Set aside your current paying agency projects and devote talented staff to work for 24 hours straight — all for charity. Organizers of the 2007 CreateAthon, a 24-hour creative blitz during which advertising agencies and design firms work on a pro bono basis for nonprofit organizations, are inviting agencies across to country to join them in this unique philanthropic program.
CreateAthon was founded in 1997 by RIGGS, an advertising agency in Columbia. To commemorate the program's 10th year of service, RIGGS hopes to partner with 40 agencies this year in the national CreateAthon effort, scheduled for the week of September 10th. Their "call to arms" is a friendly challenge to agency executives looking to develop an organized program for dealing with pro bono requests, make a tremendous positive difference in their respective communities, and internally, create a renewed sense of morale and teamwork within an agency. The deadline for agencies and design firms to sign up for the program is May 18.
Teresa Coles, vice president RIGGS and co-founder of CreateAthon, has seen it grow from a small event hosted by her agency in 1997 to a program that began to attract national interest in 2002. "We knew we were on to something that could generate a great deal of exponential value," she said. "So we made the decision to give CreateAthon its wings by taking it to a national level." In 2002, Coles and co-founder Cathy Monetti began inviting other agencies to participate in the program by hosting their own CreateAthon events. Since that time, a total of 40 different agencies have become CreateAthon partners. The effort has helped more than 830 nonprofit organizations by delivering 275 marketing projects valued in excess of $7 million.
Want to see what 24 hours of creative awesomeness look like? Click here.
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