Congratulations on Your Grant from the Women's Giving Circle of Howard County!
Your program is important and worthy of media attention. Publicity and media coverage will help ensure the success of the funded project, your organization and the Women's Giving Circle, a fund of the Community Foundation of Howard County. To help you communicate the impact of your work, we have provided a basic WGC Grant Recipient Media Kit.
The WGC is always interested in capturing the stories of our grantees. Telling your story helps to tell our story! Compelling storytelling helps communicate to our donors the importance of supporting projects like yours. We often feature stories of our grantees in our marketing materials, including our newsletters and annual report. If you have a story that you would like to share, please contact WGC Executive Director Buffy Beaudoin-Schwartz.
The following materials are intended for the use of WGC grantees and will help you get the recognition your project and organization deserve. Here are some suggested ways to announce your project’s grant award:
Recognition
- Please acknowledge the WGC's support with our name and logo in publications, programs and signage for any event or presentation funded that received grant funding.
- Please always use our full name—The Women's Giving Circle of Howard County—when referencing the WGC. Where possible, please include the written acknowledgement below as well as the logo: "This grant was made possible by the Women's Giving Circle of Howard County" or "This project was funded (or funded in part) by a grant from the Women's Giving Circle of Howard County."
Logo Use
There are two logo versions in both color and black and white. Please use whichever best fits your publication preserving original colors. Place the logo upright and do not alter it in any way. Acceptable use of the WGC’s logo includes, but is not limited to: websites and social media channels; newspaper ads, TV ads, newsletters, postcards, brochures. We encourage you to use the WGC logo where suitable.
Press Release
- If you plan to issue a press release announcing the grant award, always try to include pictures of the program and check presentation, along with the WGC logo and the logo of your organization.
- You can utilize this Sample Press Release as a guideline. We are happy to provide a quote for your press release. Please email us to request a quote from a WGC leader.
- You might consider hosting events to mark your project’s major milestones. You can include donors, elected officials and community leaders in photo opportunities, and you can invite media to cover the event and distribute a pre- and post-event press release with the newsworthy highlights, as appropriate.
Offline and Online Publications
- Feature the grant award in newsletters, eblasts, social media, donor update letters and on your website. Include a compelling photo of the project or the residents you are serving, the check presentation, etc.
Inform Your Board of Directors/Government Representatives
- Please notify your board about your recent grant from the Community Foundation of Howard County. Letters from community organizations help legislators understand the importance of investing public funds in your community.
Social Media
Social media is a free and effective means to spread your message! Engaging, authentic content is the goal for any account. Always try to use an image when you post. Please be sure to follow, like, and mentioned all our social media accounts (@wgchowardcounty) and we will follow you back! And, please mention @WGCHowardCounty in grant related posts, photos and events.
- Facebook (www.facebook.com/WGCHowardCounty)
- Instagram (www.instagram.com/WGCHowardCounty)
- Twitter (www.twitter.com/WGCHowardCounty)
- Linkedin (www.linkedin.com/company/wgchowardcounty)
Sample Posts:
- “We’re so excited to receive a grant award of $____ from @WGCHowardcounty to support X. This grant will allow us to _____ and serve our mission to ______ in Howard County!”
- “Thank you to @WGCHowardCounty for the recent grant of $____ to help support X. This grant will allow us to _____ and serve our mission to ______ in Howard County!”
Our Name and Organizational Description
Please use “Women's Giving Circle of Howard County” when referring to the organization. When including a description, please use the following:
- The Women’s Giving Circle is building a community of philanthropists and creating a permanent legacy to address the needs of women and girls in Howard County. We bring women together to learn about issues impacting women and girls in our community, and pool our dollars to fund programs that address those issues so we can have a greater impact together than we might otherwise have alone. We’ve been part of the Howard County community 20 years, have raised over $1 million to support our efforts from over 1,000 donors, and have given over $750,000 through over 100 grants to nonprofits that support women and girls in our community. The WGC is a fund of the Community Foundation of Howard County. Visit www.womensgivingcircle.org to learn more.
Share Your Story
- The Women's Giving Circle of Howard County would like to hear how a grant from the WGC helped your organization. If you would like to share your story of impact from a grant at the WGC, please send a narrative to us. Video stories are encouraged as well. WGC highlights its grantees through the media, on our website. Email images with labels or captions to Buffy Beaudoin-Schwartz, WGC Executive Director.
Photo Opportunities
- We always want and need compelling images! Take advantage of opportunities to capture and share appealing photos. The Foundation features grant recipients in our printed publications, on our website and on social media accounts. So please share your images with us. With advance notice, we can often arrange to attend events or visit programs.
Video of Programs
- At times, we like capturing videos of programs that we fund. If you are hosting events connected to something we funded, or if there is a good time to observe your program in action, please contact us so we can arrange to record part of it. If you already have footage of a program to share, please send it to buffybschwartz@wgchowardcounty.org.
