Corporations benefit from their donations and charitable efforts through tax breaks and advertising. When a corporation has a strong relationship with the community their brand will be perceived more favorably by the consumers in the community.
The perception of the ford brand has changed a great deal over the last 10 years. The success of the organization is in part due to the way that Ford promotes and documents their community relations. As I pointed out in my last blog post the Ford Website (http://corporate.ford.com/about-ford/community) has full news stories available by region for reporters to cut and past to meet their last minute deadline. The Community section in particular is includes in depth stories, color pictures, and videos to ensure documentation ford's community involvement.I encourage you to checkout their website first hand because from a Public Relations standpoint, I appreciated the work that the employees put in to creating a fantastic page.
Community Relations demonstrates the soft side of the profit oriented corporation, and is a great way to control the message you want the public to receive. By being involved in community events people look at the corporation as having more empathy and understanding for their customers needs and wants. The different charities that corporations choose to represent are important for predicting where your brand is in the minds of consumers. Choosing the right events can lead to a favorable brand positioning as well as benefit charitable causes and society as a whole.
