Fordham Marketing Association raises $1000 for Cardinal Hayes High School

| Oct 28, 2021 | Michael Benigno

By Caitlin Cannuscio, BS ’23

Each semester, Fordham Marketing Association (FMA) hosts fundraising and community service events for Fordham University and other organizations. In the past, Fordham Marketing Association has held events to raise money including a Krispy Kreme Fundraiser and Carnation sales. This past summer, FMA started to brainstorm ideas for the upcoming school year with the help of Prof. Linda Luca and learned about Cardinal Hayes High School.

Cardinal Hayes High School is a local all-boys school known for providing a transformative education for young students from the South Bronx and beyond. This year, Cardinal Hayes is celebrating 80 years of education and wanted to launch a text-to-give fundraising campaign to support scholarships for their students in need of financial aid.

After listening to the stories of young men who attend the high school, Fordham Marketing Association quickly offered to help launch a fundraising campaign for the students. Over the summer, Samantha Wu, BS ’22, club president, Caitlin Cannuscio, BS ’23, vice president of fundraising and community service, and Ashley Delaney, BA ’22, vice president of marketing and communications, planned the logistics to the fundraising campaign with staff from Cardinal Hayes High School. At the end of the summer, these students, assisted by Prof. Luca, pitched their ideas for the event.

The safety risks that resulted from the pandemic made impossible for Fordham to host outside guests, but the FMA team quickly created a social media campaign to help promote the campaign utilizing Hayes’ text-to-give channel, working closely with members of the club to help turn these ideas into reality.

FMA created four different graphics to post across all platforms, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and websites. In addition to creating graphics for FMA club members, Cardinal Hayes staff, and the club’s own account to post, FMA also hung up posters around campus with the text-to-give information. The graphics included images of the boys at school and the slogan “8 Days of Giving to raise money to celebrate 80 years of excellence! Text “HAYES” to 243725 to donate.”

The campaign ran from September 22, 2021 until September 30, 2021. After eight days of fundraising, Fordham Marketing Association raised $1,091 – more money than any of the club’s previous fundraising events.

“Not only did it feel inspiring knowing that FMA gets to make a difference in people’s lives, but it was amazing to see that all of our efforts paid off,” said Samantha Wu.