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Many cities are shutting down car wash fundraisers due to water shortages, droughts and potential issues with storm water discharges from the wash water affluent. It is against the law to let dirty water go into a storm drain. So, now carwashes, which have been complaining to cities to get the municipal environmental departments to shut down the car wash fundraisers through lobbying efforts, are now saying that they will provide carwash fundraisers a different way – by letting the kids sell coupons for the car wash.

Are non-profit groups complaining about the coupon schemes that really are a big bonanza for carwash owners? After all, these coupon washes are just PR for the car wash owners, they are not significant fund raisers. Kids groups need lots of money for travel, sports teams, cheerleaders, HS bands, etc. fuel is up at $3.00 plus, they need the money and the funds, these coupon washes do not come close.

In my travels, I have met people at Starbucks who have told me of the small amounts of money they make with coupon schemes at carwashes. They were not thrilled with the results, of course they would never complain in public because every little bit helps and they would not wish to burn their donors. Even if they made $500, they would say, well we made $500, that’s good?

Now what, I guess we will do some more Candy Sales. Hey, do Candy Sales help the environment – How about Childhood Obesity? Do we really want all non-profit groups to go out and sell candy? How about “High-Fructose Corn Syrup” or transfat laced cigarettes?

Professional Carwash Magazine and the ICA – International Car Wash Association are always having stories on how to work with the community and do little promotional type things. The problem is that even if they do this for a couple of groups every so often, that does not near quench the desire and needed funds for these groups.

We’re entering The Philanthropic Quarter: The last quarter of the year when your favorite charity is looking to finish Strong! Most non-profit businesses are most active during this most exciting Quarter.

Going into the 4th Quarter, how do CEOs in Northeastern Wisconsin look at the issue of philanthropy? Has their philanthropic philosophy and/or strategy changed over the years? How are they organized to fulfill their eleemosynary mission? These are a few of the questions in the Q2/07 Nicolet Bank Business Pulse study of CEOs and business owners in Northeastern Wisconsin.

Most CEOs (58%) believe that it is either Very Important (36%) or Moderately Important (22%) for their organization to be actively involved in philanthropy. Another 28% believe that it is Somewhat Important; 13% think that it is Not Important; 1% are Not Sure.

CEO views on the importance of charitable giving appear to carry through in action as well: 48% say their organization increased contributions in 2006; 41% say their giving Stayed About the Same; 10% Decreased contributions. Fewer (30%) say they plan to Increase contributions once again in 2007; 61% say contributions will Stay About the Same; 8% say they will Decrease. These results suggest that while corporate giving may increase again in 2007, the level of increase may not be as great as it was in 2006. These figures do not indicate by how much an organization might be increasing or decreasing their donations in 2007.

Nine out of ten (89%) CEOs and business owners in Northeastern Wisconsin participate in charitable events.

This high level of participation varies little by size: 82% of CEOs who run organizations with 25 or fewer employees personally participate in charitable events as do 90% of those with 26-100 employees. 100% of those with more than 100 employees participate!

CEOs and business owners also clearly see the value of contributing both to charitable organizations whose services are focused on Social Investment and Prevention as well as those that provide services focused more on Direct Intervention and Social Action.

One of the decisions that organizations have to make regarding charitable contributions is how to balance contributions between organizations involved in Direct Intervention/Social Action (e.g. homeless shelters and food pantries, etc.) and those involved in Social Investment/Prevention (e.g. Boys & Girls Club, Boy and Girl Scouts, etc.). In NEWi, CEOs and business owners contribute nearly evenly to both types of charities. The Nicolet Bank Business Pulse© found that 54% of CEOs say their organization is more focused on contributing to Social Investment/Prevention; 46% say they are focused somewhat more on Direct Intervention/Social Action. Both types of funding are important as many groups are attempting to meet the immediate needs of the community, while others are engaged in activities that have longer-term benefits.

The Giving Kind

CEOs in NEWi participate in a variety of ways when it comes to their company’s eleemosynary activities. Most likely, they’re giving to the various special events that charitable organizations sponsor. Eight out of ten businesses contribute to special events; 58% make in-kind contributions; 55% donate to the operational costs of a charity. Much lower on the activity list are running a workplace campaign (33%); loaning executives (22%); and matching employee contributions (17%). Organizations with 100 or more employees are more likely to run a workplace campaign (58%) and to match employee contributions (29%) than those with fewer employees.

Giving Operations

The degree to which organizations have institutionalized corporate giving is indicated by how well they are organized to handle the giving function of their organization: 43% have a specific area of giving interest; 40% allow corporate leaders to directly allocate funds; 38% have an office or person to respond to community requests; 36% provide time off for employees to volunteer. Another 28% give preference to charities where employees serve on the Board of Directors.

Carefully examine how to expand your nonprofit organization’s business model (who, what, when, why, where, how, and how much of providing benefits) to 21 times its current size. For best results, you should be guided by what will be easily understandable and desirable by your stakeholders (those affected by the benefits, not just the direct beneficiaries) . . . and where the adjustments will provide more effectiveness for the nonprofit organization.

Business model innovation is something that many nonprofit organizations struggle with. In this article, I have broken out three of the elements and supplied three examples to make innovative business model thinking and analysis easier to do. This article’s material will be clearest to those who have already read about continuing business model innovation.

Do More of What You Do Now

Unless you are providing a very small percentage of the needs of each beneficiary, growing by 21-fold requires adding beneficiaries. Because many nonprofit organizations can expand to provide 21 times the number of beneficiaries, that’s a great place to begin. You should start by considering who you will serve as these added beneficiaries and where those benefits will be delivered to make the expansion more practical and affordable.

Who Will You Serve and Where Are They?

Let’s begin considering volume-expanding business models by looking at “who” is served. The lesson is to keep it simple. Change as little as possible while becoming more efficient and effective as an organization for your beneficiaries. The simplest way to do this is to put more volume through an existing organizational structure without adding fixed costs.

Let’s look at an organization that carries donated food by truck to distribution centers serving needy families. Many such distribution centers provide a small portion of a family’s total weekly needs — often as little as one meal a week. The families may be visiting 10 to 30 different distribution centers weekly to fulfill all their needs. The trucks carrying the goods to a given distribution center are often owned and operated by that center, may be in use for only a few hours a week, and could be operated much more often without wearing out the equipment.