Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Charity Chatter

Hardly a day goes by that I don't have someone entering my business seeking a donation for a worthy cause. If I could, I would give to large donations to everyone. But I can't.


Lately I have been responding to the unsolicited appeals for donations with unsolicited fund raising advice. For example, I tell them that I do fund raisers in hospitals, wherein I sell my wares and give a percentage to the hospital. This way I raise money for a good cause while also helping my business grow and prosper. If I just give too much away, my business will fail and both parties will suffer.


What frustrates me with local fund raising efforts is the lack of imagination. The typical formula is to hold an event for area elites, liquor them up and hope that they buy the items donated by local businesses. There is nothing wrong with this idea except that it is getting quite old and I suspect that some of our wealthier residents are probably experiencing charity fatigue.


There must be some better ideas out there. I have been wondering if I should tell donation soliciters to register their charity with my business and then send customers my way. I could keep track of their purchases and then send a percentage of the sale to the charity of their choice. Perhaps the money I lose by donating could be offset by additional customers motivated to help the cause of their choice. Maybe this could be a win win situation for my business and for local charities.

Any other ideas?

5 comments:

Caledonication said...

So, how do you feel about the colors? Do you like, dislike? Do any colors need to be added, changed or removed?

Denis Navratil said...

D didn't like the fade to pink. But choosing colors is not something I should be involved in, so I am trying to get D to call you. I will ask her to call you tommorrow.

Anonymous said...

In my time putting rich men with cute girls and booze has raised quite a bit of money.
The photos of the men with the cute girls make a ton of cash.

Anonymous said...

"We're not handing out anything. We're here to help people, giving them a hand up, enabling them to change their lives... that's the part you need to focus on."
--Mayor Gary Becker, explaining the city's Individual Development Accounts program to Lafayette, IN.

If you give me a lap dance I'll give you a sawbuck. It's for the common good/children/wealth disparate/whatever.

Anonymous said...

Worthy cause - worthy to whom -yuor enemies? LOL!
Well at least you are trying to find some way to benifit a bit from your foolish desire to harm yourself and loved ones by giving of your time, money and effort to foolish destructive causes.