Finding Non-profits that Fit With Your Style of Community Involvement

Finding Non-profits that Fit With Your Style of Community Involvement

Along with the sales seasonality of the fourth quarter comes a long list of opportunities for you to get involved in your community. In fact, it’s one of the very best ways to build your reputation and brand.

Years ago I heard Jay Conrad Levinson, the father of guerrilla marketing, speak at what used to be PPA’s Marketing and Management Conference. In his list of top 100 things guerrilla marketers needed to do was give back to their community. Why? Because people like buying products from companies they perceive as giving back.

To take it a step further and these are my words, not his…you’re looking for the community to be good to you, so you better make sure you’re being good to the community. It’s that simple but so critical to the growth of your business.

Well, it’s the fourth quarter, and that gives you plenty of time to start making the rounds to see who in your community needs help through the holidays. Start with the Chamber of Commerce to find out what’s going on over the next few months.

Even more efficient, if you don’t know enough about what non-profit programs are going on in your state, here’s the link to a terrific site, Great Nonprofits. Just click on the banner below and you’ll be able to search by state, city and zip code.

Then there are photo-centric charities right within the photography community like PPA Charities, NILMDTS Help-Portrait, HeartsApart and the Josephine Herrick Project just to name a few. And, if you still haven’t found a way to give back to your community that fits with your style, contact the local PTA, homeless shelters, hospitals, food banks, organizations like Kiwanis, Lions Club and Rotary.  Everybody needs help. With or without your camera in your hand, you have a chance to make a difference.

Most important of all, don’t worry about how big a program you’re involved in – this is about giving back in any shape or size…

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great heart.”
Mother Teresa

Next Post:
Previous Post:
This article was written by
Skip Cohen

Skip Cohen is an industry executive recognized for his diversity. He has served as past president of Hasselblad USA, Rangefinder/WPPI and in 2009 founded his own educational consulting company. In 2013 he launched Skip Cohen University dedicated to helping artists build a stronger business. He's a regular speaker at a variety of conventions and writes for several different magazines, as well as having two business classes at Lynda.com. Click above to visit the SCU blog.

There are 48 comments for this article

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *