The following is an interview transcript with Holly Sitzmann, Vice President and Co-Founder of Don’t Kiss the Babies.
Their Why
After losing their daughter and nearly losing their son (both to viral illnesses), parents Eric and Holly needed to do something to help prevent other families from ever having to live this nightmare. In 2020, Don’t Kiss The Babies Foundation was born, spreading awareness and support to families everywhere. Read more on their website.
Their mission reads: Don’t Kiss the Babies Foundation will advocate for the health and well-being of babies and young children, educate parents and families on the signs of viral illnesses in the weeks following birth, and provide empowerment and support for parents of babies and young children everywhere.
“We started our nonprofit first with an idea that we were passionate about. We knew there was a need in the world for something like what we wanted to create, which helped fuel our beginning. We contacted some friends in the area that we knew had a nonprofit as well for some guidance on how to get started. (Mary will always say that nonprofits stick together and boy, is that true!) Tate’s Army and the Knox Blocks Foundation both helped mentor us as we began our nonprofit journey. We formed a board of directors, found a local attorney to help us with all of the legal documents and forms necessary to create a legitimate nonprofit in the state of Iowa and then built up from there.”
Creating the Brand
Our brand was created initially by us as the founders of DKTB and then, when we decided we wanted to rebrand, we did so with the help of a company called Slalom (based out of Minneapolis). They helped us create an entire new brand and look based on our target audience and our mission and goals. It was a very fun and detail-oriented process!
Marketing Challenges
Social media has been the biggest learning curve when it comes to marketing for our non-profit. There are so many ways to market ourselves and it’s important to us that we are being seen, heard and reached by our target audiences. We also market ourselves through our tactile products distributed in select hospitals and clinics – getting to the point of jumping through those hoops was a challenge but a very rewarding one! It involved lots of communication back and forth with the right people, sharing and re-sharing our story as well as presenting our proposals to those groups of people.
Standing Out
We are a health education based non-profit, which is not unlike other similar non-profit groups in the area. However, one thing that sets us apart is our unique story (as everyone’s personal story behind their drive and passion is unique). We also have a unique way of sharing our message, by distributing our New Parent Awareness Kits in local hospitals and clinics. Currently, this is not something being done by many other local non-profits. Our message is also a unique one, expressing the importance of understanding viral illness dangers in newborns and young children. We believe there is a need for that education and knowledge, and didn’t know of any other group projecting that message when we began our non-profit journey.
Growing a Non-Profit
The number one tip I would share with other small non-profits looking to grow and expand would certainly be to make connections and get involved with the missions of other like-minded and/or local non-profits. There is strength in numbers and we have found so much support in banding together with our fellow non-profits in the area. They have helped us to explore new avenues and introduced us to people and businesses who have been able to help us greatly in achieving our goals and understanding our mission.
Student Involvement
We would love for college students to get involved with us! We could always use help packing up our New Parent Awareness Kits that we distribute to local hospitals and clinics. We also take volunteers for our annual golf outing and fundraiser held each July. If anyone is interested in learning more, they can contact us at info@dktb.org or by finding us on social media or on our website www.dktb.org.
Read about more non-profits in the area!