Case Study/Client
Nonprofit · Community Growth
from one local mixer to a five-city movement
A nonprofit empowering Africans and friends of Africa across the U.S. — built on trust, unity, and collaboration. I was brought in to turn its monthly mixers from a single local gathering into a growing, multi-city community.
Full Works ↗
View live site ↗
3 → 5
Cities scaled
30–80
Per event
~3×
Registrations
9–10%
Ad click rate
the challenge
Grow a movement from scratch
With just one mixer to build on, the task was simple to say and hard to do: raise attendance, widen reach, and create a genuine sense of belonging — starting from zero online presence.
The first event drew 35 people. The vision was a recurring gathering that could spark collaboration, cultural growth, and entrepreneurial connection across the diaspora — and eventually, across cities.
The goals
Raise the visibility of The African Think Tank and its events.
Reach a broader audience of professionals, entrepreneurs, investors, and visionaries supporting the diaspora.
Cultivate belonging and excitement around the monthly mixers and the change they create.
what I did
The approach
Six levers, from rebrand to open house:
Paid Advertising ↗
Email Marketing ↗
Converting Landing Pages ↗
Engaging Content ↗
Digital Event Management
Media Creation
Ads, built from zero
$0.10
Cost per result
With no existing presence, I set up the digital campaigns from scratch — establishing the brand, driving traffic, and targeting the people most likely to show up: diaspora small-business owners, families seeking community, lovers of African culture, and recent ex-pats. Local influencers across entertainment, real estate, healthcare, and tech amplified reach. Ad click-through hit 9–10%, eventually maxing out Eventbrite registrations and nearly tripling sign-ups from the first mixer.
Email that nurtured
62.5%
Peak Open Rate
Campaigns treated newcomers and loyal members differently — with personalized outreach, abandoned-cart recovery, re-engagement for unfinished registrations, and expert-led focus groups spanning entrepreneurship, real estate, tech, parenting, investing in Africa, and healthcare. The result was a community that kept coming back, not just a one-time crowd.
Scaling five cities
3 - 5
Dallas to dmv
Expanding from Dallas to Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte, and the DMV meant keeping branding consistent while tailoring campaigns city by city. I introduced paid ticketing, sponsor and vendor outreach to fund the nonprofit, and full tracking via Facebook Pixel and Google Analytics across ticketing platforms to measure what actually converted.
notable work
A few snapshots
Community Building Newsletters
Nurtured Campaigns ↗
Ad / Social Creatives ↗
Landing page ↗
what I took away
Lessons from the campaign
01
Event marketing is bigger than digital
02
Loyalty beats reach
03
Let the data lead
04
Build the list deliberately
like what you see?
Whether it's a brand or a cause, I can build the strategy, content, and systems to turn attention into a real, loyal audience.
Chat with me ↗
Visit Little Creativepreneur
Jimmy Tran ✦
Case Study · The African Think Tank