Glenn Muske

Rural and Agribusiness Enterprise Development Specialist

Glenn.Muske@ndsu.edu

May, 2016

Prioritizing Community Giving:Get More From Your $20

NTCA PR and Marketing Conference - 2016

OR - Is This Your Real Question:

How to say “NO” gracefully?

The Answer

It’s in the room.

Is this how you feel regarding your charitable giving program?

If I asked you to rate your current community giving program, would it be: “A” or “B”?

A. B.

Your Business Is:Key contributor to strong economic communities

AND

Key contributor to strong social, dynamic, and growing communities.

What do we know?

• Federal, state, and local budgets are slowly growing, static or even shrinking.• Charitable giving is increasing.• Individual giving - $259 billion• Foundation giving - $54 billion• Corporate giving - $18 billion

• But requests are growing faster.

What do we know?

• Corporate social responsibility expectations are generally present. People don’t, however, agree on what it means, the face it should take, their own reciprocity, or the expectations they should hold.

• 3 Dimensions• Responsibility to consumers, employees and shareholders• Responsibility to environment• Responsibility to broader community

• Theoretical Perspective – Enlightened Self-Interest Model• Need to overcome the free rider problem

CSR Measured

• Gauged by:• Business commitment to community*• Personal leadership in the community• Community collective action• Business support**

* - Areas where financial support comes into play

CSR Brings: RecognitionGoodwill

Higher employee moraleEnhanced ability to attract new customersEnhanced ability to attract new employees

Increased collaborationMore customers

More return customersCustomers as ambassadorsGreater feelings of success

Steps to an Effective Charitable Donation Program

Step 1 - Understand:• Yourself• The business• Your community• Geographic• Cultural• Friday-night football• Other

Dickey Rural Networks – North Dakota

Step 2: Develop Your Focus – Make a Difference• Involve community – And go beyond just asking what you should do. You may

even have a smaller ongoing advisory committee.• Employees• Members/shareholders• Elected officials/Area committees• YOUTH!!

• Know what you stand for (and what you may not want to fund). Tie efforts into your organizational mission, not personal biases. • Go for an impact, especially with your larger gift efforts. • E.g. – Liquor store not supporting children’s causes.

• Pick a FOCUS!!• Get known for having a few, or even one, key cause/s.

• The cause can change but not yearly. And remember to: • (1) honor commitments and • (2) don’t change without notice as agencies begin to depend on certain funding.

Think

Step 3: Make it Actionable• Assign duties and responsibilities• Your effort shouldn’t end when the money is awarded

• Attend the event/s• Schedule a briefing after project is completed• Help the organization communicate their effort

• Set parameters and guidelines• Develop a budget • Maybe focused large gifts and a smaller, open, unbudgeted line item.

Step 4: Communicate

• Let those involved, and the rest of the community, know your plans… • And your budgets…• And your guidelines…• And your awards…• AND WHAT HAPPENS!!

• Invite requests. (You may have an application form but don’t call it that and make it short and easy.)

Step 5: Give

• Listen to all, even the walk-ins. • For small requests, give decision-making power to one individual.• For large requests, let the oversight board handle them on a regular basis.

• Spread the money out over the year.• Help youth learn people skills. If money is for a youth group, make the

youth do the ask. • Learn how to say “no” gracefully. • Even young children understand the concept that money is not available.• Saying “no” is a skill you need to learn and practice.

Saying “No”• 3 key parts• Acknowledge the importance of the request• Turn them down. Don’t flourish your answer. • Optional: Offer an alternative

• E.g. • Thank you. But I’m sorry I will have to turn you down. I just can’t work it out right now.• It would be a pleasure to work with you, but I’m over-committed right now. I’m sorry but

I just have to say no. • I’m glad you asked. It’s an important project, and I’m glad you are doing it. I won’t be

able to join, but wish you the best. • Thank you for asking. This is a big project for our community. I am glad you are helping

out. I can’t join you right now but:• I can give you 15 minutes to think about alternatives.• This person, _____________, is interested. Let me call them for you. • Maybe I can join in the future. Let me get back to you.

Don’t let this happen to you.

Step 6: Think Alternatives

• Maybe tie it into a marketing promotion, i.e. 50% of proceeds when students are staffing the business for a day. Might even make that part of your policy (May want to set a limit). • Perhaps you can offer goods and services instead of cash. • Is it a project where you may allow your employees to spend time at

the event as all or part of your contribution. (Remember that’s a real cost as well.)

Step 7: Market

• Market, market, market – At every step, pre-award, award, post-award, during events, in-between events, etc. • Use all your tools• Know your story• Encourage others to tell the story• Your business is not the story or the focus

Traditional Marketing Online Marketing

Promotion

PaidPR

One-on-one & Networking

Word-of-mouth & ReviewsReputation

YOUMarketing

Tools

Remember the goal is:

This

Not this

Glenn MuskeRural and Agribusiness Enterprise Development Specialist

Glenn.Muske@ndsu.eduMay, 2016

Comments?? Questions??