How do you handle your charity requests? Are there too many? Do you have to say 'no' to some?

By Staff -- Gifts & Decorative Accessories, 12/1/2004

Alex Franklin, Alex Franklin Ltd., Charleston, WV

That's a tough one. I hate to say how many requests we get weekly, if not monthly. We try to assess them. There are only so many of these that you can do so we try to choose the ones that we believe in, that our customers also believe in. What we try to do is give gift certificates, to get someone into the store. Since we live in an area with lots of towns that adjoin each other, we try to keep things close to the community we're located in. We try to make it more "neighborhood giving" so that we feel like we're really part of a giving experience. We're very strong in the breast cancer walks, Alzheimer's, and other health issues, because I feel that's an area where we can really make a difference. And also anything to do with children's needs.

Believe it or not, there's no one we've ever said no to. What we give is a flat fee for everybody; a $25 to $50 gift certificate, and that seems to make everybody happy. If someone asks can you give more, we explain that instead of picking and choosing the charities we give to, we make it egalitarian. Between our two stores we get about 50 to 100 requests a year so we can't afford to be super generous to everyone. A gift certificate is also good because it brings people into the store. And usually the people who ask us are customers. They're local charities or school fundraisers, and it's our way of connecting with the community.

We get hit up constantly. How I handle it depends on the charity. I try to unload stock that's been sitting around. A client of mine is having a charity event for the local church. I made a deal with her; I said I'd donate two lamps if she put a flyer in her program announcing my open house event. She agreed. I also said, 'Why don't we have a ladies night in my store after Christmas. I'll give 20 percent off, 50 percent off Christmas items, and I'll donate 10 percent to the church if you can promise to fill my store.' She agreed to that too. There's always room to get rid of something in the store, but I try to stay away from giving cash unless it's something that I really feel strongly about. And I try not to say 'no' because I'm in a small town.

We like to be creative with our giving at Zehnder's Magic of the Seasons, donating merchandise or services but not cash. I am most generous with the charities that I'm personally involved with, such as our local hospital. We donate merchandise for auctions as well as prizes for their ladies auxiliary luncheons. I also give time by decorating the hospital memorial tree. We get some really good PR from that. This year we've invited a local displaced children's home to sell their cards in our store on busy holiday weekends. They keep all the profits. For other groups, we have a packet of promotional coupons that offers a free tea light candle just for visiting our store, plus discounts or gift with purchase, so their members benefit and hopefully we generate some store traffic.