Writing Assignment #5
STRATEGIC PHILANTHROPY: CHOOSING THE BEST PHILANTHROPIC PROJECTS

BACKGROUND

The company where you work has become successful. Started by a motivated entrepreneur and his partner, your company now has just over 200 employees and is still growing.

The owner wishes to support some kind of philanthropic program and asks you to conduct research and report back via email with your brief recommendation of TWO (2) POSSIBLE philanthropic programs/charities to support. He wants to present these two possibilities to the leadership team, and he wants WELL-ANALYZED options that the team can discuss.

ASSIGNMENT—READ CAREFULLY, this has changed from the previous semester’s assignment:

I. Your assignment is to investigate possible philanthropic organizations and projects that you think your company should support.

II. Choose TWO (2) of these and analyze how they might suit your company’s mission and values—and how they might motivate employees to get involved. Your owner wishes to make his corporate philanthropy much more meaningful than just giving money.

III. WRITE a persuasive, concise, and businesslike e-mail to the owner, making a strong and convincing case for your two (2) choices. Make sure you support your recommendations with specific evidence as to why these are strong, viable, and positive choices for your company (e.g., how financially efficient they are—how much of every dollar goes to their programs; how these fit the type of work and/or culture of your business).

IV. On a separate sheet, write out a one-paragraph description of your business—what it does, where it is located, etc. Provide enough information so your instructor can see how you tied your company’s work and culture powerfully to your choices of philanthropy. Your company summary sheet MUST be stapled to the front of your proposal and present the following header right justified and single spaced:

Student Name
BA 2196 Section (identify)/(Professor Allmond)
Writing Assignment #5 – Philanthropic Proposal E-mail

IMPORTANT TIPS—READ THIS

1) Take time to review philanthropic organizations at www.charitynavigator.org, a ‘charity evaluator’ which evaluates the financial health of the US’s largest charities. 2) Take time to understand how corporate giving and volunteerism work; interview someone in the field, and/or read about best practices in corporate giving. Reference the Stuff You Should Know podcast epsiode on Philanthropy (http://podcasts.howstuffworks.com/hsw/podcasts/sysk/2012-11-22-sysk-philanthropy.mp3) and www.corporatephilanthropy.org: * Think about the strategies your company would follow to build a strong philanthropic arm. * Consider interesting, intellectual, strategic questions, such as— * “Does our giving strategy suit our company today (e.g. values, assets, culture)?” * “What type of giving would engage and encourage our employees to join with us?” * “Could our company do more in terms of both social and business impact?” * “What activities could we sponsor?” * “What would supporting this charity say about us to our customers, clients, and the community?” 1) Remember the top benefits for companies when they engage in “strategic philanthropy”:

* Companies can declare up to 10 percent of pretax profits as tax-deductible contributions * Employees who get involved and volunteer develop a stronger sense of loyalty to the employer; this can improve productivity, enhance recruitment, and reduce employee turnover * Customers are often more loyal to socially responsible companies * By choosing causes to support that link with its core business (such as Home Depot and Habitat for Humanity), a company can create synergies with its core competencies and customers * Strategic philanthropy generally improves a company’s overall reputation and eases relations with the government and the community

3) Then, choose the charities that you believe are the ‘best fit’ for your company. Visit your chosen charities’ website and learn all about them

4) Next, build your persuasive recommendation, point by point. * Remember that good persuasion means using the “you” strategy. See things from the owner’s perspective. Give the owner a vision to follow. Anticipate the questions the owner might ask, and answer them in advance.

5) Finally, draft your business email, making sure of the following:

* Your recommendation (for the two charities) should be at the forefront. * Follow with your persuasive argument as to why these are the best options for the company and its employees. * Use a strong, focused subject line and conversational (yet still professional) language. * Be creative – don’t just recommend donating money. Recommend some kind of ongoing work that your company can do with these charities long term. * Be careful to think through the specific philanthropic activities your recommend to your boss—don’t simply say “We’ll give everyone a day off” to do something—businesses don’t close down. Think like a business person. * For this assignment the direct approach works best, as your boss has asked for this information -- so provide it swiftly, clearly, and powerfully—RECOMMENDATION FIRST. * USE aspects of the “CHAPTER approach” if they help to make your email more readable:

C = Chunk Information
H = Highlight topics -- use section headers
A = Identify the specific audience and their need
P = Use a procedural or how-to list
T = Use typography to navigate the eye (e.g., bolding, italic)
E = Use bulleted lists or executive summaries
R = Ask for a response if you need one

FORMAT REQUIREMENTS

* Put your email into an MS Word file. Maximum word count: 1000 words. * Edit rigorously - This is still reviewed for all the structure and language issues on the rubric. * Stay professional - This may be an email, but it as professional as any other office document. * Use brevity tools (e.g., section headers, bullets, lists) if appropriate.

REMEMBER TO UPLOAD YOUR FILE TO SAFE ASSIGN BY THE BEGINNING OF CLASS (on Due Date)

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NOTE: Because we are using Safe Assign—make sure you do the following:

* Create your own company description. Be creative. * Be careful not to just copy the wording from www.charitynavigator.org or www.corporatephilanthropy.org You must learn how to take information from sources and put it in YOUR language. If you absolutely must quote something—use quotation marks and APA citations. * NOTE: Copying a few pertinent and relevant numbers is not the problem, but large blocks of text (even if appropriately quoted) will show up on Safe Assign and lose you points.