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Businesses that depend on a literate population for their success are perfectly positioned to market their business through their support of literacy organizations. For example, the WPTV-TV Television Station in Palm Beach County, Fla., owned by a newspaper company, supports the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County because literacy is not only a good cause, but it also is essential to increasing newspaper circulation. The same is true for Half Price Books (HPB), a new and used bookstore chain. HPB views its support of literacy as a win-win for everyone: children and adults who need strong literacy skills to be successful at school and on the job; communities that need highly skilled workers contributing to economic development; and HPB, whose success—and bottom line—depend on literate customers. The company’s commitment to adult education and family literacy began when it opened its first store in 1972. Its corporate mission—then and now —is to help people of all ages become successful readers. HPB carries out its mission in the communities where it has stores, addressing literacy needs through its partnerships with schools and adult and family literacy organizations. The company is especially interested in 1) bringing attention to the organization’s work, the need for adult education and family literacy services in the community, and HPB’s efforts to support literacy and 2) working with partners experienced in hosting special or media events. Dollar General, a national retailer of consumable basic products, also supports literacy because it connects to the company’s core mission of “serving others.” Although Dollar General’s focus on adult education and family literacy is in large part the result of its cofounder J.L. Turner’s personal struggles with literacy, the cause also is tied to the company’s mission to provide a “better life” for its customers, “a superior return” for its shareholders, and “respect and opportunity” for its employees. With many stores located in underserved rural and urban neighborhoods that often have high rates of illiteracy, Dollar General believes supporting local adult education and family literacy programs is critical to achieving its mission. Lessons Learned Businesses taking a cause-branding approach to community involvement have learned the following: Find ways to support literacy providers that meet their needs and yours. Literacy Instruction for Texas (LIFT) has been a partner with HPB since 2001. A Dallas-based literacy agency, LIFT provides adult literacy, English as a second language, and family literacy instruction. Each year, LIFT serves more than 6,000 adults in classes taught by its all-volunteer teaching force. HPB supports LIFT in a variety of ways, including: providing copies of Say Goodnight to Illiteracy, a children’s book produced by HPB that raises money for family literacy programs; distributing HPB gift cards to teachers to thank them for their work as volunteers; and hosting field trips for adult learners to HPB stores, during which they are given HPB gift cards to use at the store. Capitalize on business assets. As a media outlet, WPTV contributes its expertise, advertising resources, and airtime to the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County, in addition to other in-kind and financial donations. The station provides free airtime for all of the Coalition’s major events and produces public service announcements on literacy and the Coalition. WPTV also gives the Coalition advice on filming “spots,” such as keeping the Coalition’s literacy hotline phone number on screen for the entire segment. At the same time, WPTV recognizes that by donating its business expertise and associating the company with literacy, it attracts good publicity. Align business and partner goals. HPB and the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) began a partnership in 2006. NCFL, a nationally recognized adult and family literacy nonprofit organization, works to shape public policy, educate the public and the media, conduct research, and develop and disseminate tools for increasing the literacy skills of parents and children. HPB was particularly interested in partnering with NCFL because of the match between the company’s philanthropic goals and NCFL’s goals, NCFL’s history of collaborating with businesses, and its location in Louisville, Ky., where HPB opened its first store in 2006. HBP and NCFL are collaborating on the release of the 13th edition of Say Goodnight to Illiteracy. NCFL is helping HBP promote and distribute the book, and in return HPB is donating proceeds from book sales to NCFL’s operating funds and profiling NCFL in its stores. Build on existing efforts. NCFL has had a long history of working with the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Education to provide family literacy services to American Indians. Since Dollar General is interested in helping underserved populations, building on these past efforts made sense. Dollar General and NCFL collaborated on Read Together—Catch a Dream, which provided American Indian parents with training on dialogic reading, a method that encourages children to become active participants in the reading process. As documented by the National Early Literacy Panel in its 2008 report, dialogic reading is more effective than passive reading aloud. Parents participating in the program receive training about specific techniques to help them start and continue conversations, or dialogue, about books as they read with their children. Children who participated in the program demonstrated significant gains in oral language skills, and parents became more active in their children’s reading. Benefits to Business Some benefits to business in taking a cause-branding approach to community involvement include:
Benefits to Adult Education Some benefits to adult education in collaborating with businesses that see a connection between their core values and literacy include:
Resources The following resources have been compiled for further reading on topics related to business-adult education partnerships. Pop-up windows with links to and descriptions of the resources will appear as you click on the resource titles. Resources are categorized below as: Business Partnerships (descriptions of the business-adult education partnerships referenced above); Partnership Profiles (related examples of other community partnerships); How-Tos (guides and tools for establishing partnerships); Research; the Case for Business Involvement; and Web Sites. A complete list of resources related to business-adult education partnerships is found in the Workforce Issues section on the C-PAL Web site. Business Partnerships Dollar General: Uniting Personal and Company Mission for Literacy Half Price Books: Matching Corporate Mission with a Good Cause WPTV-TV Television Station: Spreading the Word about Literacy Partnership Profiles Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County How-Tos Cause Branding and Its Impact on Corporate Reputation The Case for Business Involvement Corporate Sponsorships of Philanthropic Activities: When Do They Impact Perception of Sponsor Brand? Web Sites
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