Business is about making the sale, increasing the bottom line and increasing revenues. Charity is about donating money, helping others and giving back. But do the two have to be mutually exclusive?
[pullquote]This guest post is by John Reiss, of Give Back Promotions[/pullquote]
Our company, Give Back Promotions has built a business model where we bridge these two separate worlds. Give Back provides logo-imprinted items to help build and brand businesses. We donate 10% of each sale to local and national charities. Our clients choose which charity they wish their 10% to benefit and we make the donation in their name or the name of someone they wish to honor. In addition, we actively sponsor numerous charities, connect non-profit organizations to philanthropic agencies to help underwrite the cost of their marketing and assist our tourism bureau in matching visitors to Orange County with local charities in a “Volunteer for a Day”.
When learning of our mission, people often ask two questions: Do we mark up our products to cover the 10% donations and is this just a business gimmick to gain publicity. The 10% comes from our own profits, profits that otherwise would go into our year-end bonuses. Our prices and products are similar to any other agency; the only difference is that with our clients’ purchases help make a difference in our community.
Why Incorporate Charity into Your Business?
Giving back to the community sends a strong message to potential clients that you are a responsible and trustworthy business. It calms people’s fears that you are not slick salesperson trying to make a quick buck. This goodwill goes a long way towards differentiating you from your competition. When we are short listed for a new client, the fact that we donate back profits helps us to stand apart from the competition. All the companies in a bid scenario may present similar solutions, similar costs and similar timelines to the client. By awarding the project to our firm, the client will get their product needs met and have an opportunity to do something good for their community. By donating profits in their name, the client warms up to us and treats us as one of their team. This leads to new and larger projects.
Additional benefits have come our way from mixing business with charity. The charities we donate to have returned to us as clients themselves and members that sit on the boards have approached us to provide promotional products for their own companies. Two stories illustrate how giving back to charities has gained us new clients: We donated our labor to design invitations and promote a casino night for the Orange County Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. A board member from the foundation was a high-ranking decision maker at Hewlett Packard. We were awarded a contract with Hewlett Packard and over the next few years they went on to become our largest client. This past weekend we volunteered at the Special Olympics State Championships here in California. While lining up the athletes for their races I struck up a conversation with an official for the race. He works at Boeing Aerospace and is a fellow volunteer with Special Olympics. I gave him a quick elevator speech about Give Back Promotions and as a result, we are in talks to receive a $25,000 grant for Special Olympics to cover promotional items including team uniforms, signage and race medals.
How can your company give back?
Here is a list of simple ways to increase your brand recognition, make new contacts and increase your sales:
- Sponsor a local sports team or school and brand their uniforms.
- Fund a scholarship at a local high school for graduating seniors.
- Have your staff volunteer at a local charitable event; wear matching tee-shirts with your company name and logo.
- Underwrite the cost of an awards dinner, picnic or field trip for a local charity.
- Volunteer your time to make phone calls or help in the office at a local charity.
- Donate your proceeds from a project to your favorite charity
- Designate a month for a local charity, promote them through your business and donate a percentage of all sales to their organization.
- Highlight a local charity on the back of your business cards or insert a flyer promoting a charity to your clients in your regular correspondence.
- Insert a page on your website highlighting local charities along with links to their websites.
- Join the charity at their next networking mixer and ask them to introduce you to members and decision makers.
- Ask the charity for a list of their donors and board members, then send out an announcement to them announcing your charitable initiative for the group.
With each of the above suggestions, make sure to promote your initiatives through correspondence to your clients, newspaper PR releases, notifications in trade magazines and include your message in your phone greeting when calls come in. Ask to donate your fund to the group at their next large fundraising dinner or event and bring along a giant check with the amount donated or a plaque honoring the organization.
About the Author
John F. Reiss
Give Back Promotions
“Help your business, Help your world”.
www.givebackpromotions.com
