Roaster's Guide to Meaningful Nonprofit Donations

“Can You Donate Coffee?” Advice for Answering the Question

Coffee is ubiquitous. The majority of adults drink coffee, even if it is only occasionally, and everywhere you turn, someone is serving coffee. When you get your car repaired, there’s coffee. At the hardware store, they serve coffee. Coffee takes up an entire aisle in some grocery stores and at least half an aisle in almost all grocery stores. Coffee has become the “safe date” and the casual business meeting. “Let’s get coffee sometime,” has replaced “We should have drinks sometime” as the most prominent ambiguous plan.

So it’s no surprise that coffee often comes to mind when a nonprofit organization is thinking about who to contact about a fundraising event or effort. While there is no real data available, one does not imagine that manufacturers of tape dispensers receive as many requests for donations as do coffee roasters. Even if you consider your company to be a small coffee roaster, you likely receive regular requests for cash and in-kind donations from local and regional nonprofits. If you’re a larger roaster, it might seem like requests come in every day.

The organizations a roaster decides to support will depend on the company culture, world view, and priorities. Regardless of who you support, it is best to give some thought to creating guidelines rather than respond to each request as if it’s the first time you’ve received one.

Trouble Brewing

Perhaps the most difficult requests to answer are those asking for brewed coffee, ready to serve, to large groups, nowhere near an electrical outlet. These requests are difficult to answer for two reasons.

Those making the request almost always think they are asking for something that is easy to provide. After all, they’re just asking you to serve coffee to 500 people at 7 AM on a Saturday before the 5k fundraisers… and you’re a coffee company. Easy, right?

Wrong.  Most people, when they ask for a donation of brewed coffee for more than a few dozen people, have no idea what they’re asking you to do, and it’s not always easy to explain why you can’t do it. Even if you have the equipment to “quickly” brew and hold relatively large amounts of coffee, you have to start brewing long before the event starts and then transport the coffee. And of course, you’re expected to bring the cups, lids, four types of sugar and sugar substitutes, five types of creamer, napkins, and stir sticks.

If you’ve made a commitment to, and investment in, being able to brew and serve large amounts of coffee under almost any circumstances, showing up at events with a finished brand presence is great local marketing. If you’re not prepared to serve hundreds of gallons of hot coffee in the middle of an athletic field, in the rain, with a fully branded presentation, agreeing to give it a try could do more harm than good.

A few graceful replies might include:

“We’re not set up for catering to large groups, but we can bring coffee for your volunteers (or judges or staff or stage crew or VIP suite).”

“We’re not set up for catering to large groups, but we can provide bags of whole bean coffee as door prizes (or for the winners, or for the silent auction, or for the event committee).”

It’s in the Bag

For all but the largest roasters, most requests will be for donations of bagged coffee for things like prizes, gifts, and auctions. These are excellent opportunities, and if you’re not receiving these types of requests already, seek them out. Even if a group is only asking you to donate coffee, go the extra mile and put together a simple gift basket with coffee, a mug, and other branded items. Don’t forget to include a note thanking the auction donor or congratulating the prize winner for joining you in supporting the organization.

Although owners and others in a company might have personal reasons for the nonprofit organizations they support, here are some general guidelines that might be relevant to your company.

• Focus as much as possible on as local as possible. You want people to expect to see your coffee when they walk into a local fundraiser.
• If you support an event that repeats annually, continue to support that event every year as long as possible.
• Make an effort to understand what the organization does in your community and expect that they do the same with your company. Even if the interaction only occurs once a year, form a relationship.
• Unless you’re personally passionate about the cause and have appropriate resources and set-asides in your budget, save your support for local and regional groups rather than requests you receive from national or international organizations that just purchased a mailing list. The big exception here would be nonprofit organizations whose mission is specific to coffee.
• Maintain an up-to-date list of who you support, how, and why.
• Save cash donations for high-profile, synergistic sponsorships (e.g. local chef’s event supporting the food bank) and passion projects (e.g. women’s shelter).
• Prioritize connections, such as organizations that your employees and/or customers are involved with and support.
• Treat the organizations you support like customers and whenever possible, do more than they ask. If going the extra mile doesn’t feel right, you probably shouldn’t be supporting that group.

10 Things I Like About You

In terms of your own expectations, here are 10 things roasters might like to tell organizations, in your own words, that ask for donations. The wording is a little blunt here in order to make the points and provide a measuring stick for deciding who to support. Then again, you might want to say it just like this.

Dear Nonprofit,

1. Please understand that you are not the only worthwhile cause asking us for something and we are very focused on the communities where we live and work.
2. Generic requests don’t go far. Make it personal and tell us why you thought of us. How are we connected? Know the name of the decision maker before you reach out.
3. Getting our product into people's hands is more important than getting our logo on your banner, t-shirt, or website.
4. This isn't American Pickers. Don't try and negotiate our level of participation.
5. If we are giving you bags of coffee they will not be available for pick up more than five days before your event.
6. Please don’t ask us to complete paperwork, but we will sign paperwork that you complete on our behalf.
7. Yes, it would be helpful if you came by to pick up the donation rather than us delivering it to you. Thank you.
8. We cannot always attend the fundraising event, but we really appreciate the invitation.
9. We know you are probably a volunteer and have committed a lot of time to a cause that everyone should be supporting because the need is so obvious and important, but you absolutely, positively, must acknowledge the donations and, this is big, SAY THANK YOU.
10. Finally, if you want us to be the gift that keeps on giving, don't just think about us once a year when you make a request. Bring us into your network. Talk about us on social media. Share opportunities and connections with us.

Most coffee roasters receive donation requests regularly. Nobody can say yes all of the time, but it is easier to say no when you have thoughtful reasons and a structured approach to supporting nonprofit groups.

Cover Photo by Metric Coffee.