Enhance Your Image in the Community

Increase your presence in the community and strengthen relationships with your readers by sponsoring a worthwhile community project and encouraging them to participate. Raise awareness of issues, explore solutions, and rally your community to action. Ask current and potential advertisers to co-sponsor events, offering publicity as recognition for their contributions. Get students and NIE sponsors involved through your paper’s NIE program.

Generate Local Editorial Content

Make A Difference Day provides two editorial opportunities to become a forum for solutions and action.

1. Showcase upcoming events and encourage your readers to get involved. Be sure to tell your readers to register their projects online in the DAYtaBANK. It’s also a great resource for you to find thousands of projects by ZIP-code or keyword. Direct volunteers to local projects with a schedule of upcoming events in your community calendar and a list of needed supplies.

2. Each April, USA WEEKEND honors Make A Difference Day volunteers in our Annual Awards Issue. Ten National Honorees receive $10,000 from Newman's Own and are featured in the magazine. It’s the perfect time to focus on ways your readers made a difference in your community by profiling those who benefited from local projects.

Increase Readership

Newspaper readers are most interested in everyday people who show extraordinary courage or goodwill. An overwhelming 90% are interested in stories like those generated by the 3 million volunteers on Make A Difference Day.* Give your readers the stories they’re looking for by celebrating local heroes who have made a positive impact on your community. Run stories of past successes and efforts in progress. Get maximum promotional power and circulation-building strength by coordinating your local coverage with this national event.

*USA WEEKEND Strategic Research Study, Urban & Assoc. Inc.

Increase Revenue

Give current and potential advertisers and NIE sponsors the opportunity to run ads relating to Make A Difference Day projects.

Businesses can show community support by advertising their participation in Make A Difference Day. Advertisers can sponsor local events, serve as donation drop-off points, or offer materials, services or facilities to volunteers. They also can support the effort by donating a portion of their day's profits to charity.

Don’t forget your NIE sponsors! USA WEEKEND’s free NIE tab, Generation Fix Makes A Difference, is a great way to make NIE sponsors a part of your community improvement effort. You can also bring the theme of volunteering to the classroom with our weekly Teacher’s Guides, which feature Make A Difference Day activities.

Partners
USA WEEKEND teammates:

• NBC News:
Beginning in September and leading up to Make A Difference Day, direct readers to your weekend edition where they will find a series of inspirational messages from NBC News anchors — like Lester Holt, Kate Snow, Matt Lauer, Ann Curry, and Brian Williams — encouraging others to Make A Difference. Plus, during the Nightly News, NBC will air special announcements about Make A Difference Day. Click here to see and use the promo video.

• Cities of Service
In cities across the country, mayors make volunteering a priority. USA WEEKEND is teaming up with this multi-year effort to help promote service and create volunteering opportunities in cities nationwide. Encourage your readers to register their own Make A Difference Day project at makeadifferenceday.com

• HandsOn Network
HandsOn Network inspires, equips, and mobilizes people to take action for positive change. At the center of the network are 250 affiliates, called HandsOn Action Centers that serve 83% of the American population and 11 international communities.

• Newman's Own
Each year, 10 projects are honored on a national level and awarded $10,000 each from Newman's Own.

Links

Make A Difference Day Web site:
www.makeadifferenceday.com
This is the central location of Make A Difference Day information, with links to many resources.

DAYtaBANK:
http://daytabank.handsonnetwork.org
The DAYtaBANK is an online database where you can find or register a local Make A Difference Day project. Search by state, ZIP-code, or clickable map. Plus, you can download project tool kits to help you get started.

HandsOn Network and their Action Center affiliates: www.handsonnetwork.org/actioncenters
HandsOn Action Centers are key local resources for volunteer involvement. They bring people and community needs together through a range of programs and services based upon community needs, demographic area, population size and other factors.