Hi Chris,

Your entry and organization are fabulous. In order to have CSR program or a profit/non-profit partnership, there needs to be a balance between business and morality. This "tension" you speak of is being exploited in the corporate world, and it is a great point -- something we all need to be aware of.

This past October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness month is the U.S, many products branded themselves pink in order to show their association with Breast Cancer awareness and social responsibility. However, some companies were only using it for their own advantage by not donating any profits to a Breast Caner organization -- they simply kept the profits and used socially conscious branding to increase sales (89% of consumer would buy a socially conscious brand over a non-socially conscious brand, price and quality constant). This was reported by the New York Times.

This balance and tension is something we have to be very precious with. Though we are thinking like the corporate world, we must remind ourselves and never forget the resposibility component. Sometimes companies create these intiatives for purely business reasons, and others do so because they truly care. It's a tricky balance, but an essential one.

As for insights on your organization, I see a lot of possibilities for our new initiaitive called iCSG (www.carnegiesportsgroup.com) -- a new philanthropic database. One feature of it will be creating profiles, and I see the video aspect as very attractive. Did you know that online video advertising is going to increase to $1.4 B in 2008? This can be an interesting way for causes to market themselves when it is filmed by themselves. Would love to speak further about this..

Best,

Harrie

Hi Drew,

First off, I really admire what you have put together with your organization. Simplicity is a beautiful thing...

I would stay away from becoming a "hybrid". It can get very messy and complicated when you are part profit and part non-profit in terms of accounting and taxes. This has led other organizations into some trouble by trying to get certain transactions to become tax-exempt. Being a 501(c)3 creates a huge advantage for you - something for-profit's don't have! Remember, accounting is the big area that differentiates for-profits vs. non-profit's. As long as you are clearly defining and justifying your financials, all non-profits ARE operating businesses.

In terms of income-generating models, I think you can do a lot of cool things. Your program reminds me a lot of the late Bob Tisch's organization Take The Field (www.takethefield.org). They partnered with municipalities, which could be an interesting area for you. Also, "simplicity" is a big component of your brand. Right To Play created a genius campaign with this concept by partnering with Adidas to form the Red Ball Campaign. A red soccer ball, created by Adidas, became the universal symbol of RTP and their efforts - "When Children Play, The World Wins". Creating some sort of symbol or product that exudes "simplicity" could be a great branding strategy for you and even a source of revenue by creating retail opportunities.

Would love to talk further about this. Hope this helps...

Best,

Harrie

Hi Ziba,

The more and more I think about it, I really would like to package CSG into a low-cost, accessible, and educational outlet. Perhaps creating a educational curriculum, or a manuel, or even a book where we can teach others and educate them instead of simply servicing. There are so many great avenues to explore, but I think the main focus is on teaching and educating others.

I would love to connect when you are in NYC -- perhaps we can even schedule a phone call to brainstorm some ideas as I would love to get your insights and hear all about the projects you are working on.

Best,

Harrie

Hi Dana,

Our goal is to use the business of sports to help charities/causes achieve their respective goals. We create tailored corporate social responsibility programs, broker profit/non-profit partnerships, sponsorship/fundraising strategies, create branding & communications, ecommerce solutions, etc. The social impact is this -- when you buy a product, an ipod, a cell phone, a sandwich, etc., there is a value proposition. Whether it's a better brand, quality coverage, or better taste, the product/company offers something in return to the consumer -- it's why they buy that product over another one.

Let's look at this great competition. We have organizations throughout the world, with every single one highly successful. Yet, every organization in this competition is offering a solution to a respective problem, and is asking the public to volunteer, donate, help, etc. But, it's very hard to separate oneself from the clutter because there are many, many noble causes -- and it's not fair to say cancer research is more important than HIV AIDS research or childhood obesity deserves more attention than the Darfur situation.

This is where Carnegie can come in and create positive change. Through sports business strategies, we can create a value proposition for charities/causes -- whether it is incentive to donate because a donor is recieving marketing benefits in return or it is incentive to be aware because we created social networking and blogging platforms that allows a charity to communicate with a potential donor (something Nike has perfected with their NYC Marathon campaign). Creating this incentive and value proposition in the non-profit world is our answer to social change. Carnegie's services aren't reinventing the wheel -- we are simply adding a new beneficiary to the table.

Best,

Harrie

Ziba, you bring up a fantastic point in that charities sometimes spend more on efforts then they should be, and the return isn't efficient. Currently at Carnegie, we serve, and will continue to serve, non-profit organzations of all size. We are only 5 months out, but we have non-profit clients that differ tremendously in budgets, and we realize that not every charity can produce a program much like the Knicks vs Maccabi Tel Aviv event. One example can be seen through one of our for-profit clients, who was economically a small business without the capital to have a marketing budget. We're creating a social responsibility program where they gave away a % of their revenue to a selected cause, and used the assets of the cause to market the promotion. So, in this case, a small entity was able to create a program that marketed their brand, and was tailored to their business operations. Most impotantly, we are getting funds to come directly out of revenue to be donated to a worthy cause, while we serve as the middle man and utilize their assets.

Just like time and space, business is relative. We can take this strategy anywhere. The key is creating tailored programs that fit within a respective market. So, if an entity doesn't have a high cash flow, we adapt and structure it a certain way(see above). If the economy is weak, then we adapt and try to achieve goals through other viable mediums in that respective market such as cell phones, the internet, educational outlets, etc. Relativity is a key element in this and it's very important not to take a cookie cutter approach.

Kevin, Thank you so much for your kind words and invaluable advice. Coming from you, I can't even begin to explain how much that means to me.

As for your questions, Carnegie does have a tremendous opportunity in this market, and if there is one thing that I have learned through my cancer experience, it is to find opportunity in everything. In order to become a destination and knowledge center within this respective market, we will use what I call "insight marketing". Coming in 2008, Carnegie will be launching a new initiative called "iCSG", and it will serve as an online database/resource for philanthropy, not just sports philanthropy. The early stages of it will list and give information on thousands upon thousands of charitable organizations (much like Charity Navigator), within respective categories such as education, HIV/Aids, sports, etc. This will allow consumers, whether they be corporations or individuals, to browse all the organizations that are out there within a respective cause. The strategy behind this is two-fold: 1) it will create an resourceful platform for potential philanthropists who are willing to give, but not sure whom to give it to, and 2) by demonstrating our insight and knowledge of this market without throwing our business in the faces of the consumer, we will create trust and reliability with our brand. Potential clients will not only come to our site for looking for insight but also select our service because we are a knowledgeable brand with a unique value proposition. With time, "iCSG" will evolve into other valuable online assets.

Currently, there are very few organizations with similar services. Charity Brands Marketing is one, but doesn't do much work in the sports industry. The Sports Philanthropy Project is another, but they tend to focus on just sports charities where we are servicing ALL charitable organizations while using sports business to benefit them. The Giving Back Fund is another, but they deal with individuals, not corporate entities.

Hi Jasper,

How is everything?

Thanks so much for your note. One exciting project we worked on that can serve as an example was the New York Knicks vs Maccabi Tel Aviv game at Madison Square Garden this past October. The game benefited an Israeli charity, Migdal Ohr, and all ticket sales, and sponsorship revenue went to the charity. Our job was to sell sponsorship for the game and use it as a marketing as well as revenue platform for the charity. Through this basketball game, we were able to communicate the message of the charity, which didn't have high visibility beforehand, and bring in funds through innovative sponsorship/advertising sales at the game.

Other turnkey examples can include simple branding and communication strategies or even product promotions. A great strategy for that is to get a product to donate a percentage of sales, directly out of revenue, to a charity/cause and to use the assets of the respective charity to market the product, thus creating valuable marketing benefits for the product and getting something in return from their philanthropic efforts while the charity is receiving donations in return. By giving the product value, they can not only sell more unit's but also be willing to increase the percentage per unit donated.

Tell me more about your innovation.

Harrie

Thanks, and may I wish you the best of luck as well.

We are a consulting firm and act as an intermediary between a potential philanthropic entity and a respective beneficiary. Our job is to connect the dots. The marketing or sports business is our mechanism and medium that we employ.

Of course there are opportunities to involve youth. We customize and tailor everything around our clients whether that be youth programming or corporate partnerships. Whatever our clients want, our job is to utilize sports and the business of sports to achieve their respective goals.