Case Studies
SC-PR has worked with such high-profile community leaders and celebrity as …
Paula Abdul, manager/producer Lou Adler, Robert Altman, Julie Andrews, Jennifer Aniston, Ed Asner, Benjamin Bratt, Levar Burton, Chaka Khan, James Cameron, Former president Bill Clinton, Tyne Daly, Danny DeVito, Patty Duke, Jane Fonda, Will Forte, California Assemblyman Mike Gatto, Mel Gibson, Sharon Gless, Whoopi Goldberg, Elliott Gould, Tom Hanks, Jennifer Love Hewitt, L.A. City Councilman Tom LaBonge, Martin Landau, Eva Longoria, Helen Mirren, Timothy Olyphant, Bill Paxton, Mickey Rooney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Skerritt, Sylvester Stallone, Quentin Tarantino, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Tiger Woods and more.
As an outgrowth of her broad-based work in philanthropy, in 2016, Ragosine was asked to sit on the executive board of Women In Film’s PSA production program, which annually produces professional-quality broadcast and social media assets for local, women/child-centric charities that might not otherwise be able to afford such marketing tools, at no cost to the nonprofit.
Dorrit Ragosine worked with the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) at their formation. In that capacity, she consulted with the organization to create a national footprint of what was then a small band of concerned parents and doctors, which ultimately became the leading U.S. nonprofit organization supporting individuals and families affected by eating disorders.
Our work supported the launch or expansion of numerous innovative and ground-breaking programs, including the nonprofit’s annual NEDAwareness campaign; working with NEDA ambassadors like Paula Abdul and plus-sized model Emme; 65+ NEDA Walk fundraisers across the country each year and successful public media advocacy campaigns.
In 2013, SC-PR launched the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank’s (LARFB) year-long observation of its 40th anniversary – and more than 1 billion pounds of food served – with a press conference at Los Angeles City Hall and a LARFB Alleviate Hunger Day proclamation by City Councilman Tom LaBonge.
SC-PR continued to promote the Food Bank’s ongoing fundraising and awareness campaigns for three subsequent years and other highlights of the agency’s work on the nonprofit’s behalf include securing a grant for its first PSA campaign (and arranging network television and in-theatre/on-screen placement), launching a successful Giving Tuesday campaign (raising $15,000 in its first year in one day) and conceptualizing and arranging a spirited USC vs. UCLA charitable “competition” to benefit the Food Bank, Tackle Hunger.
Capitalizing on one of college football’s most famed rivalries, the annual USC vs. UCLA football face-off, this now annual cross-town “rivalry” includes virtual and live food drives, fundraisers, on-campus and local media coverage, social media promotion, volunteer service and alumni support—all leading up to a game-day, text-to-give fundraising competition, engaging each team’s fans in a digital battle to see which side donates the most.
SC-PR grew the 2015 sophomore campaign by securing financial sponsorship (Ralph’s); media sponsorship (KTLA); to include game-time coverage on the field’s jumbotron (a $20,000 value); and by securing celebrity support from USC alum Timothy Olyphant (Justified, Deadwood) and UCLA alum Will Forte (The Last Man on Earth, Saturday Night Live) to film a PSA for the event, which will also be used for social media and PR outreach.
From the California Girl Series’ Beach Babe Bicycling Classic in Long Beach, Calif. to the Burbank Community YMCA’s annual Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot (attended by approx. 2,500 people each year) in Burbank, Calif., SC-PR promotes community sporting events that benefit charitable organizations and causes.
SC-PR worked extensively with prominent Burbank business leaders and city officials while representing the Burbank Community YMCA, launching a yearlong PR and marketing campaign to observe the Y’s 90th anniversary in 2014.
In addition to increasing the nonprofit’s visibility within the community – helping drive a 5% increase in membership – SC-PR also planned and oversaw a fundraising gala to culminate the milestone celebration. Raising more than $30,000, the event – held at Nickelodeon Animation Studio – was attended by a who’s who of the Burbank business community, as well as Burbank Mayor Dr. David Gordon, California State Congressman Adam Schiff, California Assemblyman Mike Gatto and Field Representative for Congressman Brad Sherman, Matthew Vallecilla, among other luminaries.
On behalf of the YMCA of Glendale, SC-PR was retained to manage the internal and external communications surrounding a $30 million city construction project on Y property – working with the office of Glendale Mayor Zareh Sinanyan, the Glendale City Council and the City of Glendale Housing Authority to announce the Glendale Arts Colony affordable housing project – as well as a multi-phase, $5 million remodel of the YMCA facilities; a rebranding of the website; and the launch of a gala fundraiser.
SC-PR created a Feeding America national food drive and social/traditional media campaign in support of the DVD release of the Academy Award Best Picture-nominee The Help. The campaign included branded food drive boxes in top-10 markets, resulting in hundreds of thousands of pounds of food donated to local market food banks during the holiday season. It also included $20,000 in donations to Feeding America via a grant from DreamWorks and donations made online as a result of a concerted social media campaign.
Ragosine led strategic planning and execution of the PR campaign for the launch of one of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s largest annual fundraisers, the high-profile "Runway for Life", highlighted by a tribute to the film Chicago. The Beverly Hills-based gala became an annual event, drawing such A-list celebrities to its red carpet as Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt, Cindy Crawford, John Hamm, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Selena Gomez. Consistently generating 479 million+ consumer impressions, SC-PR staff continued to oversee the event’s PR for four years.
On behalf of the AIDS Research Alliance, Ragosine teamed with LaMagra PR on the 2010 World AIDS Day press conference with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Marking the 30th anniversary of the identification of AIDS, it was supported by such celebrities as LeVar Burton and Chaka Khan, as well as other L.A.-based AIDS organization representatives, resulting in blanket local market coverage.
Ragosine played a critical role in establishing the Arbor Day Foundation’s national Rain Forest Rescue program in partnership with The Walt Disney Company, driving the inclusion of a Rain Forest Rescue trailer on the 1992 release of The Medicine Man, a film with a core message of saving the rain forest. Since the group’s inception, it has saved 55,000 acres of rain forest and spawned an ongoing partnership with The Nature Conservancy.
Other clients include:
○ The Crayon Collection, which collects gently used crayons from restaurants and distributes them to low-income schools—which also has an enormous positive impact on our environment.
o Access Books, refurbishing libraries in underserved California neighborhoods.
○ Entertainment AIDS Alliance, an entertainment industry initiative (Ragosine served as a long-time board member)
○ Friends of the Los Angeles River in its restoration efforts.
○ The Laurel Foundation, a summer camp for kids living with AIDS/HIV (Ragosine served as a board member, with a term as president).
○Music Mends Minds, which seeks to improve the lives of patients with neurocognitive decline and the lives of their families and caregivers through the healing power of music, an area of scientific inquiry that has recently begun to garner the attention of the medical community.
○ National Coalition for Maternal Mental Health, which lobbies for reform and raises awareness about maternal mental health issues like postpartum depression.
○ Save The Redwoods League – Ragosine was invited to be part of a strategic session to map out the plans for the organization’s 100th Anniversary.
○ The National Multiple Sclerosis Society – . Ragosine served as president for the Young Professionals Society and Advisor to the Board for the Los Angeles chapter and held various roles for the San Diego and Santa Barbara chapters.
○The Marine Mammal Rehabilitation Center – Ragosine volunteered with this organization as a teenager and as an executive at 20th Century Fox, worked with them for on a promotional partnership tied to the home entertainment release of "Flipper".
o The Singleton Foundation for Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurship - Provided strategic counsel on the launch of the Foundation, its marketing and public relations direction to create a cultural movement towards entrepreneurship and financial literacy.
“If you don’t like the way the world is, you change it. You have an
obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time.”
— Marion Wright Edelman
