Partnering With Your Local Shelter

“Community work is one of the most ignored tools within a realtor’s marketing arsenal.”    ~ Marketing expert Dave Amaro, quoted in “The Socially Responsible Realtor.”

It’s easy to form a partnership between your Royal LePage^® office and your local women’s shelter. After reviewing How to Get Started with the Royal LePage^® Shelter Foundation™, follow the 7-point plan below and you’ll be on your way to positively changing the lives of women and children in your community.

1. Contact us. We’ll give you the name and contact information of the local women’s shelter closest to your office. If you have one in mind, let us know. When you speak to the shelter, explain you’d like to meet to talk about a partnership that could involve financial support, donated goods and volunteer opportunities. It’s important to be clear about what you wish to bring to the partnership and what would be expected from the shelter in return. 

2. Choose a Shelter Ambassador in your office to be the liaison person between the shelter and your office. Get others involved by forming a Shelter committee – you’re going to need their help once you start organizing events and it’s a great way to build team morale.

3. Invite a representative from the Shelter to speak to your office about their work. It will put a human face to the cause and motivate your group!

4. Set a goal to raise a minimum amount for your shelter. Agents can raise money by donating a portion of their commission from each sale. Brokers and staff can make monthly payroll deductions. As a team, your office can hold fundraising events, raffles, silent auctions, golf tournaments and participate in the National Garage Sale for Shelter. Be sure to highlight your fundraising events and appeals in your marketing materials.

5. Publicize your support for the shelter to your clients and community. Showing that you are socially responsible will help build commitment and involvement in this important cause. You can do this by presenting a cheque to the shelter at a local event, inviting the shelter to have a booth at your office kick-off, sending a press release to your local paper to announce your involvement and/or planting Shelter Blooms in a local community garden in the fall.

6. Keep in Contact. It’s important to meet with your shelter contact at least once a year to foster the relationship, evaluate activities and set a new goal for the coming year.

7. Find out your Shelter’s wish list. Most shelters have a constant need for funding and often for gifts-in-kind, such as bedding, household items and gift cards to grocery and department stores. Volunteers are also needed as shelters are often understaffed.

There are lots of other ways you can work together! Discuss your ideas and build slowly. It’s best to do one or two things really well and then add more activities as your partnership grows.

We’re here to help – contact us at shelterfoundation@royallepage.ca if you have any questions or are looking for ideas that have worked in other offices.