In June nineteen firefighters were killed battling a wildfire in Yarnell, Arizona. Following the tragedy, $9 million dollars was raised for the victims’ families. Generous, but a far cry from the $61 million raised after the Boston bombings two months earlier that killed three and injured hundreds.
Why did Boston raise so much more? Both tragedies deeply affected specific communities. Both events were horrific and garnered worldwide media attention. Cause marketing played a key role after both tragedies. For example, grocery store chains in Arizona and Massachusetts collected donations at checkout and raised hundreds of thousand of dollars in less than a week after the tragedies.
Still, one tragedy raised almost seven times more money. Was Yarnell less organized or coordinated than Boston when it came to fundraising? Was being burnt to death less moving to donors than being blown up?
We could debate all day whether it was unfair that Boston raised so much money. But a more useful debate would focus on how fundraisers can be fairly executed after tragedies to maximize business giving.
For businesses, the issue is an important one.
Boston-based Cone Communications reported last week that people have high expectations of companies after a disaster (and I assume of its twin, tragedy). Nearly nine of ten people expect companies to play a role in disaster relief. Not acting isn’t a choice for companies. But how to act is less clear.
Fortunately, Cone offers some good advice. It includes focusing on the need – which may call for product instead of cash, or vice versa – and making a long-term commitment to the community.
I have some more advice.
SET UP A CENTRAL FUND.
The distribution of funds raised in Boston has gone smoothly thanks to the establishment of the One Fund Boston. The City of Boston and State of Massachusetts set up the fund after the tragedy to collect and disperse donations to the victims. In Yarnell, donations have been spread over multiple charities with different agendas on how and when the money should be distributed to victims’ families, if at all.
The result has been more grief and waiting for the dead firefighters’ families.
GIVE CASH.
There wasn’t much need for products or services after the Boston bombings so companies and individuals gave cash. Whether its a disaster or tragedy, cash may be the better choice. Juanita Rilling, who runs Center for International Disaster Information, estimated in an NPR story following the killings in Newtown, Connecticut that 60 percent of items donated after a disaster can’t be used.
Newtown families got so many teddy bears that families had to ask people to stop sending them.
After Superstorm Sandy, Rilling’s group ran advertising encouraging cash – not product – donations. “Even a small donation can make a big impact and can quickly become exactly what people affected by disaster need most,” the ad said.
UNLEASH YOUR CUSTOMERS.
I’ve always say that the real money isn’t in the company checkbook, it’s in the company’s customers. Businesses in Boston proved this after the bombings. Twenty-four hours after the tragedy some of New England’s biggest retailers had set up register programs to collect donations for the victims.
Rhode Island based CVS Pharmacy raised over $500,000 in one and three dollar increments in just three weeks. In Arizona, Bashas’ grocery stores raised $120,000 the week after the tragedy.
TURN YOUR BUSINESS INTO A DONATION MACHINE.
Register programs are one type of donation machine. Another is when businesses give do-gooders the resources and infrastructure they need to support causes.
A good example of these Halopreneurs – as I like to call them – are the two college students that designed a t-shirt at the make-on-demand site Ink to the People to help the victims of the Boston bombings. At last count, they sold 59,000 tees and raised nearly a million dollars.
An everyday example of a donation machine are the five Panera Cares Cafes that feed everyone, regardless of their ability to pay. These stores are for people by the people.
Sadly, the next tragedy is right around the corner. Businesses will respond. But how they respond may decide how long the pain lasts.
