Mixing Business With Charity

For immediate release
2 July 2003

MIXING BUSINESS WITH CHARITY

The University of Auckland Business School is currently hosting internationally renowned consultant in cause-related marketing, Dr Richard Steckel.

Dr Steckel is visiting Auckland to present two Short Courses at the Business School on the mutual advantages of aligning charity and profit making organisations. This year's courses are "Fundraising for Corporates" and "Fundraising for Not for Profit Organisations."

Dr Steckel is one of the world's leading consultants on partnerships between private business and charities. He is the President and founder of AddVenture Network in Denver, an organisation that aims to promote and develop cause-related marketing strategies.

Since 1984, Dr Steckel has worked with more than 200 for and nonprofit organisations across the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, assisting them to develop earned income strategies, products and services.

He is the co-author of the best selling book, Filthy Rich: How to Turn your Nonprofit Fantasies into Cold, Hard Cash and published Making Money While Making a Difference: How to Profit with a Non Profit Partner, in 1999. Two new books are due out in 2003 and 2004.

Dr Steckel, who visited New Zealand last year, says larger companies here are more involved with cause-related marketing than their smaller counterparts, but he predicts that in a few years there will be a surge in small and middle-sized businesses adopting the same practices.

Examples include a dry cleaner who offers to act as a drop off point for clothing donations and cleans them before passing them onto a charity or a florist who might give customers a discount and donate 10 percent of profits to an animal charity for a special day.

Plans like these can help small businesses stand out and become recognisable.

"They create a personalty for the store and give people a reason to seek them out," says Dr Steckel.

"It's good business and being a good person can go hand in hand. The topic is not going away worldwide. If anything, it's increasing." However, Dr Steckel cautions that cause-related marketing should be embraced sincerely or not at all.

"Do it because you believe in it or you'll be seen as a fraud."

The University of Auckland Business School runs more than 180 Short Courses throughout the year, aimed at providing concentrated, relevant information specially packaged for business practitioners. Each course is presented by an expert in the field. Around 12,000 people have attended Short Courses since 1996.

For further details of all the Short Courses on offer, go to www.shortcourses.ac.nz or phone 0800 800 875

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