Corporate Giving from a Millennial Major Donor

We're lifting the curtain on corporate giving with a millennial leader who is growing a successful company and giving back millions.

Andrew Koenig is the CEO of City Furniture in Florida. Through his own volunteering Andrew built a strong relationship with a fundraiser at American Heart Association, Lindsay Leblang. He was so impressed by the work they did together, Andrew invited Lindsay to join his team to bring strategy to City’s corporate philanthropy. As a fundraiser herself, Lindsay shares the secret to a successful pitch and what it really takes to get corporate contributions for your organization.
 
Know  More. Raise More. is presented by Insightful. The team at Insightful knows connecting with donors is hard. That’s why Insightful helps fundraisers like you better know your donors (and the people you would like to be donors) so you can: 

• Raise more money
• Advance your mission
• Do more good in the world

There’s a big change happening right now affecting fundraisers. Over the next decade, up to $70 trillion dollars will shift from aging baby boomers to millennials. This wealth transfer is already underway.

Are you prepared to work with millennials?

Start by downloading Insightful’s free ebook:
9 Insights Fundraisers Need to Know to Prepare for Millennial Major Donors. Just head to insightfulphilanthropy.com/ebook

Transcript

Jennifer Trammell: 0:05

Welcome to"Know More. Raise More." the podcast for fundraising professionals, where we share firsthand stories from donors and gift officers who have real relationships working together to change the world for good. I'm your host Jennifer Trammell. On the podcast today: lifting the curtain on corporate giving. Andrew Koenig is a millennial leader building a company and giving back millions. He's the CEO of City Furniture based in Florida. Through his own volunteering, Andrew built a strong relationship with a fundraiser at American Heart Association, Lindsay Leblang. He was so impressed by the work they did together, Andrew invited Lindsay to join his team and bring strategy to City's corporate philanthropy. With that fundraising experience herself. Lindsay shares with us the secret to a successful pitch and what it really takes to get those corporate dollars. "Know More. Raise More." the podcast for fundraising professionals is brought to you by Insightful. Insightful helps improve engagement between nonprofit organizations and donors. We know connecting with donors is hard, insightful, helps fundraisers like you better know your donors. So you can raise more money, advance your mission and do more good in the world. Andrew and Lindsay, welcome to"Know More. Raise More."

Lindsay Leblang: 1:49

Hi thanks for having us.

Andrew Koenig: 1:51

Hi, Jennifer. Thanks for having us.

Jennifer Trammell: 1:54

Oh, great to have both of you with us today. And I thought we could start for our friends outside of Florida. Teaching them a little bit about what city furniture is. Andrew, will you give us the background on your company?

Andrew Koenig: 2:05

Yeah, sure. City furniture has been around since 1971. So over 50 years, my uncle and my father were a couple of hippies and brothers that wanted to open up a waterbed store. Very humble beginnings, my uncle saved, you know, a few 1000 bucks as a bellman to open up our very first store. So these guys built the beds sold the beds, delivered the beds, and our one store and that that little water bed retail store in 1971 grew into City Furniture in 1994. With what do you know, the water beds started to fade out of being cool. And they pivoted quickly to full line furniture retailer opening up City Furniture in 1994 in Miami, and now we are South Florida Central Florida's number one furniture retailer. My father and my uncle, really two good guys at hard, very religious always about, you know, creating a good family business that took care of its associates in the community. And I think that that family spirit and that willingness to give back is one of the secret sauce that we've had for over the last 50 years.

Jennifer Trammell: 3:25

We'll talk more about giving back and how that plays into not only the company philosophy, but really how you're making a difference in the community. Andrew and Lindsay, you two came to know each other through the American Heart Association. And Andrew tell us more about why American Heart is so near and dear to you.

Unknown: 3:44

so American Heart Association is near and dear to us because my uncle Kevin, that founder, our founder, passed away from heart disease at 54. Had his first heart attack at 41. As a kid, you know, watch my uncle struggle, family outings, family events, and you know, the last 13 years of his life, you could just tell were tough on him. And losing him at an early age was, you know, tough for all was tough for my father. So a few years ago, a fellow businessman down the road got us involved with the Broward Heart Walk American Heart Association, the big walk down here and pulled Keith and I into it and I'm so glad he did because you know, we're really I feel like this is our way to honor his memory by working so closely with American Heart Association and help fundraise bring awareness to heart disease and stroke. So I know my uncle Kevin's watching from heaven and really proud of what we're what we're doing.

Jennifer Trammell: 4:47

Lindsay, you worked with American Heart for what more than five years?

Lindsay Leblang: 4:51

Yeah, I had the chance of being with the HA for almost eight years in several different roles. They did their Jump Rope for Heart I did the Heart Walk I oversaw all fundraising for Broward and Miami. And so I Andrew and I have been working together for almost four years, I would say and he was just one of those volunteers that you give them the tools you give them, you know, everything he needs, he wants to know exactly what to do. And he's gonna run with it. You know, most of his fundraising happened during the the pandemic and he really just rallied his vendors, his personal friends have the need is, is greater than ever. We need to help support come alongside us, it's greater than ever. So really, when you just give him exactly what to do, he's gonna shine, he's gonna ask the questions of, you know, which walk is the benchmark? Who do we need to talk to so loves the networking, loves the case studies. So really just ask the right questions and, and really is a rock star volunteer.

Jennifer Trammell: 5:57

And it sounds like there might be a little bit of a competitive side there too.

Lindsay Leblang: 6:01

Absolutely. We are both very competitive. So Andrew always wanted to set a big goal. I think first goal we were going after was was to beat Keith seer. Last year 1.5 was set and beat and exceeded. So this year, he's back at cheering again, and has a $2 million goal across the whole county cities got a big goal of that. So really excited to help hit that goal and make an impact. Great.

Jennifer Trammell: 6:31

Tell us more about how this partnership has really developed between City Furniture and American Heart Association over the years.

Lindsay Leblang: 6:39

Last year, the American Heart Association and City Furniture entered in a three year partnership where we're really going to be impacting our local community, providing educational resources around checking your blood pressure and knowing your numbers healthy at home toolkits and resources, different food distributions that city furniture has been able to be a part of impacting over 5000 families last year with fresh fruits and vegetables really just looking to partner together to see how do we make the biggest difference here locally and then also across the country.

Jennifer Trammell: 7:14

Thinking with, what 3300 employees, to put this kind of emphasis on health and taking care of your hearts that makes a difference in your company too, right Andrew?

Unknown: 7:24

Yeah, absolutely. Not only is it the you know the right thing to do, you know from a moral standpoint to help get people aware and educated that they can prevent you know a lot of these unfortunate diseases but it's also just really good business. So I'm American Heart Association has you know made this a bigger impact in our organization and because of that our health insurance costs are you know, when you benchmark we typically outperform the the the country pretty pretty strongly and so he gives you the tools and the the push and the focus and the awareness and everything that you can do and if you actually ask you know implement it within your own company you can actually save not only yourself a lot of money but your associates family members a lot of money and obviously the grief if God forbid anything happened

Jennifer Trammell: 8:18

This relationship then really started with Lindsay as part of the fundraising team Andrew as a donor and volunteer, but this has led to a new opportunity. Lindsay you're on the city team full time now. Right?

Lindsay Leblang: 8:31

I am it was a stars aligned it was a right place, right time opportunity to do good for a brand and make a difference in the community. I like to think that it's a win win for both organizations. opportunity to further American Heart Association partnership as well. So definitely an exciting time and just been an exciting I think we're at like seven months or so now. So um, lots more to come with, you know, our partnership with AH and, and all that we do in the community center

Jennifer Trammell: 9:06

How's she doing so far?

Unknown: 9:08

Oh, Lindsay is crushing it. Lindsay entire team, they've just absolutely hit the ground running. And we brought Lindsay on to take our community efforts to much higher levels, strategically, better planned execution, leveraging our partnerships, and you know, obviously doing a lot of good with all the events that we do or campaigns that we're going after. So it's really working and I strongly suggest that you know, all businesses out there, look at their community efforts, take it from informal to formal and apply a lot of strategic thinking to it find great you know, people like Lindsey and and they can really do some amazing stuff for your business community and helps you attract more fabulous town. It helps you retain your fabulous talent. So everybody I feel feels really enriched with the work and help in city live its purpose, which is to enrich people's lives and make the world a better place.

Jennifer Trammell: 10:03

Philanthropy is a key part of that through these events that we've talked about, through raising money, tell me more about how that developed beyond just your relationship with American Heart Association. I mean, this goes back at least three decades, right?

Unknown: 10:17

Keith and Uncle Kevin, were always very religious guys. Uh, you know, always taught to give back in their own way, I would say back then, in the 70s 80s 90s, it was, you know, it was more, my uncle wrote checks, and anonymously sent him to, you name it, every organization you can think of, you know, nowadays, you know, people want to know that the businesses they're buying from or working with are being good corporate stewards. So, so we took that very informal approach. And which, which was amazing. And I remember, I don't know, six, seven years ago, maybe looking at our financials, seeing how much we we donate as a company. And being like, Keith, you know, I just compared how much we're spending for our size business compared to some publicly traded organizations. And I'm like, wow, you're giving more as a, you know, as our size business compared to some of these enormously sized business. And I was like, This is a story here. And so long story short, we ended up branding, our giving back strategy, our 5% Giving Pledge, which means we'll give back a minimum of 5% of our profits every year. And in five different categories. So home health, education, service, and diversity. So we now have our five buckets that we feel are the right areas that are near and dear to our hearts, we got the right leadership with Lindsey. And we're just we're taking it to the next level. So we're taking that informal strategy and really just getting a lot more strategic with it in it. And we're doing a lot, a lot of good because of it. Everything we do at City furniture giving back is at the center in the heart of that. And so that starts from our morning updates, you know, we're always reading our, our mission or vision or purpose.

Jennifer Trammell: 12:12

Kind of take me to a morning huddle. You guys start every morning with that mission vision purpose, what does it sound like?

Andrew Koenig: 12:20

Oh, you're gonna put us on the spot,

Jennifer Trammell: 12:21

I am going to put you on the spot there.

Unknown: 12:23

So we every morning we start off in all of our departments. Our vision is to be the ultimate Furniture and Mattress Store our purpose to enrich people's lives make the world a better place. And then we always go over one value. So we rotate our seven values. One of our values, which is the last one, which Lindsay referring to is giving back and makes people feel like we're more than just a furniture or mattress retailer in which we truly are, I truly believe we're doing more than just selling people's stuff to their homes. It's we are, we're trying to be a good corporate example for our associates, for other companies in the community that look up to us. And then, you know, hopefully we were successful in growing this business that we have more dough at the end of the year or throughout the year, to give to these way more important causes than city furniture like the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, or being or investing more in green technologies to be more environmentally, you know, friendly, you name it. So I think that's what gets us all out of bed a little bit better and faster every morning when you work at City and if I could share one story. So my one of my favorite stories is this warehouse worker, great guy. This is it was several years ago, he walked up to me and said Andrew, I can't I can't help you with I think it was the breast cancer he's like I don't have any dough. I'm like bro do not worry about that. I'm like thank you so much for you know, you know why you feel that way you want to try and help give out he felt really sounds I don't have a norm but I was like when you work here like you have you have to understand like your hard work to helping city grow. Like you're helping put us in a financial situation to give back to the community. So I remember his eyes lit up like he was just like, oh man now I get it like Oh, you're right. That's totally makes me so he felt like I took them enveloppe his shoulders or something. He's like, You know what? That's right. I don't have to put too much pressure on themselves and it was really cool. So it made me feel good made him feel good. And that's why I think it everybody has as we crushed in grow our business and you know, kick but you know that it excites me because it gives us more opportunity to to help Lindsay execute our goals and our strategies for the community.

Jennifer Trammell: 14:41

Andrew, what I think your story really highlights is that you gave a greater purpose to this guy coming to work every day, he saw that his efforts are going to directly make a difference on your community and out in the world. Great example. Yeah. Let's talk about bringing your vendors into this. Lindsay, you've developed a model where your vendors are part of your philanthropic efforts. How does that work?

Lindsay Leblang: 15:07

Yeah. So the first donation that Keith and Kevin gave back to 33 years ago was to Covenant House Florida, really helping homelessness in South Florida, they started a golf tournament, to really raise awareness and bring their vendors involved to do sponsorship and help make a difference. And so a couple years back, they added a vendor conference component to it. So it's a two day event. Day one, everyone comes into city, here's all the business updates, gets like an inside look at, you know, where we're headed, where we're going, really looking at the business model, really exciting meeting. And then the next day, we hold our annual Kevin kainic Memorial Covenant House Cup in honor of Kevin, and this is a golfing fishing tournament. So this is an opportunity for vendors to sponsor different components, whether it's vendor conference, the whole couple of days has the opportunity to really give back. And so this year, we had over 200, vendors participate, and we raised over $225,000, exceeding last year by $100,000. So really proud of our vendors really rallying together to give back, our vendors do an incredible job. Always getting behind our efforts that we're doing in the community, always willing to say yes, so definitely feel that this is an opportunity for other organizations to bring your vendors bring your partners along to help you and your community impact and the organizations you support. Very rarely do we get a no. And if it's a no, it's how can we help bring awareness. And so our vendors are just truly incredible, and definitely an opportunity for other organizations to replicate this. Yeah.

Jennifer Trammell: 16:58

Sounds like a model that other companies could work.

Andrew Koenig: 17:01

Yeah, one thing I would add there, I think two years ago, maybe three years ago, I emailed one of our vendors, I told him the story about Uncle Kevin heart disease, you name it, and he ended up giving us $9,000 And it was one of our factories overseas. And, and I remember saying, like, thank you so much, like, you know, almost like why did you give us so much? I guess he had heart disease affect his family. And he and he was like, I trust you to if you're supporting American Heart Association, I know this money is gonna go to good use. And so you know, just one person. He didn't know he believed in the cause he had the why, whatever it is, and he just didn't have the avenue or the right organization that he trusted, and he trusted us to select the right organization, which we did. So and we have a little bit more dough to American Heart Association do their thing. Pretty cool,

Jennifer Trammell: 17:54

really shows how you can put your strong business relationships that have been built on years of cultivating that trust to work. Millennial leaders like Andrew are part of a big change happening right now affecting fundraisers like you. Over the next decade, up to $70 trillion will shift from aging Baby Boomers to Millennials. In fact, there's already 700,000 millennial millionaires in the United States. The good news for your organization, this generation is more philanthropic than any that came before them. But the bad news, how millennials want to be engaged in philanthropy is completely different. To make sure you're on the right track. Download

Insightful's free ebook: 18:41

9 insights fundraisers need to know to prepare for millennial major donors. Just head to insightfulphilanthropy.com/ebook. This free download includes keys to working with millennials and connecting with insight. That's insightfulphilanthropy.com/ebook. If you're enjoying the conversation with Andrew and Lindsay, leave us a five star rating in your podcast app and make sure you click subscribe or follow so you'll know right away when a new episode of "Know More. Raise More." drops. Alright, let's get back to the conversation. Tell us more about American Cancer Society and why that's a national organization you want to support

Andrew Koenig: 19:33

American Cancer Society is important because cancer is one of those top five. I think it's the third highest reason for cause of death out there. But also because my mom passed away from cancer about six years ago. Being a mama's boy, I'm clearly going to get around that cause as hard as possible because I know she's watching like on Kevin's watching. And I think there's just too many sad stories have cancer in our company in our family and in everybody's lives out there. So we love the American Cancer Society. They're a great partner just like HA. The pink pumpkins campaigns. It was an idea of our team. My mom was on her deathbed. She's like, I want you to order 15,000, pink pumpkin buckets. And this was in July. I was like, Mom, you must be on meds, like what's going on here? And she's like, No, no, I want you to order 15,000 pink pumpkin buckets, and you're gonna put City's logo on it, you're gonna put the American Cancer Society logo on it. And you're gonna raise awareness. You know, like the pink bands I'm sure you see out there, or are the pink plates for auto nation, whatever. And she's like, we're gonna raise awareness on Halloween in the month of October for all the moms out there about breast cancer to get their screenings, and checkups and so forth. So she's like, you're going to order 15,000 Pink buckets. So my dad looked each other and ordered 15,000 Pink bucket, pumpkin buckets. That Halloween, we passed out 1000s throughout the community hoping to spread awareness, get your checkups and you know, mirror, you know, breast cancer is a real deal. You know, women are going to get it you gotta you gotta be proactive on this. And long story short, the the marketing team, Lindsay's team, took this idea and called it the pink pumpkins campaign. And really turned this into a huge campaign to get all of our partners vendor community, fellow companies in the neighborhood, really rallying around our breast cancer strategy in October and American Cancer Society. So I, Lindsay, I don't know if you want to add any further.

Lindsay Leblang: 21:38

Yeah, so through this campaign, this past year, we set a $500,000 goal, to raise funds for the American Cancer Society, and also bring awareness. So we turned the city pink, we had more associates walk at the Making Strides walk than ever before. And we also had more pink pumpkin partners than ever before. And so our partners are different companies in the community that helped sponsor pumpkin. So what that means is a $1,500 donation, and you actually get a faux pumpkin with your company logo in there and a display. So we had over 50 partners join us this year for the pink pumpkins campaigns and proud to share, we hit that$500,000 goal. And we just look forward to increasing that awareness and that impact. You know, just like Andrew shared, you know, the screenings and awareness around going to get your annual exams, it's critical, because of the pandemic 87% of screenings are down. And so a lot of our awareness and our fundraising efforts are going towards bringing more education and more awareness in the importance of going to get those annual checkups and making sure those doctor's appointments are happening, because early detection is critical.

Jennifer Trammell: 23:02

Lindsay Alright, organizations hear, you just raised half a million dollars for American Cancer Society. That's incredible. I've got to imagine you get a lot of requests that come your way for corporate sponsorships and giving. I'm wondering how do you evaluate those opportunities and for our fundraisers, listening? What are the do's and don'ts when you're making this kind of corporate request?

Lindsay Leblang: 23:26

Good question. Yes, we do. And our hope at City is of course to help as many organizations as we can make the biggest impact. So first tip I would give you is to use the five pillars as your guide. So finding out how your organization fits into those pillars would be my first recommendation. Second one is we want to know your biggest need. So of course, we're going to attend walks and have tables and tents at galas. But we want, we really want to hear how we can make a difference and what your greatest need is. So that would be my next recommendation. And then I would say this year, we're really looking to listen and learn from organizations that we are not currently partnering with. So send us your successes, send us what you're doing in the community. That's the big task Andrew is put on my team is to really listen and learn of other organizations out there. And then we're working to be the best partner we can for our current partners. So our current partners, we're looking to grow those partnerships, and then really hear from the other organizations, what they're doing. Again, sharing those wins, sharing what events you have coming up just so we can keep tracking and hope to be able to partner with new organizations in the future.

Jennifer Trammell: 24:44

And that's so important for fundraisers and organizations that are looking at any corporations across America, showing how does your organization's mission align with the company you're trying to engage and better imagine when there's good synergy? It kind of starts to feel like a natural fit.

Lindsay Leblang: 25:02

Absolutely. When we can see, you know, the where other organizations are headed, what impact they want to make, it really helps us be able to align, where we want to take City and City Cares, and really how we can better tell our story of the impact in the community together, right, because we want to be able to highlight our partners in the community with the impact that we're making together.

Jennifer Trammell: 25:29

After the break, how the "rest test" is a win for customers, a win for the business, and a win for charity. We'll share the model that raised more than $300,000 just by getting people to lie down. That way, you can start thinking about what could work for your organization to raise some big bucks."Know More. Raise More." is brought to you by Insightful. Remember for insights on millennials from millennials download Insightful's free ebook: 9 insights fundraisers need to know to prepare for millennial major donors. Just head to insightfulphilanthropy.com/ebook. That's insightfulphilanthropy.com/ebook. When it comes to innovating with your giving approach, what are you doing?

Andrew Koenig: 26:26

I think one of the most innovative things we've done over the last year or so is we came up with this idea for a test rest campaign. So what it is, is, I think a win for the customer win for the associate win for the business. And obviously a win for the charity that we're impacting. So customer walks in our stores, our sales associates, ask them for eight to 10 minutes, their time to test ress a mattress, whether they're in the market for a mattress or not, we just say hey, if you give us eight to 10 minutes, your time, not only will I qualify you on the right bed for your body, for your sleeping habits, to make sure you know how to sleep, you know how you can get a good night's sleep, whether you're in the market or not. And we'll donate$25 to the American Cancer Society or American Heart Association, or what or whatever cause we're supporting at that period of time. And then we'll also give you $25, to Starbucks or Visa gift card that you can use immediately. So most people have are connected to these major causes of American Heart Association or cancer, you name it, and they're they're happy to say no problem. And and be in the sales associates is getting them to realize, you know, hey, you know, we're going to test rescue on a mattress that probably you're probably not sleeping good on a current one right now, which I think about a third of Americans do not sleep well at night. And we're helping them find the right mattress for their body for their sleeping power. You name it for their spouse or for themselves, whatever. And they're walking out of there feeling like they just helped contribute to our cause. And they're feeling good the sales associates have because they're, they're helping this, the customer figure out how to sleep properly. And eventually 20% of those trends, those interactions translate into a sale. We tested this with American Heart Association last year, and in just three months raised well over $300,000. And that is that campaign is something we you know, me and Lindsey have been trying to get other companies to think about what what is your potential test dress campaign? Where can you find the win for the customer, the win for the business and the win for the charity? And they're out there?

Lindsay Leblang: 28:42

Test driving cars is an easy turn key one.

Jennifer Trammell: 28:46

All right, we're gonna challenge our other business leaders listening, what is your test rest equivalent, that can make a difference for all kinds of different charities? Very cool. Andrew, as you think about your legacy, personally, and the impact of city furniture, what are you hoping to accomplish through philanthropy?

Andrew Koenig: 29:06

We're just trying to, you know, do right, do good, you know, and live our values. So if giving back sort of sevens value, I would, I would hate to look back on my career or anybody at cities to feel like we didn't, you know, give the proper amount of energy to help make others better or the community better or saved lives where we could or donate properly or help in any way we can. I hope to look back. And every associate city says, Wow, this is a great organization that does a lot of good in the community. I'm proud to work here.

Jennifer Trammell: 29:42

Lindsey, what do you think as an employee hearing that?

Lindsay Leblang: 29:47

I would just say I think if you would ask, you know, our associates at City furniture, they would just say they are so proud to be part of the city family and you can really feel the family culture and the you know the philosophy Andrews talking about it. It's not just a talk like we actually walk the walk and you can feel it within the day to day of city furniture. And I will just say you know, super proud to be a part of the city team and you know the impact that is to come is is endless and very exciting.

Jennifer Trammell: 30:23

Well, thank you for sharing your story with all of us. Thanks for having us. Let's recap the key takeaways from Andrew and Lyndsay. We'll take it from both the perspective of the business and that of a fundraiser. Number one, if you're a business, consider making giving back part of your company values. If you're a fundraiser, seek out the corporations who have done this, you can look for news stories of companies in your area talking about their corporate giving an insightful is a tool that can help. Number two for businesses, you may feel inundated by requests, set priorities for your giving. For city that's their five pillars for fundraisers, make sure you know a company's priorities for philanthropy, and then show how your organization fits into those categories. And remember Lindsay's advice when you're making a pitch for corporate donations share your biggest need. Number three companies get your vendors involved in philanthropy city does this through their vendor Conference, which is an insider's opportunity to get to know what's happening with the company. And then they pair that with a fishing and golf tournament raising money for charity. So fundraisers Is this a model you can share with your own corporate accounts? And finally, number four, find your rest test. Is there an activity that makes sense with your business? That's a win for the customer, like finding the best way to get a good night's sleep and get a $25 gift card? A win for the business. 20% of these trials turn into sales and a win for the charity that gets a donation every time someone does the test. We can't wait to hear what you come up with. Thanks for joining us for "Know More. Raise More." I'm your host Jennifer Trammell.