What nonprofit problems do Benefit Restaurants address?
Benefit Restaurants address many problems for nonprofits, including:
INADEQUATE FUNDING: The need for services provided by nonprofits is growing, and the number of nonprofits is growing, but the funding pool for nonprofits is already notoriously insufficient and not growing apace with the need. Benefit Restaurants will provide much-needed “new blood.”
UNPREDICTABLE FUNDING: Restaurant sales are predictable. Multiplying estimated sales by a pre-determined sales percentage for donations gives beneficiary-nonprofits a good idea of what they will receive and when.
UNDEPENDABLE FUNDING: Benefit Restaurants make long-term [multi-year] commitments to the beneficiaries. This translates into money nonprofits can count on long-term.
TOO MUCH FRICTION IN THE FUNDING PROCESS: Most nonprofit funding mechanisms are wasteful, costing nonprofits too much time and too much money to get the money they need to operate and fulfill their missions. Benefit Restaurant™ Project beneficiaries spend virtually no money to receive their donations.
MUCH PHILANTHROPY IS NOT VERY SYSTEMATIC: So much charitable giving is crisis-driven. Although the giving a crisis inspires is always helpful, the need for that money almost certainly existed before disaster struck. Benefit Restaurants are rivers of funding, flowing continuously into the ocean of need – before and after a crisis.
PHILANTHROPY IS NOT VERY INCLUSIVE: Many people cannot afford to donate to charity. But, according to the National Restaurant Association, over 130 million people will be foodservice patrons daily in 2010…. In other words, just about everyone can give, by eating at Benefit Restaurants.
THE IMPERSONAL NATURE OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: Benefit Restaurants don’t just clarify the role of customers in a corporation’s mission to give back to the community, they make them the stars. If you eat in a Benefit Restaurant™, that restaurant gives. Spend more? You give more. – Yes, the business makes the decision to give. But the individuals who patronize that business decide how much.