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A blazer is a sign that the wearer means business. It is the mark of a sharp, prepared man or woman. At the Young Black Leadership Alliance, it is also the sign a high school senior has done the work required to be an Ambassador — a top representative of the leadership group. And this year, The Dunstan Group is helping YBLA celebrate those teens.

First, some history.

Fifteen years ago, John and Tammy Martin had a revelation: the young, Black men they saw stereotyped in popular culture were not the young, Black leaders they knew our community was producing, or could produce with the right guidance. They were determined to help these young men, who were good students and capable of so much, look sharp and achieve their potential. The Young Black Men (YBM) Leadership Alliance was born.

Nine years later, Tammy created Young Black Women (YBW) Leadership Alliance with the couple’s daughter, Jalyn, and 3 other teens. It wasn’t long before the two organizations became one as the Young Black Leadership Alliance. The YBLA has helped hundreds of teens learn leadership, college and career readiness, and service.

“Our mission is that our young leaders make a positive impact in their community and the world,” says Tammy. The YBLA operates on the pillars of Leadership, Service, and Education.

One look at the photo of smiling, ambitious teens in navy blue and burgundy blazers, and you know they mean business. But those blazers aren’t easy to earn — the young men and women have to work for them!

“We put them through training,” says Tammy. “They are Toastmaster certified. They learn team building, personal branding, communication, and even an elevator pitch!” This year about 300 high school juniors applied to the program, and 150 were offered membership into YBLA. Once a schedule of commitments was ironed out, about 100 moved forward with the virtual workshops. (During a normal year of in-person meetings, usually about 250 take part.)

Each member gets a calendar and must commit to the workshops about college readiness, networking, and being open-minded to new ideas. They work with community and corporate leaders. Then they must pick a “passion project” that will affect at least 10 people, and complete it. THEN they get a blazer showing they are a YBLA Ambassador.

The Blazer Ceremony is a big deal — though this year, it has to be virtual. How could John and Tammy make the big moment special? That’s where they brought in The Dunstan Group and their custom BrandBuilders Box.

“It exceeded our expectations!” says Tammy with excitement. The custom BrandBuilders Box shows a wrap-around photo of the Ambassadors. The tissue inside, wrapped around the blazer like a present, is in brand colors. A similar custom YBLA envelope is used to send out T-shirts and polos as incentives to younger members.

“It really steps up our brand,” continues Tammy. “When you get this is the mail it’s like, ‘Wow!’ — definitely a wow factor!” The extra attention to branding is important this year, as John and Tammy are realizing their dream — through virtual workshops — of taking YBLA to the national level. This year they have young leaders in training from 10 different states! They’ve decided to keep a virtual element to YBLA, even when they return to in-person meetings. Their branding needs to match their momentum, and The Dunstan Group is eager to assist them.

“We’re excited about helping such a passionate group continue to build their brand through merchandise,” says The Dunstan Group President and Founder Scott Dunstan. “It’s exciting to see the work they are doing right here in the community, educating and developing young Black leaders so they have a positive impact on their community and beyond. We’re proud to be a small part of that!”

Tammy calls working with The Dunstan Group “a blessing” because of how Scott and the company were able to meet their needs, making their brand stand out on a budget. And she loves that they are able to work with a local company, which has become “like family” to the YBLA.

“I think they’ve been our greatest vendor, and they’re nice,” says Tammy. “We’ve never looked back.”

In a year when so many nonprofits lowered their fundraising expectations, the 24 Foundation exceeded theirs. Their landmark annual fundraiser, “24 Hours of Booty,” transitioned to a series of neighborhood efforts, dubbed “UnLooped,” and had more participants than ever before.

“It truly turned out to be a remarkable year for us,” says Lisa Dale, Vice President of the 24 Foundation. “We got creative and came up with ‘UnLooped,’ and leaned heavily on team captains to come up with ideas they thought would be fun and entertaining.” The teams rolled with the ideas, determined to do their part.

“Once they understood, we picked up momentum quickly and people were excited about it!” cheered Dale. Shifting to “virtual” celebrations allowed more people to take part, says Dale, resulting in teams participating from 32 states and 4 countries. In all, 1525 registrants raised more than $780,000!

And as they have since the very beginning, The Dunstan Group supported the fundraiser for cancer navigation and support services by providing top quality, branded merchandise and apparel as gifts and incentives. T-shirts, water bottles, and koozies marked the basics; but cool, creative branding is The Dunstan Group’s trademark. Add branded waterproof blankets, hammocks, Osprey backpacks, and winter vests to the unique incentives offered to top fundraisers.

“Scott Dunstan and his wonderful team are an integral part of our 24 Foundation family,” says Dale. “They are not only a steadfast partner that provides our 24 HOB swag and fundraising incentives, they actively participate as fundraisers and ‘walk the talk’ for our mission at 24 Foundation.”

Scott Dunstan has ridden in 24 Hours of Booty for several years and supported friends’ teams. Cancer is a cause near and dear to Scott since losing his mother to cancer when he was 10. The personal touch The Dunstan Group brings to every customer is even more heartfelt for 24 HOB and its virtual cousin this year. Ideas needed to be fresh and creative to meet this year’s new and unusual demands.

“The creative ideas that they present and produce are always of excellent quality and continue to take us to the next level,” agrees Dale. “We always receive high remarks from our participants about the quality of the swag, and the leading edge ‘cool factor’ that results in incredible branding and mission awareness for 24 Foundation.”

With branding from The Dunstan Group and a whole new way of approaching this year’s event, the message and awareness spread to new corners and communities where they had never been seen before. Expanding the 24 Foundation brand will allow the mission to grow, says Dale, and provide even more support to cancer patients and their families in coming years.

“Even in a pandemic, our cancer community needs us and we have to support it,” says Dale with a smile. “I couldn’t be more proud. There is such good in the world.”

Right now, fundraising is harder than ever. Between restrictions limiting the size of in-person events, to uncertainties about the economy, there are plenty of obstacles between nonprofits, sponsors, and donors. Creative nonprofits have turned to online pitches or virtual events to raise money and awareness. Branded merchandise from The Dunstan Group has helped them make that pivot.

“We want to help our friends and clients do good and keep businesses connected with their audiences even when we can’t gather in the pandemic environment.,” says The Dunstan Group Founder and President Scott Dunstan. “We knew we would need a unique approach that would require creativity.” Not a problem! The Dunstan Group has a track record of turning creative ideas into branded apparel and merchandise that gets results.

For nonprofits trying to continue their missions during such an unusual time, an extra dose of care and creativity is needed – since the clients ranged from a large, well-known event to the youngest of our neighbors, 12-year-old Emma Lyberg.

Emma needed to raise money for her Silver Award Project for Girl Scouts – similar to the merit progression for a Boy Scout Eagle Award. Part of the requirement is to create a community service project, and Emma chose to build two Little Free Libraries – one for her neighborhood, and one for the Camp Greene neighborhood in west Charlotte. But she also needed to raise money for it.

“Due to COVID-19 restrictions, most of the typical Girl Scout fundraisers were off the table, so Emma had to get creative,” says her dad, Basil Lyberg. “She landed on the T-shirt idea after coming across the ‘Bookmarks are for Quitters’ idea on Pinterest.” Emma made a pitch on Facebook and sold 126 shirts, but realized her original plan for making the shirts wouldn’t work. The Lybergs turned to The Dunstan Group to get it done right.

“MacLean (at The Dunstan Group) was so fast with the info and had several options for us in short order,” says Basil. “We went through our different options to hit the price point we needed so Emma could make sure she was able to meet her goal.” And did she ever! Emma raised $2,200 – enough to build both libraries and stock them with books, as well as provide books to other Little Free Libraries throughout the community.

“The Dunstan Group really came through!” reports the very proud dad. Congrats Emma!

Fundraising support for community organizations and nonprofits has always been a core part of The Dunstan Group mission. To Dunstan, being in business carries the responsibility of being a positive part of the community. He and the company have been a part of some efforts, like the 24 Hours of Booty, since the beginning. In addition to fundraising incentives for the 24 Foundation’s virtual “UnLooped” ride this year, The Dunstan Group also supported the team led by Scott’s close friend, Josh Jones. Jones rides every year for Team LIBstrong, named after his daughter Libby who died of Leukemia at the age of 3.

For Josh and Team LIBstrong, The Dunstan Group created an ordering link and posted a custom trucker hat with the pink LIBstrong logo on its social channels. “We orchestrated the link to sell the caps to their network and generated lots of buzz around it,” says Dunstan. Unlike in-person events, the link and hats were able to reach out-of-town customers, helping Jones and Team LIBstrong make up for donations they would usually collect with their in-person events.

Claire’s Army also tuned-in to The Dunstan Group’s creativity. The group is named for Claire Ratliff, another of cancer’s youngest victims. Her parents and their support group created Claire’s Army to help families whose children are hospitalized for cancer. Claire’s Army brings meals, gift cards, and services to help families take care of their responsibilities so they can focus on caring for their children.

Instead of a traditional fundraising gala, Claire’s Army is raising money with “Resilience Week,” including a virtual house party and silent auction. Registrants for Claire’s Army Resilience Week could win newly-designed Claire’s Army T-shirts and ball caps produced by The Dunstan Group during weekly drawings. Party packages include deliveries in a custom, pink box with the Claire’s Army logo. This was the first year Claire’s Army – with its staff of one, Claire’s mom, Emily – worked with The Dunstan Group, and Emily loved how everything turned out.

“We came to Brian at The Dunstan Group with ideas to make the Claire’s Army event something unique,” Emily says, noting that it’s been a challenge to do everything virtually this year. “Brian was so creative, and helped us think through all of these options, with a quick turnaround.” Brian Young, The Dunstan Group’s Director of Business Development, suggested the box of party supplies like drinks, a tumbler, a Spotify playlist, and a gift card to Little Mama’s restaurant. Out of town participants would get hats or T-shirts instead of drinks and the restaurant meal. The extra care made the difference.

“Usually we just place an order with a supplier, and that’s it,” says Emily. “But this feels more like a brand relationship, and they’re going to get involved in what you’re doing and how to best use your resources to tell your story.” Emily also praises The Dunstan Group team for being upfront about supply chain challenges and how to compensate. “They kept track, and kept us posted!” she remarked.

Creativity, service, and relationships – helping Charlotte’s do-gooders, both big and small, even in a most unpredictable year.