Charity Spotlight - The Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation

We love to SPOTLIGHT ways Charity Charms are being used.

A message from the ARPF:

"The Alzheimer's Research and Prevention Foundation (ARPF) is pleased to announce a wonderful fundraising initiative with an item that will make a great gift item for family members, friends and colleagues who have been touched by Alzheimer's disease.  In a SPECIAL offering, we have partnered with Charity Charms, a national organization dedicated to helping non-profits bring awareness to their cause, by offering a way to REMEMBER those that are affected by Alzheimer's disease.

Together we created a beautiful "Memory Band" with a charm that you will be proud to wear or gift.  Made from recycled lead free pewter with an earth friendly silicone band, it has the image of an elephant. As you know, an elephant "never forgets".  We took that image and created these "Memory Bands" to give you a way to honor and remember your loved ones that are affected by this disease. This year, ARPF is celebrating its 20th anniversary and created a special edition of these bands.

Please consider supporting the research and work of the ARPF by wearing our bracelet and telling your story about how Alzheimer's disease has affected you."

To order directly from the ARPF click below:

Learn how your organization can create its own custom charm program.

Simply click below or call (800) 615-3120.

Bret Michaels Wins Award, and wears GivingBands™!

Bret Michaels was recently awarded the Chair's Citation Award from the American Diabetes Association for his efforts to spread awareness and to help find a cure for diabetes. With his recent victory on the show, "Celebrity Apprentice," he raised $390,000 for ADA.

We would like to congratulate him on receiving this award and thank him for all of his work to help stop diabetes. We also would like to say thanks for wearing the American Diabetes Association's custom GivingBands™ by Charity Charms!

For more information about Bret and the American Diabetes Association, go here.

Another Fabulous Partner: American Diabetes Association

The American Diabetes Association is a great organization that fights to find a cure for diabetes through funding research, providing support, and offering community services. We have had the privilege to work with this organization to come up with custom ADA products to help promote the cause and raise funds. Here is an example of how they have used Charity Charms GivingBands^TM:

Partnering with Charity Charms, Phoenix has designed a Stop Diabetes Giving Band. These bands will be premiered at next weekend's 2010 American Diabetes Association EXPO. "As part of our Share Your Story Booth, the first 25 attendees to share their story will receive a Stop Diabetes gift," explained Jayme. "They can choose from the Giving Band or Stop Diabetes T-shirt. EXPO attendees can also 'Band Together and Stop Diabetes' by purchasing a Stop Diabetes Giving Band/T-shirt combo in the Bookstore."
(From an ADA Newsletter)

Be sure to check out their website for information about this fantastic organization.

Monthly Marketing Tip: Use GivingBands­™ to enhance your raffle

Raffles can be a wonderful source of fundraising and a nice enhancement to any event or campaign. A fun idea that many charities have done with their custom GivingBands™ is to include them in a raffle:

'Purchase $50 worth of raffle tickets and receive this fun GivingBand™ as our thank you!'

People LOVE gifts and thank you’s and the GivingBands™ engage everyone at your event to purchase raffle tickets. And, you KNOW that they have purchased because they are wearing the band so they won’t be bombarded again and again by different raffle selling volunteers!

Monthly Marketing Tip:

Create a colorful CAUSE MARKETING/GIVING campaign

You spend thousands of dollars on direct marketing campaigns asking your donors for financial support. Over ten “asks” landed in our mailbox last week! NOT ONE offered to send anything to show that we HAD indeed donated OR asked us to spread the word about their mission. Imagine if just ONE of the asks we received offered to GIVE a bright colored GivingBand™ as a THANK YOU for a $50 donation. The donation would live on as the bracelet was worn, and so would the fundraising campaign.

A brightly colored postcard featuring your logo GivingBand™ can engage your donor and will stand out in the mail. The donor can donate online, and when the bracelet(s) is sent, the envelope provides another opportunity to market to the supporter about your cause or upcoming event.

Better yet. Do a direct mail CAUSE MARKETING campaign. Your sponsor underwrites the cost of the GivingBands™, mailing, and fulfillment. They receive acknowledgment & thanks, and the end supporter receives a coupon to support the business as well as the charity.

Supporter or not, spending money to make money is necessary for non-profits as well as businesses. If the cost per GivingBand is $5 (or less) and can bring in a $50 donation…isn’t that a great ROI?

Cause Marketing can Change the World

Charity Charms was a sponsor at the Cause Marketing Forum in Chicago this month and it was an invaluable experience. Our goal was to meet national charities and corporations to introduce them to our Shared Giving Program. The Shared Giving program combines GivingBands™ as the vehicle, Charities as the platform, and a key corporation collaborating in a program to “BAND together to SUPPORT AMERICA’s CHARITIES”… a win/win for all. We certainly achieved our goal, but the ultimate benefit of attending the conference was interfacing with over 400 dynamic charities, consultants, and corporations and hearing about CAUSE MARKETING programs that have made history (like Nike’s LIVESTRONG).

Businesses are increasing the focus on their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustaining relationships with charities whose causes align with their goals or products. New ways of connecting and supporting each other HAVE to happen and there was a lot of BUZZ about changing the world.

Wendy MacGregor, the Senior Vice President, CMO of Feeding America gave a moving presentation with the theme “Selling Doesn’t Mean Selling Out.” Wendy shared with the attendees the importance of marketing of their brand and mission in order to see a Hunger-Free America in our lifetime. Feeding America won the 2010 Golden Halo Award for a non-profit, and in her acceptance speech she thanked “our wonderful, smart and generous partners for making this recognition possible. For it is these very partnerships that are critical to our mission of feeding American’s hungry and engaging the public in the fight to end hunger, through increased financial resources and increased brand and issue visibility.”

As you plan your Fall initiatives, encourage your team to seek out businesses that align with your mission and create a Cause Marketing campaign to benefit all parties.

If you need a meaningful product to fuel your campaign, like GivingBands™, we can help.

Not only do we provide the products, but we can help craft campaigns.

Charms to Change the World

Cause Marketing: marketing or cause-related marketing refers to a type of marketing involving the cooperative efforts of a "for profit" business and a non-profit organization for mutual benefit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cause_marketing