Counting On Us
Case Study
Problem
ACH Child and Family Services needed to raise public awareness for their work supporting children and families through foster care, adoption, and family preservation. With fifteen distinct programs and limited public understanding of their impact, they needed a way to make their mission tangible and turn real stories into a tool for community engagement and fundraising.
Solution
I created Counting On Us, a story-driven podcast built around in-person interviews rather than the long-form expert conversations common in the childcare space. Prioritizing in-person recording helped build trust with guests and capture real emotional moments, including adoptions, graduations, and family reunions, as they happened. To scale output without sacrificing quality, I restructured production around companion episodes, pairing each documentary-style story with a commentary episode from youth and caregivers facing similar challenges. This doubled the season's episode count within the same production timeline. A coordinated digital ad, billboard, and press campaign across Dallas-Fort Worth extended the podcast's reach beyond its existing audience.
Result
Since launch, Counting On Us has driven a 167% increase in pageviews and nearly tripled new users, with 5-star ratings and a 70% average consumption rate across Apple Podcasts and Spotify. One episode was picked up by FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, reaching a market of over 3.2 million households. Another episode was repackaged as a mission-moment video for ACH's largest annual fundraiser, helping the event raise a record $164,148 in a single night.
The series has since earned nine industry awards and recognitions, including wins from the American Advertising Awards and the Shorty Awards, along with a Digiday Awards finalist honor.
