BBB Promotes Home Agents Partnering with a Worthy Cause

Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North DakotaThe Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota (BBB) recommended that home-based agents consider partnering with a worthy cause in the form of donating proceeds from sales, promoting a charity or encouraging customers to give. The Chronicle of Philanthropy found that at the end of 2008, 60 percent of small business owners felt the effects of the recession, prompting the BBB to suggest cause-related marketing as a strategy, citing October's National Breast Cancer Awareness Month as an example. BBB also suggested embedded giving where customers are asked if they want to donate at check out, where the desired amount can be tacked onto their total.

In turn, the BBB and the BBB Wise Giving Alliance encourages potential givers to research the charity's programs, finances and governance, get formal permission from the charity to use their name and likeness, and list the right disclosures, including how much from each purchase will go toward the charity, the time frame for the campaign, and if it's applicable, the minimum or maximum the charity will receive.

“Times are tough for small business owners, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be good corporate citizens and help out a worthy cause this holiday,” said Dana Badgerow, president and CEO of the BBB. “By partnering with a charity, small businesses can help raise awareness as well as money for the cause and generate goodwill for the company in the process.”

Visit www.bbb.org/charity.