Children’s Center

The Children’s Center provides early intervention and support for children with special needs in central Maine. They help young children thrive at the Center and at home through therapy, education, and family resources. Their work is rooted in the belief that there’s a champion in every child.

How the Children’s Center Raised $5 Million—and Expanded Hope for Hundreds of Families

Challenges Faced

The Children’s Center needed to raise $5 million through a capital campaign to fund a much-needed expansion of its Augusta facility. Every year, more than 100 children remained on the waitlist, unable to access critical early support due to space limitations.

The project wasn’t just about bricks and mortar—it was about changing lives. The new building would allow the Center to expand services, reduce the waitlist, and create therapeutic environments like a Snoezelen sensory room. But the biggest hurdle? Awareness. Too few people in the region fully understood what the Children’s Center did—or why its work mattered so much.

The challenge was clear: make the case for urgent support, rally the community, and turn awareness into action.

Objectives

• Develop emotionally compelling stories to support media outreach and public engagement
• Build broad awareness of the capital campaign through events, earned media, and community conversations
• Craft persuasive messaging for donor meetings, milestone celebrations, and community gatherings

The Strategy

Our team at Sutherland Weston led a layered public relations and messaging strategy designed to spark visibility, deepen emotional connection, and build long-term campaign momentum.

Storytelling was our cornerstone. We identified authentic, heartfelt stories from families and staff, putting faces to the Center’s mission. These stories were pitched to TV, print, and radio outlets in Portland, Bangor, and Augusta, timed with national autism awareness initiatives and local events like the autism-themed high school football games organized by the head coach at Cony High School.

We anchored all messaging around the unifying theme: “A Champion in Every Child.” This resonant phrase became the heartbeat of the campaign, appearing in press releases, speeches, donor materials, and milestone event branding.Media outreach was matched with boots-on-the-ground engagement.
We developed materials for house parties, naming gift events, and one-on-one donor meetings. We supported major campaign moments with photography, media coordination, and follow-up coverage. We also assisted with targeted email campaigns to keep supporters informed and inspired.