Leveraging Assets: Engaging the Business Community

Recruiting businesses and corporations to participate in the campaign is critical to extending its reach. Most employers will understand the benefits of the campaign immediately – the more students in their area who successfully complete post-secondary education, the stronger the pool of potential employees will be for businesses in the coming years. Most businesses are continually looking for ways to support community initiatives that will lead to a stronger workforce. KnowHow2GO is a campaign that business leaders will naturally be inclined to support if it is presented in a straightforward, thoughtful way.

Targeting your outreach efforts to the business community is important. Consider reaching out to the following types of organizations about the campaign:

  • Businesses frequented by students and their influencers. Where do families in your community spend their time? Think about asking for support from owners of local restaurants, grocery stores, shopping malls, arcades, movie theaters, salons, barber shops and gyms.
  • State-level business executive associations. Training the future generation of the workforce is important to all business leaders. Members of statewide business associations may be interested in promoting the campaign and garnering support from leaders that non-profit and education allies may not have easy access to.
  • State and regional small business associations. Small business owners may not have as much money to donate to a cause or as broad of a reach as large corporations, but they care deeply about the customers in their community. Small business owners across the state can provide a critical point of access to students and their influencers.
  • State and local chambers of commerce. Chambers of Commerce are recognized leaders of the business community. Their support of KnowHow2GO will likely encourage many businesses to take action in supporting the campaign.
  • Leading statewide and local employers. Corporations that have grown as a result of a strong local workforce are likely to support a campaign designed to help build an even better workforce for the future. Ask leading employers and corporations to take an active role in KnowHow2GO.

Once you decide who to reach out to, consider how best to engage a business leader or corporation. A few suggestions for how businesses can be involved in the campaign include:

Basic
  • Hang campaign posters in their place of business or distribute campaign materials.
  • Post a link to the KnowHow2GO campaign on their company Web site.
  • Donate gifts and/or prizes for students participating in KnowHow2GO activities.
  • Share information about the campaign with colleagues and employees.
  • Donate ad space for the campaign, e.g., ask a local grocery store to place the KnowHow2GO logo and Web site on their grocery bags or receipts.
  • Mail information about the campaign to customers.

Advanced

  • Actively participate in the campaign steering committee.
  • Help recruit additional business leaders to support the campaign.
  • Speak about the campaign and its importance to the economic health and vitality of the community at meetings and conferences with other business leaders.
  • Financially support a component of the campaign to raise further awareness, e.g., provide funding for KnowHow2GO t-shirts for local students who are actively taking the steps to prepare for college.
  • Write an op-ed for a local newspaper in support of the campaign. (A template op-ed follows.)
  • Serve as a regular media spokesperson for the campaign.
  • Adopt a local school and mentor students. Become a guiding adult.

Tips for Reaching Out to the Business Community

While you may have worked with the business community before, here are some refresher tips on how to build strong partnerships:

  • Demonstrate an understanding of each business and their customers to prove that you aren't simply looking for a handout. Businesses are approached every day to support local events and activities. Articulate why supporting this campaign is important to them as a business in addition to being the “right thing” to do.
  • Think big and think small. Giving business leaders a range of participatory options lets individuals and organizations decide at what level they are comfortable supporting the campaign.
  • Present win-win strategies. Make it easy for a business to say yes to supporting the campaign by presenting them with strategies that are a good fit for their business. For example, rather than asking the local bowling alley owner to write an op-ed for the paper, ask him to donate free games as a prize for a local student event. This will increase traffic to the business and demonstrate the bowling alley's support of local students.
  • Cast a wide net in searching for business support. While the local pizza parlor owner may be a great supporter of the campaign, asking repeatedly for donations and free ad space will wear thin. You can rotate “asks” if you cast a wide enough net.
  • Graciously recognize business support. Be sure to publicly thank business supporters at events, on your Web site and in the media. This demonstrates your commitment to their partnership and provides them with the free advertising that makes their contributions a good business decision. 

Template Business Outreach Letter

Dear:

We know that young people everywhere have big dreams for the future, and children here in (insert name of city or state) are no different. In 2002, 80 percent of students reported they planned to earn a bachelor's degree or higher after high school. However, many of these students don't know the basic steps necessary to prepare for college. To help students in our community learn about the steps they need to take to go to college, (insert name of organization) has joined the KnowHow2GO campaign.

The KnowHow2GO campaign targets students in grades 8 through 10, providing important information on preparing for college. The campaign is a grassroots initiative that consists of a network of national, local and state partners. These partners include educational organizations and institutions, youth-serving organizations, local schools, elected officials, religious organizations and the business community.

KnowHow2GO seeks to reach young people in their own language and through trusted mediums. In addition to an interactive, student-focused Web site and print materials available in both English and Spanish, the campaign has created a series of public service advertisements for TV, radio and outdoor spaces.

As a prominent and trusted member of our local business community, I am reaching out to request your support of the KnowHow2GO campaign. There are a number of ways that you could lend your support to the campaign: hanging campaign posters in your store; participating in our local campaign steering committee; sharing information about the campaign with your customers; linking to our Web site from yours; or donating prizes to local events for students as they learn the basic steps necessary to go to college. I am happy to explore with you options for supporting the campaign that would work best for your business.

I understand you are frequently asked to support community campaigns. I hope you will consider supporting KnowHow2GO. By ensuring local students know the steps necessary to get to college, we are ensuring a brighter future for young people and our community.

If you are interested in discussing the campaign, please contact me by phone or e-mail at (phone) or (e-mail). I will follow up with you shortly. To learn more about the campaign, please visit KnowHow2GO.org.

Sincerely,

Sample Op-ed Template

(Note to adaptors of this op-ed template: Please feel free to open with the statistics contained in these first two paragraphs; however please put them – and everything else – into your own words. The entire report referenced below can be found at this link: http://www.conference-board.org/pdf_free/BED-06-Workforce.pdf )

Anyone who still thinks a high school diploma will spell job success in the 21st century better think again. A report published in October 2006 makes it clear that a two- or four-year college degree is, increasingly, the minimum requirement.

The report “Are They Really Ready to Work?” is based on a spring 2006 survey of more than 400 human resource executives across corporate America. It was issued jointly by The Society for Human Resource Management; The Partnership for 21st Century Skills; Corporate Voices for Working Families; and The Conference Board, a research group that helps businesses strengthen their performance and better serve society.

In sharp contrast with the roughly half or more of respondents who expect to ramp up their hiring of two-year or four-year college graduates over the next five years (49.5 and 58.8 percent, respectively), more than a quarter (27.7 percent) actually plan to reduce the number of hires who have only a high school diploma. The report cites another sobering statistic – 85 percent of U.S. jobs created between 2000 and 2015 will require education beyond high school (from The Jobs Revolution: Changing How America Works, written in 2005 by former Assistant Secretary of Labor Roberts Jones, former U.S. Congressman Steve Gunderson, and noted education researcher and consultant Kathryn Scanland).

It's no wonder, then, that 80 percent of today's teens expect to attain at least a bachelor's degree or that – regardless of their income level – 90 percent aspire to a college education, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Unfortunately, 42 percent of students between the ages of 10 and 17 are not sure they know how to achieve their goals, which helps explain why low-income students and those who are the first in their families to pursue post-secondary education are severely underrepresented on college campuses.

Encouraging and preparing more deserving students to pursue higher education is critical to the future of our community and our country.  

Last year, in (insert city/town), for example, (insert local stats here: how many kids graduated from HS last year, how many went to college, other local college stats, how many recent HS grads are employed in the local economy, any figures on unemployment of recent HS grads, etc.).

That's why I'm so excited about a new program, KnowHow2GO, that teaches students in the 8th through 10th grades to make smart choices today that will help them prepare for college tomorrow. Developed by the American Council on Education, Lumina Foundation for Education and the Ad Council, the KnowHow2GO campaign is designed to be easy to communicate and simple to understand, and its Web site is a treasure trove of useful tools for both teens and the adults who want to help them succeed.

Although KnowHow2GO is a national program, its effectiveness depends on collaborations with local organizations, such as youth-oriented groups, places of worship, colleges and universities, and, of course, businesses. I urge my fellow business leaders in (insert city/town) to join me in supporting this campaign and helping to build a workforce – and a community – for the future.