Receive: Bring Order to Chaos

So, you're the Director of Public Affairs at your company. You are responsible for managing all donation requests that your company receives on a weekly, even daily basis. Surely that involves a lot of paper, emails, phone calls, faxes, even carrier pigeons? The information submitted by community groups and non-profits is often not complete or doesn't everything you need to properly asses the opportunity and make a decision. Sometimes those emails get forgotten, or that paper goes missing, which leaves your constituents hanging. If you could wave your magic wand and have everything work exactly as you need it to work, what would you see? Let's take a real life example of how waving that wand waving worked for a large East Coast-based grocery chain.

This chain is a neighborhood favorite -- a community stalwart beloved by all who shop there.  They were receiving hundreds of requests via mail, fax, email, in-store requests - you name it.  They were concerned about potentially damaging their good name when things fell through the cracks.Bringing their philanthropy management system online and streamlining the process eliminated the paper and emails that were bogging them down. By offering a single point of entry where individuals and community groups can submit requests, the grocery chain  ensures requests get to the right person for review.

A custom questionnaire captures the right information so that the Director of Public Affairs and her team can make decisions and act on community requests.  The grocery chain has particular areas of philanthropic focus and the online system makes it easy to sort requests according to specific needs.  The portal is branded with the look and feel of the company website with the company logo that is near and dear to so many, front and center. This company stakes its reputation on being pillars of the community so reflecting those values in their online presence was key.  With Versaic's help, they've provided a meaningful way to connect with customers and the communities where they do business, and that is the bottom line for the company.

For more tips on how you can streamline your philanthropy program and build your brand, check out Versaic's Five R's of Great Philanthropy Program Management.