Hope you had a great Halloween!  This morning as I removed my Denver Post newspaper from the plastic bag it was delivered in, I noticed that instead of the usual orange bag, today it was white.  As I smoothed out the bag, I saw the Season to Share logo as seen to the left and the website address so I looked closer.

Season to Share is the giving program of the Denver Post and the McCormick Education Fund.   The bad said in bold letters across the top, “Giving more together.  Every dollar donated is matched with 50 cents.  Look for the special Season to Share section in today’s paper or visit www.SeasontoShare.com.”

On the front page of the Denver Post main section, in the prime space above the crease, there was a small block “teaser” article “A Way That You Can Help.”  “Season to Share, The Denver Post’s annual campaign to help children and those who are hungry, homeless or in need of medical care, kicks off today.  Learn more about the program and how to donate in our 12-page special section.”

The Season to Share special section had articles about various nonprofit beneficiaries and the work they do in the community, as well as a list of each of the 74 organizations they supported through Season to Share.  In 2008, the “Denver Post Season to Share distributed a record $3,341,500 to 74 local nonprofit organizations.”  The list included the amount each organization received as well as 1-2 sentences about the primary focus of the nonprofit.  I really liked that they did not just list the names of the organization.  Offering the brief summaries of each organization allows readers to learn about organizations they might not be familiar with – perhaps helping generate additional community support in the future for each organization.  At the bottom of the list it said, “ Learn about Season to Share, find stories about and links to agencies applying for funding, and donate denverpost.com/seasontoshare.”

I appreciate the way the newspaper kicked off this campaign.  By giving it a very high profile in their Sunday edition of the newspaper, the Denver Post accomplished several things simultaneously.  First, they offered their customers a way to join forces with them to jointly make a larger difference and “made the ask” for their support.  Second, while asking for customer support, they are also educating the community at large about their efforts and support of nonprofits, thus strengthening their reputation and cementing reader loyalty. Third, because of how they constructed their special section, they also leveraged their unique business expertise to support the nonprofits they funded last year that could prove to be of even greater long-term value than just the actual dollar amounts awarded — they helped increase the visibility and awareness of the mission/programming of each the 74 nonprofits they selected to fund in the community among their readership – hopefully synergizing a snowball effect of future support of each of the organizations from individuals and other businesses.

Nicely done!

In today’s Denver Post, on Page 8B, Wells Fargo Bank had a full page ad titled” We Create Connections.”  The color ad has a paragraph at the top discussing Wells Fargo’s community investments.  “At Wells Fargo we believe in investing in the communities we serve.  But it’s more than just writing checks.  It’s about creating connections between customers, team members, and local non-profit organizations.  That’s why our team members in Colorado spend thousands of hours volunteering, serving on boards, and participating in community events.  Checks are important too.  Which is why Wells Fargo is proud to be a leading donor to Colorado non-profits, contributing more then $3.7 million in 2007 alone.  Wells Fargo salutes these outstanding organizations and the work they do to help make our communities great places to live, work, and do business.”

Below the paragraph, the bulk of the ad is taken up with an alphabetical list of names of more then 800 organizations that Wells Fargo supports.  Very impressive! 

Four things I liked about the ad:

1.  Wells Fargo put the information out into the community about what they do so that everyone reading the paper has a sense of them as a company.   They went beyond just having a section on their website or in an annual report that goes to customers and other stakeholders.

2.  Wells Fargo provided a concrete dollar value for the support they have provided to Colorado nonprofits – $3.7 million represents a significant chunk of change and service hours provided to strengthen efforts to address local issues!

3.  They list the names of more than 800 organizations – it is a great visual but when reading the list, it is easy to see the wide variety of causes and organizations they support.  Says something about their community engagement for sure.

4.  While I usually am “all about” having businesses focus on fewer rather than greater numbers of nonprofits and causes to support, in this case that was clearly not the approach used by Wells…However, I am also “all about” tying a company’s community giving to its business goals.  In this case, Wells Fargo customers represent a wide cross section of the local population having many different causes they support.  Therefore, it is definitely in Wells Fargo’s business interest to support as many different types of organizations as possible in Colorado.  Absolutely fits with their business goals.

5.  OK…and I guess there is also a fifth thing I liked about this ad – Wells Fargo states they are about more than writing a check and instead provide other forms of support as well, including employee volunteer time.

There is more information about Wells Fargo in the community on their website.  On their community home page, it states company wide they are “Giving Hope: $266,000 per day to non-profits and 611,000 employee volunteer hours in 2007.”

Well done, Wells Fargo even though I no longer use you as my banking institution!  How can your company follow Wells Fargo’s lead and share what you are doing (whatever that might be and however comparatively small) with your current and potential customers?  It matters!