When applying for funding from a grantmaking organization, it is crucial to understand its mission and goals.
Erin Hogue, senior director of strategic initiatives with Walmart Giving, has been involved in the nonprofit world for years, and is passionate about giving nonprofit organizations the visibility they need to reach donors.
In this episode, she shares how Walmart and Sam’s Club engage their customers, members, and associates to support causes that are meaningful to them and their communities. You’ll learn how they work with public and private sector partners to solve, support, and address societal needs and what executive directors and fundraisers should think about when working with grantmaking organizations like Walmart.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- How Walmart and Sam’s Club engage their customers, members and associates to support causes that are meaningful to them and to their communities.
- How Walmart’s philanthropy efforts have evolved through the years to mirror the company’s growth and expansion.
- How the Spark Good program brings together Walmart’s deeply embedded programs to allow customers and associates to support their local communities in new ways.
Bonus Episode Transcript
Erin Hogue:
… at the end of the day, not one nonprofit can serve all of the community’s needs. And so uniquely how are you partnering with others and helping that come to life in a proposal or connection points just strengthens the opportunity for funders or community members to say, “Yes, I’m going to partner with that organization too because that partnership means I’m also partnering with 10 other organizations who are equally committed to the cause.”
Kimberly O’Donnell:
Sometimes in fundraising, you have to step outside of your comfort zone, dive in and learn something new. I’m Kimberly O’Donnell and this is Accidental Fundraiser, the show from Network for Good and Bonterra that shares radically authentic stories from the trenches. On this show, we’ve talked to a variety of fundraisers from both big and small organizations and today is no less of a treat as we welcome Erin Hogue, senior director of strategic initiatives with Walmart Giving. Erin has been involved in the nonprofit world for years and is passionate about giving nonprofit organizations the visibility that they need to reach donors. In our conversation, she shares how Walmart and Sam’s Club engage their customers members and associates to support causes that are meaningful to them and to their communities. You’ll learn how they work with both public and private sector partners to solve, support and address societal needs and what executive directors and fundraisers should be thinking about when working with grant-making organizations like Walmart.
Erin Hogue:
At Walmart, for over six years, prior to that was in fundraising for a nonprofits in a role, which is the podcast theme, the title, accidentally found my way into fundraising and was there for 15 years. And through opportunities in that space with nonprofits, allowed me to transition to Walmart when they were looking for perspective of nonprofits to join the Walmart Foundation and Walmart Giving team to better understand how we deepen those connection points with our nonprofit partners. Having the perspective on the team from the nonprofit space from a fundraiser lens. And so I had the privilege of joining the team to facilitate and lead our home region giving.
So at that time in our headquarter facilities leading our place-based strategy around giving back in our Northwest Arkansas region and did that role for a couple of years, but then had opportunities to expand my team and programs to where I sit now with the walmart.org team, which includes both our Walmart and Sam’s Club Corporate Giving as well as our Walmart Foundation Giving. And my team oversees all of our Spark Good programs, which we’ll talk a little bit more about that. But at the heart of those programs, it’s about how Walmart and Sam’s Club engages our customers, members and associates to support causes that are meaningful to them and their communities.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
And Walmart considers its shoppers members, correct?
Erin Hogue:
Walmart are customers-
Kimberly O’Donnell:
Okay.
Erin Hogue:
… Sam’s Club are members.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
Got it.
Erin Hogue:
So sometimes you’ll see us make sure we’re the inclusive and encompassing of all the ways Walmart and Sam’s Club are connecting in communities. And sometimes there’s a Walmart and Sam’s Club right beside each other. Some members and customers are interfacing easily transitionally, and then sometimes a member may only be interacting with Sam’s Club and maybe isn’t shopping at a Walmart. But our associates, when I say associates, that’s inclusive of both Walmart and Sam’s Club Associates.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
So Walmart has a lot of different initiatives to support both the local community and then really throughout the US and globally, right?
Erin Hogue:
Yeah.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
Can you tell us a little bit about the different levels of Giving that occur?
Erin Hogue:
Yeah, so as I mentioned, walmart.org includes both of our Walmart and Sam’s Club Corporate Giving. So the ways that our corporate philanthropy shows up and supports our community. We also have a Walmart Foundation and both of those entities, our team wears multiple hats, oftentimes thinking about the ways we can leverage foundation dollars versus corporate dollars within the strategy that we’re trying to drive. And so when you think about how our philanthropy has evolved over the year, it really mirrors how the company’s grown and evolved. If you think about our first philanthropic investment was a Store Grant that was opened in the first store and we were supporting that local community. As we’d grown to the global company we are today, our philanthropy has mirrored that. We still have our spark of local giving programs, but we also have grant priorities that mirror our investments from a philanthropic and business priority.
We take a shared value approach, meaning at the core of how we operate as a business, we believe business supports and benefits the society. By us providing everyday low cost and services to the communities where we operate that has a value to that community, we’re hiring associates in that community, providing jobs, contributing to the economic growth in that community. And that is just the core of how we operate every day as a business. Then we think about what else we can do that ladder into our business strengths. So when you think about where we lean in, you’re going to see similar alignment with our business priorities, increasing economic opportunity and retail and retail supply chain, largest retailer. We can make impact as a business and how we operate from a retail perspective, but philanthropically, we also can invest in the retail sector as a whole. And that’s oftentimes where you see our Walmart Foundation dollars supporting the retail sector in pathways for mobility within the retail sector. And we’re partnering with our competitors from the business side and other retailers to uplift the sector as a whole.
The other focus area is increasing sustainable supply chains. We’re a business dependent on supply chains to provide our services day in and day out. Philanthropy can sometimes support or accelerate change in a system that has a business value but also a broader societal value. The area where my team sits is how we strengthen and support the local communities where we operate. We do that by just providing everyday low-class to those customers in that community. But our philanthropy also allows customers and associates in that community to give or get connected to and give back to support that community and driven by them. And when you think about all the ways we can collaborate with nonprofits, as you can imagine, our scale in the global footprint as well as the type of work or programs we’re supporting vary. So we are also working with a wide variety of nonprofits and public and private sector partners to really solve or support or address societal and that we identify that business and philanthropy can add value and drive towards systems change.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
That’s quite a global footprint and effort to make a real impact both locally and globally. Share with us a little bit about the Spark Good program. It’s just such a cool program. Let’s introduce it to our listeners if they’ve never heard of it.
Erin Hogue:
Great. So Spark Good really brings together a lot of our deeply embedded programs that you are already familiar with under a new brand, a new name. So those would be our local Community Grant programs that have been core of who we are from the moment we opened a door and provided grant support to local communities or our volunteerism always pays programs, which matches volunteer hours of our associates in their community with a matching grant. But also, as our business has grown and we’re engaging more on an omnichannel footprint with customers looking to shop in a lot of different ways, they’re not all going into the store. They may be having groceries delivered to them, they’re purchasing on our new programs, on Spark Good or meeting those customers where they’re at on our walmart.com interface and walmart.app with new ways to facilitate connection in local communities.
Two of those programs are Round Up, Spark Good Round Up, which allows customers to select their nonprofit of choice that they can round up every time they shop on walmart.com or in the Walmart app. And this really comes from us listening to our associates and customers over the past few years. And what we heard loud and clear is they were looking for more ways to support organizations that were uniquely local, not always a national-affiliated organization. They wanted to be in the driver’s seat of defining and deciding when and how and who they wanted to support. So Spark Good really brings together our deeply embedded long-term programs that have always been a part of who we are, while also allowing us to think about new ways we expand and connect our customers and associates to more ways to facilitate good in their community.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
Round Up programs can be so beneficial to charities because it is your donors, it is your supporters who are selecting you as their preferred charity and they’re contributing to you every time they go shopping. And if they’re anything like me, they’re at Walmart all the time. So how does an organization become involved in that Spark Good program and the Round Up element of it?
Erin Hogue:
Yeah, it’s as easy as going to walmart.com page and you can do walmart.com/nonprofits. And we have created a nonprofit portal on our .com site allowing nonprofits to create and there’s some steps involved like becoming FrontDoor verified, making sure you have your walmart.com account tied to that FrontDoor email address. And we have useful guidance that I’ll point to you all so you can find that as well. After that, you have one entry point into all of the Spark Good tools. So from that login on the walmart.com/nonprofits page, you’ve created your profile as an organization. And from there, you can start the enrollment process for Round Up, which is three easy steps. Yes, I want Walmart to support me and share an opportunity with customer about how to give back. You can add your logo there, you can add your description of what you want a customer to see when they’re selecting you, and then you can track your progress when payments are dispersed on a quarterly basis if the funds you’ve raised.
And you can also share the link to any of your donors to say, “Hey, while you’re on, if you shop on the Walmart app or on walmart.com, please consider supporting us.” And here’s a link to how you can select us as a customer. From that same page, you can also access a number of our other programs. So we have a space reservation tool where, I don’t know if you know it, and many nonprofits maybe aren’t aware of it, but the space outside of a Walmart or Sam’s Club, nonprofits and local organizations can request that space to engage with our customers, whether they’re raising awareness or raising funds. Most top of mind, people think of Girl Scouts or right now the Red Kettle outside of our stores, any organization can ask for that space to highlight Hunger Action Month or whatever their effort might be and engage with our customers that is also available from that page.
And you click in and you select the store you want the space at, the date, the time, and then the store manager approves or you can see if there’s already somebody on that space. Another way you can connect from walmart.com is you can start the application process for our Local Community Grant program from that same page. So when you think about how do we engage with Spark Good, it’s really setting up that initial profile page on the walmart.com/nonprofit site and then you are in the driver’s seat as a nonprofit to identify which tool, which program you want to connect with Walmart from there.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
These are such great programs and I hearken back to the days when I was an executive director of a volunteer center, the ways in which we leveraged our local Walmart to engage community and really amplify our message as we recruited volunteers. This is just one great step, actually it’s multiple great steps that an organization that large or small can take to leverage the great business that Walmart has to get the word out within their community. Can you talk with us a little bit about the grant program as well? And what types of projects Walmart supports and how smaller organizations or organizations who haven’t yet connected with Walmart and Walmart Foundation? How they can learn a little bit more about your preferred mission areas and the scope that you have?
Erin Hogue:
I would encourage anyone listening to go to our walmart.org site. And from there, it really highlights those four areas of focus, economic opportunities, sustainability, strengthening community, and then our workaround for the Center for Racial Equity. And from there, there’s deep dives into each of those focus areas. And if the application process for those grants are request for proposal, invitation-only, or if there’s an open deadline process there, all of that information is on our website. And that’s always my advice to a grant writer or to an executive director is to start at a publicly available site. Oftentimes, especially with corporate foundations or corporate philanthropy or private foundation, their focus areas, their strategy, what they’re looking to fund is outlined there on the site, getting familiar with those focus areas as well as guidelines or deadlines is the initial starting point before you reach out or even begin the application process.
For all of the Spark Good programs, those are open at any time. And so you can apply for a local Community Grant from a Walmart store or Sam’s Club in your community anytime store managers and club managers make those decisions. Our team supports the backend, but at the end of the day, that local associate and/or their team who really give the autonomy to that local facility to identify how they want to award the grant process, but they know their community, they know their customers, they know the needs, the causes in that community, not Erin in Northwest Arkansas, we shouldn’t be making that decision. It’s really empowering our associates who live in that community to award those grants, that grant sizes from $250 up to $5,000. And every store club has a grant budget annually that they can award and direct. Outside of that is the space tool that doesn’t unlock giving dollars. But that is also another way you can build relationships with associates in stores.
And then also if you think about to your point, Kimberly, about volunteerism, I always get the question from nonprofits, how can I highlight volunteer opportunities with my local store or get more associates to volunteer? If you don’t already have a relationship with the local store, asking for the space outside, you’re going to be on the property, you’re going to naturally be connecting. And also, not only sharing customers about your organization, but you’ll get to know associates who are working and the leadership on that facility and you can share with them about ways they can get involved with your organization. But to really, where do you start, go to walmart.org, read a little bit about each of those programs and see where there is a natural alignment with what you’re working on in your community and if there’s an open deadline or upcoming RFP that you may want to consider applying for.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
It’s so helpful because a lot of organizations and fundraisers don’t always know where to start with grant-making organizations that seem just big, right? And ominous.
Erin Hogue:
Mm-hmm.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
And so it is wonderful that Walmart has many different levels of engagement with nonprofit organizations, as well as the community and also putting some of the decision-making in the hands of the associates so that they are playing a role as well. It’s just a great model. So here at Bonterra in 2022, we surveyed hundreds of fundraisers and grant-making organizations and we learned that their top three considerations when they were thinking about funding a charity or an organization were one, their mission, two, their legal nonprofit status, and then three, the impact that they are making. Do you agree with that? And what do you think executive directors and fundraisers should be doing or thinking about when they’re working with grant-making organizations like Walmart?
Erin Hogue:
Yeah. So I definitely can see that as still applicable across any of our philanthropic programs here at walmart.org, whether it’s our Spark Good or maybe some of our larger grant programs. And so my advice would still be yes, those are three areas that oftentimes are included in a decision or evaluation of a decision to fund or not to fund. But that is after there’s already been seen alignment. So back to the earlier point of do your research, understand your donor, whoever that is, whether it’s Walmart or a different corporation or a private foundation or an individual, understanding each of that individual’s or organization’s intent, why they give, how they give, what are other types of programs if that alignment isn’t there. The other three, the mission, their tax status, the impact, they can all be great and really transformable, but if there’s not the alignment to what that donor is looking to support or drive towards or make an impact around those other three pieces will not help secure additional funding down the road.
From a previous background in fundraising, I had the privilege of falling into fundraising in a couple of different ways, but at the core, every time from a fundraiser it was I became involved with a cause or a mission that I personally was connected to. And early in that career, I had the privilege of being trained across all types of donors. And so very donor-centric, I didn’t just learn, I didn’t just fundraise with corporate funders. And we weren’t trained in that approach. And so I think I had the privilege of seeing the connection across an individual, how you work with an individual donor, how you work with a corporate funder or different types of corporate funders and then private foundations, they’re all different, but at the end of the day, understanding what motivates their philanthropy or why they allows you to connect your cause to what they’re looking for.
And so that’s different for a donor, that’s different for Walmart and that’s different, we’re just not like every corporation. And so sometimes that’s the biggest misstep I see is, “Oh, we work with this corporation, therefore we’re going to use the same deck and present it to Walmart. And without understanding our approach around shared value, how they lean in with the business and philanthropy’s a compliment.” And that’s a misstep. They haven’t done their research, they haven’t seen our unique approach. They’ve grouped us into just, “Oh, you’re a corporate funder, you give in this way.” And then if we don’t get to the next step around what your organization’s doing and where there’s a nice connection point, because we’ve spent the whole meeting talking about, “Oh, let me help you understand how we find and where our priorities are.” And then we get to the end of the meeting and we’ve never got to talk about the impacts that organization’s doing.
And so when you think about approaching that conversation that is always do your research, also understand the time that you’re working within, I think that was the hardest adjustment coming from the nonprofit sector to the corporate sector was transitioning to 30 minute meetings versus an hour, sometimes longer. And if you go into 30-minute meeting to hopefully cover all the ways, there’s a great partnership, you don’t always get that second meeting. And so if your research hadn’t been down on the front-end and you go in clearly wanting to highlight your alignment with our alignment, we missed the opportunity to see where next steps could be.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
Great insight. So useful. It reminds me of another piece of advice which is find out if anyone that you partner with, any other organizations in your community have worked with that foundation or corporate partner and go talk to them and ask for some advice as to who you might be meeting with, what some of their strategic initiatives are, what their process looks like. You can get a lot of great information online through foundation searches and things like that, there’s so much out there. But that’s the other intangible piece is that understanding of-
Erin Hogue:
Yeah.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
… the culture and just the human side of each of these foundations and grant-making organizations. And then just to share a story of when I was a volunteer fund, gosh, I think I was like 22 years old and I was on a development committee for a charity and I wanted to help them out and I said, “Oh, there’s this list of all the top corporate funders in the Washington DC area and I’m going to compose a note, I’m going to send letters to all of them, which I did. I think I probably sent, I don’t know how many letters out. And that was a rookie mistake because I didn’t have a relationship with any of them, but I was just going to give it my all and just try and blanket the corporate community in the DC area and see what happens. Nothing happens from that. That is wasted time and energy, folks, be strategic, leverage partners and really dive in into your research because it will pay off. You want to be careful, you want to use your time wisely.
Erin Hogue:
Yeah. I was going to say.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
And just because this corporation or this foundation gives out gobs of funding to different charities in your community, it doesn’t mean that it’s the right match for you. And so that’s an important thing to understand as an accidental fundraiser and a rookie. But it’s also an important thing to be able to share with your board because let’s face it, your board often has a lot of what I would call Accidental Fundraisers who very important people, but they often will come to you and say, “Hey, why don’t you just reach out to this corporate funder in the area,” and there’s no real background or reasons for why they would want to give to you.
Erin Hogue:
Yeah. No, I totally can resonate with a lot of those. I’ve done a number of the mass outreach, which at the core of fundraising you can’t be afraid to ask. So there’s a level of that of if you’re not out there spreading the word, giving opportunities, you’re missing a chance from more people to support you. So yes, you could still send that blanket, cold call solicitation, but my advice would be, don’t just depend on just that approach because that’s not how we require an application to be submitted to us. We don’t respond just to notes sent to officers at the company around a sponsorship or an event here or there. And so to your approach, understanding we’re talking to other organizations is critically important. And I would also add, I loved your advice on reaching out to other organizations in the community because as a funder, we are also looking at our philanthropy in a portfolio or systems approach and are oftentimes, were a lot of partners and we’re working with a lot of partners for a lot of different reasons.
And we love when we see collaboration and we love it when you’re uniquely partnering across or connecting or learning from each other because that means our partnership with you and the other organizations you’re working with has a ripple effect. Because at the end of the day, not one nonprofit can serve all of the community’s needs. And so uniquely how are you partnering with others and helping that come to life in a proposal or connection points just strengthens the opportunity for funders or community members to say, “Yes, I’m going to partner with that organization too because that partnership means I’m also partnering with 10 other organizations who are equally committed to the cause.”
Kimberly O’Donnell:
Fantastic advice. So true. Now, with the state of the economy right now, are we in a recession? Are we not in a recession? We know inflation is up, we know the cost of goods are up. What are you seeing and hearing at Walmart and with the Walmart Foundation in terms of need for support and services?
Erin Hogue:
Yeah. Very similar. Our partners are the nonprofits feeling that need day in and day out, whether they’re seeing an increase in services or maybe a shift in philanthropy coming in because of dollars being reallocated or funding needing to shift. And so for us, we are just very sensitive to the expanding need and role that nonprofits and local organizations play in a community and how we can best support them and connect with them to allow that they can continue to meet that need, regardless of the economic times or the services that they provide. And so when you think about Spark Good, where we see Spark Good allows organizations to have another connection point to expand their donor base of individuals or connect with more supporters, whether it’s a customer, an associate, and hopefully in an easy way that’s not an additional workload for you, but allows you to maybe start building or expanding your annual donor support through Round Up or a program I haven’t mentioned yet.
Our Registry For Good program, where nonprofits can set up a registry also on our walmart.com/nonprofits page. And it can be a way they can do it always on or a round at campaign. And it’s a list of items that we sell at Walmart that donors can purchase and it is mailed directly to your organization and it’s another way a product need could be met. And that is as simple as you hopefully setting it up, monitoring, make sure-ing the needs are there and then sharing that with your donors or your customers so that they can help you meet that growing need. And so it’s not that just one big check that every fundraiser loves to secure, but I am a believer in the important role annual donors play in financial health of an organization, as well as your future board member, your future volunteers. And we hope Spark Good programs are helping you expand that connection points to more donors, more community members who want to get connected with you.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
The need for having diverse funds and supporters across the board is what sustains an organization. It’s what takes a small organization and helps it scale, because you can’t just have one small pool of funders. You can’t keep on believing that the same funders that you have today are going to be the ones who are going to be there in the future. So you really have to start to build that pipeline of prospects and being able to do events in the community. And I love the idea of the wishlist, because then you’re also able to get some in-kind resources both for your office and then potentially also for your service recipients, because there’s just so many different things that you can get at Walmart in terms of technology and electronics and everything else that can be incredibly helpful to an organization. Now are the organizations able to see who donates? Sometimes there are programs where it’s anonymous, sometimes you are able to see the donor names. How does that work at Walmart?
Erin Hogue:
Yeah. So right now for Round Up, it is anonymous, but with the goal they can see how many donors have donated because we are not sharing customer data at this point. And so future state, we’d love to be able to allow the customers to opt-in if they would like to share that with the nonprofit. But at this point for a Round Up and then Registry, those are not shared across from the customer to the nonprofit and without them allowing us to do that. But you can, the Registry set up the process where it automatically sends a tax deductible receipt if it’s over a certain threshold. And that’s a usability feature that has been, we’ve heard a really important unlock for organizations to be able to provide and they don’t have to do anything, the system does it for them, but there’s a record for that.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
Oh, I love that. And just to level set on donor names and things like that, a Round Up program is one which a donor may be giving you three cents, five cents.
Erin Hogue:
Exactly.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
… 50 cents or whatever, it is incredibly hard to track that full-stop for any store, any retailer. I just want to remind everybody about the complexity of some of this donor collection, donor information collection and the need for donors to be able to opt-in to share that information. But it’s also up to the corporation to make that decision as to whether or not they want to share their customer or their member information with literally hundreds of thousands of charities. It’s a complete task, but it’s also a privacy and security issue for the organizations and for the donors.
Erin Hogue:
So I would say for us, we want to make sure we’re truly protecting our customers’ data and also ensuring that the nonprofit can see how many transactions are a part of that donation that they receive on a quarterly basis as part of Round Up. The other thing I wanted to flag too is we also offer an associate engagement programs. We’ve talked a little bit about our volunteerism program, but we also have a associate-giving program where year-round associates can give also to any nonprofit of their choice. That was a recent change over the past year. Historically, that was only 12 national nonprofit partners that we worked with and highlighted an associates could give through payroll and their feedback just like customers was, “I want to give to more local organizations. I want to also give in more ways, not just payroll and I want to give through credit card through the platform.”
And this year we rolled out a new enhancements for that program allowing associates to give through payroll credit or debit card to any 501(c)(3) in the US and then periodically we offer matching and those are promoted to the associate as well. And through that process, if the associate chooses to share their donor information, the nonprofit who benefits from that will does get that on the backend when they receive their payment and they download the Excel that outlines which program it’s tied to and the donor information if the associate has opted to share that. All of that is in FrontDoor, which is a key partner for us in many of these programs. And so nonprofits can find all of that information in their payment section of their FrontDoor profile. Data transparency and privacy is really critically important for Walmart and we cannot see the customer’s information on our end or that information is shared around who is donating into what organization. We can track that the number of transactions is going to X nonprofit on this date, but I could not say, “Oh, Kimberly was giving to this organization on this state.”
Kimberly O’Donnell:
And we hear from a lot of organizations about how they are unable to see donor information from Round Up programs, from programs like Facebook Fundraisers. And there’s a couple of different reasons for that, but the biggest reason is donor privacy and security. And so that’s a big part of it. Share with us a little about how Walmart tracks these transitions and why it is impossible for Walmart to be able to provide charities with this information at this time?
Erin Hogue:
Yeah. Because I think at the end of the day, the answer is, right now we do not share customer data outside of the transaction and the donation made to that organization to you as a beneficiary of the Round Up program.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
And there’s great reasons for that. Okay. So let’s talk a little bit before we have to wrap about your background as a fundraiser because you have some incredible experience working with the Walton Arts Center and the University of Arkansas and the American College of Obstetricians and a gynecologist. Can you just tell us a little bit about how you got started, how these roles evolved and what you loved most about fundraising?
Erin Hogue:
So I moved to DC right out of college and I was a political science history major, so I was going to work on the Hill and had the opportunity to work there. And it was all about connecting with causes that I was personally connected to. And before I knew it, that evolved into fundraising roles. And then we moved back to Arkansas where my husband was going to law school, which facilitated a connection into the University of Arkansas fundraising. So I had started in the policy world and then transitioned to political campaign, which is where I got into finance director as well as political fundraising and shifted to the private sector of fundraising specifically with higher education. And I worked with some faculty around raising dollars for scholarships and for research and programs that I deeply believed in. And I love the process of learning and was given an opportunity to join a development team there. And that’s where I learned all the different types of strategy and fundraising with individuals, corporations, foundations.
And really had different opportunities that presented itself to say, “Hey, your name was shared with this person, are you interested in X, Y, Z?” And I think probably one of my advice to people is to always take a meeting, especially if somebody has recommended you or made a connection for you to meet somebody else. You never know where that conversation years down the road will come back and somebody will think of, “Hey, this job made me think of what your skillset and your passions.” And that has happened along every piece of my career. So I did political fundraising, was in the College of Education Health Professions and then had an opportunity to go to a different area of the University of Arkansas under student affairs and fundraise for student affairs, which was all about student programming, how to set up a food pantry on campus for students and faculty who needed it, how to support associate volunteerism or a student volunteerism in that community. And then had another instance where somebody said, “Hey, would you be interested in shifting and only focusing on grant-writing?”
“You have a lot of different experience, Walton Arts Center’s looking for a full-time grant writer.” And at that point in my career, in full transparency, I wasn’t looking to travel much anymore where I had been traveling a lot, I was pregnant with my second child and I thought this would still allow me to grow, learn new skills and I won’t be traveling as much, don’t have an arts background, you do not want to hear me sing or see me dance, but have always had a passion for the arts. And I said, “Sure, why not?” And before I knew it, I had opportunities to grow within that role and was exposed to a different type of fundraising. As well as different organization, which I think was critically important to understand how different organizations and their operating model, different types of revenue coming in, how that informs an organization’s budget, an organization strategy, and then how that informs the fundraising strategy a university has a very different structure than an arts organization versus a food pantry.
And you can’t just say, “Oh, I was a fundraiser here and I’m just going to do the same thing and then I do it this organization, because it’s a different organization, different needs, different funding streams coming in.” And so at Walton Arts Center, I learned a lot about different revenue models, organization models, and I am a context person. I’m not afraid to ask questions and got to understand how an organization grows, adds facilities, and how that informs a fundraising strategy. Those were all just happened, but opportunities presented itself. I was always wanting to learn more and grow in whatever I was learning. I believed in those causes along the way and then had an opportunity, I was the grant writer for the Walmart Foundation Grant and the person who I love dearly was retiring and she said, “I think you should throw your name in the hat.”
And I said, “No, I just got promoted. I’m pregnant with my third, I’m not looking to transition.” And she said, “Just meet with them, it doesn’t hurt, and you get to know more about what the work is doing outside of Northwest Arkansas.” And so I was like, “Okay. I think the world of her.” And so I also knew that she had suggested me and so I put my name in the hat. It was a very intensive interview process, but had the privilege of being like, “Hey, I want to work here.” I was exposed to so many other things outside of just what I had seen the company do just through that interview process that I was like, “I was always impressed with what Walmart had been doing,” but all of a sudden was like, “I was uncomfortable and put myself out there.”
I was also in a really good place where it was like, “I like what I’m doing now, so what works, what doesn’t? I’m going to be happy in either way.” And then had the privilege to transition. And I feel like a lot of the work I’ve been able to do at Walmart and my perspective and our strategy and how we work with nonprofits has been informed along my journey, both professionally but personally in the organizations I’ve volunteered with where I’ve served on boards. I think that’s a privilege that I have had these opportunities present itself, but also when I was coming out of college, I did not think this is where I would end up being.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
Wow. Your lived experience is incredible. I can see how it truly comes through in your day-to-day work at Walmart. So as we begin to wrap up the world of corporate social responsibility, CSR is changing, we’re seeing that with retailers who are just investing more in the causes that their customers care about, one. And two, looking for sustainable products and ways in which we can preserve our beautiful earth. Where do you see CSR going over the next few years and then even longer?
Erin Hogue:
Yes. That’s a great question. I would say for us, we really see our approach as grounded in that shared value approach. Who we are as a business, the business decisions we make and the products we’re sourcing or providing our customers should be committed and grounded in our principles and priorities. So sustainability, economic opportunity, community. And by us operating with those commitments, those aren’t just philanthropic commitments. Those are core to who we are as a business. And so for us, that’s also why we work so closely with the business philanthropically. It’s because philanthropy alone can’t address the societal issues that we’re seeing in the world. It takes private, public sector collaboration and corporations play a unique role in that, but we can’t do it alone.
And so for us, I think what we’re seeing in the CSR world, which we speak of that as more shared value philanthropy or shared value or approach is that corporations are shifting to think about that long-term impact, the role they uniquely play in how they operate as a business. And then the philanthropy compliments that because together that can go longer way or have bigger impact down the road in addressing a need than if philanthropy was going one route and the business was going one route. At the end of the day, we’re never going to get enough partners collaborating to address the needs or the causes that we’re seeing that we prioritize.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
Walmart has an interesting and more modern view of what corporate social responsibility or CSR is. Can you share a little bit about that?
Erin Hogue:
We actually think of the work we do as tied… CSR, it is not how we approach philanthropy. It’s like the business leads and philanthropy compliments where the business has the greatest impact. And so our sustainability commitments, our operations has a goal of getting to 100% renewable energy by 2035. That isn’t a CSR effort, that is a business operations’ effort. And then philanthropy also compliments in that space, but outside of how we operate as a business. And so I think we’re just seeing more and more companies shifting towards that similar model and then wanting our customers or members and our associates to see the role they too can play in that sustainable cause or in racial equity or whatever that focus area for them may be. And we are also connecting them to those opportunities, which is where I think Spark Good comes in. It’s about we’re leading, but also we’re allowing our customers and associates to be connected through more opportunities with organizations where they are passionate about that also needs support.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
That’s a fantastic take on it, but I love how you look at that. Okay. So let’s start to wrap up.
Erin Hogue:
It’s worth it because your community needs you.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
It’s so true. Every bit of work that we’re doing, our community need, you’re emotional right now. Tell us why? Tell us why? Tears of joy? Tears of passion for the community, right?
Erin Hogue:
What I loved about fundraising, it’s about the connection to people, the causes and the work that the community needs and nonprofits are critical to that. And I love to see you get an email from an associate who volunteered and then it came full circle where they volunteered and then next thing you know, is where also gave a grant to that organization or there was a food drive and next thing they know, a loved one or a family member who either benefited from something that the community desperately needed or that their grant-funding supported.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
Beautiful. It’s beautiful. You’re sharing your love for being part of this incredible nonprofit community that we live in, but it’s not even just the nonprofit community, right?
Erin Hogue:
Right.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
It’s just a community, right? We live in communities and Walmart sees that so closely. And can you just tell us a little bit about what it feels like to work with associates who truly care about the community in all of these ways and how it feels for them to work for a company where they feel like they’re able to give back freely to the causes that they care about because that brings a lot of meaning to people’s lives.
Erin Hogue:
Yeah. I think that’s probably the most rewarding piece of the role is that our Spark Good programs are really being unlocked or leveraged by other people. It’s about our associates volunteering and then logging their hours and we get to match that volunteer hours with a grant or it’s about making sure all the things are running smoothly on the back-end so that store manager who’s working with a team of associates can award that grant quickly and support that nonprofit in their local community. And so the biggest joy comes from when we see on our own internal channels somebody just sharing the impact those programs have on them personally. And we’re thrilled that Walmart’s supporting me in these efforts because we get to play a small role on the behind the scenes of helping those come to fruition and what those are our associate giving programs. And when we think about our customer-facing programs like Round Up and Registry, those are some of our newer programs.
And where we’re hoping to see the same connection point and impact for nonprofits is that they’re seeing org customers who maybe they don’t know are giving back in supporting your organization’s in new ways and providing that deeper connection point. Because at the end of the day, it’s about relationships and it’s not always, or I hope, it’s not a transaction. People are giving or purchasing an item to support you because they believe in what you’re doing or they benefited from you or want to support you and pass it on forward. And so I think that is probably the most rewarding piece of the role is that we get to just play a very small behind-the-scenes facilitation connection point. But at the end of the day, the nonprofit’s doing the hard work day in and day out, and our job is just to help make connections for our associates and our customers to find your organizations and support you alongside you or to make sure you know about these programs, so you too can benefit from.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
Erin, thank you for being a connector.
Erin Hogue:
Thanks.
Kimberly O’Donnell:
Thank you for not pursuing your love for higher education and staying with us.
Erin Hogue:
I still keep on the side every once-
Kimberly O’Donnell:
Do you? That is awesome. But thank you for being such an important part of our nonprofit community and our fundraising community. Your experience is incredible and I really appreciate our conversation today. It’s been awesome. Here are some key takeaways. Philanthropy can support or accelerate change in a system that has business value but also a broader societal value. Be strategic, leverage partners and dive into your research. It will pay off. Just because a corporation or foundation gives out a ton of funding to different charities in your community doesn’t mean that they’re the right partner to represent your mission. So do your homework. Having diverse funds and supporters, it’s what sustains an organization and helps it scale. You can’t keep on believing that the same funders you have today are going to be the ones that will be there in the future. Yes, you can. I’m Kimberly. See you next time on Accidental Fundraiser and be sure to follow along wherever you get your audio.