When Lindsey Perkins, communications and marketing director, got the news that the Department of Energy chose to fund Plug In America’s proposal for a nationwide EV education campaign, she was thrilled. This was the first marketing campaign of scale she conceptualized that she would have the opportunity to execute since starting at the nonprofit.
“It’s a dream come true. Not all multiyear proposals are funded, much less ones you worked on from the start,” Lindsey said.
As part of her vision, Plug In America promised to interview 10 EV drivers on camera, five in English and five in Spanish, and share their stories with the rest of the country in a digital advertising campaign. She envisioned finding EV drivers from all walks of life to make sure the campaign was representative of the country.
To fulfill the project’s goals, Lindsey created a new role in the communications department for someone who specialized in video content and found the perfect candidate to fill the position. She also hired a new team member to boost the organization’s social media activity and help make the nationwide education efforts possible.
In October, the DOE sent a termination letter canceling approximately $3 million of promised funding about one year into the three-year campaign. Alongside the concerns about the organization’s future and her staff, Lindsey is grieving the potential loss of what was to come.
“It’s devastating and maddening to have this incredible, beautiful, impactful project stopped suddenly for no apparent reason,” Lindsey said. “I’m so proud of my team and the work we’ve done, and it’s important work. People’s lives are on the line if we as a country don’t transition fast enough to electric vehicles. With more EVs on the road, air quality improves, pollution-related illnesses decrease, and we’re slowing climate change, which means fewer extreme weather events.”
The Plug In America communications team has filmed three EV driver stories so far: a family of seven on a homestead in Texas, a woman with her “sexy mom car” in Georgia, and a young outdoor enthusiast in Washington who road trips and camps in his EV. The team has already had to stop online advertising campaigns promoting the videos despite the campaign’s strong performance, which now limits the number of people these videos can reach.
If Plug In America loses the DOE funding permanently and can’t find other funding quickly, the organization won’t have the resources to document these important stories, much less amplify them, nor will the nonprofit be able to save the jobs that this project has created.
“EVs improve lives, and we want to make sure everyone has a chance to hear that,” Lindsey said. “We’ve been working hard to find people who use their EVs in all sorts of ways, represent rural and urban areas, different vehicle types, renters and homeowners. It’s important that as many people as possible hear that EVs are for everyone.”
Want to help? Consider a financial donation while we fight to have our funding restored. Any amount helps.
