Core concept:
Collection and dispersal of funds for social welfare and creating awareness for a worthy cause.
Types of charitable events:
Mass based social welfare events usually employ concepts from other event categories such as music concerts, cricket matches etc. for espousing the cause.
These help in not only creating awareness but also aid in fund raising for research into problems being faced by the mankind such as AIDS, Cancer, etc.
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Charity events are necessarily cause-oriented and depending on the requirement of the cause, in terms of reach and interaction desirable, the event category to be employed is chosen.
Institutional goodwill events such as awards, parades, charity fashion shows, sponsorship of athletic teams comprised of kids, sponsorship of community events can all be called charitable events since only goodwill and no direct commercial benefit is sought from the event.
Characteristics:
Usually there are three main players here: the artist or celebrity, the charitable institution and the event organizer. The chemistry between these three works as follows: The charity needs the funds, the artist needs the publicity and for the event organizers its business as usual.
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A new, mutually beneficial relationship between the cause and sponsor has led to a significant shift in the paradigm of social marketing. Cause-led marketing efforts are gaining ground because of their positive rub-off on the firm’s image and the free media publicity.
It works better than the best advertising. Marketers are happy with this event category because there is a possibility of the entertainment tax being waived.
There is also a possibility of getting large discounts in media in terms of time and space as well as free publicity in the form of reports of the same. These reports are carried not only in the print media but also on the numerous programmers on the multitude of satellite channels.
It offers corporate a role in moulding social change at the same time yielding impressive results in terms of promotion. Of course, good intentions are not always so obvious and tend to attract adverse comments and reactions from detractors.
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Charitable events provide high reach but low interaction opportunities. The benefits that such event provides to sponsors are:
(i) Societal marketing opportunity
(ii) Positive rub-off on the firm’s image
(iii) Free media publicity
(iv) Better than the best advertising for goodwill generation
(v) A possibility of the entertainment tax being waived
The following example showcases such an event. The Child Art Exhibition 2000 was a showcase for the talents of underprivileged children which was organized by the Concern India Foundation for Children.
They focused on children living on the streets or in slums in squalor dreaming of a better future in brighter surroundings. Concern India Foundation (CIF) organizes the Child Art Exhibition to encourage and share the creativity of these special children.
The exhibition has been held since 1996. In the year 2000, over 250 children from 15 NGOs participated in the exhibition. 140 paintings were offered for sale-at very affordable prices.
Brightly colored paintings of flowers, fishes, animals and scenery, a child’s dream world, painted with crayons, oil paints and watercolors. All proceeds from the sale of the paintings were given to the participating NGOs.
As an added element, this year, the children were also showing their creative talents in music, dance and drama. These children have an inborn rhythm and their uninhibited singing and dancing is a joy to watch.
Each participating child was rewarded with a small gift. CIF was supported in organizing this exhibition by Pundole Art Gallery for free framing of the paintings, Kellogg India Ltd.
Godrej Foods, the Ravalgaon Sugar Farm Ltd., and General Insurance Corporation of India. Pepsi provided the free drinks; Johnson & Johnson Ltd. gifted the children their Kids’ soap, McDonald’s India arranged for the food and The Bombay Store sponsored the caps for the children.
CIF is a nonprofit support organization, which aims to make underprivileged individuals self-reliant. It gives financial and nonfinancial support to development-oriented NGOs which work towards providing education, health facilities and vocational training to disadvantaged children, women, youth, the aged and the disabled.
It was held in Coomaraswamy Hall, Prince of Wales Museum, and Mumbai on 25th and 26th August 2000, between 10:00 am – 6:00 pm. The children performed between 11:00 am and 1:30 pm on both days.
Other participating NGOs included the Akanksha Foundation, Aseema, Bandra East Community Centre (BECC), Committed Communities Development Trust (CCDT), The Doorstep School, IAPA, Jaag, MIND-The Research Society for the Care, Treatment and Training of Children in Need of Special Care, Mobile Creches, NSCC-I (National Society for Clean Cities – India), Pragatik Vidyarthi Sangh, Prerana, The Shishukalyan Snehi Swayamsevak Sanstha, SMILE and Vatsalya.
Another example of a charitable event is the recently conceptualized International Jewel of India race-cum-tour of antique cars. In January 1999, in front of the mighty Gateway of India in Mumbai and watched by a huge early morning crowd, the 1st Jewel of India was born.
From Mumbai to the Coromandel Coast at Chennai via Royal Rajasthan, the Indian public followed the Jewel through TV, magazines and newspapers, as the determined crews toured the wonderful country of India for 25 splendid hot and dusty days on one of the last great motoring events of the 20th century.
The winners of the 1st event would be invited to hand over the prizes to the winners at the next Jewel of India event in 2001. The Jewel’s greatest achievement was to raise the funds that enabled an A&E (Accident and Emergency) ward to be fitted out in the Phende Hospital at Hunsor near Mysore.
The Jewel of India Emergency Ward exists because of the energy of the event organizers, who drove the Jewel and motivated all around them to fund this crucial facility for the community hospital.
In 2001, the rally plans to drive through Dharamshala, the home of the Dalai Lama in exile, and it is hoped that they will again be in a position to contribute something towards the nation.