Long, holiday weekends are a good time to catch up on “professional reading.” One of the articles I read was on the importance of CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility from Second Wind. The article ended with this statement:
Remember that the best CSR initiatives are those supported by genuine interest within the corporate culture and real benefits to the customers and other audiences who interact with the brand.
That made me start thinking about Insight’s CSR initiatives, how we select them and the impact they’re making for our clients.
From our launch in 2003, we knew that we wanted to help non-profit organizations with creative solutions. But how to choose? We started with causes that were important to us. For Doug, supporting the arts community is vital. I wanted to help organizations that have child-centered missions. And, as we’ve added staff, our list of Corporate Social Responsibility has grown as well.
Here’s a quick look at some of the CSR campaigns we’ve worked on recently for the Arts:
• Sioux Empire Community Theatre – we’re in our fourth season for SECT, promoting membership and ticket sales.
• First Night Sioux Falls – a one-night event that celebrates the arts and family entertainment on New Year’s Eve. Each year we’ve been able to better define our core audience.
• Bike Rack Art – working with the Sioux Falls Visual Arts Commission to solicit art rack designs. Look for the first new racks this summer or fall.
For organizations that serve children and their families:
• Little Red Stocking Campaign – a major fundraising campaign for Children’s Home Society of South Dakota.
• YWCA – a re-branding effort for one of the community’s largest daycare providers.
• Bike-a-Paloosa – a neighborhood event to raise funds to provide bikes for children in need.
• South Dakota Voices for Children – a video and website to help this child-advocacy group increase awareness of mental health issues.
• Volunteers of America – a “day in the life” video used for fundraising throughout the state .
But as I mentioned, we also work with a number of organizations that are important to Insight staff, including
• Family Connection – branding, collateral and website for this organization that serves the families of people in prison.
• Chicagoland Community Church – branding, collateral and website for this urban congregation in Chicago.
And, sometimes we work for friends in the community, such as
• Help!Line Center – newsletters, Trends Report and other collateral to help this organization that touches so many other organizations in our community and our state.
These are just a few of the non-profit groups that we work with. We see this work as a win-win for us and for our clients:
• We get to work on causes we’re passionate about with the understanding that the creative will not be substantially altered.
• Clients receive top-quality creative work at no charge or at a fraction of its value.
How do we measure the success of our work? Sometimes it’s easier, like in the case of increased ticket sales for Sioux Empire Community Theatre. Or by reaching donation goals for Children’s Home Society.
Other times it’s more intangible, so we rely on the feedback of clients:
Pam Bollinger, VOA President and CEO, “Thank you for your commitment, your willingness to understand, and for making a difference that will last well into the future.”
Carol Muller, HELP!Line Center Executive Director, “Once again we've received wonderful responses to our Trends Report. It tells the HELP!Line story so well.”
To all our clients, thanks for letting us help.
