“Guilt-Free Splurging”
Okay, this post requires a bit of work on your part…and a bit of cost as well. What started me thinking was all those wonderful holiday fashions for body and home I’m seeing recently (how I long for a “new” vintage Santa to add to my collection!)… and how tight everyone’s purse-strings are feeling what with the economy and family budgets being strained by circumstances.
Wouldn’t it be nice to “allow” your email recipients to have a teeny-tiny shopping splurge without the guilt? Hence, the title of this post.
Here’s how to make it guilt-free, do some good, get some PR, and polish the reputation of your business within the community.
A local restaurant, already a tradition in Tampa and Sarasota and elsewhere in Florida, does this every September, which is their slow season:
The good guys at the Columbia Restaurant on St. Armands host their 12th annual Community Harvest throughout September. Come in for lunch or dinner, then choose which of 15 area nonprofits will get 5 percent of your check.
How easy is THIS? Choose a few local charities who need help, covering a variety of good causes. Get THEM to help you publicize the event through their in-house and network-of-supporters communications and press contacts/acumen.
During your event, make it memorable with props (which also, of course, make great photo-ops for the media. I’d collect up as many large glass jars as I had charities, add their logo as a “label”, and line them up on the sales counter (or on a shelf behind, visible to your clientele.)
Then I would deposit, in crisp dollar bills and coins, with great flourish, the 5% during EVERY purchase. Thanks, Ms. Jones, which charity do YOU select for my $3 donation in appreciation of your purchase today? The Food Pantry? Ah, that $3 MyShop is donating will buy a good meal for a hungry family.
Don’t be surprised if Ms. Jones digs into her purse to add a few bucks of her own to the jar…since you reinforced that the donation is coming from MyShop as you put the actual money in the actual jar!
Note for thrift-shop managers: The very same concept can be used to benefit your NFP corporation while keeping the funds in-house. Allow your shoppers to choose amongst the various programs your organization runs: the Christmas fund, after-hours child care, the free dental clinic…
Make the distribution of the donations another community event as well: If you have a weekly or monthly after-hours event, the very next one could have a special meaning as you invite a representative from each of your charities and hand over the actual jar of money (with a nice big sign on it with the total!) in a short ceremony.
Great publicity opportunity in the first few weeks of the upcoming year, so don’t forget to invite (all!) the press!
For more ideas on how to make the most of any promotional event before, during and after, see Resale’s BEST Promotions , one of the helpful Too Good to be Threw Products for the Professional Resaler. See the full range of Products here.
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Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
[…] could turn this idea (and so many others) into a fund-raiser as well, whether you’re a NFP thrift or a for-profit…. Share […]
One year my store advertised the “Twelve Days of Christmas.” For twelve consecutive days we chose 12 area schools (both public and private) and gave 5% of sales to one school each day. The schools were notified ahead of time so they could encourage their students and families to shop on their designated day. It was good PR, but I only received 2 thank-you letters after mailing the checks, which was a disappointment considering how many hundreds of dollars in donations we sent.
Hi Your Stuff, Take it from a pro. If you’re expecting thank-you notes for your generosity, dream on. There’s all sorts of comforting quotes about letting one’s good works be their only reward, but still I cannot help counseling you to, the next time you choose to give assistance of any sort, work with other good causes. Fortunately, there are so many wonderful and grateful recipients that this shouldn’t be a difficult task. Don’t let others’ rudeness blind you to the good your business can do in your community!
What a great idea, Kate. I’ve already designated and advertised for a different charity to get a percentage of my sales each Saturday of December, but I’m printing this and keeping it in my scrapbook for next year. And I like the idea of putting the money right in the jar while folks are there. Brilliant!
Yes, Nancy, it’s all about VISUALS… after all, people like to SEE good being done. Putting cash money directly from your register into glass jars reminds folks that your business is donating to charity based on their patronage, which allows them to feel good… and, as I wrote, such a display may also nudge them into a little donation from their pocket as well, which helps the charity even further.