I interviewed thought leaders from 50 companies for my new book, Business Giving Strategies, due out this fall.  One questions which I asked everyone during the interviews was if they had experienced any challenges working with nonprofit organizations and if so, what were they.  The following is a list of ten of the challenges that I compiled for you from what I heard.

1.   Nonprofits are often not receptive to engaging in creative programs with higher levels of business involvement – beyond just asking for checks.   – Niki Leodankis, Kimpton Hotels

2.   Many nonprofits can’t succinctly describe what they do – their mission or message.  They can’t get to the point and spend too much time describing their program models.   Many don’t follow the submission instructions for grant applications.  – Amy Hall, EILEEN FISHER

3.   Nonprofits often don’t give us back any information on the impact of the support we provided.   – Gregor Barnum, Seventh Generation

4.   Many nonprofits are risk-averse.  They are playing not to lose rather than playing to win.  Such risk-aversion has a negative impact on innovation.   – John Sage, Pura Vida Coffee

5.   There can be profound cultural difference between nonprofits and businesses in how work is approached.  Nonprofits sometimes have trouble understanding business demands.   – Seth Goldman, Honest Tea

6.   Timing and organizational culture difference can be challenging.  The business focus on business often is hard for nonprofits to understand as is the fast pace of business and the push to meet quotas.  Also, both partners may have stereotypical beliefs about each other which can get in the way.   – Mary T’Chach, AVEDA

7.   Many nonprofits are not savvy about marketing their partnership with a business to their supporters and the community at large.  While one business motivation to engage in relationships with nonprofits is to enhance their visibility and marketing efforts, nonprofit partnerships don’t necessarily lead to a direct sales opportunity.   – Seth Goldman, Honest Tea

8.   Nonprofits may not have the patience required to build the relationship with a business.  You need to start slow.  – Rodney North, Equal Exchange

9.   Getting nonprofits to understand where the company is coming from and differing definitions of deadlines.  – Clayton Adams, State Farm

10.   So few nonprofits take inventory of their power.  For example, their supporter networks and communication tools are one nonprofit asset of value to businesses.  Mentioning your business in their newsletter, on their website, a thank you at a board meeting or bring their board to your restaurant for a meeting can all be ways to help you get increased exposure.  -Jessica Newman, Rock Bottom Foundation

And…don’t forget  to say thank you to your business partners!  - Leslie Sheridan, The Added Edge

I was wandering through the Cherry Creek Mall in Denver last week and stopped into a new store that I had not seen before called Cali & Mo selling an eclectic mix of antique and new apparel, accessories and home decor.  On a sale rack I found a T-shirt that was really unusual and though I need another T-shirt like I need a hole in the head…I had to try it on.  While in the dressing room, I read the shirt’s tag and then was totally convinced I needed to buy it.  The T-shirt is made by Humanity and it was clear from the tag they are about making a difference.  It actually states that on the front and on the back it reads “We call it random acts of kindness.  But actually there is nothing random about it.  It is purely intentional.  The human soul longs to do good but is at a loss for direction.  Humanity is each and every individual standing united with one single purpose.  That purpose is the dignity, respect, and well-being for all.  Become a part of Humanity.  A percentage of each purchase goes to fund non-profit organizations.  Become a part of Humanity and make a difference.”

From the Humanity website, I learned that “Humanity is a tapestry of art and written text that unfolds the story of individuals, social justice, and the environment. Founded in August 2007 by Helena Cho and Tammy Hotsenpiller , this successful organization aims to raise awareness of various causes around the world through fashion. By designing t-shirts and accessories with positive messages, Humanity is spreading knowledge to people of all ages on issues ranging from humanitarianism to the environment.”

Also, “Humanity is a successful for-profit company, that has joined efforts with non-profit organizations to raise awareness of particular needs and causes.  By designing and manufacturing T-shirts, Humanity is able to save the non-profit organization valuable dollars, while branding their name as well.”

In the women’s T-shirt section, they have shirts designed in honor of Rosa Parks, Hurricane Katrina, Mother Earth, Love, Patience…and more.  They have shirts for men and kids, as well.

Cool company, check them out!

My 9 year old Australian cattle dog, Kiwi, is getting bit bit gimpy so I figured she needed some glucosamine.  I bought her Zuke’s HipAction with Glucosamine and Chondroitin – peanut butter formula with fresh blueberries, apples, carrots, flax seed and whole grains.  Sounds so good, I want to eat them myself!

Anyway, Zukes is based in Durango, Colorado.  The front of the treat bag states that “Zuke’s donates a portion of profits to the Dog & Cat Cancer Fund.”  Reading more on the back, it states “I loved my dog, Zuke, so much I named my company for him…Every yeary in memory of Zuke, we donate to the Dog & Cat Cancer Fund.  So join us on our journey to Fuel the Love – feed Zuke’s and donate to the DCCF. Signed Patrick Meiering, Founder & Zuke’s Best Friend”"

On the Zuke’s website, the DCCF logo is prominently displayed in the lower left corner.  The logo also displays that Zuke’s is a Platinum Donor to the Fund.  Clicking on it takes you straight the the DCCF site.  On their page about the Zuke’s Difference, they state “We take our commitment to animal nutrition very seriously, but always make time for our animals and give back to them whenever we can. That’s why we donate a portion of our profits each year to the Dog and Cat Cancer Fund. So feed Zuke’s and Fuel the Love™”

Great way this company has put their values on the table to create a bond with its customers through their pets.  Check them out!

Every month or so, I get a value pack of advertising postcards in the mail from local businesses. In the last batch, there was the card from Stanley Steemer you see here offering a special on cleaning and committing 5% of the net proceeds as a donation to the Denver Affiliate of Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure using code Pink54149.

The back of the card also indicates that if the special cleaning was not of interest, they would also donate 5% of the proceeds from any other of their cleaning services when providing the coupon code of PinkRSVP.

So, a nice win-win promotion by Stanley Steemer with the tie in to the massive business support during October’s focus on breast cancer.  Customers may be moved to action to hire them to do fall cleaning and Susan G. Komen benefits by getting additional dollars, as well.  Customers get to feel good that something they would have done anyway is helping make a difference.

Another time though…Stanley Steemer needs to do a better job proofreading – the name of the organization is spelled K-O-M-E-N  not K-O-M-A-N.  Also, when I went to Stanley Steemer’s website, I could find no mention of this promotion which I think is a missed opportunity for the company.  The Denver Susan G. Komen site does mention Stanley Steemer International as one of their Silver Sponsors, however.  So good job there!

So make sure your company connects all the dots on your cause marketing promotions, OK?!!

Some time back, a new women’s fitness clothing store, Lucy, opened in Cherry Creek here in Denver.  I have enjoyed shopping there as I like their often unusual yet functional sporty apparel designs.  As part of their commitment to being green, they switched in the past year from sending mailers to sending emails.  A recent email newsletter caught my eye as I had not been aware previously of their commitment to community involvement.  So after some research on their website and re-reading past newsletters, I now like Portland, OR-based Lucy even better!

At Lucy, “our passion is to inspire women to achieve their personal athletic goals, despite obstacles both large and small. We support charitable organizations that advocate these same values. With every lucy store grand opening, we donate 10% of the event’s sales to a designated non-profit organization from that store’s community. We also donate clothing to organizations in need and participate in charity race events throughout the year.”

In early September, the emailer about Hatha Yoga pants had the following:

Lucy is clearly dedicated to partnering with their employees and customers to take action in their communities – through donating a percentage of purchases and other activities and events in which they participate.

How can you let your customers see what you stand for?  How can you invite them to join forces with you for positive change and to show caring in the community? Doing something to give back and be supportive, no matter how small it may seem, is great — AND so much more can be accomplished by connecting with people inside and outside your company walls to work together in pursuit of a common goal.  What can you do? How can your company be an agent of change?

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.

At a Brendon Burchard event last year, I met Justin Sachs – a dynamic, thoughtful and very well-spoken young man who is totally committed to youth leadership.  I recently received an email about the upcoming launch for his new book, “Your Mailbox is Full” and I was very impressed to see he is has committed that book sales will benefit his favorite charities: Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership and Kiwanis.  Coincidentally, I have worked with Javier LaFianza, the CEO of HOBY, so it is a small world indeed!  Talking recently with Javier it was clear they are very pleased to be included as a partner with Justin (who is also a HOBY Alum)…and hope Justins sells MANY copies both for himself and to support their organization. 

This is a great example of a win-win partnership.  Awareness of HOBY and Kiwanis is increased and they will receive funds, as well; Justin gets exposure through the networks of both those nonprofits to help boost his book sales.

Justin is planning a huge book launch next month which I am pleased to support.  The following describes his book – check it out.

“Our friend Justin Sachs is launching his new book, Your Mailbox Is Full as one of the largest Teen Book Launch’s in history. His book is the perfect tool for teenagers and young adults who are pursuing greatness in their lives, and the best part is, a portion of the proceeds benefit his two favorite youth leadership non-profit organizations, Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership and Kiwanis International.

Your Mailbox Is Full à http://www.MotivateYourTeen.com

To make things even better: Justin is offering a free coaching session to the first 25 people who purchase his book! If you have a teenager or young adult, or know someone who does this book will change their lives!

Act Now to ensure you get your FREE Coaching Session with the Author! http://www.MotivateYourTeen.com

Things Just Get Better and Better and Better! Justin is offering over $2,000 in free bonuses just for purchasing the book!

This book is being compared to the bestsellers Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens and Success Strategies for Teens. So make sure to purchase yours NOW because you don’t want to miss out on this amazing opportunity to contribute to your teenager or young adult’s life.

Check it out: http://www.MotivateYourTeen.com

Justin began his experience in personal development in an Anthony Robbins seminar full of thousands of adults. He wrote this book so teenagers won’t have to end up in an endless stream of personal development seminars later in life. Now is the time to support your teenager with the tools and strategies they need for success!

Don’t Wait: http://www.MotivateYourTeen.com“

So I plan to follow Brendon and Justin’s lead and tie my own book and its launch to a nonprofit partner.  How about you?

I hope 2009 finds you happy, healthy, and ready to continue your business giving and community involvement to do your part to make a real difference in our world.  These are tough times for many people.  Daily, I hear so many negative things when I talk to some entrepreneurs and small business owners because of the state of the economy, it can get a little depressing!  I see many smaller business owners pulling back and hardening their protective shell as they think such actions will help them ride things out and keep their businesses afloat.  But I wonder if that will really work…for me whenever I have closed down and “gone underground” to regroup, I ended up shutting off opportunities.  When I have hibernated because I had business challenges that I didn’t want others to know about – figuring I needed to try to figure out the way forward on my own before I showed my face again - I ended up feeling really isolated and alone.  And then things DID go from bad to worse.

At the same time that I see many business people turning inwards, I also see many others with a sense of optimism and hope that together we can “turn the Titanic.”  I have been at several business events in the past couple months where entrepreneurs and small business people (some whose bank accounts I can only begin to imagine) are committing themselves to using their skills, talents, and connections to come up with new solutions to social and economic issues – old and new.  It has been very inspiring to me and helped me stay really positive.

As I listened to Obama’s inauguration speech, two specific sections struck me.  I will share one of those today and the second in my post tomorrow.

“Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched.  But this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control. The nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.  The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.”

In my work, I have long been trying to shift the paradigm from “charity” to a greater sense of partnership between businesses and community organizations for the “common good.”  It is one reason I work with companies to be more strategic and intentional in how they offer their support to nonprofits – often encouraging business people to think past checkbook philanthropy.  For me, cutting a check and then turning your back because “you’re done” is self defeating and a lost opportunity to do a deeper kind of “good.”  I am absolutely a fan of capitalism and the market – but conscious/compassionate capitalism.  I refuse to consider that making a profit and running a business that considers the other two P’s (people and planet) are mutually exclusive.  And there are many great examples that doing all three is totally possible and even preferable for long-term success.

We are at a unique point in history – at least in my lifetime – where so many people are willing to step up – really step up – and be part of the solution not just whining couch potatoes.   Some of these have never paid attention or been active in civic life before.  They are collaborating for the common good and to rebuild our trust and pride in our country.  Won’t you join us?  What can you and your company do?  Remember my mantra – “You are never too small to make a difference.”

David Hancock with Morgan James Publishing wrote a nice blog post, To Give is To Receive, on the Digitizer Group Blog encouraging businesses to think about ways to be involved with causes beyond just writing a check.  Here is the link.

Nonprofits always are seeking cash donations and if you have dollars to give, they of course appreciate that.  However, if you are looking to offer your company and employees a deeper, richer experience with the community…chances are giving cash alone will not do it.  There are so many other ways to offer much needed support to causes.  I have a menu of 65 ways that I use with my clients to help them figure out what combination of giving approaches works best for their specific situation.  Think of your giving as a portfolio.  Cash may be one thing you offer…but what other resources do you have or have access to?

I had the opportunity to interview David Eisner, the former CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, in October about his sense of current trends in business giving.  During our time, he mentioned that one thing that gets in the way of businesses thinking beyond checkbook philanthropy is in fact nonprofits themselves.  Many of them are still firmly rooted in the “tin cup” mentality of charitable donations and do not think partnership with benefits for both organizations.  Hence, when you are approached, you may be asked for a donation.  I encourage you to engage in a different conversation with the nonprofit rep about what else you could do to support their efforts.  You may be surprised what can develop!

My forthcoming book on business giving strategies outlines the range of ways to make a real difference in the community through contributions of dollars, time, and other resources as well as commerce-based promotions and relationships.

I heard Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone, speak at Mark Victor Hansen’s MegaSpeaking Empire a few weeks ago.  He gave a great presentation during which he mentioned his business networking site, the Greenlight Community.  The site states “We are a global community of entrepreneurs and professionals who believe that our relationships drive our success and bring us joy. We are looking for a place to be helpful and to find new ideas, encouragement, friends, maybe even someone to kick our backsides when necessary, and ultimately, MORE SUCCESS, however we define that!”  Sounded good to me so earlier this week I signed up to participate. 

The first person to contact me was Maxine Karchie from Edmonton, Canada.  When I went to her Greenlight page to respond to her welcome post to me, I noticed the cover for a book, titled “The Future of Safety.”  On the cover was a logo that said “Profits to Charity.”  So I mentioned it and said I would like to know more.

She directed me to her blog post on the book which states, the book …”is now for sale with all profits going to two safety related charities. The publication, The Future of Safety,” is now available on our website http://www.hatscan.com.  Profits will go to: SMARTRISK helps people see the risks in their everyday lives and shows them how to take those risks in the smartest way possible so that they can enjoy life to the fullest. And Job Safety Skills Society (JSSS): Educating youth about workplace safety is the key to prevention.”  So I started digging a bit more.  The HATSCAN website says, “the “give-back” is to donate the profits of this project to two charities whose mission and values are aligned with HATSCAN’s mission and values; ZERO Injuries and young worker safety.”

The book was developed by HATSCAN.  “Founded in 1988, Hazard Alert Training Inc.’s (HATSCAN’s) goal is to be Canada’s provider of choice for core Occupational Health and Safety training.  The Future of Safety is “can’t-do-without” resource for Safety professionals, managers, regulators and persons in all occupations that impact workplace health and Safety. Here are the thoughts of 21 prominent experts from all workplace Safety disciplines and professions, drawn from across the nation … in their own words.”

So such a great tie in between the product and its contents and nonprofits whose missions are in alignment with that of the business.  I like it!