Power the Nation: Kickstarting Your Own Philanthropic Venture

How to Get Started on Your Own Philanthropic Venture 

To begin, determine your purpose for the charitable work. 

“Are we doing it just because it’s a good thing to do? Because everyone else is doing it? What is really the purpose?” Snow asks.

For Postell, it’s about connecting your brand with the purpose and making the story your own.

“So much of this giving back in the community comes down to who we are as a company, maybe as an owner or the people who work in the company,” Postell says. “Obviously, we're here to provide heating and air, or electrical, or plumbing, and those are vital services. 

“But what else is there? What keeps us motivated to show up and be excited about the next new year or the next new month?” she continues. “You're getting to do something you love, but you're getting out in the community and really making a difference.”

Once you identify the purpose of your charitable work and get your team behind it, it starts gaining traction and momentum in the community, your company’s brand stands out and gets noticed, your team and customers connect with your mission or vision, and you’re able to influence your community in a meaningful way.

“It creates this excitement and energy,” Snow says.

Know your brand story

At Anchor Heating & Air, the company’s anchor logo serves two storytelling purposes. First, it represents a coastal brand, as the company is based in Charleston, S.C. Secondly, it represents a company grounded in faith, Postell says. 

“We talk about that with our team all of the time,” Postell says. “They understand it, they're invested in it, and they're able to share it with our customers.” 

Anchor also believes in taking care of its employees, which helps the company grow profits. The company, in turn, takes a percentage of those profits to reinvest in the community.

“That's truly why they're doing what they're doing,” Postell says. “Having that brand story and reinforcing that with them on a monthly basis at our company meeting, or any chance we get, that's what ties our brand to our team as well as to the community.”

The company’s brand story “anchors” it to the community, Snow says (pun intended).

“What you're really trying to build here is a story that's not just about you and your company, but about the impact you're making in the community,” she says. “This is a really good example of what can happen when you start with the end in mind.”

Real-life examples of giving back

Postell and her husband, David, started Anchor Heating & Air in 2021 with more than 30 years of HVAC industry experience. Even though the company just finished its third year in business, Postell believes Anchor is making an impact in their community by doing simple things like supporting a local elementary school or sponsoring local events and activities.

“We've been very blessed,” Postell says. “The service aspect and us giving back to the community has been at the heart of who we are since we began. We want to fix air conditioners, but ultimately we want to give back to our community. And so, we have two missions.”

Snow recalled brainstorming charities to support during her early years at Western Heating and Air Conditioning, ultimately deciding to wrap one of their vans in pink to raise awareness about breast cancer.

“It just made sense for us,” Snow says. “I knew it was making a difference. We were giving some of the revenue we generated with this vehicle to breast cancer awareness and research.”

A couple of years later, Snow says a dear friend died after suffering postpartum depression, leaving behind her husband and five children.

“This is something that’s personal. This is something we care about. We started a foundation with her family called ‘The Emily Effect’ to help bring awareness for other mothers who were struggling with postpartum depression,” Snow says. 

The Emily Effect not only resonated in the community, Snow says, but it also helped the company’s recruiting efforts.

“We had technicians coming to our company saying, ‘My wife struggles with this, and I want to work for a company that supports it,’” she adds.

When choosing your mission or cause, it’s common for companies to start in one place but end up someplace else, Postell says. Owners may know which areas they want to support, but employees may also come to you with ideas of their own.

“Start wherever you’re moved. What’s important to you?” Postell says. “We give in lots of different places.”

That includes the company’s own charitable initiative, Anchored Blessings, which gives the gift of heating and air conditioning to people who may not be able to afford it.

Getting Your Team On Board

How do you get the whole team excited? How do you help them feel connected to your mission of service and giving? It starts with creating a culture of caring within your own organization, Snow says.

“Are you already serving your team and sharing that vision about how they can be part of these initiatives that you're putting forth? Are you also including the community and your customers in your vision and getting them involved? Why should it just stop with you and your employees? Why can't it go out into the community as well?” Snow suggests.

At Anchor, Postell was very intentional about designing the company’s mission statement and core values in its “Pearl Promise,” which states: “We show up when we say we will show up, we do what we say we will do, and we exceed expectations every time.”

In addition to the Pearl Promise, the Anchor team carries a card in their wallets with the company’s mission statement on one side and core values on the other side, and they talk about the company’s service to the community every chance they get.

“The community is the heart of what we’re doing,” Postell says.

But culture comes first, so be sure to take care of your employees with an authentic heart.

“They have to feel cared about, then they in turn will take care of your customers,” Postell says. “If you’re doing this for nothing more than marketing, it will fail. Now, you can do this because you're authentic and get marketing out of it, but one cannot come before the other.

“Make sure that it's something you and your team can get behind because they're the ones who are going to be talking about it,” she adds. “If it feels like a talking point, then that’s not something that’s going to be sustainable or scalable.”

Provide opportunities for your team to get involved in and encourage them to suggest other ways to make an impact in your community. Charitable work can include helping people who are financially disadvantaged, but also sponsoring a soccer or Little League team, raising funds by participating in a golf tournament, or sponsoring local community events.

“You have to be a giver back to your community. You can't just be a taker.” Postell says.

It may seem a bit inauthentic to talk about your charitable works or use them in marketing, but the love and kindness grows as you start spreading the word.

“I was a little hesitant to actually market it because I didn't want it to look like I was bragging about all the good things I was doing as a company,” Snow says. “But what I found is when I did start sharing some of those things, I had the community actually sending money donations to contribute to that cause, and I was like, wow!”

Getting your team on board circles back to your motive for service.

“Is it to get all the accolades and attention? I don't think that's what it is at all. It's truly just a way to lift the community,” Snow says.

It’s also about serving as an example, Postell says.

“Our communities can't function without us or other companies within our communities giving back,” she says. “As a heating and air company, we’re seeing the whole community. It’s our responsibility to be the light, to be the example, to everybody else.”

Postell never hesitates to post a video on Facebook or other social media to highlight the company’s good works.

“Because my hope is that we’re going to get 10X, 100X, what we were able to give by everybody else following in our example,” she says.

Anchor’s recent campaign, “12 Days of Christmas,” gave away $1,000 each day to local organizations and charities nominated by the community. The money was initially set aside to design an HVAC system for a local family in need, but that project fell through when project leaders failed to agree on the proper way to install the HVAC system. 

Instead of giving up and keeping the money, Postell quickly pivoted to the new campaign.

“Things may not always go the way you think they're going to go, but it may just be that it's opening up for something better,” Postell says.

Now, the goal for 2025 is to offer “25 Days of Christmas.”

And Postell dedicates about 2% of her marketing budget to philanthropy in the community.

“Everything I do for marketing is not about that $99 special. A lot of this stuff we do is just, ‘I want you to know my company. I want you to know who we are as a company and what we do in the community.’ And so when you need us, you'll remember us,” Postell says.

Western Heating and Air Conditioning also allocates a portion of its marketing budget to philanthropy, and seeks nominations from the community for people who need a new HVAC system but can’t afford it.

 “Over the years, it became a tradition. There’s a little bit of time, energy, and budget that goes into this, but we put that into our marketing and we just plan for it,” Snow says. “Don't let the budget stop you. There are people who will partner with you. Just get started.”

Measuring the Impact of Your Initiatives with ServiceTitan

What can you do in ServiceTitan to measure success and track your results?

At Anchor, the Postells lead by example, which inspired one of their technicians to ask about providing support for Katie’s Krops, a national nonprofit started by a local 12-year-old girl in Summerville, S.C., that teaches children to grow gardens and use the produce to feed the homeless or people in need.

The Anchor team sponsored 20 Thanksgiving baskets for the community, asked HVAC customers to donate to the cause, and then matched the final total.

“We used our dispatch notifications, and when they put together a video about what we were doing, they put a link in our dispatch notifications for every technician for the month,” Postell says. “When the dispatch notification went out [to the customer], it said, ‘Hey, by the way, we're raising money for Katie's Krops. Here's the video about what we're doing, and if you would like to donate, ask your technician about how you can participate.’

“Then we put a task in ServiceTitan for $25, and the technicians could put that task on the invoice. Then we would be able to run a report about who donated at the end of the campaign. And we matched that money,” she adds. “Altogether, they raised $1,295.”

In addition to the 20 baskets, Anchor paid for all of the dinners Katie’s Krops distributed in December. Supporting the nonprofit is now part of Anchor’s annual philanthropic goals, including four volunteer activities scheduled for 2025.

At Western, Snow says she tracks revenue by ZIP code to see where the company’s reach is growing, which often helps to determine the philanthropy she wants to support. When high school seniors were struggling during the COVID pandemic, for instance, Western added a page to its website to celebrate the seniors and enter them into a contest to win a scholarship.

“It goes back to just identifying the needs in your area, being aware of those, and then using the resources you have in your company and in your business to help meet those demands and make a difference,” Snow says.

Not all philanthropic efforts cost money, Postell says.

“There are so many resources. It might take a little bit of extra effort, but it's going to drive people to your website, your social media,” Postell says. “People want to see the people who are giving back. They want to be associated with that. So, don't let money or big things be a barrier. There are so many small things we already have access to that you can do and be a great partner in the community.”

A final piece of advice? 

“Start. Do it now. Get going,” Postell says. “Don't worry about what anybody else is doing. Find what you are passionate about in your community. Sometimes it's not going to be the best thing. Eventually you'll find the right thing, and then the passion will be so deep and so wide that it will be second nature.”