#Philanthropy: How to Find and Solicit the Biggest Corporate Donors
In the midst of the present economic crisis, the debate about whether corporations should have social responsibility to give to philanthropic causes has grown heated. Some argue that CR (Corporate Responsibility) departments actually diffuse problems rather than solve them and corporations should put their resources to better, profit-driven, uses for the betterment of all. Others counter that without a role for institutionalized CR, innovation and economic dynamism are often replaced with market suppression and cronyism.
But the present fact is a number of corporations give a good deal of financial and/or goods-in-kind support for social causes (broadly defined). A list of the top 50 (as of July 2011) can be found at The Foundation Center‘s website. What are some of the ways they give? And how might your organization benefit from their philanthropic programs? Over the next few weeks, we’ll present some of the research pursued to see what can be learned about a number of these 50 programs.
We begin with the top 5.
Popularity: 4% | Category Affordable Housing, Banking & Finance, Community, Environment, Fundraising, Grants, Grants and Funding, Greening, Health, Healthcare, Low-Income, Marketing, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Public Relations, Resource, Revitalization | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner
#Interview: Steve Frillmann, Executive Director, Green Guerillas
A community garden created by local residents with the help and support of Green Guerillas
This is a repost of an article that originally appeared on the MKCREATIVE blog in March, 2010.
Each month we look at a marketing challenge faced by many of our clients. This month the issue is when, or if, to switch from print to web-based and social media, and we chose to present it through the eyes of one of our clients. We recently spoke with Steve Frillmann, executive director of Green Guerillas, a nonprofit organization that supports hundreds of community gardens (and gardeners) in New York City.
We’ve been working with the Green Guerillas for nearly 15 years, a relationship that began when Marco Kathuria (MKCREATIVE’s Creative Director & Social Media Strategist) volunteered as photographer/videographer for a project working with children to create colorful murals within community gardens in New York City. Out of that relationship came a realization of a “shared DNA” – a commitment to enrich the lives of city residents, one neighborhood at time. The collaboration with the Green Guerillas evolved into the creation of the organization’s graphic identity and communications toolkit. The marketing mix and the strategic direction it has taken has evolved over the years as a result of the close collaboration between MKCREATIVE and Steve Frillmann.
We began our conversation by asking Steve to give us his perspective on how he sees the Social Media:Direct Mail mix for his own organization, considering that converting one’s communications from print to social media channels is all the rage in business and nonprofit circles. But how useful is a great website if the bulk of your constituents visit the Web infrequently, or never? (more…)
Popularity: 25% | Category Advice, Communications, Community, Cross-Post, E-Mail, eNewsletter, Environment, Greening, How-to, Interview, Marketing, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Perspectives, Perspectives, Revitalization, Social Media, Sustainability, Urban Farming | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner
Sustainability: The Ultimate Guide To Green Conferences
Image via Wikipedia
Kerry Given, a writer with Green Marketing TV, has published a very useful list of conferences focusing on sustainability and green issues that will take place in 2011.
Kerry writes that, “with [the] many different green conferences to choose from, how can you decide which are most important for your business to attend? Choosing wisely will not only save your business time and money, it will also reflect your commitment to green principles.”
Check out the comprehensive listing here.
Popularity: 3% | Category Climate Change, Community, Conference/Congress, Environment, Events, Greening, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Research, Resource, Revitalization, Sustainability | | 0 Comments
Written by: Marco Kathuria
#Tech: The Apple Mac Mini Server – Part 2
Scott Caldarelli returns to continue his discussion of the advantages of the inexpensive Mac Mini Server for your office.
In Part One of my review, I talked about the Mac mini server and how it can provide useful services for your organization. I talked about the built in services that are included from Apple. While they are not bad, there are alternatives to use on the mini server to gain more powerful features.
Popularity: 10% | Category Apple, Database, Hardware Review, iDevice, Nonprofit, Revitalization, Site Administration, Software Review, Technology, Technology for Education, Technology for Nonprofits | | 1 Comments
Written by: Scott Caldarelli
Enviro: Effects of BP Oil Spill Won’t Be Clear For 10 Years
While many of us were reminded this weekend that winter is not over, we also got some stark reminders that the effects of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico are not over either. Unfortunately, the debates about the effects of the spill, which began in April 2010 and was not capped until September, fall along rather obvious lines, with BP arguing the recovery is well under way. And on the surface, it seems to be. But what is out of sight/out of mind? (more…)
Popularity: 5% | Category Environment, News and Current Affairs, Politics, Revitalization | | 1 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner
NeighborWorks America Helps Small Businesses Too
NeighborWorks America has been helping citizens finance their homes since 1968, when Dorothy Mae Richardson, a homemaker and community activist in Pittsburgh, enlisted city bankers and government officials to join with her block club to improve her neighborhood. That early, grass-roots, endeavor to improve the urban housing of Pittsburgh became the successful model replicated across the US in the early and mid-1970s. Now the organization is working with banks to finance small businesses.
Popularity: 1% | Category Blogs, Grants and Funding, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Revitalization | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner
Meta-Debate About Mega-Cities (Or Not) Of The Future
Yesterday we posted news concerning two multi-family buildings opened or in development in Washington DC and Baltimore. These projects, initiated and funded by a bipartisan association of private- and public-sector institutions, are also meeting the gold standard of LEED Certification of environmental stewardship. The project in Washington DC represents a new model of Section 8 housing that has appeared over the last decade or so – a model that encourages the participation and investment of residents inside and around the building to make the community a success (See also our Perspectives interview with Andrew Vincent and Allison Pendell-Jones with the Baltimore AHC). The one in Baltimore is a broader community project meant to encourage an ethnically and economically mixed community in an environment meant to draw on the conveniences of urban living while retaining the space and modern amenities associated with the suburbs. Today we wanted to call attention to a larger debate about how housing, urban populations, and suburban communities might evolve over the next couple of decades as we recover from the Great Recession. How might we live then?
Popularity: 1% | Category Affordable Housing, Community, Greening, Opinion, Revitalization | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner
Baltimore/Washington Area Expanding Multi-Use and Green Housing
Mockup of East Baltimore Uplands Community
The housing market remains in the doldrums and the legal ramifications of the market’s bubble and collapse remain in the news. Nevertheless, the Baltimore-Washington metro region has seen an ongoing commitment from lenders, investors, and construction firms within both the private and public sectors to expand green multi-family housing. Multi-Housing News Online (MHN) has recently reported on a couple of projects that are moving toward completion, even as gloom hangs over the rest of the market.
Popularity: 1% | Category Affordable Housing, Banking & Finance, Community, Greening, Revitalization | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner
Smarter Cities: Opportunity For Corporate And Community Cooperation?
I had a late night out last night (No, nothing particularly entertaining to report; just a late night) and had to drive home along much of the length of a major urban road in northern Baltimore city. Twice I sat at red lights for over a minute while the non-existent traffic on the small cross street got its turn. While cursing my luck and tempting my inner demons simply to pass through the lights, I also wondered what the cost to the city would be to have either traffic-monitoring cameras retrofitted to the lights or at least to have a timer that moved the lights to flashing yellow for the main street at, say midnight. Why couldn’t we have a light/traffic system ‘smart’ enough to keep the cars moving wherever possible or necessary? My thoughts were mimicking IBM’s periodic commercials for ‘building a smarter planet,’ of course. Could my impatience and my desire to respond to my better angels both benefit? Am I allowing myself to be fitted into a corporate grid of inflexibility and power?
Popularity: 1% | Category Community, Opinion, Revitalization, Sustainability, Technology | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner
#Interview: Andrew Vincent & Allison Pendell-Jones of Greater Baltimore AHC
If you’ve ever watched Extreme Home Makeover, you’ve seen the kind of satisfaction one group of people can bring to another by providing them with a home that suits their needs. While the Greater Baltimore AHC (GBAHC) hasn’t caught this kind of ‘extreme’ media attention, they’ve certainly caught the attention of the Baltimore area. GBAHC is part of AHC Inc., a private, nonprofit developer of affordable housing that’s been providing quality homes for low- and moderate-income families since 1975. A subsidiary of AHC Inc., an affordable housing developer in Arlington, VA, Greater Baltimore AHC opened in 2004 to address the need for more affordable housing in the Baltimore region. Today GBAHC has six properties with more than 1,100 affordable apartments.
Popularity: 3% | Category Affordable Housing, Community, Interview, Perspectives, Revitalization, Sustainability | | Comments Off
Written by: Cate Neilson
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