Make-A-Wish America has a world-renowned reputation as one of the best nonprofits in the world, and is widely known amongst many individuals looking to support or donate to nonprofits. Their work is not only a fundamental part of human services care within the nonprofit world, but their unique online platform and social media presence is a differentiating factor among many other nonprofits and for-profit businesses alike. The purpose of this study is to research Make-A-Wish America’s brand management and marketing strategies as a nonprofit, including secondary research on the brand itself, analyze all environmental factors that affect its marketing strategy, assess their market segmentation, targeting, and positioning, and evaluate their integrated marketing communications strategy. Additionally, I conducted interviews with Make-A-Wish America professionals working within the brand management department at the national office. The individuals were interviewed with various marketing backgrounds within the brand department to gain a deeper insight into their individual experiences and assessments of Make-A-Wish America’s brand management and marketing strategy. My specific thesis goals include utilizing my marketing recommendations to grow Make-A-Wish America’s profits, specifically in actions to increase fundraising. Also, my thesis goal is to find recommendations to outperform competition in gaining supporters and donors as well as, more recently, analyzing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and making recommendations on how they can grow despite this economic tragedy. The results suggest that there are common themes amongst my secondary research and primary research, resulting in marketing recommendations that Make-A-Wish America can utilize to better market to donors and supporters in the future, giving them competitive advantage over other nonprofits and combatting the effects of COVID-19. Recommendations for Make-A-Wish America include investing in their own research and development in terms of customer relationship management tools, online fundraising campaigns, and technology to better inform donors of their mission, vision, and values, diversifying their donor profile and targeted communities, and taking advantage of their point of parity within their social media online platform.

This thesis, written in the first person, documents the chronological events in developing Social Renaissance - a social media marketing agency. The founder of Social Renaissance and author of this senior thesis project is Sara Kahn, a fourth year student at Arizona State University in Barrett, The Honors College. Sara is graduating in May of 2022 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Entrepreneurship from the W. P. Carey School of Business. She is also graduating with a Minor in Special Events Management from the Watts College – School of Community Resources and Development. Sara has over 10 years of entrepreneurial experience and more than 3 years of marketing experience. This background uniquely positions her to develop Social Renaissance as a venture. This thesis will discuss the successes and failures experienced throughout the development process, key takeaways, and next steps for Social Renaissance. Enjoy!