In September 2023, Santa Clara (Calif.) Unified School District (SCUSD) administrators wondered if their school system’s values of kindness and compassion were becoming lost. Informal observations suggested that emerging issues and trends in the area and around the world were negatively impacting the district’s culture and climate.

They weren’t wrong. In fact, a 2023 EdWeek Research Center survey found that 43 percent of high school students said events and issues in the news cause them anxiety or stress at least some of the time.

“In the world we live in today, where the demands and pressures are intense for students and staff alike, life can sometimes seem overwhelming,” said Dr. Gary Waddell, superintendent of SCUSD. “One thing we know is that kindness can shine as a beacon of hope and create infinite opportunities for connection.”

When Dr. Waddell suggested a kindness initiative to help improve culture and morale, the communications team began developing what would eventually become the district’s “One Million Acts of Kindness” campaign, an NSPRA-award winning marketing and communication plan.

 

A Research Informed Approach

The purpose of the kindness initiative was simple: to start a ripple effect of positivity and kindness to enhance the well-being of students, staff, community and beyond.

To effectively promote the initiative, the team needed to develop a marketing campaign. Using the four-step research, planning, implementation and evaluation (RPIE) process, they began with research, first tapping into existing data.

“The research phase involved getting an accurate understanding of both our current school climate as well as the science behind the impact of kindness,” said Jennifer Dericco, APR, the SCUSD director of communication and the NSPRA Southwest Region vice president.

Sources of formal research included the 2023 California Healthy Kids Survey, kindness research data and a recent communication audit of the district.

“The California Healthy Kids Survey is an annual survey administered to students in grades 5, 7, 9 and 11 across the state on school climate, safety and student wellness,” said Dericco. “It’s a tool our district finds valuable in helping to facilitate evidence-based decision-making.”

Results of the 2023-24 survey found that one in four elementary school students don’t think that adults at school care about them and don’t feel connected to the school. By high school, nearly 50 percent of students felt that educators at their school did not care about them while 40 percent felt disconnected.

Kindness research came from a variety of sources, including the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, Choose Kindness Foundation, Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley and more.

“The research on the science of kindness was fascinating,” said Dericco. “Studies showed that stress levels decrease and life satisfaction increases when performing kind acts.”

After research, they identified their primary audiences (students and staff) and secondary audiences (families, prospective students, staff and families, and the broader community) and an audacious goal: to reach one million acts of kindness together as a community. They set their sights on a preliminary goal of reaching 16,500 logged acts of kindness by Nov. 30, 2023.

 

Planning for Success

Planning to launch the campaign on World Kindness Day (November 13), the month after Bullying Prevention Month (October), was an intentional decision, said Dericco.

“The launch time frame aligned with the purpose of the campaign,” she said. “It helped underscore the idea of showing kindness and compassion towards others,” she said.

Leading up to the campaign’s launch, Dericco’s team reached out to school sites to get them involved in the campaign, creating a variety of possible One Million Acts of Kindness logos and polling staff to find out which design they preferred. Including the staff made them feel more invested in the project and therefore more likely to get involved.

And perhaps even more importantly, they involved students, tapping into student leaders like members of the Superintendent’s Student Council for input and feedback.

“Involving students gave them a sense of agency and responsibility,” said Dericco. “We wanted to create champions of kindness.”

The team outlined a dedicated website section, drafted content and brainstormed a variety of resources that could be made available to the school community to help spread the word about the campaign.

 

Implementing the Plan

Research from the recent communication audit helped identify the district’s website as a preferred communication method of the campaign’s target audiences.

Housing information about the initiative, how and why to participate, stories of kindness in the community, toolkit resources and a real-time acts of kindness tracker, the One Million Acts of Kindness website serves as a central hub for students, staff, families and the community to get involved.

Using a simple QR code or click of a button, participants can log their kind acts at any time. Using a form on the thank you page, participants can also submit a story about their act of kindness or provide a photo or video of their kindness in action. Each act of kindness shared counts towards the goal of “One Million Acts of Kindness.”

“Acts of kindness, no matter how simple, are expressions of empathy, compassion and goodwill,” said Dr. Waddell. “They have the ability to change lives — and our world — one small act of kindness at a time.”

Participants are encouraged to help spread the word using resources on the site like the initiative’s logo and graphics, email signature line, printable kindness ideas checklist, videos, sample social media posts and more.

The team also created various pieces of collateral for the initiative like bookmarks, flyers, posters and more, each of which includes unique QR tracking codes allowing the team to track the efforts in real time and adjust when needed.

In addition to the website, the initiative was also promoted using additional preferred communication efforts of the campaign’s targeted audience, including in local libraries and in city communications, in school libraries, via school and district newsletters, direct outreach through email, text, and app alerts, social media, staff meetings and messages from the superintendent.

 

Evaluating Success

The plan’s initial goal was to have at least 16,500 acts of kindness logged by Nov. 30, 2023, which was surpassed by receiving 20,000 logged acts.

“Evaluating engagement of the campaign is vital to planning for the future of the campaign,” said Dericco.

Data from bitly.com, for example, told the team that the most frequently clicked link to log kindness acts is the district’s student and staff portal, Classlink, with 2,204 engagements. The least used QR code was embedded in the campaign’s kickoff video, which was viewed 171 times with only 3 QR code scans.

While the campaign reached its initial goal of logging 16,500 acts of kindness in the first month, it fell short of its next goal of 50,000 logged acts by June 30, 2024. And while the team will continue to use evaluation data to inform the continuing phases of the campaign, Dericco is proud of the initiative’s achievements.

“We know there are many more than that out there,” she said. “We constantly hear stories and see posts that have not been submitted through our tracking strategies, and we’re okay with that. The initiative’s purpose to create a positive, contagious ripple has proven itself and is growing with each passing month.” The district is currently celebrating eclipsing 40,000 acts of kindness logged.

“In just under a year, this campaign has made an immense difference here at SCUSD,” said Dr. Waddell. “ We are advancing academic success while also creating a kinder and more compassionate community with our core values firmly in mind.”

Dericco says evaluating future California Healthy Kids Survey data as well as metrics on effectiveness of the campaign's various tactics will be essential to the success of the initative going forward.

But all acts of kindness, big or small, are making a difference.

“From small acts such as just being a friend on the playground, to helping a newcomer student find their way, offering a helping hand, or organizing a school or district wide campaign, we are changing our district and our community one act of kindness at a time,” said Dr. Waddell. “And that is a good thing for everyone who walks through our doors and finds a place here where they are welcomed just as they are, find belonging and know that a kind hand or deed is just around the corner.”

Santa Clara Unified School District’s “One Million Acts of Kindness” campaign was a 2023 NSPRA Golden Achievement winner. View the full submission entry here and other award-winning school communication work here.