Initially published by LifeHealthPro.com, an online publication of Summit Business Media, Inc. and partner of Senior Market Advisor magazine
By Brooks A. Brown
Part I
As business executives, we are approached on a regular basis by non-profit organizations who are seeking financial assistance. In some cases, clients themselves ask that you consider supporting organizations that are near and dear to their hearts.
How do you handle all of these requests? The advice I’ve provided throughout my career in marketing and public relations is to choose one organization to support in a given year. By doing this, you aren’t thinning your company’s charitable resources. Choosing a single charitable organization allows your company to maximize its financial impact to the organization.
How do you choose which organization your company will support? How you choose the non-profit your company will support is a critical step often overlooked by many business owners and marketers. For example, if you choose a non-profit that only you are passionate about, it’s highly likely you will have a difficult time motivating others to join the cause. It won’t be impossible, but your support won’t reach its maximum potential. Instead, business owners and marketers should first look to employees of your business to gauge an accurate pulse on what they’re most passionate about.
Discuss as a team and come away with two or three general areas of interest. These should be broad in nature, such as helping the homeless, caring for children, or supporting our veterans. By gathering the thoughts and opinions of your staff, you are satisfying one of the areas of public relations too often overlooked and forgotten: internal communications.
In part two I’ll talk about gauging your clients’ interests to find the best organization to support, and also contacting the media to get the word out about your charitable venture.
Part II
Last week we started talking about how to decide on a charitable organization to support. One way to find out is by talking with your staff about ideas they are interested in. Here are the next steps.
Gauge the interests of your clients. If you know most of your clients well, you may already have a good indication about what their passions are. Even if you think you’re sure, ask. Send an email or letter to your clients and let them know that your business is interested in supporting a local organization and that some of your business’ passions include those broad areas of interest (helping the homeless, caring for children or supporting veterans, etc.).
Ask clients to rank those areas of interest and also provide an opportunity to communicate with you about any other passions they may have that haven’t been listed. It’s possible that those clients who respond will shed light on an area of interest you and your staff didn’t discuss in detail. This information is not only a key component in choosing the organization your business will support, but it also provides you with an additional marketing opportunity to capture your clients’ interests and passions.
Next, look for a common theme in the thoughts and opinions you’ve gathered from your staff and clients. Research organizations in your community that match the common theme you find and make contact with the top two or three you’d like to support. Ask them to come to your office, sit down with you and discuss how your company may be of assistance. It may be that you feel most comfortable providing financial assistance to one of their programs or events or you may be more comfortable with helping them start an event and serving as the presenting sponsor.
Contact local media and tell them about the event and organization you’re working with. Ask if they can assist in providing public service announcements (PSAs) that help get the word out about your event. Utilize social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and your company website and blog to promote the event and your involvement.
In the end, you’ll have done a great service to an organization in need of your help. In the process, you will unite your staff and clients behind a common purpose, further solidifying the trust and confidence they have in your business. If we know one thing to be true, trust and confidence can’t be bought, only earned.
About the Author
Brooks A. Brown is the founder and principal of Shout Out LLC, a Knoxville, Tennessee-based marketing, public relations, and communications firm serving clients throughout the nation.
