After ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff recovered from a life-threatening traumatic brain injury (TBI) while on assignment near Baghdad in 2006, he started an organization to serve wounded U.S. veterans by giving them access to the support they deserve in order to thrive.

As the Bob Woodruff Foundation's pro bono PR team, we work to raise awareness of TBIs and help wounded vets attain semi-wellness. We have provided media relations expertise for BWF's big annual event, Stand Up for Heroes (a comedy-and-music fundraiser), for the past five years and help the foundation strategize year-round, especially in social media.

One key strategy is focusing on the warriors and their inspirational stories, and we also highlight Bob and his family. Bob is semi-well and a role model to millions; through our approach, we have made semi-wellness an aspiration.

Our work has yielded 1 billion–plus media impressions, and in 2014 our networking led to a $1 million gift from PepsiCo to launch a nationwide Veterans Helping Veterans initiative.

For Stand Up for Heroes 2013, a plan from our social media consultancy used BWF's social platforms to deliver unified messages; develop posts, tweets and a Google+ Hangout during the event; and tell inspirational stories of the vets who motivate the Woodruff family.

Our agency volunteered $120,000 worth of time for this stand-alone charitable event. Coverage exceeded 335 million impressions; 61 million people followed on social platforms; and we helped BWF raise $5 million to fund innovative health-and-wellness programs for wounded warriors.

BWF collaborates with organizations big and small, giving grants ($20 million to 95 innovative programs to date) so that they can serve wounded vets and their families nationwide, from suicide-prevention services and alternative therapies to employment opportunities and housing. We focus on partnerships, too, and use our networks to pair BWF with those who can help the foundation assist soldiers in many areas of health and wellness. For SUFH 2013, we targeted pitches to a variety of media, including hometown outlets of a dozen veterans who would be attending the event. We developed press materials, arranged interviews and managed the red carpet (notable attendees included top military leaders, actors and CEOs). A social media plan from our SocialProvidence consultancy used BWF's platforms to deliver unified messages; develop posts, tweets and a Google+ Hangout during the event; and tell inspirational stories of the vets who motivate the Woodruff family.

Awareness = donations = more help for brain-injured heroes. Our work has yielded more than a billion media impressions, and this year our grassroots networking even led to a $1 million gift to BWF from PepsiCo that will launch a nationwide Veterans Helping Veterans initiative to help veterans transition to civilian life and reconnect with their communities. Coverage of Stand Up for Heroes 2013 exceeded 335 million impressions, and 61 million people followed it on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the interactive live stream. We garnered 79 million impressions across the four social networks and 3.6 million impressions for the "text-to-donate" initiative alone. The online-offline connection mobilized grassroots donations to make it one of the most successful fundraisers of 2013. Our event expertise and traditional and social media savvy helped BWF raise a record $5 million (the total has increased by at least $1 million each year for the past three).