Case Study: Gentle Barn raises $400,000 to open third St. Louis location with Cision

Clever Tweaks to a Press Release Strategy Helps Charity Reach Fundraising Goals

The Gentle Barn, a national nonprofit that rescues abused animals and teaches compassion, needed to raise funds to open a third location in St. Louis but had limited budget and primarily local, grassroots media reach. Their communications goal in early 2017 was to boost a GoFundMe campaign and draw wider attention without the expense of a large PR firm.

Using Cision’s national and California‑wide press release distribution (with multimedia) and adding Spanish distribution on the advice of a Cision rep, the campaign significantly expanded the organization’s reach. The effort generated more than 1,700 press release views and 1,300 multimedia views, an immediate in‑studio interview request, celebrity support from Daisy Fuentes for Univision/Telemundo, and helped raise $400,000 to secure the St. Louis location.

Gentle Barn

Jay Weiner

Co-Founder