LWT changes CreateAthon format to honor late founder
LWT is celebrating its 50th anniversary later this year and decided to honor its late founder Jay Leavell by using its annual CreateAthon to help non-profit groups that were important to him.
The organizations will receive free creative help during a round-the-clock, 24-hour work session in late September.
The organizations include the Alabama Council of the American Institute of Architects — Montgomery Chapter, the Montgomery Art Guild, American Cancer Society, the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, First United Methodist Church Montgomery, Montgomery Business Committee for the Arts, and Landmarks Foundation.
Normally, LWT accepts applications early in the year and selects the groups.
Jim Leonard, a partner at the firm, said he thought the new format fits well with the idea behind CreateAthon.
“We’ve approached CreateAthon differently this year as it is LWT’s 50th anniversary,” he said in a statement issued by the firm. “We have reached out to area non-profit organizations that were important to Jay Leavell, the founding partner of LWT. Jay was very involved in the community and we felt helping groups that were passions of his would be a fitting tribute to his memory.”
Cindy Scott, the firm’s business developer, said at least some of the groups had a hard time believing the firm was willing to donate its time for nothing in return.
The firm’s employees work for 24 straight hours on the projects to allow groups with limited marketing budgets to have a professional campaign.
“During this 24-hour period, we’ll work on projects ranging from Web development to branding to strategic marketing planning to brochure development.” David Allred, an LWT partner, said in the statement.
“It will be worth the lost revenue and sleep to provide these services to area organizations who normally couldn’t afford them.”