The Promotional Power of Giving Back

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Now more than ever, giving back matters to consumers. Customers are urging companies to incorporate social responsibility efforts into their business plans, and their shopping decisions are influenced by whether a company gives back. People naturally want to feel good about their purchases, and that means they want their money to go to companies that take a hands-on approach to giving back.

You might be thinking, “well, that’s great… but giving back is complicated!” Well, we’re here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be. Being a good corporate citizen and giving back can be as simple as helping your client pick the right promotional products!

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of promotional products on the market right now that give a portion of their sales to good causes. But before we jump into exploring those give-back programs, let’s talk about how giving back can benefit your business.

Giving back to important causes helps create a strong internal culture at your company. Your team will feel good about their work knowing that a portion of their efforts will support a noble cause.

Customers want to buy from companies that do good, and offering products that support give-back programs can help encourage purchases. By selecting promotional products that give back, you can gain goodwill for your business and your clients’ businesses and organizations as well.

Lastly, giving back fosters long-term loyalty. Consumers want to build relationships with brands that they can feel good about and come back to them for return purchases. By giving back to the community, you can give your clients another reason to stay with you for the long haul.

Growing your business is always a top priority for discerning promotional products professionals, but that doesn’t mean giving back is a no-go. In fact, as you can see from the numerous benefits, giving back is actually a great way to give your business a boost!

Now, let’s take a look at some of the awesome social good programs in the promotional products industry.

Sweda Company, LLC (SAGE #56805) has partnered with the Wounded Warrior Project through their Basecamp product line. The Basecamp brand is a line of outdoor and camping-type products – think bottles and drinkware, camp chairs and hammocks, backpacks, flashlights, and more – that all have a cool, tactical vibe that pairs well with the mission of the Wounded Warrior Project. Basecamp will donate $125,000 in 2022 to support the Wounded Warrior Project’s mission to honor and empower wounded veterans.

Wounded Warrior Project is an organization that supports injured United States veterans and their families with various programs and services, including mental health support, physical wellness programs, career and benefits counseling, independence programs, a vast community of veterans for network and support, and so much more. You can learn more about the Wounded Warrior Project and their work to support US veterans here.

Peerless Umbrella (SAGE #53091) works with the Rainforest Action Network to support their mission of environmental conservation. Peerless Umbrella manufactures a line of umbrellas made with recycled materials – specifically RPET, or recycled polyethylene tetraphyte, a material made of recycled plastic. With every purchase of an RPET umbrella, Peerless has committed to donating 1% of product sales to the Rainforest Action Network.

The Rainforest Action Network is a non-profit organization that works to preserve forests, protect the climate, and uphold human rights by challenging corporate power structures and systemic injustice through frontline partnerships and strategic campaigns. They work closely with the Indigenous and frontline communities who live in and near forests to ensure an approach to conservation that takes more than just the forests into consideration, but everyone who needs them to live as well. You can learn more about the Rainforest Action Network here.

PowerStick has a great give-back program with their products: for every order placed with Powersick, a tree is planted in North America! What’s great about this program is that it’s not specific to any product or product line. Every order, whether for headphones or chargers, coloring books or key tags, Bluetooth trackers, or smart cutting boards, gives back to the planet.

One Tree Planted is a non-profit organization that seeks to make it simple for anyone, even folks who aren’t particularly involved in activism, to give back to the environment by planting trees. Every dollar donated to One Tree Planted plants a tree, and since 2014 they’ve planted more than 40 million trees in over 43 countries. Read more about One Tree Planted here.

Hirsch Gift carries the Patriot Coolers line, which consists mainly of products like soft- and hard-sided coolers, stainless steel tumblers, and other similar products. Through their partnership with Homes For Our Troops, Hirsch Gift gives 20% of the net proceeds from Patriot Cooler brand cooler and drinkware sales to the organization.

Homes For Our Troops is a non-profit organization that builds and donates specially adapted homes to injured and disabled post-9/11 veterans. That means that they take each of their clients’ specific access needs with regard to their disability into consideration to create a functional home for the veteran and their family. You can learn more about the great work the Homes For Our Troops does here.

But those are not the only give-back programs in the industry! With a simple product search, you can locate products that support a social good cause in SAGE Online, SAGE Web, and SAGE Mobile. Just navigate to the product search area and enter your search criteria like normal, then select a cause from the Social Good drop-down menu. It’s that easy!

Giving back is an important and easy way to help you grow your business while making a difference. Read more about how giving back can enrich your business and life in our blogs on PromoCares and corporate social responsibility.