Sponsoring a charity event for PR purposes

In Social, Strategy

Ignoring any tax relief opportunities, there are a number of reasons why a business might get involved in a charity event or fundraising cause. Typically there’ll be a local fundraising initiative or a charity that’s relevant to your market, typically they’ll contact you before you think to contact them. Getting involved in charity isn’t purely for that intrinsic, feel good factor, and it’s OK to admit that. Whilst if feels good to raise money and raise awareness for a good cause, there should be an advantage to your business too. That way, everyone wins. Origami has supported a couple of charity events this winter – one large with a European reach, the other very small and specifically related to the town in which we live.

The Snow-Camp Alpine Challenge

Raising money to support the work of Snow-Camp is important to us. The charity provides life changing experiences for kids from inner-city backgrounds, giving them personal and professional development opportunities on the snow. Snow-Camp is relevant as it’s winter sports based, and it’s fun because their annual Alpine Challenge asks teams of four skiers and snowboarders to cover a gruelling 150kms on skis, plus a night hike, plus a sledge relay. It’s certainly not for the feint hearted. We paid to enter a team of four locals into the challenge and we raised funds all winter for the charity. Under the name ‘Team Morzine Source Magazine’, we smashed the 150km challenge, coming first and covering a staggering 313km over two days. Pitched alongside teams from EA Sports, Google and a number of big banks, our lads certainly had a home advantage. Let’s look at the media impact of being involved in and winning this high profile challenge:

– 105 new Twitter followers during the course of the challenge (it’s fair to say our team tweeted their way around the Portes du Soleil)
– Our challenge video had over 7600 views on YouTube, showcasing both the event and our business
– Coverage on a number of high profile websites including PlanetSki and InTheSnow

Now we’re not suggesting that you plan a ROI strategy for your charity involvement, but if you don’t look for ways to create awareness for your own business through your charitable involvement, you’ll soon loose interest.

The Cavern 247 Film Competition

This local annual event raises money for the Morzine skatepark and a local cancer care centre. Each year teams register, collect their competition bibs from The Cavern Bar in Morzine, then spend the next seven days making a short film. Each year the entries get funnier, while at the same time showcasing the beautiful scenery of the Portes du Soleil ski area. As the main media partner, Morzine Source Magazine promotes the event both locally and regionally, donates to the causes and provides assistance at the event. Being involved in local community events such as the Cavern 247 video competition helps to generate awanress for Morzine Source Magazine. Providing and sharing local event information is great for our website SEO and being the first place to showcase all the videos will also generate a lot of web traffic after the event. Branding and banners on the evening will reinforce the magazine’s image, encouraging other local businesses to get involved with the magazine.

– Are you planning your own charitable strategy? Here’s some ideas for you…
– Are there any charities or foundations that are relevant to your business?
– Have you considered starting your own charitable foundation as an extension of your own business?
– How much revenue can you commit to charity involvement and events each year?
– Once you’ve found a charity, it’s OK to ask them what you get in return for getting involved.
– Draft a press release to announce your involvement and get it out there – this benefits your business AND the charity.