CASE STUDY General Colin Powell's America's Promise America's Promise is retired Gen. Colin Powell's national nonprofit organization devoted to mentoring America's youth. In 1997, America's Promise encountered difficulties in planning a large media event to help launch its nationwide effort. Winning Strategies was called in to organize the event and, through it, project Powell's message and establish America's Promise as a leading institution in the effort to educate and motivate America's youth. Working closely with Powell and philanthropist Ray Chambers, known for his work to revitalize Newark, N.J., Winning Strategies reconceptualized the event as a presidential convention-type venue to address the needs of America's youth. Entitled the "President's Summit for America's Future," the event drew national attention to the organization's programs and goals: To provide 2 million American young people with relationships with caring adults; to provide activities and safe places to stay during nonschool hours; and to offer an opportunity to acquire marketable skills. The Summit was centered on Philadelphia's Independence Hall, a location selected to add historical luster to the proceedings. Then-President Bill Clinton, former Presidents George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, and former First Lady Nancy Reagan participated. Joining them were several hundred leaders of established nonprofit organizations. Winning Strategies designed, planned and implemented the event. It coordinated many diverse constituencies. Winning Strategies helped handled media relations, including interviews with General Powell and members of nonprofit leadership. Momentum generated by the summit was maintained through subsequent media events and a live online chat with Powell via AOL. The President's Summit achieved national attention at all levels of media. Several thousand accredited journalists from more than 140 communities in all 50 states attended. The Summit was featured live on all three major network morning shows -- ABC's "Good Morning America," "NBC's Today Show," and CBS's "This Morning." Every major U.S. newswire covered the event as did national and regional newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, plus Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. Radio and numerous news-based web sites also participated. America's Promise achieved one of the most impressive sendoffs of any nonprofit group in recent memory and formed worthwhile partnerships with hundreds of other nonprofits across the country. So exceptional was Winning Strategies' performance that company chairman Jim McQueeny was named to the media advisory board of America's Promise.
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