Ronald McDonald House (RMH) British Columbia & Yukon is positioning itself as a professional soccer team to help drive donations.

The creation of “RMH United” is aimed to galvanize support and incentivize donors, and follows Premier League team naming convention (i.e. Manchester United, West Ham United).

“What became clear to us early on in the campaign process was that behaving like a typical non-profit brand was unlikely to achieve our fundraising goal – the market is saturated with worthy causes,” says John Osborne, group creative director at Cossette West, which created the work.

According to Osborne, it needed a different angle to be disruptive. The idea of reimagining the RMH team as a pro sports team, he notes, was twofold: to galvanize supporters and also have the jersey represent a vehicle for sponsorship, which “felt really fresh for the category.”

Every year, RMH BC & Yukon is forced to turn away more than 500 families due to capacity constraints, and the challenge is to raise enough money to continue keeping families with sick children together,” says Stephanie Mosher, VP of philanthropy for RMH BC & Yukon.

The idea was inspired by the organization celebrating 40 years in operation, 40 years of being a team and individuals working toward a common goal in the spirit of togetherness.

“What raised the stakes this year is that it marked our 40th anniversary, so we needed a campaign that not only celebrated this milestone, but also continued pushing for donations to keep us going for another 40 years and beyond,” Mosher says.

The new RMH BC & Yukon fundraising campaign launched on TV and social networks this month, with RMH United selling space on its team jersey to individual and business donors. The charity is already seeing success with sponsors like McDonald’s Canada, Coca-Cola, WestJet, RBC and others (see, below).

The campaign also features trading cards profiling participating families and a “Sponsor Our Team” microsite, with a campaign video and RMH club badge. RMH BC & Yukon booked all media directly with vendor partners.

Since its founding in 1983, Ronald McDonald House BC & Yukon has helped more than 25,000 families in need. The program fosters mental health through programs like music, pet and art therapy, massage, yoga and fitness.

Ronald McDonald House BC ran its first mass campaign in 2018.