On December 18th, there was a little announcement in the Colorado Business section of the Denver Post about Junior Achievement of Colorado Springs and Papa John’s International Inc.’s new national partnership to help local JA offices.  Junior Achivement is a nonprofit that “seeks to educate and inspire young people to succeed in a global economy.”  When I went to the JA website, I noticed they had a little ticker tape update running across the top of their site with news of various new corporate support.  I liked it.  Nothing about Papa John’s there though- it has rolled off since I clipped this last month.  However, I did find the press release in their archive.

The news announcement I saw mentioned that Papa John’s would donate $2.00 to JA for each customer who placed an online order at www.papajohns.com and uses the online coupon with the JA logo.  I thought sounded like a nice cause marketing effort.  When I read the press release, I discovered this is actually a much broader and more integrated partnership - which I really like to see.  When a business mobilizes multiple resources to support one nonprofit organization, there can be much greater impact for both organizations.  The release said, “Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA) and Junior Achievement (JA) today announced a national partnership that will help local JA Offices deliver work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy lessons to U.S. students. Papa John’s will donate two dollars to JA for each customer who places their pizza order at www.papajohns.com and uses the online coupon displaying the Junior Achievement logo.

In addition, Papa John’s franchises and corporate-owned restaurants will conduct “job shadow” events at which JA students can experience first-hand what it is like to own and run a Papa John’s restaurant, and Papa John’s employees will be encouraged to volunteer to teach JA classes at schools in their communities. JA Offices can also expand the partnership to include recruiting Papa John’s franchisees and local market team leadership to serve on their boards of directors. “

I am hungry and in the mood for pizza (even if it doesn’t fit my New Year’s Resolution…), so where do I look for the online coupon so my $2 can go to JA if I am going to order pizza anyway?  Don’t see it on the JA site…  On the Papa John’s site, after clicking a link for online specials and coupons and entering my delivery address, I found the specials listed.

Next time you order pizza for lunch at the office, remember Papa John’s!