Canadian Retailer - Store 2014 - 4

MEMBER INSIGHTS GUEST COLUMN

PARTNERING FOR
SUCCESS

Charitable organizations can help you
help those in need while meeting your
organizations objectives
SUCCESSFUL businesses today are more than four

walls and a door-they are an integral part of communities, locally and nationally. Companies, associations and business groups are finding new ways
to support communities through their everyday
operations. Whether that means partnering with
complementary organizations, leveraging each
other's core competencies or integrating with charities, it is the way of the now and the future. Employees expect nothing
less out of the organizations that they work for and a real movement is
happening, not only across Canada, but the world. But, with so many
worthy charitable organizations, the question that many face today is:
which one is the right one to partner with?
To answer this question, the first step is to determine your organization's key objectives. Are you focused on employee engagement? Philanthropic giving to a specific cause? Providing product to support a
charity's efforts? Are you looking for a more strategic alignment? Do
you want to leverage charitable partner brands? Or is your goal to lower
your bottom line through unique business solutions?
At Habitat for Humanity Canada, we provide a great example of how
organizations can integrate with a charity on multiple levels. When
you think about Habitat, the first thing that comes to mind, other than
Jimmy Carter, is our core mission of building safe, decent and affordable housing for low-income families in communities all across Canada. As an organization, Habitat prides itself on being able to adapt to
match any partner's needs, offering exciting partnership opportunities
which support a number of aforementioned objectives.
Two very unique partnership opportunities include team build days
and volunteer days in our ReStores. Providing employee teams with
the opportunity to work alongside the families we serve is a powerful
and often life-changing experience. With some 85 ReStores across the
country (and counting), our retail outlets remain our largest fundraiser.
Our stores sell 100 per cent donated products such as furniture, home
decor, building materials, appliances, etc. These stores provide a unique
solution to any business that deals with excess inventory. Whether it's
end of line, discontinued, obsolete or overstock inventory, we save you
money and divert product from landfills. ReStores will even provide
logistics support, tax receipts for the values of the product and great
branding opportunities made to the program.
So, the question is no longer "Should we partner with a charity?" but
"Which charity should we partner with?".
Rob Voisin
Senior Director, ReStore and Product Services
Habitat for Humanity Canada

canadian retailer | store 2014 | www.retailcouncil.org/cdnretailer

STOR E 2014 | VOLUME 24 ISSUE 4

publisher

Diane J. Brisebois
s e n i o r v i c e - p r e s i d e n t,
m a r k e t i n g & c o m m u n i c at i o n s

Sharon Armstrong
editor-in- chief

Sean C. Tarry
(416) 922-6678, ext. 286
starry@retailcouncil.org
art direction

Scope Media
www.scopemedia.ca
contributors

Talbot Boggs, Stuart Foxman, Andrew
Hind, Shilpa Kotecha, David McPherson,
Robert Price, Rob Voisin
d i r e c t o r o f p u b l i c at i o n s

Bob Phillips
rphillips@naylor.com
project manager

Kim Davies
kdavies@naylor.com
sales manager

Bill McDougall
bmcdougall@naylor.com
editorial office

1881 Yonge Street, Suite 800
Toronto, Ontario M4S 3C4
Phone: (416) 922-6678 | Fax: (416) 922-8011
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a d v e r t i s i n g/ p r o d u c t i o n o f f i c e

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Winnipeg, Manitoba R3J 3X1
Phone: (800) 665-2456 | Fax: (800) 709-5551
www.naylor.com
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Canadian Retailer - Store 2014

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