Whether you’re working to help seniors, kids in need, veterans, animals, or other community need, there’s no doubt you have your hands full. Like, really, really full. We’re here to help, one charity at a time.

CreateAthon is a 24-hour creative marathon designed to deliver professional marketing and design services to nonprofit organizations that could otherwise not afford them. Since its inception in 1998, this “all-nighter for charity” has served more than 1,300 nonprofits, providing more than $100 million in pro bono services. CreateAthon is the brainchild of Riggs Partners, an ad agency in Columbia, SC.

Before Horsefly Group rebranded as a virtual WFH co-op, it was Idea Flight ad agency just outside Washington DC. Founder Holly Davis heard about CreateAthon at the annual American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) conference when CreateAthon was just a few years old, and in 2003, Idea Flight became a CreateAthon Partner.

Because Horsefly Group is a WFH virtual co-op with team members spanning 11 time zones, our donation location will vary from year to year. This year, it’s Citrus County, Florida!

We provide pretty much every marketing service you can think of, encompassing both digital and creative (see our home page and scroll down to see the list). But first and foremost, we provide winning strategies. The rest is executing on those strategies in a way that bring them to full success.

Any 501(c)3 in Citrus County FL may apply, however we strongly urge those considering applying to review the criteria for the qualifying first round.

The intent of Horsefly’s participation in CreateAthon is to provide an entire suite of marketing services to a single 501(c)3, including best-practice instructions for carrying on the day-to-day use of the work afterward. This means the charity must be well-established with a certain level of resources to make full use of this work.

The guidelines for CreateAthon first-round qualification include:

• Strong executive leadership, board and senior management
• Strategic plan and well-defined vision
• Organizational stability
• 3 to 4 full time staff members, minimum
• 70 to 80% of funding/revenue retained over past 3 years
• No major turnovers in past 2 years
• Successful examples of collaborative projects
• Effective program outcomes 

Although our strong intent is to choose ONE charity for a full suite of marketing materials, we reserve the right to do a more limited scope for more charities. It really depends on the applications we receive.

Once the winner(s) is/are selected, by early January, we will schedule time for discovery briefings to determine exactly what is most needed, and develop an early action plan for the event.

Application deadline 5 pm December 15, 2023
Winner(s) announced first half January 2024
Discovery calls second half January 2024
CreateAthon happens February 7-8, 2024
Presentation to charity client(s) February 9, 2024

The awarding process has three rounds:

1. Qualification: a small external committee will determine whether the applicant fully meets the guidelines listed in the section immediately above, and will append notes. However, ALL applications will go forward.
2. Semifinals: is an internal review by Horsefly Group team members, with the sole exception of Holly Davis, as she is local to Citrus County. (She also knows how painful it is not be able to help all the many deserving causes, so she is wimping out!) The goal in this round is to winnow it down to a manageable number for the finals.
3. Finals: will be decided by the public! The Citrus County Chronicle will publish the semifinalists and have an online poll to determine the winner(s).