A portion of the sales from this bouquet benefited the Ronald McDonald House in Rochester, New York.
As the calendar flips to the month of giving thanks, one florist’s success story serves as a reminder that giving back to the community can come full circle.
“Our community supports us so much as a long-time family business,” says Holly Rund, a fourth-generation florist and retail operations manager at Kittelberger Florist in Webster, New York, which has been in business for 95 years. “The connections we make with people in our community are always very special and so much more than just retail transactions.”
The Win
To show thanks, the florist offers two types of fundraising programs to benefit charitable and nonprofit organizations. These initiatives raise awareness and funds for the organizations and, in turn, introduce new customers to the business and increase walk-in traffic.
The Game Plan
Rund implemented the shop’s first donation program, Generosity in Bloom, about two years ago. Each month, Kittelberger Florist features a new Generosity in Bloom arrangement, with the special arrangement representing a local charitable organization. At the end of the month, that organization receives 20% of the arrangement’s sales. The arrangement has its own spot on the website, where customers can learn about the organization and make a purchase. Customers and community members can submit nominations for a nonprofit to be selected for a Generosity in Bloom arrangement, or a nonprofit can nominate itself. The organizations that promote their arrangement through social media or emails often raise the most funds. The shop also shares about the program on social media, highlighting the different organization’s work each month.
The 12 Months of Flowers program, which launched this spring, is a fundraiser card program benefiting nonprofit organizations. The organizations sell the cards for $40, and keep 25% of the card sales. Card purchasers save $180 on a monthly bouquet subscription for a year.
The nonprofit organizations handle the card sales and collection of money, but it’s up to Rund to create and distribute the cards to the nonprofits, track how many cards have been sold, and keep the right number of bouquets on hand and at-the-ready for participating customers.
The Takeaway
In addition to raising awareness and funds for local organizations, the Generosity in Bloom program helps the shop by bringing in a new audience with each organization and generating online sales.
“It’s a win-win,” Rund says. “We bring awareness to the organization but, in turn, it drives awareness to our shop. The organizations are promoting the program, so people are ending up on our website or social media.”
The 12 Months of Flowers program has been so successful, with around 3,000 cards sold so far, that there’s a waiting list of organizations wanting to participate.
“The response has been overwhelming,” says Rund.
While the discounted bouquets are not a revenue generator on their own, they have increased in-store traffic and sales for the shop. Customers who only knew Kittelberger as a florist are now coming in and discovering they have even more to offer in their gift shop. “It’s been really great advertising,” Rund says.
Laura Drummond is a contributing writer for the Society of American Florists.
