Happy Valentine's Day from [Your Charity Here]

Using holidays and special occasions to launch special initiatives and fundraisers for your business or not-for-profit is kind of a no-brainer. After all, holidays are a natural way to mark the progression of a year. They come complete with a theme in place, and they're well-known, so if you're trying to market around, for example, St. Patrick's day, half the work is already done for you. (Green? Shamrocks? Luck? These images and ideas are built-in. Not much creative thought involved.) All you have to do is come up with a way to tie your organization into the holiday.

Since today is Valentine's Day, perhaps one of the best possible tie-in holidays for a savvy not-for-profit, I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of the business-based charity initiatives that are making headlines this year.

Boston Pizza's "cuisine with a cause"

Believe it or not, it's a major pizza chain that's getting the best press for their Valentine's Day charity initiative this year. Today (Tue. Feb. 14, 2012), Boston Pizza is selling heart-shaped pies, with a dollar from each sale going toward the Boston Pizza Foundation, which has a variety of charity partners that include The Heart & Stroke Foundation, The Kids Help Line and Juvenile Diabetes.

Global Pet Foods' "Show us your heart" fundraiser

Yet another business that's making the most of Valentine's Day with a joint marketing/fundraising initiative is Global Pet Foods (GPF), which has spent the past two weeks running its annual "Show us your heart" fundraiser. The premise is simple. Over the past two weeks, whenever shoppers made a purchase at GPF, they were asked to give $1 (or more) to the initative. Global Pet Foods pledged to match those donations, as did Hill's Science Diet (a dog food company). Funds raised (and matched) will go to local animal shelters. (For example, one Pickering area GPF is giving their funds to the Humane Society of Durham Region and Rabbit Rescue Inc.)

Regency Chrysler's "Care-a-van" project

While this is a smaller scale project, it still made the news. Regency Chrysler, a car dealership in the small community of Quesnel, B.C., recently purchased a new, seven-seater Dodge Caravan for the purpose of helping Quesnel not-for-profits get around. The aptly named "Care-a-Van" project launches today and again, the concept is simple. The new vehicle will be made available exclusively for short-term loan to Quesnel charities and non-profit organizations. All local charities need to do is apply to borrow the van at least one week before it's needed.

All of these are examples of businesses taking advantage of the Valentine's Day theme. And as they are businesses, their motives aren't purely charitable. Initiatives such as the ones mentioned build buzz (and bring out press) for the businesses involved. If you can get a project like this in the paper, you benefit from a bit of free advertising. Helping charities is probably just icing on the cake.

If you're a business, consider the ways you might participate in holiday-themed projects and special fundraisers over the coming year. Who knows? You might even get some free press for yourself while doing good. And if you're a not-for-profit or charity, why not consider partnering with a business for holiday-themed initiatives, and you'll both win. Or even do your own initiatives; you'll raise money and awareness, and you too may even get some free press.

_{Header image by Dorota Kaszczyszyn, SXC. Body image from Boston Pizza.}