Give it Up Again

by Harry Hoover

Published on this site: January 4th, 2007 - See more articles from this month

It is estimated that Americans gave total charitable contributions of $260.28 billion for 2005, up 6.1 percent from the previous year. Individuals give the lion's share, but at this time of year many companies dig deep to make charitable donations, too.

Not only is it the right thing to do, it is also the smart business thing to do. But before you go off half-cocked in a charitable frenzy, let's take a moment to calmly consider how best to proceed.

Step one is to consider what you want your contributions to accomplish. I recommend tying giving to your brand and corporate goals. Let's look at some examples. For my work to be appreciated there must be literate consumers. So, my giving focuses primarily on literacy. Lenscrafters has the "Give The Gift of Sight" program. Novartis supports public and private partnerships focused on the life sciences.

Another consideration is the interests of your community and company constituents. Find where your brand, your goals and community interests intersect, and you have an excellent starting point for developing your charitable program goals.

Here are some questions you may want to ask as you try to bring your charitable giving program into focus:

• What are your current business interests?
  
  
• Are there any future business needs to consider?
  
  
• What role does your company now play in the community, and how would
  you like to change that role?
  
  
• Are your employees concerned about a specific cause?
  
  
• Who in the community is most affected by your business?
  
  
• Are there any community issues now affecting or likely to affect your business or employees?

Once you have answered these questions and developed your goals, you can begin to communicate your giving policy to internal and external audiences. Then, once the giving begins you can spread the word about your donations.

The positive spillover can aid in your marketing, employee recruitment and retention and corporate reputation. A Cone Corporate Citizenship study found that 80 percent of Americans say corporate support of causes can help earn their loyalty.

Of course, charitable giving should be done for the right reasons, but it is no sin to take advantage of the higher visibility and positive feelings your giving engenders.

So, give it up this holiday season. It's good for you, your reputation and your bottom line.

Harry Hoover - is a partner in ad agency My Creative Team -
http://www.My-CreativeTeam.com. He has 30 years of experience in crafting and delivering bottom line messages that ensure success for serious businesses like Bank of Commerce, The Bray Law Firm, Brent Dees Financial Planning, CruisingTheICW.com, Duke Energy, Focus Four, Irwin Tools, Levolor, National Gypsum, North Carolina Tourism, TeamHeidi, Ty Boyd Executive Learning Systems, Velux, and Verbatim.