Philanthropy : Innovation + Job News

'Tis the season for "prize philanthropy."

StoneArch Creative, a Minneapolis company that specializes in health and medical marketing, is giving away $1,000 a day this week to the causes that generate the most tweets for its campaign.

Anyone can vote for a non-profit by posting a public message to Twitter that includes the tag #MyTweetWish. At the end of each day StoneArch will tally a winner.

"My hope would be that we get a nice response from across the country or globally versus just locally," says Jessica Boden, StoneArch's executive creative director.

Boden says StoneArch is celebrating "a great year." Its focus on health and medical marketing has made the 26-year-old agency less vulnerable to economic ups and downs.

Health and medical companies make up 95 percent of StoneArch's clients. The agency bolsters that specialty by hiring employees who come from both the medical and creative worlds, Boden says. That's key to understanding  the technical aspects of products they support.

"It's just a much different dialogue than talking to someone who's buying shoes," says Boden.

Until a few years ago, the company's clients were almost entirely based in the Twin Cities, but in 2010 StoneArch continued to gain traction nationally, says Boden. Highlights included winning work as the agency for Abbott Vascular's drug-eluding stent business.

Source: Jessica Boden, StoneArch Creative
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Give, and you shall receive. That's a lesson learned for Minneapolis branding and design consultancy Imagehaus.

Creative Director Jay Miller started a giving program when he founded the company in 2000. Last month, the firm calculated that it's provided more than $2 million worth of services to nonprofits.

When Imagehaus saw its big-box retailer work shrink in recent years, it was able to fall back on some of those same nonprofits when they returned as paying customers, says Miller.

Twin Cities nonprofits are invited to apply for a grant on Imagehaus' website. The company chooses about one per quarter. Alumni can later get additional services at cost.

The four-person firm recently purchased an 1,800-square-foot commercial condo in the SOHO Lofts building and will be moving there from the other side of downtown early next spring.

As a branding firm, Imagehaus helps retailers come up with names, logos, and store concepts. Besides its nonprofit work, Miller says they benefit from having a mix of large and small clients.

"Our business model has always been very diversified," says Miller.

That's helped them in terms of stability, but also in a creative sense. They're able to take what they learn from working with big-box retailers and apply it to mom-and-pop stores, and vice versa.

"We learn from both--different things," says Miller. "When you have your smaller companies and smaller budgets, it challenges you to be creative in different ways."

Miller says he expects owning instead of renting will reduce the company's overhead and hopefully help it add employees in 2011.

Source: Jay Miller, Imagehaus
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What if companies were to pledge a portion of their sales to help fight global poverty?

Nick Pearson believes it would have a substantial impact.

Pearson is founder of 1% For Humanity, an organization seeking to sign up companies to donate 1 percent of their revenues (that's revenues, not profit) to humanitarian causes.

"It's been challenging, for sure," says Pearson, of Robbinsdale. "A lot of entrepreneurs are just getting started and they're trying to build their brands in a really tough economy anyway."

It's taken Pearson longer than he hoped to get the project to where it's at today, but he's not pessimistic. Last year, five members raised over $100,000 for its network of charities.

Pearson, who used to work in real estate and property management, has made 1% For Humanity a full-time volunteer endeavor. He launched the organization in March 2009.

So far he has seven participating companies, which file annual reports with Pearson, who certifies that they are giving the amount they claim to humanitarian-related nonprofits.

1% For Humanity does not take a cut of the donations. Its revenue comes from separate donations and from a marketing fee for member companies to use its logo.

Pearson says he knew he didn't have a passion for real estate, and that he was inspired by the success of 1% For The Planet, which raises millions for environmental causes.

Pearson believes there's a similar need for humanitarian causes. Today, he's focused on continuing to get the word out in order to find more potential partners.

Member companies include two Minneapolis firms, 10,000 Pixel Agency and Bull Run Roasting Co.

Source: Nick Pearson, 1% For Humanity
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A local boutique marketing firm is doing well by focusing on good.

Marketing That Matters is a three-year-old company started by Lori Schaefer, who has a background in corporate communications, public affairs, and progressive politics.

The emphasis is on clients Schaefer believes are making a difference in the world, including nonprofits, public sector agencies. and social entrepreneurs.

"I really wanted to see if you could take what works from the for-profit marketing world and brand/strategy world and bring some of that expertise to the nonprofit sector," says Schaefer.

The recent growth in her client list suggests you can.

Schaefer has done work for major foundations, as well as the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative (a sponsor of The Line). After working on her own or with a small group of independent contractors for the past few years, she's now preparing to hire her first one or two formal employees.

"One of the best pieces of advice I've received," she says, "is you can't be afraid to take the leap when you see the growth starting to happen."

Schaefer credits the growth to her team's hard work, as well as the company's clearly focused niche, which seems to be timely. More for-profits appear to be recognizing the importance of social responsibility and their role in the community , she says. Meanwhile, President Obama's campaign seems to have started to change the way nonprofits and public agencies think about branding and marketing issues.

Source: Lori Schaefer, Marketing That Matters
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Could mobile phones help the homeless find permanent shelter?

A St. Paul nonprofit started distributing cell phones last month to homeless residents. It's part of a small pilot program to show how cell phones can help people in transition find jobs and permanent housing, as well as stay better connected with family, friends and agencies.

"There's just no way to survive in this world without a phone. It really puts people further out of the mainstream than they are already," says Marcy Shapiro, executive director of Twin Cities Community Voice Mail.

The cell phone pilot is a first step toward updating the group's model for the wireless era. Twin Cities Community Voice Mail has offered free phone numbers and voice-mail accounts to low-income Minnesotans since 1994. Today, finding pay phones to retrieve and respond to voice-mails is increasingly difficult. Meanwhile, many employers and landlords expect people to be reachable on demand. Missed phone calls can mean missed opportunities.

The phones are being distributed by three partner agencies, the Dorothy Day Center, the St. Paul YWCA and Face to Face Safe Zone, which are offering the phones to participants in a federally funded Rapid Re-housing program. The cell phone plans are covered for six months, after which participants can keep the phone and number.

Similar experiments have been tried in Fort Worth, Tex., and Washington, D.C., but Shapiro believes the program is the first of its kind in Minnesota and among the first in the nation.

The trial is being funded through a $12,000 grant from the St. Paul Foundation that will cover the cost of 30 phones. Long-term funding is the major challenge. Voice mail accounts cost the organization about $10 per month per client, but cell phones cost three times that amount. After much research, the nonprofit settled on a $30 monthly plan from Virgin Mobile that includes 300 daytime and 1,000 night/weekend minutes.

"The money is what's really kept people from doing it," she says. "The need is there. It's really just about figuring out how to pay for it."

Source: Marcy Shapiro, Twin Cities Community Voice Mail
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