Puppy Jake Foundation: 2026 Gala Video Series
Brand Storytelling Videos
Well-Trained Dogs Stay. Well-Told Stories Do Too.
Puppy Jake Foundation needed us to move an entire room of people to give, in real time, in just one night – and keep them moved even after all the applause. And isn’t that always the challenge: making a story matter beyond the applause? A quick PowerPoint presentation, even a highlight reel, wasn’t going to do it for Puppy Jake. They needed to tell stories, stories on the website, in the feed, and something special for the gala itself – and they needed to make an impact. We tackled that challenge with a brand storytelling video series that helped Puppy Jake finish out a record-breaking year on an even higher note.
The Gala Film
More Doors, More Eyes, More Donors
Four more videos told the stories of veterans, and the why behind the ask was self-evident: the dogs make a difference. We didn’t need to flex any over-the-top muscles. These vets spoke for themselves. Our task was to give these veterans the shine they deserve. Each story was its own moment, its own arc, its own cinematic angle.
All five films played, but we never built those stories to live there and nowhere else, because the strategy was never really just about the gala, it was about giving this mission as many doors in as we could build from this project. More doors, more eyes, more donors. The gala got the full sweep of a record year. And the feed got four different, deeply human reasons to feel it, built to keep working even after this year.
Tina + FoxyFaith
Megan + Jessie
Chris + Bruce
Sean + Chips
Got a story worth telling? Let’s talk.
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Our Friends at the Puppy Jake Foundation
If you don’t know the Puppy Jake Foundation, allow us to put you on to an amazing organization. In short, they carefully match veterans with professionally trained service dogs – at no cost to them. Every vet who comes to Puppy Jake is carrying something home from their service, and adjusting back to civilian life can make what they’re carrying feel heavier. Puppy Jake’s service dogs help lighten that load.
This past year happened to be one of the best they’ve had. More dogs graduated and placed than in several years combined. A record number of supporters and volunteers came through the training program. By their own account, they’re leading the country in how smoothly veterans move through the process of getting paired with a dog in the first place. None of that happens without a room full of people deciding, year after year, that this is worth funding again. That’s what the annual gala is actually for. It’s an opportunity to celebrate all of the year’s hard work, sure, but it also needs to raise the money that work takes.
That work isn’t cheap. It takes more than $25,000 to raise a single service dog. That’s not counting the time, the volunteers, the hard work day to day. The gala is the mechanism that keeps the momentum going. Our job was to carry that momentum into the gala room and all the way to the attendees’ pockets – moving them to give, so Puppy Jake can keep doing the work: helping people.
Taking the Baton
So we tagged into that momentum. Puppy Jake did the work over the year, and we took the proverbial baton to figure out how best to show it off. We came out of it with a brand storytelling video series – five videos, four veterans, and a voice for the faces behind the work.
One brand video told the story of the year through the people who lived it and worked it, with the ask positioned in the proof: leadership on where the organization’s headed, a longtime partner on why they keep showing up, a foster on what the training program actually feels like, and small true moments dropped in rather than staged, like the dog placed with one veteran that started noticing his wife’s anxiety too, until she had a service dog of her own. You can’t script beats like those. We pay attention, we draw them out, we make those moments stand on their own.
Beyond the Big Night
By the time the night wrapped, $150,000 had come in, on top of a year that was already a record one for supporters, volunteers, and dogs placed. And the stories are still out there, living on Puppy Jake’s own social channels, still showing people just how much this work matters.
That’s the whole point of building it this way. The room claps once. The story doesn’t have to stop when they do.
The success of this year’s Gala reflects the incredible community that stands behind our mission. Those we recognized have each played an important role in helping us raise, train, and place service dogs with veterans. Their commitment makes our work possible.Lisa RussellCEO, Puppy Jake Foundation
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