Industry Series Vol. 3.0 — Chad Quinn, Dollar Energy Fund
Jack: Explain your current role and why do you enjoy your job?
Chad: I’m currently the Chief Executive Officer of Dollar Energy Fund. I enjoy this job because I think we are doing cool and unique things that ultimately benefit people who need utility assistance.
Jack: How did you get into this career path?
Chad: I came from the for-profit world, which I think has been a benefit to me here during my career at the Dollar Energy Fund. I had zero experience in the non-profit world. Prior to the economic downturn in 2008–09, things were changing in the business world and I was looking for a different challenge. I ended up landing for a role at the Dollar Energy Fund. I started as the Director of Business Development for Dollar Energy Fund, then progressed into my current role.
Jack: When you explain to people what you do for a living, what is the typical reaction you receive?
Chad: Many people think of non-profits as organizations that do not have a stable budget, do not have funding to grow, cannot compensate employees at market rate, and do not have adequate technology. This is not the case at the Dollar Energy Fund!
What we’ve created is a really unique business model where we don’t rely on funds from the government to keep us operational. We receive donations from private individuals, businesses and foundations, and our utility partners match those donations dollar for dollar. It is a really unique process and that helps us impact tens of thousands of families per year.
Jack: Explain the mission of the Dollar Energy Fund. Why does it exist?
Chad: Dollar Energy Fund’s purpose is to help people who are in jeopardy of losing their household utility service because of a financial hardship in their life. We provide a grant to keep their lights on, their homes warm, or their water flowing.
Dollar Energy Fund was created back in the early 1980s. At that time, Pittsburgh experienced the steel industry’s decline and people were struggling just to find ways to make ends meet. Our founder was working at a local TV station doing a Call to Action program and found that she was getting many calls from people asking for help with their utility bills. She travelled the country with a few folks from Pittsburgh and looked for guidance in creating this program called a utility assistance program. She knew that Pittsburghers are very generous and compassionate people. She knew that they would support their neighbors in need by pitching in a dollar a month to help their neighbors.
Jack: You approach marketing differently. You are an advocate of sports partnerships. Can you explain why you have chosen sports marketing?
Chad: We got into sports marketing because the traditional ways that people supported the Dollar Energy Fund have changed. Every donation that we receive is matched by our utility partners. If a person donates five dollars, our partners match that donation enabling Dollar Energy Fund to provide ten dollars in assistance.
Historically, the primary mechanism to donate has been a utility customer checking the box on their paper utility bill. This checked box would start a recurring donation of one dollar per month though their bill.
How people pay their utility bills now has changed. Banks are directing customers to pay their bills through their banking websites. Utility companies are asking customers to pay their bill online or automatically draft the funds from their checking account. People no longer see the box on their bill to opt in to the program.
We realized we had to change the way we approach marketing. We decided to explore nontraditional ways to increase the awareness of our mission and raise funds. Sports marketing makes sense. Fans are deeply passionate about their favorite sports teams. We have attempted to tap into that passion by creating an opportunity for them to learn more about our organization and be equally excited about our cause. Our sports marketing partnerships have been successful.
Jack: What was your thought process when you were evaluating sports marketing opportunities?
Chad: As I said, sports fans are people who are passionate. They have a passion for their team, and they likely are passionate in other areas of their life. If we can gain their attention and rally them behind a unified cause, the results can be significant.
The other aspect of these partnerships is the opportunity to get in front of people and explain the mission of Dollar Energy Fund. It can be difficult to explain what we do because we are not a name-brand charity.
Our goals in evaluating a sports partnership are as follows:
- Utilize the relationship to explain our mission to the fan base & why what we do is important
- Connect to the fans of that organization
- Demonstrate an impact on fundraising
The other unique fact that we have learned is that the demographic of people that attend sporting events matches the demographic of our typical donor. People that attend sporting events typically have higher incomes, own homes, have college educations, and are likely to support charitable causes.
Jack: Innovation in your sports partnerships is clearly important. An innovative idea was your Jerseys for Warmth concept that was a big success in Pittsburgh. Can you explain how this concept worked and why it was so successful for the Dollar Energy Fund?
Chad: The Jerseys for Warmth concept is unique. The Pittsburgh Penguins worked with us to auction game-used jerseys for one regular season game through the NHL Auctions website, with proceeds benefiting the Dollar Energy Fund. The Penguins player jerseys for that game actually had special patches sewn inside the jerseys with our logo to commemorate the game. It is special!
With a matching donation from the utility that we partnered with on this event, we were able to double the impact of the auction proceeds. We’ve raised close to $150,000 in two years of doing the promotion — it’s a big deal.
Again, we have found a way to benefit from the passion and energy of the Penguins fan base through this promotion, and now someone’s fandom of Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin is now directly impacting the Dollar Energy Fund.
Jerseys for Warmth also created an opportunity to introduce ourselves to new donors. Several people have purchased a game-used jersey in each of the first two years of the promotion. It’s been great to interact with the winning buyers directly and explain to them who we are and what their support is doing for Dollar Energy Fund.
It’s important to note that these funds that are raised are not used for financing any of the acquisition costs of our partnerships.
Jack: Can you tell me about a failure you’ve experienced and how you learned from it?
Chad: I can’t pick out one particular failure, but what I’ve learned in my time in the non-profit world is that you need to operate like a business. If you are able to, do not think like a traditional non-profit. Make an investment in a good strategy or a well thought plan. Work to diversify your funding streams. Some non-profits create limits on their thinking or squelch creative ideas based on their fear of future funding.
Jack: Scenario: A sports team calls your office tomorrow and indicates interest in presenting a partnership proposal to you. How do you evaluate who you work with in sports?
Chad: The big thing for us is that when someone offers to put our logo up on a digital display at an arena or stadium, most people aren’t going to react to it. We don’t have the brand recognition that the national, big brands have. We will never have that type of brand recognition. If you see our logo, you may not know everything that we do. But if you see the logo for a beverage company, you know that they make soda or you know that they make beer.
We can’t buy a partnership that just flashes our logo or places our logo on a static sign. We need an opportunity to activate and educate. We evaluate opportunities that will create a connection so that fans will want to know more about us and hopefully one day become donors and support our organization for a long time.
Jack: What advice would you have for a fellow non-profit CEO that would ask for your thoughts regarding a sports partnership. What would you tell him or her?
Chad: When we signed our first sports marketing partnership, I remember the feeling of sticker shock. Often teams shared comprehensive proposals that required just too much (from a financial & resource standpoint).
Sometimes, you have to peel it back. You have to take the component that you think would benefit you most and ask the question — can we create a campaign around this element? Can we create something around that particular piece that makes the most sense for us? Often times, sales staff try to throw everything at you all at once in a proposal. I try to focus in on our objectives — remember why we are taking the meeting.
Jack: What is your opinion on future of marketing in the non-profit space?
Chad: We’re always evaluating what we do and why we do it. We do a radio-thon fundraiser, every year. We do a crowd-sourcing fundraiser that is called “Cool Down for Warmth” every year. We look to do non-traditional fundraising events because you have to find a way to connect to people.
The future of marketing in the non-profit space is identifying ways that people can connect with something tangible. Something that is very visible that a potential donor can take part in will be successful in raising both funds and awareness.
Marketing for non-profits is going to be more about engaging and connecting with the younger generation that doesn’t always just get out their checkbooks and write a check because they think it is the right the thing to do. They want to touch it; they want to feel it; and they want to experience it and be part of it. You have to provide the ability for people to connect and experience their philanthropy.
Jack: How do you guys encourage innovation within your company?
Chad: We really pursue people that are not from a traditional non-profit background. We are attracting people from all industries into the Dollar Energy Fund. We encourage ideas. We are attracting people that are energetic and believe in our cause. Employees will bring us ideas from the business world and we will put our own spin on those ideas and try to make it work.
Innovation happens when employees feel comfortable talking to everyone in the workplace. We also avoid “red tape” when it comes to internal approvals. Everything we do at the Dollar Energy Fund is a team effort — teamwork matters.
Jack: How does the Dollar Energy fund their external partnerships?
Chad: Dollar Energy Fund can afford to sign a sports partnership because we have social enterprise programs that create revenue that is completely separate from fundraising donations. We run programs for our utility partners that provide a service. The revenues from the services that we provide are used to help tell our story and to educate current and future donors about what we do. That enables us to pursue our mission and continue to help more and more families every year.
Learn more about the Dollar Energy Fund at www.dollarenergy.org.
