Several of us at Metzger Associates offer our expertise as writers, event planners and social media strategists to help out nonprofit organizations through pro bono work. Nonprofits depend mostly on government and corporate funding, and individual donations to cover basic operating costs. Pro bono services contribute to important but peripheral business functions such as public relations, social media engagement and community events.
What’s in it for them?
The organizations we support through pro bono work attempt to achieve their environmental, educational, cultural and health goals primarily by communicating their important events and programs to the public. We strategize with leadership to write press releases announcing news and events, grow their social media programs to connect with audiences, plan fundraising events and more.
Nonprofit organizations enlist the services of business professionals to increase their chances to grow and reach their goals. Not having to carry the financial burden for this support allows them to be more efficient in allocating funds where they are needed most, frees up leadership to focus on strategic relationships, and creates a better work environment for paid employees.
What’s in it for us?
As a public relations agency, we understand better than most that it looks good to do pro bono work. But boosting our reputation isn’t the only motivation we have for working with these organizations.
Taproot, a foundation that connects business talent with organizations working to improve society, concluded that 70 percent of employees feel better about working at their company as a result of volunteering their professional skills through pro bono service. Also, new pro bono opportunities allow employees to engage their skills in new and challenging ways, broadening their capabilities.
Further, most company stakeholders have some level of expectation that leadership prioritizes Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The 10-year return on equity is 10 percent higher for companies engaged in CSR, and recent Taproot surveys show that corporate citizenship is now the top driver of reputation.
The organizations we work with:
Boulder International Film Festival (BIFF) brings films and filmmakers from around the world to Boulder every President’s Day weekend for a four-day celebration of cinema.
Throughout January and February this year, Metzger worked to build out each of BIFF’s social media networks by encouraging a higher level of engagement within each of their communities, generating more diverse content and creating a consistent ‘look’ across networks.
Bridge House serves Boulder’s homeless and working poor through community education, as well as provisions for basic and immediate survival needs.
Bridge House is frequently quoted and covered in the Boulder Daily Camera, but needs exposure beyond that. Metzger recently began helping Bridge House with overall PR and social media strategy, generating strategic messaging that addresses the perception in Boulder that most homeless people in our community are “homeless by choice,” when this is clearly untrue.
We recommended the organization ramp up their social media presence and highlight their various programs on Facebook and Twitter to drive engagement and attract potential sponsors and partners.
Friends of Douglas County K-9 is the only nonprofit organization solely committed to the financial support of the Douglas County Sheriff’s K-9 Unit.
For the past three years, Metzger has used our event planning and public relations expertise to assist the annual Friends of Douglas County K-9 fundraising gala, “Howling Good Time.” The gala directly benefits the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit by raising funds to purchase new animals and appropriate safety gear and also provides for ongoing training and care. Metzger gets the word out and helps with the event logistics.
Hack4Colorado, taking place this year May 30 – June 1 at Galvanize in Denver, leverages the expertise and entrepreneurial spirit of our community’s “civic hackers” to drive meaningful, technology-based solutions for state and local government.
Metzger Associates is helping through traditional public relations, social media and blogging about Hack4Colorado to bring awareness to the innovators, developers and designers involved, as well as to promote the projects coming out of this year’s event.
There With Care provides a wide range of thoughtful and fundamental services to children and families during the critical phases of medical crises.
Metzger has provided public relations services for their annual Red Carpet Adventure event for the past two years and secured several large media hits including a full feature in 303 Magazine, mentions in 5280’s events newsletter and more.
We also helped to provide initial research and developed partnerships to launch Eric Cares, a program within There With Care that provides support and financial assistance to families who lost a child due to a terminal illness. We found that there are many programs to help families with a sick child, but assistance ceases after the child passes. Just last October, Metzger organized the first annual Dia de los Muertos event to raise money for Eric Cares. The event was sold out and raised thousands for the organization.
The effects of our pro bono efforts are immediate and lasting within these organizations and our community, which is the real benefit for both them and us.
