How the Social Marketing Rationale Works For Us

a) Charitable sector engaged in large scale marketing to reach large audiences to affect their behaviour.
b) Budgets are shrinking, affecting charitable marketing needs.
c) Corporations find themselves wooing same audience as charities.
d) See benefits to aligning themselves with charity to reach same audience and in so-doing support charitable marketing needs.

Public health units are targeting bigger audiences through increasingly sophisticated public health campaigns. Need to reach large audiences with messages that effectively promote behaviour change or create a groundswell of favourable public option. But less money than ever to finance public education communication and marketing needs. Health promoters and corporations wooing same audience creates opportunity for good relationship.

Research shows community health and preventive care gaining currency in world of business.

Corporate Encouragement Of Volunteering

Data we have looked at gives a mixed message about corporate volunteerism. Almost two-thirds (60%) have a policy or program to encourage employee volunteering. However a study by the Centre, the Conference Board and York University's Voluntary Sector program found that less than one-third of 200 companies have formal volunteer policies. However, policies are easy to pass and to ignore and we know of companies who have great written policies but do little or nothing to encourage their employees to become involved in volunteer activity. This being said we have been impressed with the number of senior corporate leaders with whom we have been involved in meetings who have made it clear that they want to see proposals brought to them which include the opportunity for employee involvement. I have to say in all candor that we have been pleasantly surprised and impressed by the number of times this has been brought to our attention. Where organizations are tailoring their programs to provide the opportunity for meaningful, time limited, employee involvement, we are seeing positive responses -- the Big Brothers movement is getting a tremendous response from employers and employees alike to its in-school mentoring program, The Learning Partnership has seen its "take a kid to work" program take off.

The challenge for us is to come up with creative programming that provide "win win" scenarios.

Investment/Solicitation

There is no more effective method of asking for gifts than face to face solicitation by individuals who believe in a cause enough that they are willing to give time and effort to serve as spokespersons for an organization and participate in solicitation calls. Ideally two individuals are involved in the solicitation call. Volunteers ad to the credibility of the organization and its cause by the very fact that they are freely choosing to serve as its advocates, they do not have the self-interest that staff clearly have in seeing that their programs and services have the necessary funds.

The volunteer explains why the cause is important to society and the person being asked for support, why they, the volunteer(s) have supported the organization and to ask the prospect to make an investment in the organization.

About Fund Raising:

Fund raising is about developing advocates who demonstrate their belief in us by providing financial support. As Posso states, "Fund raising is not a simple process. It is a complex exercise that seeks to involve people in service to a cause that is responsive to human needs and that is worthy of support as a result of this service. By inviting a philanthropic response through gift making and voluntary service and association, the non-for-profit organization creates an advocacy force that becomes the core of its strength, thus ensuring its process into the future."

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