‘Tis the Season for Charitable Giving. Are You Ready?

I’m a firm believer that local businesses shape our communities. They create job opportunities, drive tourism spending with unique offerings, and more of the money that’s spent with a local business stays in the community.

All of those things are just a natural part of the way a local business operates. Of course, the benefits to communities and patients don’t stop there.

But do your customers know how much you do for your community? And do you involve them in your efforts to give back?

These are important questions, especially as the season for giving approaches. The upcoming holiday season means that retailers big and small will be ramping up efforts to engage customers in charity fundraising.

In recent years, the trend of “checkout charity” has become a major force in the world of charitable giving, allowing customers to partner with retailers on giving campaigns. As this article shares, there are some pretty big, and still growing numbers, resulting from checkout charity.

While many pharmacies already engage in charitable giving through their businesses, checkout charity may be new to your pharmacy. Here are a few tips that make for a successful charitable giving program in your pharmacy.

Pick charities that will connect you with your community, and speak to your values– When customers shop local, it isn’t always about convenience and proximity. It’s about trust, and the feelings of connection and community mindedness that shopping local brings.There’s nothing wrong with donating to organizations with nationwide reach, but they may not speak to your customers as much as a local organization will. And when those local organizations share your contributions with their members, it will have a much greater impact on your business.

Partner with the organizations you contribute to – Take the time to work with organizations you choose to support through your business. Understand what they do, how donations are used, and what their goals are. As with any business relationship, a true partnership with open communication and shared goals will help both organizations to thrive.

Set a time frame and a goal for your donation drive – Many businesses will work with more than one organization, and will have limited timelines for donations made through checkout charity. Maybe you’re fundraising for the local school to take a trip, or raising funds for a community event. Set your start and end dates and share those timelines and the goals you have for any donation drive.

 Train your staff – Checkout charity has a much greater rate of success when cashiers ask for donations as part of the transaction rather than putting a silent prompt on a signature pad. Put some time into making sure your staff understand not only the process of checkout charity, but the organization you’re sponsoring and how donations help. This is where that partnership I mentioned will really boost your efforts. Everyone should understand not only the how, but the why.

Share your success – Connect the dots when you wrap up a donation drive. Tell your customers how much your community has raised and remind them what you accomplished together.

For more on charitable giving in your pharmacy, join us at the November CLIMB Webinar. We’ll be looking at this topic in more detail and sharing some info on other timely topics like Medicare Open Enrollment, probiotics, and more.  Missed it? No problem. Register for the monthly CLIMB Webinar Series and you’ll receive access to all the latest session recordings on top of saving your spot at upcoming webinars through September 2021.