During the Donate Life Rose Parade Float’s eleventh campaign, the committee saw an opportunity to engage the organ donation community’s most mission-critical partners—hospitals with trauma centers—by inviting their CEOs to participate in “America’s New Year Celebration."

Strategic Approach

As the Donate Life Rose Parade Float Committee's founding chairman, Bryan was in a position to enlist key stakeholders and execute the project on an aggressive timeline. A letter jointly signed by the leaders of the American Hospital Association (AHA), Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO), and the Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA) was emailed to 4,800 hospitals nationwide, offering a proposition that was as meaningful as it was simple: handwrite a message on a tagged flower vial to be included in the Donate Life float’s renowned dedication garden. Organ, tissue and eye recovery organizations followed up the letter, scheduled the photo ops, and returned the signed vials to the Donate Life Rose Parade Float Committee for placement on the vessel.

Results

Fifty OPOs and four eye banks secured over 1,200 handwritten rose dedications from hospital CEOs, many of them signed in the presence of staff and the media. Their personal participation reaffirmed their hospital’s commitment to supporting the donation process and expanded the Donate Life float campaign’s reach to traditional and social media.