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!!

I’d like to tell you about two nice examples of companies sharing what they have done in low key but direct ways through newspaper advertisements.  First, Macy’s Department Store took out a full page color ad in the Denver Post on January 1, 2008.  The page is largely black – a night sky view with stars, 2008 written in stars and a shooting star exclamation point.  The bottom show the Macy’s logo and above “WISHING A MAGICAL NEW YEAR TO ALL.  AND A WARM THANK YOU TO OUR EMPLOYEES AND CUSTOMERS – AND TO THE MACY’S FOUNDATION.  THEY ALL HELPED MACY’S GIVE BACK $17,000,000 TO OUR COMMUNITIES.”  Simple and gets the message out about their commitment to the community.

Second, In today’s Denver Post, there was a similar one page black and white ad from the Post-News on Community Programs of the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News.  The ad features a letter from Harry Whipple, President and CEO of the Denver Newspaper Agency,  highlighting their 2007 Annual Report to the Community.  The letter outlines that they invested ” value of more than $13,000,000 in 257 nonprofit organizations through financial funding, sponsorship, in-kind advertising, volunteer hours, and more.”  The ad then goes on to give some examples of including 1,800 hours of employee volunteer service, more than $2 million cash to 91 local nonprofits, and sponsorships of community events including Race for the Cure and A Taste of Colorado.  In the ad, they also subtly let people know their philanthropic focus areas. “Thank you for taking the time to review this report of our community efforts, focused primarily on the arts, youth, education and literacy, and the provision of basic human services.”  Well done!  If you go to their website, the full 2007 Annual Report is available as a pdf.

I really liked the letter’s closing line: “Together we can make a difference.  And thanks to your support we did that last year.  We look forward to many more years of continued partnership and impact in our community.”

How do you get the word out to your customers and/or the general public (potential customers) about what your company does in the community?  Is a newspaper ad something that could work for you?  If you run ads in the newspaper anyway, perhaps you do not have to dedicate an entire ad to this but place a statement about the value of your philanthropy prominently on an ad selling your products.

When I went to the Reading is Fundamental website, I found out a bit more. “This summer, Macy’s will give customers the opportunity to make a $3 donation to RIF. Last year, Macy’s raised over $1 million for RIF programs. Learn more about the RIF and Macy’s “Be One for the Books!” partnership.” For more information on Reading is Fundamental, go to: http://www.rif.org or http://www.rif.org/about/partners/macys_beoneforthebooks.mspx. For more information on Macy’s community involvement, go to: http://www1.macys.com/store/about/community/index.jsp