The relationship between SED beneficiaries and donors is normally a little one-sided. The beneficiary is very dependent on the donor for continued support and might find that support can dwindle at a whim. It is therefore very important that the beneficiary starts taking a different tack and appealing to the donor at a business level. This might mean offering additional benefits like marketing mileage.
The SED element in the BEE scorecard must have had a positive impact on corporate donations. And the more ingenious causes have been using this to their advantage for a while (Philimpilo and Out-of-the-Box are two examples that I know well). In exchange for the contributions these causes go out of their way to ensure that a verification agency will quickly recognise them as points-attracting contributions.
All but one
I had the privilege of asking a certain home to write a letter stating that my client's donation would be spent on their black residents. This confirmation was requested by the verification agency. But the old duck that I spoke to refused. Oh no she said – I can't do this, the money benefits all our residents and I'd be lying, she said.
She confirmed to me that the white residents pay at least 50% of their monthly rental and the black residents are fully sponsored. The letter itself would not have been a lie (as she suggested) and it would have provided my client with another 3 points.
What an idiot. A clueless dimwit. And likely to be a poorer dimwit next year because her narrow-mindedness has in all probability cost her another contribution from my client.
If you are a cause looking for SED/CSI money then please follow these steps. I can't guarantee your success but you stand a much better chance than this lame duck.
- Explain where the money is going to go to. The codes want to see 75% of the benefits going to black people
- Provide the donor with a letter of gratitude thanking them for the contribution and informing them what the money is for
- Offer the corporate marketing opportunities. Think in terms of the Outsurance TV advertisements. If they turn down your offer then invite them to get involved – I know of a big financial company that uses their CSI project as a team building exercise.
- Look for new ways to get them involved – change your offering so that it can be viewed as enterprise development and tap into those funds