CASE STUDIES:
STRATEGIC PHILANTHROPY
SELECTED CASE STUDIES:
AMTRUST BANK
In 2008, AmTrust hired BrownFlynn to audit and
assess all of the financial institution’s
activities related to community engagement
including charitable giving, partnerships with
nonprofits and employee volunteerism. After
conducting internal and best practice research,
BrownFlynn recommended designing and
implementing a signature program entitled
“Living the American Dream” that focused on the
core values of prosperity, independence and
opportunity. During the development of a
signature program, identifying strategic areas
of focus is needed. For AmTrust, BrownFlynn
determined that the bank should invest its
resources in and build its signature program
around four areas: financial education, housing,
sustainability and health and wellness. These
areas support AmTrust’s mission and culture.
Creating the structure and providing creative
ideas to make the program a success, BrownFlynn
helped to develop a program for the company that
would bring substantial community recognition
and increased brand awareness.
FAIRMOUNT MINERALS - QUEST PROGRAM
As part of BrownFlynn’s sustainable
development consulting with Fairmount Minerals,
we helped the organization develop an original
signature community investment program, QUEST.
The QUEST program combines volunteer activity
and charitable contributions to support
environmental education at all levels. A major
component of the QUEST program involves donating
a variety of tree saplings to local schools,
parks and non-profit organizations to help
offset Fairmount’s greenhouse gas emissions. The
goal of this QUEST initiative to educate others
about reducing their environmental footprint
while, at the same time, taking the necessary
steps to improve Fairmount’s own environmental
impacts.
FINANCIAL EDUCATION EXECUTIVE SUMMIT
One of the largest financial services companies
in the country hired BrownFlynn’s consultant
team to brainstorm and develop the framework for
a comprehensive, company-wide strategic
philanthropy program. BrownFlynn conducted best
practice research, surveyed and interviewed key
executives, and assembled relevant pre-read
materials in advance of the summit. During the
summit, BrownFlynn served as a guide and
facilitator to executives as they determined the
best approach for launching a financial
education-based corporate social responsibility
initiative that would better enable customers to
be financially prepared, informed and in control
of their financial destiny. Determining that
consumer financial education and empowering
customers would become an integral part of the
value proposition, decision making and culture
of the organization, BrownFlynn was then charged
with outlining next steps. Based on the summit
findings, BrownFlynn developed a vision for the
initiative and defined the components and key
milestones to make the vision a reality.
MOEN INCORPORATED
In partnership with Moen’s Corporate Giving
Committee, BrownFlynn analyzed Moen’s community
involvement and giving practices. Through an
intensive discovery process, BrownFlynn reviewed
the Company’s core values, core competencies,
employee volunteer history, internal and
external communications, budget and funding
cycles, and the external community and
environment. The assessment also involved a
careful review and analysis of hundreds of
non-profit organizations throughout Northeast
Ohio that could potentially serve as community
partners with Moen.
The strategic philanthropy plan BrownFlynn
developed included a Community Investment
Program specific to Moen’s strategic business
objectives. Our work helped the company enhance
brand and reputation, complement other marketing
and advertising efforts, create strategic
alliances with non-profits and demonstrate the
company's commitment to diversity.
POLICYBRIDGE
Every day, strong and intelligent young men are
bombarded with negative messages from the media
– on television, in song lyrics and in the
movies. It is hard not to be affected by those
images and unconstructive words. PolicyBridge
hired BrownFlynn to create and supervise the
implementation of the Education Pay$ - Get Yours
campaign – a social media marketing initiative
designed to show African-American boys that
opportunity, stability, hope, happiness and
success are attainable through education.
BrownFlynn created the nine-month campaign to
provide positive educational and mentoring
messages to young African-American males—ages 10
to 13 years old. With a vision to expand
regionally and even nationally, Education Pay$ -
Get Yours piloted in three Cleveland
neighborhoods, including Central, Mt. Pleasant
and Slavic Village. BrownFlynn utilized
billboards, radio ads, direct mail, transit
signage, posters, guerilla marketing tactics,
community events, school rallies and text
messaging services to implement the campaign.
Although the campaign was founded by
PolicyBridge, it was funded by generous
philanthropic support. PolicyBridge is a public
policy think tank with a regional focus that
provides research, analysis, and proactive
initiatives that directly address the
fundamental questions affecting the future
economic growth, development, and stability of
the Northeast Ohio region. In 2007, PolicyBridge
released The Rap on Culture. The report
discusses the education gap between young
African-American males and their counterparts
and the role that negative media messages play
with this target audience. Education Pay$ - Get
Yours is a direct result of the report and the
overwhelming outpouring of community support it
received.
SKYBANK
When Sky Bank (now Huntington Bank) entered the
Cleveland market a few years ago, it sought to
make an immediate, discernible mark upon the
community. However, the Bank was overwhelmed
with requests for support from a multitude of
organizations and had no strategy for engaging
the Bank and its employees in the community.
With strong support from the CEO, Sky hired
BrownFlynn to help the Bank develop a strategic
philanthropy plan, including a signature program
– SkyServes.
Sky focuses its strategic philanthropy in three
areas to improve the quality of life in Sky Bank
communities – financial education, small
business development and growth, and
neighborhood development. BrownFlynn designed,
trained and engaged a 12-member strategic
philanthropy committee to review contribution
requests and implement strategies to increase
employee volunteerism, leverage Sky’s
investments in community organizations and
measure impact.
As a result of Sky’s strategic philanthropy
plan, cause-related marketing and supporting
activities, the Bank improved its CRA ratings,
positioned itself to meet growing needs and
exceeded expectations – in financial performance
and philanthropy.
