Serendipitous suppporter--right here.

I don't know about you, but I tend to be a little hot and cold when faced with the question, "Would you like to donate an extra dollar to blaaaaaaaank organization?" Depending on my mood, how legit the organization sounds, my latest bank statement, etc., I will either be really quick to respond with "yes!" or politely decline. Though I like that companies are taking initiatives to raise money this way, I kind of feel indifferent about this form of fundraising. Like I said before, there are just too many factors to deter customers from donating.

And actually, on the flip side, I work at Arby's (yes, fastfood) and every year we participate in the annual Big Brother Big Sister fundraiser--which I think is awesome. I love the fact that we participate every year. Because we do, it allows me as employee to justify to our questionable customers that it is indeed a "legit" fundraiser. The only issue that I have with it..is actually the same as I touched upon earlier; there are just too many customer deterants--and these deterants that lead to the response "Maybe later/I've already donated/I don't have the funds right now" are the biggest problem. No employee cares to hear why you "can't" donate at the time, and really this response only registers in their heads as why you "won't" donate--which turns the whole concept into something negative.

Okay, so I realize that I've gotten a bit off track and that this isn't the case for all employees participating in this type of fundraising, but this just leads me to my explanation as to why cause marketing is the best method for corporate and non-profit collaborations. Don't leave so much choice up to the customer--and I don't mean it like that. I mean it like, don't leave customers with a simple yes/no response; rather, involve them in the process. Allocate that a certain amount of proceeds from a particular product go towards the non-profit partner. That way, customers have choice to justify for themselves why they should buy this product and essentially help the non-profit's cause. Corporations have realized that customers like to have some say in what they support, which is why cause marketing has become so prevalent.

So, I still want to know..what do you support?--and why do you support it? Which type of fundraising are you more receptive to? I know that, personally, I prefer knowing that a product that I've chosen to buy will be supporting a cause that I support. It just makes me feel more involved in the entire process. I mean, I know it's cool to walk out of a store with a whole bunch of coupons for having said "yes" to donating, but honestly, will you be using them?--or were they just a waste of paper? And will you remember the cause tomorrow?