What
motivates businesses to support your work?
They may be continuing a tradition begun by the founder or more recently focused
on a desire to:
- support nonprofits whose work relates to the
company,
- improve life for their local employees,
- demonstrate they are a good neighbor to area
residents and businesses, and/or
- support the charitable causes of their employees.
Start with your neighborhood. Companies
often want to invest in local communities as good
neighbors and to improve the quality of life of
their customers and their employees.
The
Franciscan Hospital for Children in Brighton, MA
didn’t have to run far to seek
support from New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. and
its Giving Programs. Corporate headquarters and a
manufacturing plant are just a few blocks away. In
fact, the company’s
stated policy is to give back to the communities
in which they operate their primary facilities.
Currently New Balance Foundation provides matching
funds for the hospital’s LFP 
project,
the Children’s
Wellness Initiative. “When we went to them
with the idea of a major mental health program for
the neighborhood elementary schools, they were behind
us all the way,” says Selena Dellarocco, the
hospital’s former director of development. “They
gave us a multi-year grant.”
The program includes screening and counseling sensitive
to the culture and languages of area children, as
well as parenting classes and other services for
the families. Recently New Balance expressed interest
in funding a replication of the program to serve
the children of company employees in another Massachusetts
community where they have manufacturing and distribution
facilities.
“We first approached them with a cold call
in 1998,” recalls Dellarocco, “and we
prepared a proposal for our first meeting.” The
initial request was to support the hospital’s
capital campaign, specifically to build a gym for
their long-term rehabilitation patients. “Now
they are part of our hospital family. Employees volunteered
to landscape the play yard, staff booths at our annual
carnival and even throw parties for our kids.”
The New Balance Foundation served as the
nominating funder for the Children’s Wellness
Initiative 2004 LFP matching grant.
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