Corporate Relations & Engagement

While full-on investment in your strategy is essential, there are other options you might want to consider. View to learn more!

Charities raised more than $358 million last year from businesses that offered shoppers a chance to give at the checkout counter, according to a study released by the Cause Marketing Forum. The Cause Marketing Forum ranked 63 campaigns, focusing on those that raised more than $1 million last year from point-of-sale transactions. Most of the top 10 raised money for health-related causes.

Not all donations need to be of the direct monetary variety. Donors are tighter with their money and are becoming more concerned about where the money is spent. As a result, they sometimes want to give in different ways, and sometimes they might even like something in return. From the point of view of the nonprofit, creativity is crucial. With that in mind, here are five non-traditional and creative resources that nonprofits can use to get donations of both money and items.

And now I shall be the skunk at the garden party and speak of the thing nonprofits can be willfully oblivious to, but which rest assured everyone talks about openly: Nonprofits can be a real pain to work with! As a hybrid — someone who works with for-profits but has roots in the nonprofit world — I hear this a lot. And I mean, a LOT. Specifically, here is the list of peeves that emerges from the for-profit world’s contractors, vendors, designers, consultants, et al.

Yum Brands, which owns KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, is introducing its sixth annual World Hunger Relief fundraiser, to benefit the United Nations World Food Programme and other groups.

Christina Aguilera will be a spokeswoman, and the effort, which encompasses all three brands, will be promoted in their nearly 38,000 restaurants in more than 120 countries. Rather than donations being tied to buying certain menu items, consumers will be asked when they are at the register whether they would like to contribute, as has been the case since the program began in 2007.

Toyota announced the second group of winners of the Toyota 100 Cars for Good program, a national philanthropic program that is awarding 100 cars to 100 nonprofits over the course of 100 consecutive days. Winners are selected each day through public voting on Facebook at www.100carsforgood.com.

Retailer J.C. Penney has launched jcp cares, a new charitable giving program. Through jcp cares, J.C. Penney will support a new cause each month by inviting customers to round up their purchases to the nearest whole dollar and donate the difference to the company's featured charity partner. It kiccked off July 1 with jcpenney's support of the USO. Along with round-up donations raised by customers throughout the month of July, jcpenney will be making a $1 million donation to the USO.

Corporate philanthropic donations as a share of pretax profit are trending at their lowest levels since the 1970s, according to a report presented Wednesday in Philadelphia.

"Corporations are clearly not stepping up," said Patrick Rooney, executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, speaking to dozens of fundraisers from the region at the Union League.

It wasn't quite so clear to Wynnewood lawyer Laura N. Solomon, whose firm specializes in nonprofits.

Wells Fargo & Co. announced a $15 million relationship with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) that launches its new environmental grant program aimed at awarding $100 million to nonprofit organizations and universities by 2020. The five-year program with NFWF will combine the nonprofits’ scientific expertise with Wells Fargo’s philanthropic and volunteer resources to promote environmental stewardship in communities across the U.S.

Details about the new environmental grant program are available here: https://www.wellsfargo.com/about/csr/ea/environmental-giving.

Morgan Stanley announced that 15 nonprofit organizations will participate in the fourth annual Strategy Challenge, a skills-based volunteering program providing nonprofits with pro bono strategic consulting.

Each nonprofit will work with a team of Morgan Stanley employees for eight weeks.  The teams will advise the nonprofits on issues relating to their business models and growth strategies, in order to help the nonprofits fulfill their missions in more effective and efficient ways. The employees will use their professional skills and expertise to develop recommendations for the nonprofits.