Why Small Businesses Should Donate to Local Charities
Maybe you’re reading this because you’ve have had a request to support a local charity and you’re not sure whether it’s a good way to boost your marketing effort.
In terms of ROI – it really is a no-brainer. It’s a cheaper form of advertising often without actually having to spend much cash.
A Foresters survey in the UK found that 89% of consumers think businesses should support charities and their local communities.
82% said that when offered a choice between identical products or services, their purchasing decision would be affected by whether a company engaged with charities and its local community. Yes that said 82%. That’s eight out of ten cats folks.
It makes sense for a local business to choose to support a local charity both in terms of visibility and reach – local people are at local fundraisers.
Estate agents are pretty canny with this – they frequently pay to have “for sale” boards erected around a local community stating how they’re sponsoring the local fete. Great publicity for them and drives traffic to the event. Win Win.
Product based businesses can find a home for an otherwise unusable end of line item easily by offering it as a prize. Service based businesses can offer vouchers – again bearing in mind that he UK Gift Card & Voucher Association reckon that as many as ten per cent of cards expire, are forgotten about – or simply lost once won. The business still retains the kudos of having offered the prize. Plus, it’s perfectly acceptable to attach terms and conditions to a prize (e.g a restaurant donates a free meal but winners must buy drinks or a venue donates an off-peak weekday birthday party).
So, have some pretty cards printed up “kindly donated by your business with the company logo and attach to the prize. It can be as small as a box of chocolates or a bottle of wine. As they say “every little helps.” Of course if you can afford to be more generous, your charity will raise more and will of course be more grateful. And don’t forget, smaller charities massively value any corporate sponsor – you won’t just be one of many.
Budget cuts and the credit crunch have had biggest impact on local charities so your help will make a really big difference.
Plus you’ll get more bang for your buck. This is because a higher percentage of the value of your offering will go the work of the charity because local causes tend to have much lower overheads.
Of course in return for your donation (no matter how small) a chosen charity should have active accounts on social media, a decent website which can feature their donors and good relations with the local press to shout about fundraising activities.
I can’t recommend this enough. By visibly supporting local charities like this, a particular business can become synonymous with supporting the community in the minds of local people.
From a personal perspective it certainly boosted Gingham Cloud’s visibility as a fledgling business when we paid to sponsor the entertainment at a local black tie fundraiser.
Are you looking for help with your fundraising and marketing efforts? Do get in touch and we can arrange a coffee to see how we can help.