Digital magazine WashingtonExec featured Chris Hammond last year in their Executives to Know column
Chris Hammond of Corporate Giving Corporation sat down with WashingtonExec to discuss the importance of philanthropic endeavors for corporations and working with nonprofits to serve the communities where they reside. Hammond’s company is dedicated to this mission with the broader goal of bringing about positive change through nonprofit and corporate collaboration. He also outlined the strategies they implement in reaching this goal and the mistakes corporations make in attempting to implement Corporate Social Responsibility programs on their own.
What is CGC?
Corporate Giving Connection is a full service development and corporate social responsibility consulting firm focused on two areas. We work with nonprofit organizations to supplement their resources by offering a broad range of marketing, fundraising and other services based on their specific growth goals. We also give philanthropic guidance to corporations to enhance their CSR programs and maximize their corporate giving efforts.
CEO Chris Hammond who has an extensive background in the nonprofit space, and Chief Operating Officer Brandon McCarty who served in the special forces, both have a passion for serving their communities and share a philanthropic vision of global change through the strategic collaboration of nonprofits and corporations.
Why should our readers be interested in the services you offer?
As the world becomes more socially conscious than ever, CSR programs are no longer optional for corporations that want to be successful. It’s becoming a requirement in order to be competitive for talent and for sales. CGC provides innovative, strategic approaches to CSR so that corporate giving becomes mutually beneficial to the nonprofit and the corporation by choosing the right programs, engaging employees, and communicating efforts to key audiences.
What makes CGC different from all of the other marketing consultant agencies?
Each approach we create is built and catered 100 percent to the specific client, so we can choose from our diversified team of innovative experts and scale accordingly depending on the size of the company and the desired outcome.
We personalize the experience to understand exactly what the client needs and then deliver an innovative strategy to achieve it. For example, the Vicente Ferrer Foundation is launching in the U.S. and CGC created a virtual reality video shot in India putting a personal face on the people that VFF helps. This video will premiere at the VFF USA launch party in D.C. giving the press a unique angle that shows how cutting-edge technology can serve socially conscious efforts.
What strategy do you use when advising a nonprofit client about where to invest?
We do our best to become a part of the organization in order to truly understand and address the issues and maximize the potential. We use a Four Phase approach with clients:
1. Diagnose – Understand their goals through structured diagnostic conversations.
2. Collaborate – Identify the right experts from the team to achieve those goals.
3. Strategize – Work with the client to build a roadmap for implementation.
4. Implementation – Put the strategy into action.
What mistakes do you see nonprofits making most when marketing themselves?
Nonprofits should think strategically like any other successful business. This means they should be consistently looking to…Read more on WashingtonExec