I got an email today from Josh Clauss at tuggl.com about the contest they are running for nonprofits that I wanted to share with you. Tomorrow (Tuesday 9/1/2009), beginning at 8:00am, tuggl is launching a one-day recognitions contest on tuggl.com for Denver/Boulder nonprofits. The short details are that the nonprofit that recognizes the most local business supporters on tuggl between 8:00 am and midnight tomorrow will be the recipient of a possible $500 donation and a lot of publicity for their organization.

The longer explanation is this: tuggl.com is finally launching to the public, and as part of that launch, they’re donating a dollar to a good cause in the community for every local business review completed between Wednesday, 9/2 and Friday, 9/4, up to $250. Tuggl’s friends over a Hot Press Web have agreed to match this donation, dollar-for-dollar, bringing the total projected contribution to $500. There is an additional drawing to win a $100 gift certificate to Noel Cunningham’s award-winning Strings Restaurant for the consumers doing the business reviews. Tomorrow’s nonprofit contest is to decide the organization that is the beneficiary of the donations generated from the consumer promotion as well as all the publicity that all of the businesses and consumers involved in the contest can muster – which is to say, a lot.”

Who do you know in the Denver/Boulder nonprofit community?  Can you can help spread the word?  It would be great if you could send this message out to your nonprofit network letting them know that this contest is on (which, again, does not start until tomorrow at 8 am, but ends at midnight), and letting them know that they can find out more about tuggl at: http://www.tuggl.com/about/nonprofit.

Tuggl is a web-based initiative helping individuals and local nonprofits to identify good businesses so that they receive the recognition they deserve and are able to grow. In this way, tuggl proves to local businesses that doing good is good for business.

I have been in Des Moines this week staying with my 12 year old niece while my sister was out of town for work. As Annie and I cruised various malls looking for a new shirt for the first day of school – she kept pointing out examples of cause marketing and business giving as we wandered around asking, “have you written a blog post about this?”  I guess I am having an influence…

Today in the Des Moines Register’s Datebook section, there was an announcement about the “Wing Ding” to be held Saturday, August 29th at El Bait Shop in Des Moines. Eight area restaurants have teamed up for this event. For $20, you can get nine wings of your choice, a beer or soda, and a commemorative koozie. Special events are scheduled all day long to draw people in to participate in the event.  Proceeds benefit VSA Arts of Iowa, a charity that provides artistic opportunities for people with disabilities.

I (of course) went straight to the El Bait Shop website – since I am not from here, I had no idea what it was. I was greeted by a voice saying, “Hey, man. Circle your calendar and get your butts down here to EL Bait Shop on Saturday for a Wing Ding…” which gave me a start.  And it is a great idea – underneath the overview of the bar on the home page, they put an avatar who starts speaking as soon as you land on the page to tell about the upcoming Wing Ding event. To the left of the avatar, they put the logo for the Wing Ding event which once clicked takes you to Paypal to buy tickets online.  Also, there was an icon to click through to the pdf flyer with all three logos (event, business, and nonprofit) and the description and details of the event.  Really great promotion of the event by the business!

Going to the VSA Arts of Iowa website, they have the Wing Ding event featured on their home page — so great work doing promotion by both organizations.

Still a little cognitive dissonance in my head about El Bait Shop supporting the arts – but it is clearly a great and worthy cause and they have done a nice job with it.

About VSA Arts of Iowa
VSA Arts was founded in 1974 by Jean Kennedy Smith as an affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.  The purpose of VSA Arts is to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities and their communities by providing artistic opportunity.  To accomplish this mission, VSA Arts operates affiliates nationwide and in over 60 countries.  For more information on VSA Arts of Iowa visit http://www.vsaartsofiowa.org or call 515-281-5839.

Also in the 7/24/2009 Denver Post article by Steve Raabe, “Sage offers deals to do-gooders,”  Raabe mentioned a discount room promotion called Give and Getaway offered by Broomfield-based RockResorts International for guests who work on designated environmental and conservation projects.  Their website states, “We’ll arrange an environmental conservation project for you, such as light trail maintenance or working on an area community farm, and in return for your volunteer efforts, you will receive a reduced rate on a stay at a luxurious RockResort and complimentary gifts like a reusable, durable hydration pack, soothing hand lotion and more!”

The website lists the various packages available. Some of the ones still coming up include:

• The Osprey at Beaver Creek  – Beaver Creek, CO - From $99 per night.
  Saturday, August 15, 2009

• The Pines Lodge – Beaver Creek, CO - From $99 per night.
  Saturday, August 15, 2009

• The Arrabelle at Vail Square – Vail, CO - From $199 per night. 
  Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009
  Saturday, Sept 20, 2009

• The Lodge at Vail – Vail Village, CO - From $159 per night.
  Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009
  Saturday, Sept 20, 2009

• Snake River Lodge & Spa – Jackson Hole, WY - From $101 per night
  Saturday, September 26, 2009

• The Landings St. Lucia – Rodney Bay, St. Lucia
  Multiple Dates available

Colorado resorts also give all guests the opportunity to donate $1 per room night to the National Forest Foundation. All funds are used to implement on-the-ground conservation projects in recreation, wildlife habitat improvement and stream restoration in Colorado’s White River National Forest.

Sounds like it does great double duty to me!  A fun time doing good work and a great getaway!  Check it out!  I will be in DC for the next two sets of dates so can’t participate – I am bummed!

RockResorts website states, “RockResorts’ luxury resort hotels offer casually elegant accommodations, state-of-the-art RockResorts® Spas, renowned golf courses, award-winning dining and a variety of exciting outdoor adventures. The RockResorts collection includes Hotel Jerome in Aspen, CO, The Osprey at Beaver Creek in Beaver Creek, CO; The Pines Lodge in Beaver Creek, CO; Keystone Lodge in Keystone, CO; The Arrabelle at Vail Square in Vail Square, CO; The Lodge at Vail in Vail Village, CO; La Posada de Santa Fe Resort & Spa in Santa Fe, NM; The Landings St. Lucia; in the West Indies and Snake River Lodge & Spa in Jackson Hole, WY.”

The Denver Post (Friday July 24th, 2009) had an article “Sage offers deals to do-gooders” by Steve Raabe. 

Sage Hospitality Resources is currently offering a “Give a Day, Get a Night” promotion.  Volunteer for a 501c3 and give 8 hours of community service and you can get a complimentary night stay or 50% discount on hotel rooms at one of 53 Sage hotels across the country. This special offer ends December 20, 2009.  All you have to do is check availability, make a reservation, and provide verification of your volunteering on the letterhead of the relevant 501c3 nonprofit organization you supported with your time.

In the article, Raabe quotes senior vice president of operations at Sage, “One of our values is giving back to the communities where we live and work.  It’s a tough environment right now for philanthropic groups, and we hope this gives them a boost.”  At a 50% discount, Sage is not making money – it is a break even point – but it helps them with their exposure and “it is better than having a room sit empty.”  Sage can make money if people taking advantage of the offer buy food and beverages while staying at the hotel.

This is great out of the box thinking and win-win!  Can help drive people to volunteer, nonprofits win and can offer it as a perk to their volunteers at no cost other than a piece of paper and a little admin time, and Sage wins while doing good and supporting volunteerism.  I like this!

There was a Macy’s ad in the Denver Post last weekend for their “Shop for a Cause” program.  The ad was designed to inform the community that October 17th would be their next Shop for a Cause day and that nonprofit 501c3organizations who would like to participate were invited to sign up.  

Interested nonprofits are given special Shopping Passes which they can sell to their network of supporters and volunteers for $5.  The nonprofit gets to keep 100% of the proceeds they collect.  The shopping pass gives an all day shopping discount though I could not find anywhere what that exact percentage is.  Anyway, $5 is not much money so even if people are not planning to use it to shop, it is a small donation to give.  

All participating in this promotion win.  Macy’s clearly wins – this kind of promotion broadens their access to consumers through nonprofit networks and can push up their retail sales, especially on October 17th.  This gives Macy’s good PR, as well.  

Shop for a Cause provides nonprofits a fundraising tool besides the old candy bar and bake sales and asking for straight donations.  The dollars are unrestricted so can be spent either on operations or program expenses.  Macy’s reports that since Shop for a Cause started in 2006, more than $28 million dollars have been generated to support nonprofits nationally.  That is a big chunk of change!!  And the supporter gets something in return for their contribution beyond just the feel good of having helped out.  Especially for those nonprofits with large databases of supporters and regular newsletters, it can be relatively easy to get the word out to a lot of people.  However, since $5 is not a lot of money, it may require a decent amount of work for nonprofits to handle the money collection and shopping pass distribution. But with automated systems, it certainly does not have to be terribly time intensive, especially if the shopping passes are available electronically – something I couldn’t tell from the Macy’s website.  

This is a great example of how a business can build sales by offering a discount and partnering with nonprofits – offering them basically a preset commission ($5/person) on projected sales.  The nonprofit does the bulk of the work and other than shopping passes and some web design work, Macy’s does not have to put a ton of resources in up front.

The Macy’s website offers a list of participating charities by state using a drop menu.  When I pulled up the Colorado page, only four nonprofits were listed under the Colorado Springs store.  There are more Macy’s in Colorado so either they have not yet submitted anything or headquarters is way behind in getting things entered onto the site.

Spread the word to nonprofits you know that need some extra cash – a lot of shopping passes can be sold in the next two months!!