Do you ever have one of those ideas that pops into your head, so you stop everything to write it down before you lose it? (Or, in this case, type it out in a Google Doc because you’re a millennial in a mobile office environment so pen and paper is a thing of the past…)
That’s how the KWI Community Partnerships Program started. It’s our new initiative where we’re partnering with 501(c)(3) organizations in Atlanta to help them achieve their communications goals for free!
The program was born out of a very simple, but important fact about our agency: We are a collective of communicators at heart – but more importantly, we are a collective of people who care.
One of the many things that ties our purpose-driven staff together at KWI is that we are passionate and we care. It was only a matter of time before we sat around a table to talk about ways we could give back to our community in a really meaningful way.
So we talked, and we planned, and we researched, and we planned some more… and now we’re excited to officially kick off the first year of the KWI Community Partnerships Program.
We surveyed KWI staff about the causes that mean the most to us, and (to no surprise of our own) it was a 50/50 split between women’s issues and animal welfare. From there, we found the perfect community partner to kick off our program: Ahimsa House.
Ahimsa House is Georgia’s only organization that addresses the connection between domestic violence and animal abuse. The list of services they provide to the community is extensive, but it includes crisis support to victims of domestic violence as well as emergency shelter for pets while their human families seek safety.
All research and planning aside… making this program part of our agency is just one of those things that feels right. It embodies the spirit of KWI. It was born in that Google Doc from a place of exploration and growth. But most importantly, its key purpose is to build community. I get very sentimental thinking about how many people came together to nurture this idea and grow it into something that I truly believe will be meaningful.
So, we’re rolling up our sleeves and spending the next year or so walking side-by-side with Ahimsa House. We already have some exciting work planned and we’ll be sure to keep you updated along the way. Be on the lookout for a future post about what setting up a skills-based volunteer program like this could look like for your organization, or shoot us a note at communitypartners@kwicomm.com to chat about our passion project.
