SITUATION

Megan VandeBogert (Executive Director) and Jason Winter (Founder/CEO) of Hope Thru Soap provide the homeless of Atlanta, GA with showers, haircuts, clothing, and food.

What makes them unique is their commitment to restoring dignity. Instead of simply handing out supplies, they host full-scale block parties across the city every Saturday.

“It’s a very unique charity — you really don’t get it until you come out and experience it.”

- Megan VandeBogert

That was the problem.

The mobile shower experience is powerful in person. But Megan and Jason struggled to properly explain what they did every weekend. As they entered Q4 of 2019, Giving Tuesday was fast approaching. If they couldn’t communicate their mission, they wouldn’t hit their fundraising goal.

CHALLENGE

Their goal was to raise a total of $50,000. 

“We did a series of board meetings talking about our fundraising initiatives and what really is going to be the push to help people see the big picture of what Hope Thru Soap does.”

 - Megan

They didn’t just need awareness, they needed clarity. To raise those funds, donors had to see the mission, understand why it mattered, and feel like a part of it. 
This was a story problem.

STRATEGY

I began with an initial needs assessment meeting to clarify their objectives, audience, and fundraising pressure heading into Q4. That was followed by a focused launch meeting where we mined for story insight, uncovered what truly made Hope Thru Soap distinct, and how that difference could be communicated.

From there, I developed a formal proposal outlining:

• The core goal of the project

• Recommended creative direction

• A concise story brief (short synopsis)

• Three core themes: Transformation. Celebration. Relationship.

• A narrative plan — essentially a written documentary script mapping the story arc

Because this video would function primarily as a presentation tool for in-person events, we designed it for a captive audience. That allowed for a longer runtime and deeper emotional build.

The structural backbone of the piece was a quest plot archetype. The audience would follow Jason, Megan, and the team on as they threw their signature block party. This framing immersed the audience in their world, transforming them from spectators to participants in the mission.

After presenting the plan to Megan and Jason, I refined it based on their feedback. Once approved, I translated the narrative plan into:

• Intentional interview questions

• A strategic shot list designed to reinforce the themes

The result was a “who we are” story that didn’t simply explain the block party, it brought it to life.

IMPACT

Hope Thru Soap received the video ahead of schedule and immediately put it to work.

Though designed for in-person presentations, the video also gained unexpected traction on Facebook, generating over 100,000 views, 1,150+ shares, and 1,500+ reactions within three months.

But the real test came on December 3rd, 2019, Giving Tuesday. That’s when they planed it for the Atlanta Hawks.

Megan: “Showing the video in the middle of the presentation… wowed the crowd. And the CEO of the Atlanta Hawks was there, the CEO of the Hawks foundation was there. At the end of that, it was like Oprah money was happening.

It wrapped up and the CEO said, ‘I'd like to donate $5,000 and I would like the Hawks to match that.’ And then the foundation president got up and said, ‘And we will match that as well.’ And then coach Pearson ended up matching that. 

Jason Winter:Our video did its job!

Megan: It did its job. And it told the story so well. 

And then later that night we had a fundraising dinner and showed the video again and raised another $6,000 at that dinner. Every time we played the video through — that's what was helping us raise money. We used it to our advantage and we were able to raise $65,000.”

The goal was $50,000.
They raised $65,000.

Hope Thru Soap now refers to it as their “impact video.” Because for them it’s not just a video. It became their fundraising engine. And it continues to serve as a tool that translates experience into emotion and emotion into action.

Communicating what you do in a way that sticks is difficult. But when you strategically you leverage the proper components (theme, structure, and audience psychology) to shape the story, that story does the heavy lifting for you.

That’s the difference between content and narrative. And in this case, narrative won.