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Fourteen marketing organizations across the United States and Canada will host CreateAthon events during National CreateAthon Week, October 18-24.

CreateAthon is one of the marketing industry’s leading pro bono programs. As CreateAthon partners, marketing agencies, universities, corporations and professional clubs donate their time and talent by holding 24-hour marathons during which professionals and students develop marketing strategies and creative materials that can help nonprofit organizations meet specific marketing objectives. Deliverables take the form of branding initiatives; marketing, public relations and fundraising plans; creative materials in print, digital, and broadcast formats; and more.

CreateAthon was founded in 1997 by Riggs Partners, a marketing consultancy in Columbia, South Carolina. It has grown from a single-market event to a 501 (c) (3) organization that has attracted more than 100 marketing agencies, universities, corporations and professional clubs as official CreateAthon partners. Cumulatively, CreateAthon has helped more than 1,600 nonprofit organizations in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom by delivering pro bono marketing projects valued at more than $20 million.

CreateAthon events are held every year in markets served by CreateAthon partners. The CreateAthon partners that have chosen to hold their 2015 events during National CreateAthon Week, and the clients they will serve, include: 

Riggs Partners, West Columbia, SC (Founding Agency)

• Able South Carolina
• Death Penalty Resources and Defense Center
• Epworth Children’s Home
• Handicapped Athletes Learning to Enjoy Riding – HALTER
• Healing Icons
• Global Pencil Project
• Sexual Trauma Services of the Midlands
• The Therapy Place

AAF Roanoke, Roanoke, VA

• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Virginia
• Blue Ridge Literacy
• Bradley Free Clinic
• Downtown Christiansburg, Inc.
• Feeding America of Southwest Virginia
• Prevention Council of Roanoke County
• Roanoke Emergency Medical Services
• The Rescue Mission of Roanoke Valley
• Total Action for Progress

AAF Southwest Virginia, Abingdon, VA

• Helping Overcome Poverty’s Existence, Inc. (HOPE)
• Homeless Assistance Network and Development Services (HANDS)
• Project Restart
• Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry
• The Mel Leaman Free Clinic of Smyth County
• Project Glade
• The City of Bristol, Virginia
• Southwest Virginia Community Health Systems and Substance Abuse Taskforce in Rural Appalachia (SATIRA)

Capacity Canada, Toronto, Canada

• The Centre for Sight Enhancement, based at the School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of Waterloo
• The Children’s Foundation of Guelph and Wellington
• The Community Resource Centre of North and Centre Wellington
• Extend-A-Family Waterloo Region
• The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
• MennoHomes, Inc.
• Planned Parenthood Waterloo Region
• The Waterloo Horticulture Society
• The Waterloo Region Suicide Prevention Council
• YWCA Kitchener – Waterloo 

Flipside Creative, Vancouver, Canada

• Boys and Girls Club of South Coast British Columbia
• Dress for Success San Fransisco and San Jose
• H.A.V.E. Café and Culinary Training Society
• Theater for Living
• VOKRA (Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association)

J. Fitzgerald Group, Lockport, NY

• Investigative Post
• The Susan G. Komen Foundation
• Child Care Resource Network

Leading Edges, Meridian, MS

• Boy Scouts of America, Choctaw Area Council
• Care Lodge Domestic Violence Shelter
• Community Foundation of East Mississippi
• Go Green, Meridian
• The Free Clinic of Meridian
• 59/20 Music Festival

Paragon Design Group, Hudson, NC

• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Western North Carolina – Burke Branch
• Foothills Performing Arts, Inc.
• Lupus Foundation of America, North Carolina Chapter

Proximo Marketing Strategies, Williamsburg, VA

• Communities in Schools of Hampton Roads
• Ignite Fine Arts
• Peninsula Reads
• United Way of Greater Williamsburg
• Williamsburg Area Learning Tree
• Youth Sailing Virginia, Inc.

RedPepper, Nashville, TN

• Homework Hotline
• Nashville Humane Association
• Rooftop Foundation
• The Nashville Food Project

Sales Factory + Woodbine, Greensboro, NC

• 1-2-1 Mentoring
• Alamance Guilford Sec. National Council of Negro Women
• arcBarks
• The Arc of Davidson County
• Career Academy of Greensboro
• Caroline’s Promise
• Connected in Hope
• Encouraging Words
• Freedom House
• Greensboro Children’s Museum
• Greensboro Science Center
• HandyCapable Network
• Hannah’s Haven Inc
• Horse Friend Therapeutic Riding
• Kopper Top Life Learning Center
• Mental Health Association of Greensboro
• Mustard Seed Community Health
• Open Hands of Davidson County, NC
• Partners Ending Homelessness
• People & Paws 4 Hope
• Restoration Place Ministries 
• Seven Homes Inc
• Ten Thousand Villages Greensboro
• The Volunteer Center Of Greensboro Inc
• Young Life 

Seamgen, San Diego, CA

• GoodCase

Think Tank, St. Louis, MO

• Riverbend Family Ministries
• Art Saint Louis
• It’s Your Birthday, Inc.
• Burns Recovered Support Group
• Megan Meier Foundation

Trio Solutions, Mt. Pleasant, SC

• Charleston Police Pipes and Drums
• Chucktown Squash Scholars
• Lowcountry Habitat for Humanity
• OHM Radio
• Yo Art

Other CreateAthon partners holding their events this CreateAthon season include:

EGC Group, Melville, NY

FleishmanHillard, Toronto, Canada

Inspired Creative Studios, Wilmington, NC

MODassic Marketing, Richardson, TX

Stamp Idea Group, Montgomery, AL

University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC

Whitespace Creative, Akron, OH

“We are thrilled that so many of our partners are holding their events during National CreateAthon week,” said Teresa Coles, founder and board chairman of CreateAthon. “CreateAthon is such a unique opportunity for people to give back to nonprofits in their communities via their own personal strengths. Having a week dedicated to skills-based volunteerism where partner organizations are able to work simultaneously makes the movement that much more impactful.” 

For more information on the program, please visit www.createathon.org.

CreateAthon

CreateAthon

CreateAthon® is a 24-hour pro bono marketing event that delivers professional marcomm services to nonprofit organizations that could otherwise not afford them. The program was founded by Riggs Partners in 1998 as a single event and has grown into a national 501(c)3 nonprofit that has recruited more than 100 CreateAthon partner agencies, universities, professional trade organizations and corporate marketing departments into service, with volunteer teams that bring CreateAthon events to their respective markets. To date, the program has served nonprofits in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico and the UK, delivering more than $25 million in pro bono marketing services to the nonprofit sector. To learn more about becoming a CreateAthon partner, visit www.createathon.org.

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