Some of you may remember that in June we did a teleseminar with Roy MacNaughton about how non-profits can partner up with businesses for win-win fundraising promotions. Roy recently wrote an ebook that is targeted toward people who operate restaurants, but it elaborates on a lot of the ideas he shared in the teleseminar as well.
In fact, Roy sent me an early edition yesterday. The book suggests that restaurateurs approach non-profits to "generate publicity and good will" for their restaurants by hosting events. For example, here's a cool idea that's in the book. A chef named Matt Cohen who owns the New South Cafe in Savannah, Georgia launched a "Cooking for Charity" campaign, in which he partnered with a different non-profit charity each month for a fundraiser on their behalf. Each event consisted of cooking instruction and a meal. He raised money for the March of Dimes, the Second Harvest Chef's Table, and breast cancer research. In all, Chef Matt Cohen contributed over $30,000 in 2007 through his Cooking for Charity campaign.
So do you know a chef in your town? In today's lackluster economy, many small local businesses are looking for marketing ideas. In the book Roy suggests that restaurateurs approach non-profits, but as a non-profit, there's no reason you can't approach them first. After all, when you work together, everyone wins!
You can read more about Roy on his blog. If you ask nicely, he might even give you a free copy of the ebook too ;-)