For Love or For Money: Brands that support charities

We recently asked your opinion on brands that support charities.  Did you feel they are truly concerned and would you switch brands if you saw they supported a charity that was close to your heart?

For the most part, you were wary of the motives behind a company that associates their brand with a charity.   Many see it as a tax dodge that costs the company nothing and simply another form of advertising that looks to loosen purse strings.  

It is not just brands that you’ve put under the microscope but also the charities themselves. Many of you call for greater transparency on where and how raised money is being spent.   As Senorita put it  “I believe these charities are mainly for profit making. While we donate or support a brand, the funds are not transparent enough to show the public what has been done and achieved”.

If the impact of your support could be more easily understood, you indicate you might feel more comfortable purchasing the brand.  In the absence of this, you’d rather donate directly to your chosen charities.   

However, despite this mistrust the majority of you think that corporations have an obligation to support charities.   So even if the company’s motives aren’t truly altruistic it is a win-win situation that you feel comfortable with. 

Despite a win-win for the charity and brand, given the high level of cynicism around motives, most of you won’t choose a brand because they support a charity.    With all things equal, product quality and preference come first.  As Groove50 points out, “supporting a charity does not make the company better at what they do or make their products or service better”. If the product is easily substitutable, a few of you may consider a switch… if you feel the charity is reputable.   

A handful of you are open to buying brands that align themselves openly with a charity.  Even if you don’t buy the brand you may at least have a better opinion of them.

So what should we conclude from your responses? Should companies turn their charitable support into an advertising campaign or leave it as a tax write-off and feel-good factor for employees? According to you, company support of charities is seen as morally responsible but not something to wear on their sleeves.   There appears a need for brands to better communicate how their support makes a difference… and doing so may just influence you to have a more positive opinion of them.