{"id":134,"date":"2009-06-12T08:28:10","date_gmt":"2009-06-12T07:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/philanthropy\/?p=134"},"modified":"2009-06-12T08:35:57","modified_gmt":"2009-06-12T07:35:57","slug":"how-charities-can-get-support-from-family-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/philanthropy\/2009\/06\/12\/how-charities-can-get-support-from-family-businesses\/","title":{"rendered":"How charities can get support from family businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I blogged about the key conclusions of \u00a0‘Natural Philanthropists’, the new report I’ve written on family business philanthropy. But as someone who started out as a fundraiser, I’m most excited about sharing the section of the report that contains ‘lessons for charities’ seeking support from this sector. Here’s a summary of what we found, for more details do have a look at the full report<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1. Family business owners may be more ‘naturally philanthropic’ than non-family owners, but they are busy people, so do check the criteria to avoid a wasted application and ensure your proposition doesn\u2019t make unreasonable expectations on their time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

2. Family businesses respond positively to impressive individuals, they buy into the charity leadership as much as the charity\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Family businesses look for well-run charities that can prove their impact. The ‘ask’ needs to go beyond telling good stories to include evidence that the funds make a difference.<\/p>\n

4. Do your research \u2013 family business owners have more discretion over philanthropic spending than non-family business, so look for family connections that enhance your appeal.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

5. Family businesses often support local sports teams, which combine doing good in the local community with publicity, for example by including company logos on kits; charities should think about ways they can offer similar promotional benefits.<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0Family businesses are predominantly small, and they have a tendency to work with similarly sized charities, preferably those that focus on the community in which the business is located.\u00a0<\/p>\n

7. However, larger family businesses with increasingly globalised business arrangements may contribute to more strategic philanthropic approaches that disburse funds beyond the local community, as such businesses may feel less ‘rooted’ in their local neighbourhood and may feel less of an urge to ‘give something back’ to their community.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

8.\u00a0Much family business decision making is informal \u2013 it happens around the kitchen table rather than at board meetings – so personal relationships with significant family members matter more than formal presentations to senior executives.<\/p>\n

And finally – the family business owners who contributed to this research were clear that fundraisers should not be pessimistic about the impact of the recession: many family businesses would rather cut dividends than cut their charity budget and will avoid reneging on pledges, not least because of the reputational impact.<\/p>\n

One told us:\u00a0\u201cDespite the current economic climate we will always see giving as a priority, none of the family members would think it was right to do less\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

And another said:\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m not saying our giving is untouchable but I can\u2019t contemplate standing in front of close family members and saying \u2018we\u2019ll increase the dividend but we\u2019re going to slash the charitable funds\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

But fundraisers should<\/span>\u00a0expect to change their approach during the economic downturn, for example glamorous fundraising dinners are not attractive in this climate. As one owner said:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe froth will be off, like taking a table at a glitzy, high-profile fundraising dinner that everybody\u2019s got to bid daft prices for daft holidays, we\u2019ll be avoiding those sorts of things\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

In conclusion, seeking support from family businesses involves a slightly different approach to traditional corporate fundraising – it’s more personal and a bit harder to get access to the decision makers. But the defining features of family businesses – values in the workplace and a commitment to stewardship – means that these firms are ‘naturally’ philanthropic and prefer continuity in their philanthropic acts. It may be harder to attract their initial support but the pay-off is a productive, meaningful, long-term relationship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I blogged about the key conclusions of \u00a0‘Natural Philanthropists’, the new report I’ve written on family business philanthropy. But as someone who started out … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/philanthropy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/philanthropy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/philanthropy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/philanthropy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/philanthropy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/philanthropy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/philanthropy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions\/139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/philanthropy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/philanthropy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/philanthropy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}