CARSON CITY, Nev. – March 20 is World Storytelling Day, holiday born in the early 1990s to celebrate the global art of oral storytelling each year on or around the March equinox.
It became a hashtag holiday sometime after the use of the hashtag (#) became ubiquitous on social media following the San Diego fire of October 2007. Since then, hashtag holidays can be found for just about any kind of day – #NationalDonutDay anyone?
Marketers and brands use hashtag holidays to promote causes or ideas that are relevant to their customers and their businesses. Plus, who wouldn’t love #NationalPicnicDay or #WorldChocolateDay?
What started as the hashtag holiday “#RandomActsofKindnessDay has turned into a year-long deep dive into area nonprofits for Carson City-based In Plain Sight Marketing.
“Our client, Casey Neilon, made a sizeable donation to CASA of Carson City in lieu of client holiday gifts last December,” Renee Plain, In Plain Sight Marketing’s founder and CEO, said. “We were so inspired by them we did the same.”
Plain said IPSM polled each of its clients for their preferred nonprofit and made monetary donations to a number of local and regional nonprofit organizations in clients’ names for holiday gifts last December.
“We all felt so good about this, we wanted to learn more about each of these organizations our clients supported,” Plain said. “It really speaks to our core values of being engaged in the work of people and organizations that make our communities a better place to live, work and play.”
Throughout 2021 and beyond, the Carson City-based agency will bring awareness to local non-profits serving northern Nevada communities through social and traditional media, and promotion assistance for each group’s fundraising event or season.
To launch the campaign, IPSM selected one of its own favorite nonprofits, FISH (Friends in Service Helping), an organization focused on helping those in need in rural Northern Nevada communities.
Plain said March 26 is #MakeUpYourOwnHolidayDay, and IPSM is calling it FISH Day (#FISHDay).
Established in 1979, FISH offers a workforce development program geared at moving underemployed clients from minimum wage jobs to meaningful careers with local employers. FISH also aims to address the growing numbers of homeless and hungry residents in the Carson City community, provides food, instruction, shelter and other services in Carson City, and in Douglas, Lyon and Storey counties.
A donation of $2.50 can provide a warm and nutritious meal for one person, $10 can feed a family of four one meal in the FISH Family Dining room and $200 can feed a full house of 80 people.
“FISH was a logical place to start the campaign for me. I served on the FISH board of directors and have participated in its annual Celebrity Waiters fundraisers,” she said. “FISH excels in offering a variety of services in a flexible environment. Our team understands that homelessness and financial insecurity have many faces and every situation is unique.”
In IPSM’s research on FISH, Plain said they discovered that 98% of FISH’s operating budget comes from community donations and not from state or federal government grants, and the COVID-19 pandemic drove an uptick in the need for FISH’s services.
“After a hard year like 2020, we wanted to find a way to support those who need it the most in our own neighborhoods,” she said. “Local nonprofits work tirelessly to help others and we want to help support their efforts to help strengthen our communities.”
To learn more about FISH, visit www.nvfish.com. To learn more about IPSM’s work with FISH, visit their website.
