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
  Strategies for Implementation-How to Follow Through on Your New Year's Resolutions
  For most of us, the start of a new year is a time of reflection. A review of the year gone by and an opportunity to set goals for the year ahead. Intentions are good and motivation is high.The challenge lies in the predictable loss of steam that ensues as we move past the holiday season and back into our workaday lives.Make no mistake. Setting goals is easy. Following through is the hard part. To assist you in seeing those New Year’s goals and resolutions come to life, Bywater Consulting Group presents you with:Liz Bywater’s Strategies for Implementation: How to Follow Through on Your New Year’s Resolutions1) Review your goals. Keep the important ones. Discard the ones that don’t mak
  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 receptio
    Pros and Cons of Limited Liability Corporations
    A limited liability company or LLC is a business organization that is a hybrid between partnership or sole proprietorship and corporation. Limited liability corporations are known to allow the most flexible management agreements. They also give a lot of freedom regarding allocation of income. This means that the members are allowed to distribute the income in any way they wish, as agreed upon by all of them, without the need for additional filings.Similar to the owners of partnerships or sole proprietorships, LLC owners report business profits or losses on their personal income tax returns. The LLC itself is not a separate taxable entity. Like in corporation, in LLC, all owners are protected from persona
    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 receptio
    Creative Customer Service Can Clinch the Sale
    What is creative customer service and how can you apply this to your company? Well, creative customer service is exactly as it sounds. It is finding ways to give the customer an extra and unexpected treat to exceed their expectations and you can do this really easy. For instance if it is valentines day, give them a little heart pin to wear, sure it may cost you a little bit to do this for all your customers, but it is worth it and if you buy in bulk it will not cost much.When I was a young man we ran auto detail shops and we use to leave a red rose, a piece of candy and a thank you card in every females car we did. It surely clinched sales, referrals and the word of mouth eventually got all around town.
    t 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 receptio
      If You Don't Toot Your Own Horn, Then There's No Music
      There used to be a time when outstanding performance on the job was reinforced, recognized and rewarded by employers. Nowadays, employees are expected to perform “above the line” in terms of their performance. The reward, if any, is the employer’s expectation that the employee should be glad to have a job at all. Sounds pretty cynical doesn’t it?Think about it. Oftentimes, good work is rewarded by more work or not rewarded at all. It’s been shown that the reason why most employees quit their job has less to do with money and more because they (employees)perceive their sense of value within the organization is not being recognized.Doing a good job and building a reputation as being competent at s
      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