Over 4.2 million children struggle with homelessness in America.
Inspired by Josh Jacobs, a young man who was formerly homeless as a child, but through hard work became the star running back for the Oakland Raiders, Kia wanted to generate awareness of this issue. And build upon their purpose-driven initiatives on Super Bowl Sunday. But a commercial wasn’t enough.
So, to actively help fight youth homelessness, we created the Yards Against Homelessness initiative. Where Kia would match every yard in the Super Bowl with $1,000 to donate. And a text-based system the entire nation could use to donate, too. An effort that raised over $700,000 on game day.
Then, inspired by the effort, Kia surprised us and the nation by rounding up their donation to $1,000,000 the day after the game. And with the help of thousands more who took to their phones to donate as well, we blew our fundraising expectations out of the water. But most importantly, we were able to help kids continue to drive forward, just like Josh.
Kia’s 1 million dollar donation announcement in USA Today.