Last week I noticed a chalkboard sign in the Starbucks at REI in Denver announcing that on Earth Day April 22nd, Starbucks was going to donate five cents for each gift card sold that day to Conservation International to support its environmental programming.  I made sure to buy my next card that day.

The Conservation International home page lists their partnership with Starbucks to plant trees in the coffee growing region of Chiapas, Mexico.  After clicking on “Learn More”, I found out the following.  “To ensure that the principles of Earth Day last all year long – Starbucks and CI  are joining together with your help to plant trees in the coffee-growing communities of Chiapas, Mexico. This effort will contribute to the protection and restoration of forests, preserve rich biodiversity, and address the critical issue of climate change.”

The website also allowed visitors to: “DONATE NOW: You can support this program with a donation right now. $10 means 10 trees for the Chiapas community.”

The webpage also provided educational information, “Did you know that more than 20% of all carbon dioxide emissions come from the burning and clearing of forests? That’s more than from all of the world’s cars, trucks, SUVs, and trains combined. Starbucks investment in and support for local coffee growers and the communities that help keep forests intact will help ensure that every cup of coffee they brew produces tangible benefits for both local and global communities.”

The brochure I picked up at Whole Foods Market gave great details about how shoppers checkout donations had raised $675,000 for the Whole Planet Foundation’s microlending programs.  The back of the brochure also gave information about the Whole Planet Foundation Supplier Alliance, which I had NOT known about.  It says, “How are Others Helping?  Whole Planet Foundation Supplier Alliance for Microcredit is an alliance of vendors to Whole Foods Market who have catalyzed $1.05 million over 3 years to microlending programs to help plant the seeds of prosperity around the world.”  Very cool!

Vendor logos on the back included: Allegro Coffee, Back to Nature, Balance, Celestial Seasonings, Earth’s Best Organic, ITO EN, Naked Juice, New Chapter Organics, Seventh Generation, Stacy’s, and Teas’ Tea.

How can you leverage your vendors to join forces to support the philanthropic initiatives your company is involved with?

Waiting in line at Whole Foods Market over the weekend to buy some tasty treats, I noticed another one of their checkout promotions.  They had a nice little display board inviting me to donate to the Prosperity Campaign by tearing off a coupon in the amount of $2, $5, or $10 to add to my food stack, as well as pamphlets (printed on 100% recycled paper using vegetable ink) about the Whole Planet Foundation to take home to learn more.  I am always up for these things, so grabbed a $2 coupon and laid it on my cracker box.  As the cashier was ringing it in, he gave me a big genuine smile and said, “Thanks so much for your donation!”  Had a fleeting thought I should have grabbed the $5 coupon… 

I mentioned that I am always on the lookout for good examples of business philanthropy and that I was going to go home and write a blog post about their promotion.  We chatted a bit more and he called over Drew Calvert, the Cherry Creek Denver store’s Marketing Director to introduce me.  I told her what I was doing and that I really appreciated Whole Foods’ strategic approach to their philanthropy.  She said they were very proud of what they are doing and committed to make sure they actually do walk their talk.

The pamphlet I took does a nice job of explaining the program and says in several places “$2 can make a difference.”  I felt better about not having taken that $5 coupon.  Next time…  It also told me that “100% of the funds raised go to Whole Planet Foundation-sponsored microlending programs. (My company, Business Nonprofit Connections, Inc. has selected microbusiness development as one of our major causes to support with our time, talent, and treasure so turns out this mini donation was in alignment with our stated philanthropy focus.)  The pamphlet also stated, “Thanks to shopper generosity last year, over $675,000 was raised giving 22,500 people the chance to move themselves out of poverty.”

I really like it when a brochure such as this not only gives me some information about the program I am supporting, but as evaluation is one of my specialties, I get even more interested when a company goes the next level, is transparent, and provides ”data”!!  In this case, they told me how much was raised and how many people benefitted.  Gives me a sense of the value of the program in a very different way and makes it seem like my little donation is helping make a real difference.

At a minimum, be sure to have systems to track your company’s contributions. It is amazing to me how many companies have only a vague idea about their annual figures for cash, in-kind, and volunteer donations.  Also, it is useful to figure out ways to get information back from the organizations you support about how your resources were used, how many people benefitted, and what difference your company helped make so you have it to report to your stakeholders.

I was cleaning off my desk this morning so I have maximum space to work on my book and I found an ad that has been sitting around waiting for me to write about it - so now it is time!   I find in my work that companies are sometimes hesitant to report on their community involvement.  They worry that tooting their own horn will have the opposite effect of what they are hoping for by causing consumers to view them as cold and self serving.  Of course if the reporting or sharing provides trumped up details or is making a mountain out of a molehill for a pretty small effort considering the size of the company, perhaps they should think twice before doing that.  However, these days many consumers do want to know that the companies whose products or services they use are making the effort to be socially responsible and give back to their communities.  Helps with strengthening loyalty of existing customers and draws in new customers, as well.  They like your offerings AND they like your company values. 

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.

On my morning dog walk to Starbucks, I noticed two signs in stands - one at the register where I ordered and another where the coffee condiments are - promoting World Water Day on March 22.  Starbucks now owns and sells ETHOS Water so highlighting a water-related event make sense to me as it is in alignment with one of the corporate philanthropy focus areas.

I went on the site from the signs when I got home, http://www.worldwaterday.net.  Didn’t see any mention of Starbucks just the event itself which I actually liked.  I learned that “World Water Day is an international day of observance and action to draw attention to the plight of the more than 1 billion people world wide that lack access to clean, safe drinking water. Celebrated since 1993, World Water Day was designated in 1992 when the United Nations (UN) General Assembly passed a resolution. With each passing year, the observance has grown larger and stronger.

In many ways though, World Water Day is still a relatively unknown event. Even with the support of the UN and efforts by leading non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and committed individuals, World Water Day is today at a similar stage as Earth Day was in the early 1970’s – important but relatively unknown.”

The website goes on to move us readers to action.  “You can help. Sign up to participate in a live event, and / or the Virtual Walk for Water – a strong, symbolic act to demonstrate your support for Action on the world water crisis. We hope you’ll help spread the word and take a moment to lend your voice to this important issue. Join us. Get involved today.”

The Walk for Water “is inspired by the example of women in water stressed countries who often walk 6 miles each day just to get water for their family.”  Since there is no live event scheduled for Denver, I joined the virtual walk on March 22nd and learned that my name will be carried in a jug at one of the walks symbolizing my commitment to World Water Day — I even got a pdf ticket to print out!  Once I signed up I was able to set up a personalized Advocate Page online to use to leverage getting my friends and colleagues involved.

I next went to Starbucks home page  and saw a block ad for World Water Day with the logo and a link to the May 13th Press Release about Starbucks support for water projects. ”Starbucks Foundation Awards US$2 Million from the Ethos Water Fund to Help Improve the Lives of People in Water-Stressed African Communities  Ethos Water Launches World Water Day Activities to Build Awareness for the World Water Crisis.  Starbucks Coffee Company (NASDAQ: SBUX) today announced the Starbucks Foundation is making two new grant commitments to help support water, sanitation and hygiene education programs in water-stressed African communities. Over a three-year period, CARE and Project Concern International will each receive US$1 million from the foundation’s Ethos Water Fund. Collectively, the organizations’ efforts are expected to benefit an estimated 54,000 people who currently lack access to clean water and sanitation services.”

Having done international development work myself, I understand how critical the issue water is, especially in developing countries.  I like that Starbucks has picked this as a focus area for their philanthropy and are using multiple strategies to make a difference.  Since coffee is brewed with water and they already support international development projects, it is a very good choice for them.

Why don’t you and/or your employees go to World Water Day and at least sign up participate in the virtual walk to support clean water in developing countries.  The site also allows you to donate dollars, as well.  The timeline for this year is short, but you could have employees set up advocate pages and see who can use their networks to drum up the most participation - perhaps giving a small prize to the winner.

Yesterday I went to Safeway on Colorado Boulevard in Denver to buy groceries.  A sign on pink paper near the register about donating to Easter Seals caught my eye.  Easter Seals is a nonprofit, community-based health agency dedicated to helping children and adults with disabilities attain greater independence. When it was my turn in the checkout line, the cashier told me my total purchase price and then asked if I would like to round up to the next dollar as a donation for Easter Seals.  For me it meant adding $0.96 to my bill.  Of course I said yes and told her I appreciated Safeway doing this. 

I mentioned I am always on the look out for examples of how companies support local nonprofits.  Turns out she was the front end manager and shared with me that initially she had thought the round up idea that another employee had proposed wouldn’t work well.  She had thought asking people to donate a dollar when they were checking out would be a more effective way to raise money from customers.  The store tried both approaches and, to her initial dismay, the round up model raised a lot more money.  So now the store uses the round up “ask.” She is very pleased how well it works and is proud of the dollars they are raising to support this good cause.

If you are a retail business, could a round up checkout promotion be a strategy to enlist your customers as partners to support one of your company’s causes?  For nonprofits, if you approach retail stores for a donation and they have already allocated their budget, perhaps you can negotiate a similar checkout promotion to raise dollars from their customers?

My sister really has me figured out - she came up with the perfect card for me for Valentine’s Day yesterday.  It is a Hallmark card that just says PAMPE(RED) on the front.  Inside it said, “DO WHATEVER MAKES YOUR HEART HAPPY. INDULGE TODAY!  HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY.”  The back  asks, “Is it a card or a way to help eliminate AIDS in Africa?  When you choose Hallmark (PRODUCT) RED cards, it’s both.”  It’s a great card and thoughtful because she knows I am fanatical about tracking what companies are doing to to give back.

So for my guilty confession - I did get it together this year to send Valentines to my sister and niece, my parents and my mentee.  However, to make it happen, I did the easiest thing and bought them at Target in one fell swoop.  I do know Target does give back a lot especially for education-related programs so I feel good about buying things there - but the link between my purchase and their give back is a little fuzzy.  If I had gone to a Hallmark store and bought a (Hallmark)RED card and spent the same $2.99 I spent elsewhere, I would know in a different way that a percentage of my purchase price was going to help the (PRODUCT)RED initiative to combat AIDS in Africa.   Their website says “HALLMARK IS A PROUD PARTNER OF (PRODUCT) RED™. 8% of Hallmark (PRODUCT) RED™ net wholesale sales will go to the Global Fund. Learn more.”  OK, so that’s not a huge amount of money from one card but at least they are very transparent about how much it really is, something that many other companies avoid.

Onwards…next holiday I will check the Hallmark cards FIRST!  How about you?

Marathon Oil Company ran an ad several times lately in the Denver Post with the headline, “Marathon is much more than our employer.  They’re our inspiration.”  The ads don’t sell anything directly - instead they are designed to inform readers about Marathon’s values and give back efforts.  The ad pictures a mother/daughter pair who both work for the company and the words are written as if the mother was saying them.  The mother is a breast cancer survivor and the daughter is pregnant.  The ad mentions she is doing all she can to keep her daughter from getting breast cancer and “that’s why I am proud to work for a company that gives so much to so many great causes, such as Susan G. Komen for the Cure.”  The ad goes on to mention other efforts including Impact Player Partners (an organization supporting wounded/disabled war veterans from the Iraq and Afganistan wars) and a school supply project in Equatorial Guinea.   It ends with “And this is only the beginning of all the things that Marathon does.  Needless to say, we love working here.  Giving back.  That’s Marathon.”  The bottom of the ad shows their color logo and the website address - Marathon.com/values. 

I went to their website and was pleasantly surprised to see a link on their home page to their Social Responsibility page.  I really liked their tag line “Commerce.  Conscience.  Compassion.” They have a menu of options to choose from here.

Good for Marathon!  Made me very interested to learn more about this company that I know relatively little about.  It is amazing to me how many companies have not yet been proactive to post a section on their sites to let consumers and other stakeholders know about their social responsibility and/or community involvement.  I did an informal survey a couple years ago with the top 40 fastest growing small businesses in Colorado from the Book of Lists published by the Denver Business Journal.  I went to each of their websites and only two of them mentioned anything about their community involvement.  What a missed opportunity!!  And I know for a fact that two of them that mentioned nothing on their site are VERY active with local nonprofits.  In fact, one I had interviewed as a best practice example for my forthcoming book!

Do you have even one page on YOUR company’s website that talks about your community involvement and/or broader commitment to business social responsibility?  If you aren’t doing anything…then having no page makes total sense.  However, consumers DO care about what the companies they do business with are doing.  So think about putting up at least a simple page.  It does not need to be as detailed as Marathon Oil’s.  You can grow into that later.  If you don’t it is a huge missed opportunity to let folks know about your values and how you are walking your talk.

A commercial on television caught my eye recently - it showcased a program by Always to help girls in Africa be able to go to school using great photography and a clear description of the problem.  The ad ended with a URL www.protectingfutures.com that I only now had the chance to check out. 

Visit ProtectingFutures.com

“Your purchase of Tampax or Always helps us donate $1.4 million through 2008 to the United Nations Association’s HERO campaign to help provide feminine protection and education to girls in Southern Africa.”  HERO is a United Nations Association’s campaign dedicated to the care of orphans and vulnerable children in Africa.  HERO is designed to build awareness and raise funds “dedicated to providing comprehensive, school-based support to orphans and vulnerable children living in HIV/AIDS-affected communities in Africa. HERO works in schools in Southern Africa to reduce the negative impact of poverty and HIV/AIDS on children.  HERO has identified staying in school as the first line of defense against these ills.”

Girls in the Protecting Futures program learn about and receive products to help insure that their monthly periods do not get in their way of education. The program funds a health, hygiene and puberty education program that will be taught by a traveling health educator, as well as health care services. 

This is a great example of a globally focused give back program that is directly related to the two Proctor & Gamble brands - Tampax and Always.  They are providing integrated support by both donating product as well as funding other health care and educational services for the girls - which is great.  I really like the website as well - it puts a human face on the issue and makes me want to buy those brands to help out.  The website also provides options for other ways to get involved and has a teen feel to it to appeal to and involve teenage girls in the US.  Also, great marketing - buy more and girls in Africa will benefit.

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!