In November 2018, the Camp Fire became the most destructive wildfire in California history. As in other disaster situations, the United States Postal Service® (USPS®) was among the first to respond, reestablishing mail routes, delivering important packages and mail and helping people reconnect with loved ones.

In this case, with the holidays fast approaching, USPS also saw the opportunity to deliver a more joyous Christmas. With zero media dollars, their own infrastructure and the simple act of sending letters, USPS proved to America they can find and deliver precious packages to anyone—even those without a home.

Every holiday season, USPS receives tens of thousands of letters addressed to Santa Claus. Many are written by children asking for help with basic needs. USPS felt a responsibility to deliver these letters—otherwise undeliverable—written in the hopes of having a happy, joyous holiday. So USPS digitized and published them for anyone to adopt and then send a gift, essentially crowdsourcing Santa.

This is how the digital Operation Santa platform began in November of 2017.

Just weeks before the 2018 holidays, as the California Camp Fire raged, we knew this Operation Santa platform could quickly connect those who had lost so much with those looking to help. We just needed to read the letters to Santa.

Because these people had nothing left, not even a pen and paper, we had to create over a thousand letter-writing kits with instructions, blank paper and stamped envelopes addressed to our unique Santa address. We shipped them in bulk to the affected regions, where USPS representatives and mail carriers distributed the kits to people in the local shelters.

These letters were then placed in mailboxes, where they were routed to our processing team. The letters were published on the Operation Santa online platform, allowing people in the community to adopt the letters and gift the specific items requested.

As the Camp Fire burned through California, millions of dollars in donations poured in. But there were serious issues along the way. People drove from miles away to donate, only to be turned away because charities simply didn’t have the resources to sort through all of the items. Fake charities also popped up, scamming those who wanted to help. People became skeptical of the legitimacy of charitable organizations and efforts, concerned that their donations wouldn’t reach those in need.

But USPS was already on scene, already interacting with victims, already a trusted source.

Their Operation Santa platform provided an opportunity to give directly to those affected in a uniquely personal way. Camp Fire victims wrote letters to Santa asking for items they needed, and people could then read these letters on the Operation Santa platform, fulfilling the requests that resonated with them most.

The Operation Santa program had already launched online, partnering with seven cities around the country to reach good people—the letter adopters. With zero media dollars spent, word of the program spread across news outlets and social media as people shared their enthusiasm and asked others for help in raising money for the bigger gift requests.

Visitors to the website were alerted that, among the many letters they could view, those with a red heart in the upper-right corner were from kids and families displaced by the California Camp Fire. These letters were adopted quickest of all.

Operation Santa saw great success as a giving platform, with a significant increase in the number of participants who provided items to families in need. Awareness was up 76% from the previous year, with the program garnering a 16.9 million reach. The site saw 10,000 new website visitors per week. Brand sentiment improved, and anecdotal social and news stories skewed very positive, as shown in the case video.

By showing people the heart of the brand that was helping people help others, we improved net sentiment by 150%. Even perceptions of reliability increased by 19%.

43,452 letters were processed, with 6,550 deemed adoptable. (Many lacked valid a return address or did not include one at all). The final number of letters adopted and packages received is withheld.

Drawing off our previous experience with Operation Santa, we already knew that one-to-one charitable causes resonated with people. Being able to see handwritten letters exactly as they had been written, knowing the first names of the people in need of Christmas cheer, hearing their stories, and sending the specific items requested created a uniquely personal experience. We were confident that we could achieve the same success with our Camp Fire initiative, encouraging people to spread the word about the cause and allowing them to choose letters on our easily shareable, user-friendly platform specifically from the areas impacted by the Camp Fire.