Strategic Philanthropy
Author: Paul Lemberg
Author: Paul Lemberg
Strategic philanthropy is a unique and powerful way to combine
your company's marketing goals with a your desire to increase
the well-being of mankind.
We call it strategic philanthropy. Two of the more popular
names are cause -related marketing or community partnering. No
matter what you call it, strategic philanthropy is a
positioning that connects your company with a not-for-profit
organization or cause. In this way, while you are being helpful
and working for the common good in your community, your business
is receiving parallel benefits. These benefits include exposure,
lead generation, employee retention and increases in performance
and productivity. They can even include benefits to your bottom
line.
Basic Philanthropy
Many businesses already engage in basic forms of philanthropy,
such as:
* Donating gift certificates to a church's silent auction
* Allowing a high school club to set up a car wash on the
company parking lot
* Contributing coffee for a community event
* Buying a school yearbook ad
* Sponsoring the local children's sports team
No business can afford to say yes to all of the requests they
receive for donations. Thus they find themselves saying "yes"
to the few and "no" to the many. Creative strategic
philanthropy can enable you to say yes, in one form or another,
to almost every group who solicits you. (Of course, you can see
how this is a distinct marketing advantage.)
Seven Creative Strategic Philanthropy Ideas
Here are a few creative strategic philanthropy ideas that have
been implemented by our clients:
* Introduce a special pre-packaged product that community
groups can sell these products to their stakeholders and they
get a healthy percentage of the margin
* Create a program where any community service group, school,
non-profit, etc. can distribute coupons ( i.e. they do your
marketing!) so that when their supporters buy at your store (or
website) that group gets a percentage of the sales.
* Help groups to organize fundraisers to be held in your store
or facility
* Offer to partner with a youth education group or school,
proposing that a transportable community mural be painted at
your location, which later circulates around the community as
part of educational efforts
* Invite groups who have major events in progress to hold a
reception at your location, with some kind of value return to
them (discounted purchases, a percentage of sales, some gift
certificates, etc.)
* Give groups involved in addressing important local needs free
or discounted gift certificates to pass on to their hard working
volunteers (you can steer these, in part, to groups tied to your
target markets)
* Partner with respected social action groups, to host a lunch
workshop series or community dialog sessions about local needs
and issues
Here's one more idea from business coaching franchise company,
Quantum Growth Coaching. Quantum is the primary sponsor and
donor of the Cras Tibi Foundation,
(http://www.crastibifoundation.com) set up to provide grants to
organizations involved in developing nation micro-lending. My
partner, Tom Matzen and I have written a book called Earn Twice
As Much With Half The Stress. Quantum donate $1 from each sale
of the book to Cras Tibi. It's a win-win-win. Quantum gets
exposure because of the tie-in with Cras Tibi and microlending,
Cras Tibi gets the donation, and the micro-borrowers get to use
the money.
Market Differentiation
Strategic philanthropy can be useful in distinguishing your
business from your competitors, most of who are probably stuck
in old "business as usual" paradigms. They likely think the
purpose of business is merely to sell things and make money.
Such a narrow belief creates all sorts of sad consequences such
as:
* The public's skepticism or distrust of business's
self-interest fixation
* Employees often feeling less than fully engaged or even
exploited, thus having little interest in being loyal to the
company
* Employees, and even business owners, feeling like their "real
lives"" are separate form their work life.
* Situational ethics taking the place of foundational moral
beliefs
* Employees and owners lacking the synergistic and creative
skills to achieve high performance and marketing success
Authentic strategic philanthropy is based upon the advantages
of a much more empowering and abundance-filled set of beliefs.
* The purpose of business is to understand and meet some
group's needs, i.e . everyone's needs, including the owner(s),
employees, consumers, community, and even the natural
environment
* The high level purpose of business is to create and
distribute excellent products and services, in a manner which
generates profits and abundance for everyone involved.
* Businesses can be powerful models for the larger community.
They are able to demonstrate the value of such things as
innovation, dedication and responsiveness to customers,
risk-taking, process and systems innovations, financial
practicalities, and teamwork.
Strategic philanthropy can be a core element of how you operate
your business and see yourself as a entrepreneur. It can
functionally help you to refine the values and purpose of your
business, in a manner, which not only distinguishes you from
your competitors, but also contributes to your bottom line
while improving the quality and success of virtually every
aspect of your staff, your systems and your overall business.
(c) Copyright Paul Lemberg. All rights reserved
About The Author: Business Coach http://paullemberg.com and
Strategist, Paul Lemberg is the President of Quantum Growth
Coaching, the world's only systemized business coaching
http://quantumgrowthcoaching.com program guaranteed to help
entrepreneurs create More Profits and More Life™.
Please use the HTML version of this article at:
http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=13237
your company's marketing goals with a your desire to increase
the well-being of mankind.
We call it strategic philanthropy. Two of the more popular
names are cause -related marketing or community partnering. No
matter what you call it, strategic philanthropy is a
positioning that connects your company with a not-for-profit
organization or cause. In this way, while you are being helpful
and working for the common good in your community, your business
is receiving parallel benefits. These benefits include exposure,
lead generation, employee retention and increases in performance
and productivity. They can even include benefits to your bottom
line.
Basic Philanthropy
Many businesses already engage in basic forms of philanthropy,
such as:
* Donating gift certificates to a church's silent auction
* Allowing a high school club to set up a car wash on the
company parking lot
* Contributing coffee for a community event
* Buying a school yearbook ad
* Sponsoring the local children's sports team
No business can afford to say yes to all of the requests they
receive for donations. Thus they find themselves saying "yes"
to the few and "no" to the many. Creative strategic
philanthropy can enable you to say yes, in one form or another,
to almost every group who solicits you. (Of course, you can see
how this is a distinct marketing advantage.)
Seven Creative Strategic Philanthropy Ideas
Here are a few creative strategic philanthropy ideas that have
been implemented by our clients:
* Introduce a special pre-packaged product that community
groups can sell these products to their stakeholders and they
get a healthy percentage of the margin
* Create a program where any community service group, school,
non-profit, etc. can distribute coupons ( i.e. they do your
marketing!) so that when their supporters buy at your store (or
website) that group gets a percentage of the sales.
* Help groups to organize fundraisers to be held in your store
or facility
* Offer to partner with a youth education group or school,
proposing that a transportable community mural be painted at
your location, which later circulates around the community as
part of educational efforts
* Invite groups who have major events in progress to hold a
reception at your location, with some kind of value return to
them (discounted purchases, a percentage of sales, some gift
certificates, etc.)
* Give groups involved in addressing important local needs free
or discounted gift certificates to pass on to their hard working
volunteers (you can steer these, in part, to groups tied to your
target markets)
* Partner with respected social action groups, to host a lunch
workshop series or community dialog sessions about local needs
and issues
Here's one more idea from business coaching franchise company,
Quantum Growth Coaching. Quantum is the primary sponsor and
donor of the Cras Tibi Foundation,
(http://www.crastibifoundation.com) set up to provide grants to
organizations involved in developing nation micro-lending. My
partner, Tom Matzen and I have written a book called Earn Twice
As Much With Half The Stress. Quantum donate $1 from each sale
of the book to Cras Tibi. It's a win-win-win. Quantum gets
exposure because of the tie-in with Cras Tibi and microlending,
Cras Tibi gets the donation, and the micro-borrowers get to use
the money.
Market Differentiation
Strategic philanthropy can be useful in distinguishing your
business from your competitors, most of who are probably stuck
in old "business as usual" paradigms. They likely think the
purpose of business is merely to sell things and make money.
Such a narrow belief creates all sorts of sad consequences such
as:
* The public's skepticism or distrust of business's
self-interest fixation
* Employees often feeling less than fully engaged or even
exploited, thus having little interest in being loyal to the
company
* Employees, and even business owners, feeling like their "real
lives"" are separate form their work life.
* Situational ethics taking the place of foundational moral
beliefs
* Employees and owners lacking the synergistic and creative
skills to achieve high performance and marketing success
Authentic strategic philanthropy is based upon the advantages
of a much more empowering and abundance-filled set of beliefs.
* The purpose of business is to understand and meet some
group's needs, i.e . everyone's needs, including the owner(s),
employees, consumers, community, and even the natural
environment
* The high level purpose of business is to create and
distribute excellent products and services, in a manner which
generates profits and abundance for everyone involved.
* Businesses can be powerful models for the larger community.
They are able to demonstrate the value of such things as
innovation, dedication and responsiveness to customers,
risk-taking, process and systems innovations, financial
practicalities, and teamwork.
Strategic philanthropy can be a core element of how you operate
your business and see yourself as a entrepreneur. It can
functionally help you to refine the values and purpose of your
business, in a manner, which not only distinguishes you from
your competitors, but also contributes to your bottom line
while improving the quality and success of virtually every
aspect of your staff, your systems and your overall business.
(c) Copyright Paul Lemberg. All rights reserved
About The Author: Business Coach http://paullemberg.com and
Strategist, Paul Lemberg is the President of Quantum Growth
Coaching, the world's only systemized business coaching
http://quantumgrowthcoaching.com program guaranteed to help
entrepreneurs create More Profits and More Life™.
Please use the HTML version of this article at:
http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=13237
