The Power of National Earned Media

Dear Colleagues,

As we reflect on the triumphs of the past year, including our unified appearance on Good Morning America, which aired an unprecedented 9 times, we must channel that momentum towards a cause that touches the lives of countless individuals: Unclaimed Property Day 2024 on February 1st, 2024. Our collective voice on this day has demonstrated power and allows us to continue the success of our programs that have returned over $5 billion dollars last fiscal year to its rightful owners.

This year, NAUPA has fostered a partnership with Good Morning America to amplify state narratives and raise unclaimed property awareness. If you missed any of the segments you can view them on our YouTube playlist. These segments showcased how unclaimed property programs benefit not only individuals, but can contribute to the philanthropic work of non-profit organizations. Here in Massachusetts, we reunited over $20,000 back to the Pan-Mass Challenge, a nonprofit that raises funds for cancer research and treatment. A similar story in New York reunited nearly $50,000 with an organization to help fund educational projects in over 150 schools across the country.

The impact of these television segments has been immense and allowed us to spread further awareness of unclaimed property programs in each state on a national level. States saw massive increases in claims from these stories across the country as we promoted www.missingmoney.com as the trusted site to search for unclaimed property. This national database allows individuals to search the entire US with 52 state programs consolidating their databases through this partnership with NAUPA to make finding unclaimed property easier. This year alone, 30 million searches were conducted and over 1.7 million claims were initiated directly through the site.

We aim to build upon the substantial increase in awareness as we plan for 2024’s Unclaimed Property Day. NAUPA has developed customizable templates to create press releases for local news coverage, engage your legislators with our outreach template, and generate proclamation language to make unclaimed property day/week an official recognition like Maine and British Columbia have done. Members have a total of 4 different social media campaigns to choose from, each featuring social media images/videos, themed fact sheets, and social media copy.

As we prepare, remember the digital footprint we've made: #unclaimedpropertyday reached over 300,000 users last year, with our social media engagements and traditional media stories soaring to new heights. Our upcoming initiatives will continue in this vein, with innovative campaigns and our beloved Inspector Cash Hunter mascot leading the charge, engaging the public's curiosity, and guiding them to discover what's rightfully theirs. Imagine surpassing the milestone of a million searches in mere days, as we did following our last campaign – a testament to our synchronized efforts and strategic outreach.

We invite your PR and communications teams to view our materials and to join the monthly NAUPA Communications Committee calls. Together, we will refine our strategies, exchange best practices, and ensure that Unclaimed Property Day 2024 sets a new standard for public engagement and property return. When united in these efforts, our mission of reuniting unclaimed funds back to their rightful owners can be accomplished through the power of collaboration.

With appreciation for your unwavering commitment,

Christina Lambert, Director of Publication and External Relations, Massachusetts State Treasury