3 Reasons Your Business Shouldn't Keep Your Giving a Secret

A few years ago, I was interviewed by a celebrity entrepreneur on small business giving. During the interview, I was asked if businesses should share their giving with customers and the community or if they should keep it a secret. For many business owners like yourself, giving can be a very private issue. Perhaps it is rooted in humility or a deeply held personal philosophy. These are to be respected, but do not serve a greater good. Keeping your business giving a secret is a motivationally selfish and supports no one by doing it except your own personal interest.

There are a few key reasons a business should contribute their giving message. If you understand the benefits of communicating your giving, you can quickly see the positive impact is has for you, your business, the cause, and your community. This is a big reason why I wrote my book, “Small Businesses Give Big: Why charitable giving is a great business strategy.” It is the idea that sharing giving stories inspires, motivates, and relates to others in any country and any language.

As a business owner, no matter how you give or what you give, not keeping your cause a secret can, in my opinion, have as much of an impact as the check you wrote or time you spent volunteering. The larger picture for sharing your giving is about creating awareness. The first step causes must take to increase their donor pool and prospects is not about asking for donations, rather it is about building awareness about the social issue they address, and how they are an agent of change in their community and the world.

There are three key reasons to reveal your business giving. They are:

1. Social Mission. By adding a social mission to your business and sharing it, you have just taken a pro-active initiative to support your business’s core values. Your social mission communicates the social issue you and your business stands for and is committed to helping solve. The social mission is cause-centric and communicates your humanitarianism. It is different from your regular business mission. However, it is aligned with it and works parallel to it.

2. Connection. Adding your social mission message to your business’s communication can expand the breadth of your outreach and touch the hearts and emotions of others. Today more than ever, customers and causes are seeking to connect with businesses that bring meaning and movement to social issues. By sharing your giving story, new levels of connection are created for you, your business, causes, and a community. These new connections can have long-term impact supporting your business and the causes you give to.

3. Awareness. At the grassroots level, both businesses and causes need to build awareness about what they do and the difference they make to improve lives. By creating awareness, both businesses and causes strive to increase either sales or donations and build their brand trust. Yes, even nonprofits strive to build their brand trust. So, by cementing your social mission-based marketing to your communication efforts, you have increased awareness about a cause to constituents and customers who otherwise may not have known about the specific charity. A new audience has been created through sharing your altruistic intentions in an authentic way.

Perhaps the greatest reason for not keeping your cause a secret is you have added significant social value to the world. So step out and be willing to share your business’s cause.

2010. Copyright. Maggie F. Keenan, Ed.D. All rights reserved.

Hear the World Foundation & Celebrity Calendar Edition

What is Hear the World? Hear the World, a global initiative by hearing system manufacturer Phonak to raise awareness about the importance of hearing, has created a poster-size limited edition 2010 calendar featuring the world-renowned photographs of Hear the World celebrity ambassadors, including Jude Law, Annie Lennox, Lenny Kravitz and Elle McPherson (sample pages attached).



- What makes this a perfect gift? All proceeds go to the Hear the World Foundation which is dedicated to supporting individuals and groups around the world whose lives are affected by hearing loss with technology and financial assistance.



- How much does it cost? $29.90



- Where can I get it? http://www.hear-the-world.com/en/the-initiative/calendar-2010.html (order now to make sure your copy arrives by the holidays)



While hearing loss is one of the world’s most preventable disabilities, it is also one of the most common. 800 million people worldwide, more than 16 percent of the world’s population, have hearing loss and the number is expected to increase to 1.1 billion by the year 2015. Help make a difference through one simple purchase.



Submitted by:

Stephanie Long

Fleishman-Hillard International Communications

Pour a Cold One for a Cause

This summer, take the heat off of a local charity that has been hit by the economic times, and make a difference by pouring a few "on the rocks" for some friends. Yup! Who said giving back couldn't be fun?

You can host a fabulous cocktail party for a cause. It is easy to do, every one is bound to have a good time, and a charity is supported. This is a win-win-win and it gets every one's "spirits up." Here are a few tips to get your 'good' party going:

1. Decide to do host a cocktail party for a cause a few times over the summer months. Perhaps you and a few friends can rotate being host.
2. Create a theme around the party using cocktail names. Let your creativity soar.
3. As the host, you purchase the beverages, fancy umbrellas, stirrers, painted glasses, etc...
4. Attendees drop a contribution (minimum) in to a container, sun-hat, beach-bucket, etc...
5. Guests can even donate a gift certificate to the cause for any upcoming event they may be organizing.
6. Take photos! Use the photos on your blog, business ezine, etc... and also give copies of the photos to attendees and the charity as it is a great way for them to get the word out about how you and your friends are supporting them. This just may inspire some else to do the same.
7. Create incentives for friends to come to the party, it adds a little extra something to the atmosphere.

Next time you're thinking of a cocktail of choice, marry it up with a charity of choice. It's just a different "twist" on giving back.

Moving Comfort & Girls in the Game.... Game On!

I am so excited I can hardly sit still. Moving Comfort is a fitness apparel company for women. I love'm and have been wearing the running attire for years. Started in the late 70's by two young female runners, they saw a need for running shorts for females. Back then, and as a runner of over 35 years, everything was unisex. Their success story is great and I support them.

Just over a year ago, I had the opportunity to work with Moving Comfort (MC) to help structure a giving back program. Well, here is what they created to make a difference! They recently launched their all new "Support Your Girls" campaign. This giving program ROCKS! The t-shirts which have the slogan Support Your Girls on the front gives 33 percent of each t-shirt sale to Girls in the Game. Girls in the Game (GIG) provides and promotes sports & fitness opportunities, nutrition & health education, and leadership development to enhance the overall health and well-being of all girls.

Okay, so here's the thing. The success and power of this program is in:

1. The alignment of mission of Girls in the Game and the vision of Moving Comfort;
2. The mutual values and commitment to those values;
3. The ideal match between a brand and what can boost the target's needs of an organization;
4. The authentic expression of the message which supports both MC and GIG;
5. The opportunity to be creative, have fun, and share an inspiring success story.

To know that thousands of girls between the ages of 6-18 lives will be touched is awesome. I applaud this partnership and what it means for girls now and the impact it will have on their lives in later years.

All I can is "WooHoo!"

Look Good, Doing Good

Kenneth Cole is taking his designs to the ultimate "A-wear-ness". His company is donating 100% of net proceeds from the sale of AWEARNESS merchandise to the AWEARNESS Fund - a not-for-profit entity that supports, encourages and empowers acts of service, volunteerism and social change. To find out more, please visit their ABOUT page.

As a long time lover of Kenneth Cole fashion, I find his new philanthropic entity 'smashing daaaling' and extremely well branded. Just the name, Awearness, how simple, clever and closely aligned with fashion is that? Right on. Plus, by keeping the Kenneth Cole Company giving focused on this new philanthropic fund, the Awearness Fund, it builds even greater brand awareness for his company name and merchandise. Not that Kenneth Cole needed a boost to his brand, but this is a great way to communicate that he and his company stand for something more than the bottom-line. Kuddos. I love this whole intiative and will without reserve promote it where I can.

His company is partnering with Volunteer Match (one of my favorite organizations and one I direct clients to all the time) to encourage social change on issues such as AIDS, homelessness and more. The purpose of the initiative is to promote awareness and advance volunteerism and service, and raise funds, all in an effort to make a difference.

You can read more about this partnership here.

Wear the Cause

There is a gem of an online store called Wear the Cause. Here is what they are about...

"Wear The Cause is clothing that raises awareness. Our fashionable clothing contains cause related substance within the imagery. Each shirt represents a different cause, health, animal rights, education, society, and the environment. Our mission is to educate and entertain the world, and a percentage of proceeds will donate to charities. Wearthecause.com is our main home for shopping our store, learning about causes, discovering artists, and being part of the team. Our apparel is available for men, women, and children. We have short sleeve, and long sleeve graphic T-shirts, tanks, camisoles, hoody's, collards, as well as baby clothes. On our cause page you can learn about current issues occurring around the world, and link to charity sites to help get involved. Our cause clothing is created from artist online submissions. Artist involved get a bio of themselves and there art, with a link to their website....Join our community and support a unique blend of fashionable clothing, with cause related substance, plus an online artist collective, as well as charity involvement. Through our clothing we can create a visual spread of cause related information to viewers, with hopes of sparking interest, and raising awareness. We need artist to submit their cause related designs. So shop, learn, create, spread, and love cause."

How cool is this! Wear the Cause has creatively and successfully blended cause awareness, artists with a desire to share their message and work, and attire that is so very hip. I know what I want for Christmas! You?