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
