Involving Businesses

Q:	How do you approach local businesses?
A:	Be positive and emphasize the benefits of association with your chapter and the Birdathon. People -- including your chapter membership -- appreciate businesses that "give back" to the community. Point out to the businesses the number of local households and consumers that your chapter reaches through your newsletter, field trips, sanctuaries, etc. Then be sure to thank the businesses and companies that donate to your Birdathon by acknowledging them in the newsletter and press releases. Some chapters take out advertisements in local newspapers listing the businesses that support their Birdathon.
Q:	How can businesses participate in the Birdathon?
A:	Here are six suggestions for how businesses could become involved in your Birdathon: Ask the company to sponsor the chapter's Birdathon with a pledge. Ask vendors to donate services; printers may offer discounts, and radio and TV stations can publicize the event. Stores may donate products which your chapter could use as prizes for the Birdathoners who collect the most pledges and win team competitions. Your Birdathon is a great merchandising opportunity for local businesses. Chapters have worked cooperatively with businesses to raise the visibility of the Birdathon in the community. Examples of actions businesses have taken for local chapters include: leaving stacks of pledge forms, chapter newsletters, membership brochures, and a promotional poster in stores soliciting Birdathon sponsors outside the store -- especially on Earth Day providing merchandise discounts to anyone pledging to the Birdathon including an offer in chapter Birdathon promotional materials to provide coupons to anyone pledging placing an Audubon Birdhouse by the cash register to collect donations for the Birdathon including a promotion for the Birdathon in the store newsletter. The Birdathon office has a listing of hundreds of companies that provide matching gifts for money donated by their employees. Rainier Audubon raises an additional $1,500 from Boeing as a match to their Birdathon pledges raised by Boeing employees. Do you have any local foundations? Some chapters obtain Birdathon grants from foundations. Businesses and their employees may sponsor their own Birdathon teams. They would collect their own sponsors and would join the chapter's Birdathon teams for birding. Stores could also challenge the local chapter to a species spotting competition. Audubon's Company Birdathon booklet, available by e-mail, details everything a company needs to know about conducting its own Birdathon.
Q:	Which businesses should you approach?
A:	The chapter's vendors: birdseed companies, the printer, bank, insurance company, phone company, and local wild bird store Businesses that rely on your membership for patronage: outdoor equipment manufacturers, optics companies, and seed stores Wild Birds Unlimited, Inc.: Wild Birds Unlimited, Inc. has donated prizes to the Birdathon, and their franchisees have received information about how they can become involved in chapter Birdathons.
	E*Mail birdathon@audubon.org or phone 1-800-542-2748 for more info.