Our team at View Newspaper Group is all about making connections. We like to focus on what our readers and the communities we serve have in common. However, while doing research for a client project last week, I came across a statistic I wish we didn’t all have in common. According to Feeding America, 100% of U.S. counties have food insecurity.
Hunger in our communities is a universal problem and one that many nonprofits, including local nonprofits, work to solve every minute of every day. In fact, hunger is just one of the many challenges facing our friends and neighbors that nonprofits work to solve. Homelessness, mental health, child abuse, domestic violence and more are all issues that need addressing.
Beyond basic needs, nonprofits in our communities also work to help boost educational opportunities for area students through things like book giveaways and scholarships. They care for local heroes through veterans programs, take care of our furry friends in need, provide enrichment to our communities through art, music, history and so much more.
The National Council of Nonprofits says it best, “America’s 1.3 million charitable nonprofits feed, heal, shelter, educate, inspire, enlighten, and nurture people of every age, gender, race, and socioeconomic status, from coast to coast, border to border, and beyond. They foster civic engagement and leadership, drive economic growth, and strengthen the fabric of our communities. Every single day.”
With #GivingTuesday, an international day of giving, set for Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023 this year, now is the perfect time to think about the nonprofits in your community and how you, your brand, your business can best support them. Here are three ways to that:
Money or valuable goods: This may seem like the most obvious way to help area nonprofits, but it must be said. Nonprofits need funds to achieve their mission. That said, there are ways to make a bigger impact with your donation. During this season of giving some nonprofits are offering a match thanks to a generous donor, for example. Meaning your $500 donation becomes a $1,000 donation.
Another way View supports nonprofits financially is to sponsor events hosted by those nonprofits. This aligns our brand with a great community event, while also helping to raise money for a great cause.
Just like every other business, we have a budget to keep in mind, meaning there isn’t a steady flow of cash waiting to be donated. We are fortunate to have another valuable asset we can donate — advertizing space — which we do often. It’s likely every business has something valuable beyond cash that can be donated — maybe it’s office space, clothing or food.
Marketing partnerships: A forbes.com article on the topic of how to support nonprofits beyond straight cash donations suggests, “One way businesses can support nonprofits is by using their current marketing budgets to advertise about (a nonprofit) partnership. This will benefit the business’ brand and employee morale while also helping to raise awareness for the nonprofit.”
Our team at View works with many clients to do just this. You may have noticed a feature in this newspaper called Community Focus, which is a great example of this practice in action. Tri-County Equipment sponsors the two-age feature with one page being a marketing message from the brand and one page being a full-page profile on a local nonprofit. This is such a great boost to both the client’s brand and the nonprofit, and it’s a great feature for our print publications. It’s a win-win-win.
View Newspaper Group uses this same method in hosting our signature events, which each have a nonprofit partner. The events provide a great way for our readers to connect in person while having a blast. Plus the events, and the advertising we do for the events, raise awareness of our partners, while also raising much-needed monetary funds for these partners. In just over 10 years of events, View has raised more than $240,000 for our nonprofit partners.
Volunteer: Time, talent and treasure is a saying in the nonprofit world for a reason. While treasure is needed, so are your time and talent. Many of our team members volunteer in this capacity offering our marketing, writing or graphic design skills to help a nonprofit.
Other times, volunteer work may be something outside of your professional skill set that still helps the nonprofit. This will surprise no one, but I love to volunteer bartend at a local nonprofit theater, for example. Volunteering is fun and, as an added bonus, studies show it’s great for your physical and mental health.
I’d love to hear how you and your business support nonprofits. Email me at ecaswell@mihomepaper.com.
Emily Caswell is the Brand Manager for VIEW Group, the branding division of View Newspaper Group.