By B.L. Ochman
The iconic “A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste” public service campaign has been updated as a brilliant stock market-style metaphor – “A Mind is a terrible thing to waste but a great thing to invest in.”
Your investment, the site explains, “is not about making money. Instead the return is something greater. When you invest, it helps kids go to college.” When you donate, you’re investing in the 60,000 students UNCF helpds attend college each year.
You can actually see the impact of your contributions via an algorithm developed by economists to quantify the social return on donating $10 to UNCF, showing the donation’s impact on earnings, crime, poverty and health savings. The new TV, radio, print, outdoor and Web PSAs feature students who have benefited from UNCF and their stories, building on those first introduced in 1972.
The organization’s name, originally United Negro College Fund, has evolved as well, to UNCF, which awards over $100 million a year in scholarships to more than 10,000 students at more than 900 schools across the country. The update is by Y&R – the agency that created the campaign 40 years ago.
