Category listing: Charity – Giving
This time of year, more than any, we see businesses joining in to help non-profit organizations.
- Employees raise money for a local food bank
- Customers are asked to bring in toys
- Businesses hold “open house” events and ask for a charitable contribution as “entrance fee”
- Companies sponsor fund-raisers (when non-profits often see their largest spike in year-end donations)
- Small businesses agree to donate a percentage of profits from December to a chosen charity
I see all kinds of examples. A couple of years ago, I wrote a piece for AMEX OpenForum called “Charitable giving offers likability in your marketing strategy.”
There’s no reason that should not continue throughout the year as well!
Here are 4 reasons it should:
- AUTHENTICITY – if your customers see that you exploit only the Christmas season for charitable giving, they could perceive you as a grinch the rest of the year and question your motives
- COMMUNITY VALUES – without breaking the code of authenticity, aligning yourself year-round with community needs demonstrates alot to showcase your values to your customers and prospects.
- SEARCH ENGINE JUICE – again, without breaking the authenticity test (doing it primarily for the right motives), you can also make some news that the local media may pick up, but more importantly, online news releases offer fresh content to the search engines which prospects will see year-round
- PARTNERSHIPS - strengthening your relationship with other strategic partners is good to do on a perpetual basis – and you can join one another in supporting a local charity to do so. Pull your resources and double the exposure you’d get from it.
John Jantsch wrote this great article on “How to Create a Win with a Non Profit Partner” – good stuff!
-Randy
While some consider the popular PR campaign for breast cancer awareness to be hurtful, and other major restaurant chains have been taken to task for their campaign even though partnering with the Komen Foundation, there are plenty of examples of companies and organizations, big and small, looking to make an impact (how you can watch the NFL in October and not notice?) But what if some are exploiting the PR and selfishly capitalizing on the bandwagon. Which is it? How do you spot an authentic charitable giving campaign vs. a phoney PR stunt to gain attention behind the guise of charity?
These are difficult questions to answer – here’s an article I wrote for AMEX OPEN FORUM a couple of years ago, “Charitable Giving Offers Likability in Your Marketing Strategy“.
I’ll point to a few I found in a Twitter search I did yesterday. I cannot testify to the authenticity of any of these groups – they are simply chosen from my Twitter search on the topic. You can also know that some take the topic of breast cancer to a level that might make some uncomfortable (risque references to female body parts can attract attention I suppose), so you might find some of the t-shirts or campaign slogans to be offensive. I apologize if they are.
Here are a few I found:
- Puma will donate $1(up to $25k) to #breastcancer charity each time #projectpink hashtag is used until 10/18 http://is.gd/fMMtD
- Surrey Eagles Junior ‘A’ Hockey Club’ Pink in the Rink Night – Oct. 22nd. A special night to support the fight against breast cancer. http://fb.me/J0BKt55p
- Sophie Monk To Host Fashion Show For Breast Cancer Charities http://bit.ly/cTR0H1
- Beards for Breast Cancer - #b4bc http://twitpic.com/2wtoow
- 20% off all Pink Pearl Jewelry http://demayorca.blogspot.com/
- Support Breast Cancer – add a Twibbon http://twibbon.com/join/breast-cancer-survivors
- Help raise awareness. Join the battle. Breast Cancer Awareness T-shirts from Zazzle.com: http://bit.ly/bZGNgm
- the Men of Music are raising support for Breast Cancer Awareness!… http://fb.me/GaB2E80t
- Avon’s new ‘Kiss Breast Cancer Goodbye’ campaign – For more information – visit… http://fb.me/L5wx7WKx
- This Sat., Oct. 16, get a $10 haircut during our @Clip4the Cure event and support breast cancer research. http://www.fiestasalons.com
- ‘CHI 1” Breast Cancer Awareness Flat Iron with Bag by Farouk’ by CHI http://amzn.to/9K7fDd
- Dogtopia in Waco is planning to pamper prim dogs throughout the month of October with 10% of the proceeds being donated to Koman of the Cure
- Sublime Bakery is promoting the cause as one of many Fort Worth retailers selling t-shirts
- City of Fort Worth promotes “Care Enough to Wear Pink“
How do you feel about nationwide PR “awareness” campaigns for such causes? Helpful or hurtful? Post your comment to our Facebook discussion forum – click here to go directly to the forum (must be logged in to Facebook).
This Cyber Monday, we bring to your attention an awesome opportunity to GIVE GENEROUSLY this Christmas by making a real difference in the lives of people here in the local DFW community as well as around the world!
We love the work of Cross Timbers Community Church – charities like “Bread for a Hungry World” offer opportunities to spend $$ on things that matter.
Charitable giving is an awesome way to demonstrate to your customers your authentic values of caring and compassion and a cool way to rally your co-workers and team to do something beyond themselves this Christmas. So ditch the office Christmas gag gifts and pool your money together for a cause greater than yourselves!
