Employees at western Canada’s only interdisciplinary creative agency, Karo, are donating $100,000 of their time to two not-for-profits; the Boys and Girls Club in Calgary and Vancouver’s Potluck Café Society.

 The employee led program – Karo Kaus - will use the donated time and expertise to develop design strategy and multidisciplinary creative to help the organizations better achieve their goals.

 “We know how to help our clients strengthen their brand experiences and be more competitive and we want to help these organizations do the same thing” says Leah Vanderhorst, a member of the employee committee that selected the Potluck in Vancouver.

 “We are thrilled to have Karo help us share our story and better market the Potluck Café Society” says Heather O’Hara, Executive Director of the Potluck; a self sustaining enterprise that  provides meals, employment programs and community kitchen programs in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.   Karo will help attract new clients, secure corporate partnerships and promote fundraising initiatives such as the Soup Project, which aims to sell gourmet soup to businesses and their employees to generate revenue.

 The Boys and Girls Club of Calgary provides safe, supportive places and activities for disadvantaged young people to experience life enhancing skills.  It’s opening an Arts and Recreation Centre and Karo will develop a strategy and creative which will attract donors and local artists to volunteer.  

 Cheryl Doherty, the Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club says “We can’t wait to get started working with Karo.  The centre will help 6,000 young people a year; exposing them to caring adults, boundaries and expectations and constructive use of time.”   Studies show that young people who engage in the arts are less likely to drop out of school, use drugs or alcohol or get arrested. 

 Karo Kaus is led entirely by the people who work at Karo.  Each of the 75 employees was involved and committees in each Calgary and Vancouver reviewed 71 proposals before selecting the two winners of the creative services grant.

 “I couldn’t be more proud of our team for coming up with Karo Kaus” says the president of Karo, Chris Bedford.  “The not-for-profit landscape is as competitive as any private sector industry, with organizations on tight budgets vying for limited donation dollars and community volunteer capacity.  We want to help out by doing what we do best; creating meaningful brand experiences.”

 Karo believes passionately in supporting employee initiatives and activities; one of the reasons it was ranked fifth in Canadian Business magazine’s 2007 “Best Workplaces in Canada.” 

For immediate release November 5, 2007: Western Canada’s only interdisciplinary creative agency, Karo Group, is offering the opportunity of $100,000 in pro bono work to help two community groups better achieve their goals through meaningful brand experiences.

Karo uses design strategy to create successful, integrated and focused customer brand experiences for a wide variety of clients, include ATB Financial, Calgary Stampede, Simon Fraser University, Syncrude, Enbridge, Ivanhoe Cambridge, Shaw, ENMAX, NovAtel, P.I. Financial, TransAlta, Concord Pacific, Alberta Securities Commission and First Calgary Savings.

“The not-for-profit landscape is as competitive as any private sector industry, with organizations on tight budgets vying for limited donation dollars and community volunteer capacity,” says Karo President, Chris Bedford. “We want to help out.”

Karo will apply $50,000 worth of design strategy and multidisciplinary creative to each of two not-for-profit organizations, one in Calgary and one in Vancouver. “We want to help two organizations develop meaningful brand experiences for their stakeholders and clients, which in turn will take them to the next level of attracting public support,” Bedford says.

Registered not-for-profits interested in receiving an application package can contact Karo at charity@karo.com.   An employee committee will create a short list and then employees from each office will vote on which two organizations will receive the $50,000 in Karo employee time.

The head of the Calgary committee and dedicated volunteer with Canadian Humanitarian, Kerry Worth, says “We’re thrilled to help charities develop a competitive edge the same way we help clients succeed in business.”  Natalie Clark, who is heading up the project in Vancouver, says “We are all really looking forward to this opportunity to help a worthy organization garner more support through a meaningful brand.”

This is the latest Karo initiative for giving back to the community. Every year, Karo provides more than $250,000 in pro bono work to groups such as  CANstruction, CKUA, Climate Central, Habitat for Humanity, Ronald McDonald House, One Yellow Rabbit Theatre Company and Brain Injury Group. Karo also provides time off to employees involved in volunteer pursuits and it will match an employee’s donation to a not-for-profit up to $500.

Karo succeeds because it respects its employees, clients and the community.