Hartleigh Creations

In May 2000, Michael J. Fox, best known for his starring role in “Back to the Future,” retired from his role on the ABC television show “Spin City,” and formed The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. From its inception until 2005, the foundation raised nearly $70 million. As a direct result of Fox’s efforts, Parkinson’s disease research has taken a sharp upward turn, and now his foundation is even driving the development of a genome map of the disease. The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research proudly reports its efficiency: 84.4 percent of income is directed to research-related activities; 3.3

When Pat Fisher took over Hartleigh Creations, Northridge, Calif., from her brother, she noticed that the business of working with non-profits was undervalued and some distributors were even afraid of working with them. A 30-year veteran of the non-profit sector, Fisher is making it her mission to unite distributors and suppliers with end-users using a non-profit philosophy. One of Fisher’s ideas is for distributors to focus on cause-related marketing, using a profit-making company’s name to underwrite the cost of a promotional item for a non-profit. “The idea is really to break the barrier of being afraid of working with non-profits because non-profits need marketing material,”

usinesses are looking for new ways to distinguish their products and services—or simply their names—from the competition. Progressive companies exercise corporate giving and marketing campaigns to increase sales, heighten public goodwill for their company and benefit worthy causes. We in the promotional products industry need to do the same. With this in mind, I believe distributors and suppliers can work together to unite charity and business. This can represent an extraordinary opportunity to increase the supplier’s or distributor’s business and provide an unparalleled opportunity to help non-profits. Cause-related marketing is not a new idea but it is increasingly gaining popularity. This is when an