This week, Xerox Corp. will announce the latest ambassadors in its Social Service Leave program - an annual initiative that grants year-long paid sabbaticals to select employees so they can lend their expertise to the nonprofit sector. Xerox marketing executive Cheryl Hitchcock will spend the year developing a strategic plan to boost endowments at the historically black college Morgan State University, while engineer Bruce Genut plans to set up computer networks and provide IT training for Science Linkages, a Rochester, N.Y., organization that builds community-based computer centers.
There was a time in corporate America when charity meant writing a fat check and enjoying a tax deduction. Then came the age of cause marketing, in which big businesses partnered with nonprofits to boost sales, much like politicians kissing babies to garner votes.
While today's members of the Fortune 1000 are still enjoying tax write-offs, the word "charity" has been all but eradicated from the corporate lexicon. Strategic philanthropy, on the other hand, has never played a more critical role in the corporate reputation equation. And this is where PR comes in.
Let there be no doubt about it - today's top philanthropic programs are indelibly intertwined with communications strategy. Xerox employees competing for social service sabbaticals are required to list local media contacts on their applications. And the handful of volunteers selected this year will report for media training before they head out into the world of do-good.
"[Most] of these people are not accustomed to dealing with the media [and need a few primers]," says Xerox spokeswoman Barbara Conrey. "Even though their projects are philanthropic, a major goal is to give Xerox a presence in the community."
The fact that corporations are wearing their motives on their sleeves doesn't seem to bother American consumers. In fact, the latest Cone/Roper "Cause-Related Trends Report: Evolution of Cause Branding" indicates that 61 percent of consumers think cause branding should be a standard business practice. Other key findings: eight in 10 Americans "have a more positive image of companies who support a cause they care about," and two-thirds (a hefty 130 million) say they're more likely to trust companies that are aligned with a social issue.
Good Deeds = Good Leads
But strategic philanthropy is about much more than getting ink in the local press. Taking a cue from successes like Ben & Jerry's, most corporations are realizing that good deeds and good business strategy are not mutually exclusive. "I don't think a long-term relationship is possible with any philanthropic concern unless it's meeting a company's business needs," says Roberta Carlton, corporate PR manager at Cognos, a software developer headquartered in West Burlington, Mass.
Over the holidays, Cognos rallied its 13 satellite sales offices and their respective customers to collect 13,000 pounds of food for local food banks. (The PR department at HQ generated promotional kits for sales teams to use locally.)
"Our PR is very sales driven," Carlton says. "We look at programs that shorten cycles, bring in new leads, and help [our sales reps] build long-term relationships with their customers," she says. The food drive gave Cognos sales reps a discussion topic to help initiate phone conversations with new contacts.
Bolstered Brands
In the marcom arena, strategic PR alignments pick up where advertising, packaging and POP displays leave off. "Now it's about how you integrate a social issue into your brand persona," says Mark Feldman, executive VP of cause branding at Cone Inc. This is the philosophy that has led Avon to become synonymous with breast cancer research, and Pizza Hut with literacy.
Tanqueray gin has enjoyed a stiff belt of brand loyalty since 1994 when it launched the first Tanqueray AIDS Ride, a fundraiser that channels dollars into AIDS education and research.
"We were looking to [get] younger adults interested in drinking gin. We'd developed a new ad campaign and on-premise strategy, but we were looking for something else in the PR line [to complement the mix]," says Peggy Bernstein, director of PR at parent company Shieffelin & Somerset. "AIDS is something people in this age group felt strongly about."
Teaming an athletic event with a spirits manufacturer may seem odd, but the match was a natural from a branding perspective, Bernstein says. "The ride is about more than riding a bike, and a whole lot more than AIDS. It's also about overcoming challenges and building a sense of community." By the same token, market research pinpointing Tanqueray's brand personality turned up words like "challenging" and "powerful."
As the events' namesake sponsor, Tanqueray spends $1 million a year on flat sponsorships (there are now five rides in the U.S.), plus another $2 million to $3 million in hard marketing costs and in-kind publicity. Bernstein declines to compare the ride's PR price tag to advertising in terms of ROI, but she says Tanqueray now receives over 300 million media impressions each year.
"We also get letters from riders and participants telling us how appreciative they are and that they'll be loyal to our products for ever and ever," she says. "Advertising can't buy that."
The Passions Within
Inside corporations, philanthropy plays a vital role in employee satisfaction and recruitment. "Twenty-somethings coming to corporations are more socially conscious and social responsibility often becomes the differentiator in job decisions," says Jacinta Gauda, senior VP of corporate affairs at Golin Harris New York. "[Social or environmental activism] creates an orange when everything else is apples to apples."
For this reason, it's critical to involve employees in choosing nonprofit partners. Cognos narrowed its focus to human services after a survey asked employees to rank their preferred causes.
Finding the right cause also means soul-searching deep into the company's heritage and values, says Feldman. "It's about bringing that to life. Something that makes sense as a core part of the company is easier for people to rally behind than something that's not connected."
As an example, Feldman cites ConAgra, whose internal operating motto has always been "feeding people better." When the food giant forged a multiyear partnership with America's Second Harvest, a new motto emerged: "feeding children better." Among its pursuits, ConAgra now fuels the development of Kids Cafes - a series of after-school soup kitchens run by and for kids. Cafe meals not only meet USDA requirements; they often provide a critical second daily nosh to kids who wouldn't otherwise eat.
ConAgra, meanwhile, is feasting on the fruits of good press, proud employees and satisfied investors.
Fast Food
ConAgra isn't the only powerhouse in the food chain. UPS has leveraged its delivery expertise (and $7 million) to create rapid food distribution systems for food banks nationwide.
www.community.ups.com
Big Store, Big Heart
Americans cite Wal-Mart as the nation's leading socially responsible company. Source: 1999 Cone/Roper Cause Related Trends Report.
Choosing a Charity
Jacinta Gauda, SVP corporate affairs at Golin Harris, offers some guidelines...
Look beyond HQ. Spread your resources to markets you hope to penetrate, or to communities where you have satellite offices, plants or stores.
Go beyond dollars. Your employees, products and services can be used as philanthropic currency. If you don't have bucks to spend, let staffers take paid time off to volunteer, or make in-kind donations of products and services.
Think long term. Nonprofits want serious commitments, not photo opps. And stakeholders will respect you more (and remember you) if you're rooted in a cause over time.
No Band-Aid solutions. Say you're a tech company committed to education. Earmark funds not only to provide hardware for schools, but also to research the causes behind the "digital divide" and the reason girls aren't excelling in math.
(Conrey, 513/346-3426; Carlton, 781/229-6600; Feldman, 617/227-2111; Bernstein, 212/251-8200; Gauda, 212/697-9191.)