Timmy and Lassie Campaign
Executive Summary:
A long-standing but little known local non- profit wanted to raise $4 million as soon as possible for a larger, green built dog and cat adoption center. Using DNA ALIVE! principles of connecting an organization's mission with community values, we made the non-profit a household name around town and received pledges for up to $200,000 at a fundraising dinner and then quickly received help with $2 million savings on the facility.
The rest of the story:
Millions of helpless dogs and cats are put to death each year in city/county animal shelters. There are people and organizations that are working hard to save lives, reduce over population and improve the quality of care for all animals. These organizations need money for food, medical, facilities and education. Kreativo was hired to raise money for one of these private, non-profit, no-kill shelters.
Television star Jon Provost was the perfect celebrity for me to have headline a fundraising day recently. Jon and his very accomplished wife, Laurie Jacobson-Provost, rocked this town from breakfast to dinner. When you carefully connect an organization or cause to a celebrity that resonates with the mission beautiful things happen, and often from unexpected sources.
We began with a morning talk to the Colorado's state Veterinarian's office and city/county building authorities about our plans for building a $7 million / 7 acre dog and cat shelter. This complex will have a 24,000 sq. foot shelter with advanced green building technologies, a free standing pet emergency clinic, a large doggy day care building, a dog park and an agility course.
Using DNA ALIVE! principles we were successful with making the shelter front page news to the residents of the city and county that they lovingly serve. Following the “weaving the fabric” technique of DNA ALIVE! we paired this organization with very lovable and very famous actors, Timmy & Lassie's Friends. It worked.

We accomplished our two goals of also reaching out to quality publications as, 1. High levels of public awareness of the non-profit, its mission and value to the community, 2. Attracting major donors to engage in learning more and becoming involved. Our efficient and creative process produced lots of media coverage. Plus, we received Internet stories, mentions on websites and new connections to Bark Magazine, Animal Wellness, Dog and Cat Fancy, Dog World, etc. and increased energy, vision and pride from board members to staff and volunteers.

Now, we are busy with the details of accepting six and seven figure donations. Our daylong fundraising also included, a. Children's writing workshop - where kids learned to write about their love of dogs and cats, b. Adult writing workshop for business, grant and other aspiring writers, c. Book signing, d. Special photo event where the public paid for the opportunity of having their picture taken with Timmy and Lassie's Friends, e. Dedication of a pet drinking fountain at the Historic Riverwalk, f. Casual and interactive dinner with an original stage play that Jon participated in.

Cowboys Help Troubled Youth
Executive Summary:
A 50-year old institution, struggling under government cutbacks, reached out for DNA ALIVE'S positive attitude techniques for its board members and staff. Starting from ground zero Kreativo revealed to the organization how it was cutting its vital lifelines to its own communities and staff with its current policies and practices. Our unique DNA ALIVE! process reestablished strong community relationships, productive internal communications and created a new, unifying and positive “fundraising culture”.
The rest of the story:
Government reductions with funding for America's mentally ill youth is creating a dangerous situation by turning its back on thousands of seriously mentally ill boys and putting residential treatment centers all over our nation in difficult times. Kreativo, was hired to apply DNA ALIVE! techniques and principles to create a fundraising culture internally and attract major donors externally for a long-standing boy's treatment facility.
We began by improving communications and morale so that the roots of the organization could grow very strong. We met with the staff and got their input and perspectives then matched them with administration's perspectives. We included the board of trustees in the fundraising culture training and in fundraising activities with the public.

We wrote new language for the non-profit's literature and letters. We repaired broken relationships with some of the staff and administrators. We reconnected the organization with its vendors, neighbors and community at large. We created popular community events and brought a positive attention to the facility producing a new and deep appreciation for the work being done at the site. The staff and board of directors joined forces and made a public statement of faith in the future of America's youth at a cowboy statewide event. A deep sense of pride and unity was created and expressed. As much as creating unbreakable bonds and raising money, this non-profit had an unexpected benefit of using DNA ALIVE! – it had its eyes opened to its own weakness in critical areas that were preventing successful fundraising.

Voters & Volunteers Save Lives
Executive Summary:
City council members, County commissioners, and government administrators called for help from Kreativo's DNA ALIVE! public involvement and media techniques to generate newspaper/television support prior to a bond election to build a larger, easy to clean, all-inclusive animal shelter.
The rest of the story:
Quality of life in most communities in America is declining. The infrastructure including roads, water systems, fire, police, etc. are alarmingly under funded. One of the most troubling signs of a low quality of life in a community is the level of care they deliver to their animals. Mahatma Gandhi said, “You can tell the quality of a nation by the way they treat their animals”. Well, lost, abused, abandoned and injured animals were being sent to a dump of a shelter and the citizens and politicians wanted to know how they could work together to fund building a new, larger facility and that's why they hired us at Kreativo.
We began with market research, voter register information, construction information and a critical meeting with the publisher of the newspaper. In the beginning, there wasn't support from the publisher for this campaign issue. Using the foundational elements of DNA ALIVE! we turned the publisher around with genuine enthusiasm, honesty, homework and team effort. Presto, we changed our opponent to our ally.

Emotion, passion, logic and persistence supported the grass roots DNA ALIVE! techniques. One section of DNA ALIVE! is the Kiva Program. With the Kiva we connected with all the church ministers and beauty shop owners with a very desirable, easy and popular campaign to help educate the public about the campaign. The low-cost, but highly personal and efficient Kiva Program also helped us get our message out from the priests, pastors and other community leaders with the use of a powerful, volunteer video. We even had national personalities on the video campaigning for us at low cost to our client! The campaign was very successful and the DNA ALIVE! process we used continues to raise money and expand the volunteer program at the fundraising arm of the facility.

Pueblo Library District
Executive Summary:
The library board of trustees and CEO were facing a budget crisis. They were looking for professional guidance and techniques for either cutting back materials, services, hours and staff or building a community support for more taxes to the library district. DNA Alive!'s “Connect the Top Dots” Program blended with “power people play well together” relationship building was the magic potion for success.
The rest of the story:
By many studies and authorities Pueblo, Colorado has one of the lowest educational levels of any city in the United States. Pueblo also has one of the highest dropout, teen pregnancy and diabetes rates in the nation. A better funded library system and larger main library were considered true tools to improve the quality of education, job opportunities and quality of family life in the community.
The major concern facing the board was the lack of operating budget. Money for books, staff and utilities was too small to sustain current spending. They were looking at making significant employee and material budget cuts. Using the foundational principles of what was to become the DNA ALIVE! model, Chuck Bates, executive director and Joanne Dodds, assistant executive director and I spent the time to include all staff in a mission/visioning process and then creating an appeal to the community to pass a mill levy increase ($1.3 million a year) making it possible to expand rather than reduce library services.
Now, with new and substantial cash flow the library administration and board needed to move ahead with plan for a larger main library. After months of exploration and “creating the fabric” –again a technique to become part of the DNA Alive! model – we made decisions about, location, size, overhead, staff. Etc. Next the board wanted to go to the public for a $15 million bond issue. Much of setting a bond issue is a scientific and mathematical process. Once that is established it is critical to add social engineering and political positioning.
After the successful campaign the library board lifted its vision and asked world renowned architects to submit their names if they were interested in designing Pueblo's new main library. Delightfully, we received interest for the world's best and most popular. We included the public in meeting them, observing their presentations and making suggestions to the board. Everyone accepted Chuck Bates recommendation of Antoine Predock and his associate Graham Hogan with great enthusiasm. The next phase began immediately.

The librarians, public and politicians needed to have many opportunities to interact with Predock's team before there was a unified effort in the design process. After months of meetings it all come together and a design was created and supported. More private fundraising was always in motion. After months and hundreds of sales calls the man who donated the largest contribution ever in the city made the 3rd floor of the library building possible. Getting a donation of $4 million requires more work than non-fundraising people can imagine. The library's relationships with most of the community were strong and vibrant. Couples even donated their home to the library to be sold at their time of passing. The fundraising for the library drew national support from actor / environmentalist Dennis Weaver, Steinway recording pianist and entertainer Roger Williams, Disney film artist Michael Humphries, Colorado senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Governor Bill Owens, Monkees writer Bobby Hart, State Senator Gigi Dennis, State Representative Joyce Lawrence, child behavior authority Vickie Falcone, and newspaperman Barclay Jameson. An unexpected and delightful outcome of using our “Connecting the Top Dots” system my wife and I received an invitation to be personal guests of former president Jimmy Carter at his 80th birthday party in Atlanta, GA. As the 7-year library expansion project was drawing to completion the excitement of the positive people was united and strong. The fresh new library building opened on schedule and is serving children, seniors and families today exactly as planned. Anyone who is undertaking a large, public building project is invited to give me a call if you would like greater detail about the community wide elements in a project this size. A great person once said to me, “the brighter the light the greater the shadow”. I do want to mention that with the dazzling success of this nationwide corporative effort we encountered a couple of very dark shadows. These troubled souls tried to smear some reputations, but only succeeded with getting a few misinformed news stories and ultimately embarrassing and discrediting themselves.

Click here for a synopsis written by the City-County Library District's lawyer.
Click here to read a copy of the District Attorney's investigation.
Yoga... Board Rooms to Beauty Salons
Executive Summary:
Small businesses most often fail during their start up period. Yoga teacher Marcee Gutman opened her school with the intention of marketing on a shoestring budget. DNA ALIVE! is especially suited to those committed to personal involvement in business building. Using the time-tested “Kiva” Program and “Connect the Top Dots” system, very targeted advertising and DNA ALIVE's “building unbreakable bonds” customer service, this yoga school grew dramatically while all the city's other yoga studios dwindled and closed.
The rest of the story:
A stand-alone yoga studio is one of the true esoteric businesses today. Esoteric means appealing to a few people sharing a very specific interest. Yoga is offered in health clubs and YMCAs as a form of exercise and often is interrupted by the sounds and activities of a health club. A stand-alone yoga studio is more for the person interested in reshaping her/his body along with her mind and spirit. While not a religion, for many people yoga is a personal spiritual home base where they find health, encouragement, inspiration and peaceful refuge.
Kreativo's DNA ALIVE! “Kiva” program is the perfect system for low budget promotion to definable target audiences. It is called the Kiva Program in honor of the Native American meeting space the tribe used to communicate with each other.
They met and talked with each other in the Kiva.
The way we worked for the Yoga Studio was to reach out in a grass roots fashion to those identified by the yoga school owner as the type of people who would most likely become students. Our first stop was with the newspaper. We helped set up a weekly yoga class for newspaper employees at the newspaper and then enjoyed how often reporters mentioned yoga in their articles.

Using our “Connect the Top Dots” system we took yoga to the police, fire and first aid departments. Yoga was offer on-site and coupons were issues as a tribute to their service to the community. Yoga was offered to CEO's and presidents of companies and to members of the board of directors. Yoga was offered to children in classrooms and at senior centers. All these efforts introduced a little known art to the core of the community. Both DNA ALIVE! programs really struck gold when we put registration boxes in community gathering places and connected with top officials of key organizations. We created experiences where community authorities and community connectors had a first hand knowledge with the yoga school teachers and that allowed for powerful, personal endorsements. My favorite technique of fundraising builds upon DNA ALIVE! Kiva Program because it builds a strong, community-wide base that requires little paid advertising to sustain it. It also creates unbreakable bonds and friendships that cross all business and cultural lines.

Mike Curb for California's Lt. Governor
Executive Summary:
Successful music businessman Mike Curb wanted to run for office. He desired to have young people in the entertainment field help put zest, creativity, passion and style into his campaign. After forming a team of Hollywood's best, Mike easily won his election and I began understanding the universal scientific and artistic elements of DNA LIVE!…creating unbreakable bonds.
The rest of the story:
I was having a blast during the late 1960's through the 1970's living in Hollywood and being a professional songwriter/singer. It was so much fun as a teen and in my twenties writing for the Brady Bunch, Bobby Goldsboro Show, Dinah Shore Show, Jacque DeShannon, the Ovations, Bobby Vinton, Jim Nabors, Roger Williams, Bobby Hart, and dozens of other world-known recording artists.
A unique opportunity opened up for me when one of my songs was rising on the charts and radio and television personality Casey Kasem invited me to join the campaign for Mike Curb. In Hollywood I enjoyed the chance to meet and work with some very famous and talented people as, Isaac Hayes, Eddie Fisher, Liberace, Victor Borge, Richard and Robert Sherman, The Monkees, The Association, Jimmy Webb, Mason Williams, John Sebastian, Vickie Carr, Kenny Rogers, and others.
On this campaign I wrote scripts, storyboarded television commercials and developed other election strategies. This was the beginning of my long career with fundraising for political campaigns and using election strategies to motivate people.

My degrees in sociology and music began blending into something that has proven to be unique and powerful. This early campaign taught me the power of relationships in fundraising and a need for a single, compelling message. Years later when I compiled my education, experiences, skills and personal style into a cohesive and universal fundraising program I named DNA ALIVE!…Creating Unbreakable Bonds I marveled at the simplicity of tying vital resources together to create a lasting success. My DNA ALIVE! born relationship from the early 1970's continue to uplift my personal life and my work. The bonds created by thoughtful, insightful planning based on sincerity and enthusiasm are timeless and secure against changes. It is truly a way of spiritualizing your life and work.