Holiday Philanthropy
Entrepreneurs are Improving their Business Profiles Through Kindness
By Natasha Gray
Associate Producer Office.com

Nov. 22, 2000 - For many business owners, the festivities surrounding the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays provide the perfect opportunity to make a quick profit. But what efforts are small businesses making to give something back to their communities during the season of good cheer? How can these companies benefit?

Rewards for small businesses that return the favor to their communities are considerable. Elizabeth Goodgold, CEO of the Nuancing Group, a San Diego-based firm that helps companies create brand identities, says the benefits of philanthropy cannot be understated: "It increases employee morale, derives positive word-of-mouth advertising, raises customer loyalty and solidifies community efforts."

Dave Wolkowitz, a consultant at MarketSting, a consulting firm in Chicago, agrees that these efforts can really help distinguish a small business. "Despite what many business leaders think, the community and prospective customers might not see much difference from one business to the next," he says. "Therefore, anything a company can do to differentiate itself is positive."

"The beauty of small-business charitable giving is that it's not expected, which only adds to the reason to do it."

Dave Wolkowitz
MarketSting

Because people tend to expect more charitable efforts from larger corporations, Wolkowitz believes that small companies are in a better position. "The beauty of small-business charitable giving is that it's not expected, which only adds to the reason to do it," he says.

This strategy appears to have worked for Trinity Communications. A marketing-communications firm based in Boston, Trinity has made charitable giving a year-round effort since the 1993 inception of the company.

According to Paul Sorensen, media-relations director at Trinity, the company steps up its philanthropic endeavors during the holiday season with the launch of the Trinity Holiday Card, a corporate Christmas card that features a local nonprofit organization chosen by the company's employees. The employees nominate and raise money for a nonprofit organization in the greater Boston area, and Trinity matches, dollar for dollar, their contribution, Sorensen explains.

Last year, Trinity nominated the Boston chapter of the National Conference on Community and Justice, a 73-year old organization with a mission to fight bias, bigotry and racism in America. Trinity's card featured the themes of diversity, justice and peace. The NCCJ couldn't have been happier with the result.

Says Susan Musinsky, the executive director of the NCCJ: "It was a stunning piece because it highlighted both peace and justice as what the company wishes for people during the holidays and showed how committed it is to working with an organization like ours," she says.

Sorensen says that this type of work is part of the company's corporate culture. "We are a values-driven business, and we like to empower our staff to bring forward ideas on giving in our community," he explains. Sorensen says that the company is doing well by doing good and has enhanced brand awareness as well as created new business. "We have set ourselves apart from our competitors, generated a buzz about what we do and enhanced awareness of our business and the services we provide," he explains.

- Similarly, Rick Goodwin, president and CEO of General Creation International Ltd., a small interactive-toy company based in Bristol, Tenn., says that this kind of commitment and obligation within the community is important to the company: "By being willing to give and help in the community, you become a visible model for the rest of it," he says.

For the holidays, General Creation has created Elfland Express, a local children's-gift drive which last year provided Christmas gifts for more than 200 underprivileged children in the community. This year the company is partnering with six other local businesses to help bring holiday cheer to 1,200 children in need.

According to John Sperazzo, VP and partner of Eye To Eye Communications, a PR firm based in San Diego, it's important for small businesses to integrate a philosophy of charitable giving in the community. He says the philanthropic work his company has contributed has grown along with the business. "When we were starting out, we focused on nonmonetary efforts such as visiting the elderly at local hospitals," he says. "Now we are able to donate $1,000 each to three local charities for our 'Holiday 2000' efforts."

Deciding to get involved with giving was an easy decision, says Scott Eggleston, president and CEO of Momentum Software, an e-business-solutions company based in Austin, Texas. It's the company's first year to get involved in charitable work, and, for Thanksgiving, Momentum is working with Meals on Wheels to deliver Thanksgiving dinner to Austin residents. In December, the company will sponsor a coat drive to help underprivileged children in the city.

Eggleston believes the benefits go beyond just business. "Making it a duty to give back to a community that's been very supporting of us brings everyone in the company together. It's important to create a strong common bond that extends outside of work," he says.

Walt Sutton, author of "Leap of Strength" and founder of W. G. Sutton International Ltd., an entrepreneurial consulting company in Seattle, echoes this thinking. He explains that the small-business participation in smaller communities is "a big builder of good will, which brings businesses closer to their customers." Sutton advises business owners to look at what their customers would care about in the community - and then to devise a logical philanthropy and make sure the public knows about it. "Aligning the cares of their customers with their own social concerns is an innovative way to give back," he says. "The next step is to publicize this well."