Retailing for Nonprofit
Meredith Garrett was nervous about pitching Kitson. She not only was going to ask the pioneering Los Angeles boutique to debut her collection, OmniPeace by Signorelli, she was also going to request that Kitson owner Fraser Ross forgo profits from the sales of her line. Instead, she wanted him to devote profits to Millennium Promise, a nonprofit with the ambitious goal of ending extreme poverty around the world by 2025.
Initially, the gambit looked risky. While Kitson developed a reputation for premiering lines with gala parties attended by A-list celebrities such as Justin Timberlake, the store had never undertaken a campaign to raise nonprofit funds through fashion sales. Instead it had held one-off charity benefits such as a 2006 event that raised money for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.
But on March 23, Garrett decided to try her luck, and she was surprised by her good fortune. Ross happened to be in the shop that day, and he wrote an order for the collection.
The order increased 15 times to $50,000 when Garrett said that her collection’s Los Angeles–based partner, OmniPeace, could guarantee that actress Courteney Cox would appear at a party for the shirt’s debut. (The promise was solid because OmniPeace founder Mary Fanaro has been friends with Cox since they both acted in the 1989 movie “Roxanne: The Prize Pulitzer.”)
By June 21, the promise was delivered. Paparazzi snapped photos of Cox walking down a red carpet to the festivities at Ross’ Kitson Men boutique on Los Angeles’ Robertson Boulevard.
As partygoers browsed OmniPeace by Signorelli’s supima cotton T-shirts, retail priced at $65, Ross forecast that Kitson could donate $100,000 from sales of the shirt to Millennium Promise by mid-August.
When asked if philanthropy would help the bottom line of his business, he replied that he didn’t know, but he was sure the campaign could help in other ways. “It’s going to bring good press and positive energy,” he said.
Ross has not been the only boutique owner to recently mix precious retail real estate with philanthropy. In the past, retailers have raised funds for charitable causes after tragic events such as the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and Hurricane Katrina. Recently, philanthropies that raise money for cancer research and disease and economic relief for Africa have been popular causes for retailers.
In 2006, San Francisco–based Gap Inc. partnered with Project Red, a commercial venture started by rock star Bono and Bobby Shriver, to raise funds to fight AIDS in Africa. In April, Los Angeles–based boutique Intuition designed the Market Bags accessories to raise funds for the International Rescue Committee.
The bags’ price points range from $85 to $100. Intuition founder Jaye Hersh said that $35 from each Market Bag purchase is donated to the IRC to promote education for children in war-ravaged areas.
Many manufacturers plan to back nonprofits through sales of their fashions. J & Co., a denim designer based in Los Angeles, plans to raise funds for National Breast Cancer Inc. from sales from its Breast Cancer Awareness Jean. It should be available at the brand’s Web site (www.jandcompany.com) in September. The following month, Los Angeles jeans label C.enne.V will donate proceeds from the sales of its pink lounge pants to breast-cancer research.
Los Angeles–based juniors label Realitee Clothing Co. partnered with Nordstrom to sell the limited-edition “Fight” T-shirt to benefit the Maryland- based Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults.
The recent wave of philanthropy is cresting at a time when charitable giving is on the rise in the United States. According to a survey released June 25, Americans gave $295.02 billion in 2006—4.2 percent more than they did during the previous year, according to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University in Indianapolis.
Retailer Fred Levine said that raising funds for the American Cancer Society has become a second reason for doing business at his specialty retail chain, M.Fredric, based in Agoura Hills, Calif.
For the past five years, M.Fredric has asked customers donate a minimum of $1 along with every purchase. Levine also requests that vendors deduct a minimum of $10 from each invoice, and the deduction is given to cancer research.
The retailer matches donations, most recently 25 cents for every dollar collected. Since 2002, Levine has raised more than $300,000 for the American Cancer Society. The retailer said he hopes to increase that sum to more than $1 million—and he seems to be in a hurry.
By September, he will ask customers to make a minimum donation of $5. In exchange, they’ll get a special CD of songs by the Grammy-winning band Maroon 5. Levine’s son, Adam, composes songs and sings for the band.
Retailers do not need famous relatives to start a philanthropic program at their stores, Levine said. They merely need a desire to raise funds and the tenacity to ask consumers and vendors to contribute to a nonprofit. Levine said that he hoped to advise other specialty retailers on building their own philanthropic campaigns. He suggested contacting him through his company’s corporate phone number, (818) 597- 0212.
Levine says that philanthropy has been good for his company’s bottom line. “Our staff really feels good about the things we do,” Levine said. A happier staff is a more loyal staff and one more motivated to do a good job. He also said he thinks that the philanthropy will nudge customers to choose M.Fredric over other stores.
“It’s a neighborhood store that cares about the community,” he said.
