Pulse Legacy Archive December 2011 | Page 48

ASK THE EXPERT Bennett Weiner S electing a charity to partner with or a cause to support is more work than you think. “Do your due diligence,” advises Better Business Bureau (BBB) Wise Giving Alliance Chief Operating Officer (COO) Bennett Weiner. With your brand and company reputation at stake when partnering with shady charity organizations, Weiner highlights red flags to look out for, including some charities’ unwillingness to be transparent—from its operations to finances. As COO, Weiner is an authority on nonprofit topics and was previously included by The NonProfit Times in its annual list of Top 50 influential nonprofit executives. He manages all aspects of the Alliance that monitors and reports on charitable organizations. 1. What top three pieces of advice can you give to ensure that companies and business owners who intend to partner with a charitable organization are indeed choosing reputable organizations? ● Watch out for cases of mistaken identity. Keep in mind that there are thousands of charities that address the same causes, like breast cancer, poverty, children welfare, etc. Just because the charity looks familiar doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the organization you have in mind. Unfortunately, with so many organizations out there, there are those with the intent to deceive, so you need to protect yourself from these individuals or organizations. ● Visit the Web site of the organization you intend to support and seek out the information they are willing to share. Look for descriptions of what they do, who is on their board and how they spend their money. If these are not clearly available on their site, thes e could be a red flag that they are not very transparent. ● Go to third-party sources to find out about the charity. There are two types of sources: 1) government, and 2) monitoring organizations. Charities are generally required to register in the Attorney General’s Office or Secretary of State’s Office to allow them to legally solicit. Verify if the charity is registered in these offices in your State. However, one thing to keep in mind is that just because they are registered doesn’t mean they have charity accountability or standards. 2. What are some of the Standards of Charity Accountability? As a standard-based monitoring organization, we adhere to four areas of standards which we thoroughly review: ● Governance: Are there any related-party transactions that 46 PULSE ■ December 2011 ● ● ● result to any conflict of interest? Is the board adequately overseeing the operations and staff? Finances: Do they have an audited financial statement? Has the total fundraising cost (like marketing expenses, staff salary, etc.) exceeded 35 percent of the total contributions raised? Effectiveness: Is the charity achieving its long-term mission or immediate goals? Do they do effectiveness assessment at least every two years and share this with the board? Solicitations/information materials: Do they have truthful and accurate appeals? Do they have certain facts that they provide about the charity? When doing cause marketing, do they include disclosures in promotions? 3. Speaking of cause marketing, several spas engage in this type of marketing. How can they protect themselves against possible issues when doing cause marketing? There are two basic things that spa owners or companies can do to protect themselves: ● Have a written agreement with the subject charity. I strongly encourage spas or business entities to require an official written agreement that is signed by both parties. Do not simply agree to a hand-shake agreement. The written agreement ensures that each party knows its responsibilities in the partnership, as well as protects you in the event of a dispute. ● Have a clear disclosure in the promotion that would indicate how much is going to the campaign. Be upfront and transparent when doing cause marketing because getting questioned later on by consumers or donors may tarnish the brand or business’s reputation.