehensive campaign of content that supported Project Tailwind. We captured emotional interviews with the crew athletes that emphasized the importance of donating to their program. We sat down with the leaders of OARS to outline what had been done so far, and what the goals of the program would be moving forward, allowing donors to have a clear understanding of where their dollars were going. In addition to the video pieces, we also provided OARS with high-quality photography for them to use in their communications with potential donors, their website, and social media pages. OARS has been able to secure valuable funding to allow their program to continue moving forward.