Business Giving Strategies » nonprofit donations

Take My Nonprofit Survey on Business Partnerships

Susan Hyatt — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:18:31 +0000

The time is now to re-tool business and nonprofit relationships to make them more win-win and sustainable. Therefore, I am conducting an online survey of nonprofit staff and/or board members about their experience with business partnerships. I’d love to know more about what your organization’s experience has been – the success and challenges – as I am developing new materials to help nonprofits and businesses engage together more effectively.

Also, if you are open to being interviewed and featured on my blog, www.BusinessGivingStrategies.com, please provide your name and contact information at the end of the short survey. If you complete the survey, I will be sure you get a copy of the final report as well as a downloadable eBook on ways to engage with businesses as a thank you.

To take the survey, go to: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22AVN23WCEL.

THANKS FOR YOUR TIME AND SHARING YOUR EXPERIENCE!!

Denver and the New Starbucks Gold Card

Susan Hyatt — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:39:59 +0000

Living in Denver has some perks…and it’s not just the view of the mountains! Starbucks decided to pilot its new Gold card program here starting last month. Since I live in Denver and use their refillable gift cards (it’s much easier to carry on a dog walk than cash!), I was invited via email to join last month. On the website www.starbucks.com/gold it says, “If you enjoy espresso beverages, you’re in fine company. On average, Starbucks lovers in Denver drink more espresso beverages than the rest of the country, especially Caffe Lattes flavored with vanilla syrup or customized with soy milk.” Who knew…
When I signed up to participate, I learned Starbucks would give a 2% dividend on all purchases made using the card. What I really liked about this was that I could choose to have the 2% returned as a credit on my card for my own use. Or…better yet, I could choose one of two nonprofits they had preselected and have my 2% be a donation to that organization. Cool, eh? I buy my triple grande nonfat dry cappuccinos anyway but now my morning addiction has an upside!

Specifically on the website the options I had were:

	Youth Venture: Creating positive impact in communities around the world, Starbucks and Youth Venture teamed up to catalyze a movement of young social entrepreneurs.
	African Wildlife Foundation: Since 2004, Starbucks has partnered with AWF in conserving wildlife, protecting land and empowering people in Kenya.
	My Gold Card: Please load my dividend back on to my Gold Card

I have chosen Youth Ventures to receive my dividend since my company, Business Nonprofit Connections, Inc. supports microbusiness development and social entrepreneurism as one of our giving foci.

Keep your eyes open, if it works here, this may be headed your way, as well. And…you get a snazzy white card with your name in gold on it. Oh, I guess I should mention there are other benefits but I am all about the cute card and my 2% back!

Starbucks Gold Benefits

A personalized Starbucks Gold Card signifying your Gold status
A Gold Card dividend – 2% of what you spend on your Gold Card comes back to you, or is donated to a non-profit organization each month
Coffeehouse rewards – like special discounts on Family & Friends days
Surprise indulgences – like something special on your birthday
A members-only website to manage your account

Plus, you’ll receive all the perks currently offered with Starbucks Card Rewards . Enjoy milk and syrup options for your beverage on the house, brewed coffee refills and a complimentary Tall beverage with your whole bean purchases.

Donate Your Extra Ticket to A Nonprofit

Susan Hyatt — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 08:24:44 +0000

I ran across a blog post on Elliot’s Blog asking if any businesses might have an extra ticket to TRAFFIC Las Vegas, an event put on by the World Association of Domain Name Developers (WADND) that they could donate for use by Grassroots.org, a nonprofit organization that assists small to medium size charities establish an online presence (free web hosting, free first year domain registration, free SEO advice, volunteer web designers…etc). They also match select charities with MBA students to provide business and organizational advice. Their strategy is to utilize their connections within the Internet industry for the benefit of the nonprofit industry.

Great idea Elliot! The ticket was a business expense and has already been paid for so instead of going unused, donating it would allow a nonprofit staffer to go to an event they could otherwise not afford to attend and which could help them in their work. There were several comments to Elliot’s original post - one of which included the following statement. “I have little sympathy for these non-profits who are typically quite weathly with often substantial income and assets.”

Personally, I thought Elliot did a great thing by trying to hook up a business with an extra ticket to support this nonprofit. One of the ongoing issues for nonprofits is that they frequently have VERY limited funds for administrative costs which includes travel for professional development. Some donors, especially businesses, often will only provide dollars for program costs and direct service provision. There is a misconception that all nonprofits waste money on administration. OK, there have been a few cases where that was the case. However, just as all businesses are not Enron, all nonprofits are not wasteful. In fact, most of the nonprofits I work with are very under-resourced and can squeeze so much value from $1, I am constantly amazed. How can any organization (nonprofit or not) provide quality services without proper management and oversight? The staff time and overhead expenditures needed to make that happen are critical and they aren’t free.

So back to the extra ticket idea – if your business has an extra ticket(s) to some event either professional or leisure, why not donate it to a nonprofit? If it is an educational event, the nonprofit could send one of their staff and you would be helping strengthen their organizational capacity. If the ticket is to a play or sporting event (maybe your box seats??) – the nonprofit could raffle it off as a fundraiser, give it as a thank you to one of their stellar volunteers, or use it with a needy client who might never get to go to such an event otherwise.

I mentor a 12 year old at-risk girl through Denver Partners, a local mentoring organization. People and businesses often donate extra tickets to them so the kids get exposed to a new and exciting activity which helps expand their notion of what is possible in their life. My mentee and I had great seats at a Denver Nuggets basketball game last year as well as at a Colorado Rapids soccer game. She loved it and still talks about it.

What tickets might you or your company have? If you are not going to use them, what nonprofit organization could you donate them to?