Condo Media - January 2013 - 34

COVER STORY

munity,” and the charitable giving his firm does and encourages his client communities to do is part of that community building process. The collaborative charity efforts also “bind my clients emotionally to me and to my brand,” he believes, giving his company a potential edge when competing with others less committed to charitable giving. “I don’t know how much of my firm’s resources are devoted to charity work,” Levy says, “and I can’t tell you how much of a return it generates. But I can tell you I have shockingly high client retention. Are the two related? I don’t know? But I would still do this even if there were no business return at all.”

Leverage can have an impressive multiplier effect in a charitable giving program, but it also risks alienating clients or colleagues who may feel pressured or think they are being used. Industry executives who promote corporate giving programs are acutely aware of those risks. How do they leverage business relationships without straining them? The short answer: Very carefully.

No Hard Sell
Levy says he approaches only associations he thinks will be receptive to participating in the clothing drives, while avoiding others. And he avoids anything approaching a hard sell. He includes pictures of his company’s donation box in some communications, and around the holidays, he says, “We may send out a notice or two” in newsletters. “But we don’t ask 17 times for donations. There’s a point at which that message gets garbled and becomes morally arrogant — and we don’t want to go there.” Like Levy, Gopin is “very picky” about the clients and business associates he approaches and about how he frames his requests. “We don’t send mass mailings” to owners in communities his firm manages, Gopin says, because he knows how annoying and counter-productive that can be. “As the owner of a firm, I get solicitations all the time. People who pester me don’t get anything,” he says firmly. But Gopin knows his clients and leverages that information to good effect for the charities his firm supports. When the trustee of one community died from cancer, he notes, “we saw an opportunity to turn a negative into a positive.” He sent a condolence message to the board and to community residents, asking if there was anything the firm could do, and asking specifically if anyone wanted to join the team G&G is fielding to ride in the next Pan-Mass Challenge. “We’ll probably get someone to ride for this trustee’s family and donate [to Dana Farber] on his behalf,” Gopin predicts.

Leveraging Relationships
Although Levy, Gopin and Marcus structure their charitable giving programs differently, all use the size, position and/or influence of their firm’s as leverage to expand their charitable reach. Levy places donation boxes permanently in his corporate office and in some communities, and installs them temporarily in others to facilitate the donations residents want to make. Marcus established a foundation in order to attract contributions outside of his firm, and Gopin leverages both personal and professional relationships to attract sponsors, donors and participants in his firm’s golf tournament and the Pan-Mass Challenge. “Because we have such a large reach,” through clients, business partners and colleagues in the industry, Gopin explains, “we can use the firm’s giving program as a forum to get others involved. It’s a way of leveraging what we do” to do more for the charities G&G supports. Gopin doesn’t limit his outreach to employees, clients, colleagues and friends. A manager who works for a competing firm is riding with G&G’s Pan-Mass team and “there’s no reason not to include him,” Gopin says. “I would let my people ride for someone else or play in another company’s golf tournament. I’ve never felt uncomfortable about that.”

Maria Benway, business development manager at ServiceMaster by Gilmore, knows as much as anyone about the challenges of “threading the needle” when approaching clients and business partners for charitable contributions. In addition to soliciting holiday contributions for Toys for Tots, which her company supports, Benway is a longtime member of the CAI-NE Golf Committee, which organizes the silent auction the chapter sponsors annually to raise money for a designated charity. Committee members solicit donations for the auction, and, Benway notes, “you have to use a little finesse” in that effort. “You can’t be too pushy about it.” Sensitive to the risk that some clients or colleagues might resist or resent solicitations, Benway says, “there are some people I don’t call.” And she is careful to tell those she does contact that, “it’s OK to say no. It’s important to remember that people are hit left and right by different charities,” she notes, “and they will pick what is important to them. You have to respect them for that.” Soliciting contributions to any charitable cause is, at heart, a sales and marketing effort, Benway says, “and if you’re in sales, you can’t be afraid to hear ‘no.’ You can’t take it personally.”

A Personal Choice
Selecting the charities a company is going to support, on the other hand, can be very personal indeed. At CAINE, the Golf Committee selects the targeted charity from suggestions offered by members. But at G&G, making that choice is “a perk of owning the company,” Gopin says. Years ago, the company supported the local boys and girls club, primarily, he explains, because his mother worked for someone who served on the organization’s board, and “it was a good cause, with no negative aura.” But most of the people he solicited for contributions had no direct connection to the organization or the population it serves, which tended to

CONDO MEDIA • JANUARY 2013

Condo Media - January 2013

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