KEY POINTS:
For Christmas, designer Karen Walker is sending out some very cool Oxfam vouchers to all her suppliers around the world.
As her business partner and husband, Mikhail Gherman, says: "People have got so much stuff these days."
Walker has also been involved in one of the most effective retail/charity partnerships in New Zealand: the designer T-shirt campaign for the Breast Cancer Research Trust, run at Glassons stores.
Walker linked up with Glassons after being approached by the trust. Gherman said she felt she could make much more of a difference through the Glassons network than with her own three shops.
Every February, Glassons sells up a storm with the $29.99 designer T-shirts and $10 from each sale goes to the trust.
Walker has now been joined by several other designers.
The campaign, now in its sixth year, has raised more than $2.7 million for the trust, which has paid for this country's first professor of breast cancer research at the University of Auckland.
This high-profile campaign must have been good for Glassons' business, bringing in people who would not normally go into one of the stores; women of all ages, not just skinny teens.
Many would like to emulate Glassons' success and Christmas is a time when the retail industry and charities often work together.
Linh Luong, senior marketing manager at AMP Capital Shopping Centres, owner of the Botany Town Centre and LynnMall among others, says its charity campaigns are part of the company's strong policy of corporate social responsibility.
This year it has chosen to align with the Royal Plunket Society. "They are very switched on, very savvy at Plunket," says Luong. "With Plunket, every New Zealander can identify with the brand and what they do."
The charity will benefit from various fundraising activities in the centres, such as Santa photos and Christmas wrapping.
Shopping centres can take up some unusual causes in their role as community centres. Luong and her marketing team were very affected by the Kahui twins' death last year, so they organised a vigil at LynnMall after getting approval from head office in Australia. "We felt it was necessary for us as a business to speak out, to say something has to be done," says Luong.
However, retailers are aware that compassion fatigue could be a problem if their efforts to do good are not carefully managed.
Being approached by a charity collector while trying to get round St Lukes in 30 minutes is not always welcome.
"Westfield has clear policies on the quiet enjoyment of shoppers and require all parties operating within our centre to adhere to this policy," says Linda Trainer, Westfield's general manager, shopping centre and marketing management.
Like some other large companies, there is support for charity throughout the organisation.
In three out of the four countries where Westfield has a presence, the company participates in the Shop For Your Schools campaign, where shoppers' receipts earn points, and technology prizes, for a school of their choice.
And this year, for the first time, rather than dumping or selling several hundred thousand dollars worth of old Christmas decorations, it is giving them to charities.
Choosing your charity partner is not easy. One charity expert says the choice is sometimes made too cynically. A company might be so hellbent on finding a charity that "matches" it, that it doesn't bother to find out how deserving the charity really is.
"Some companies try to align themselves with just one charity for marketing reason, but that's not always in the best interest of charities; it's in the best interest of the company," she says. Some companies ask their staff to choose, says Plunket's general manager of funding, Liz Gibbs - as Trade Me did recently with Plunket.
Gibbs is pragmatic about corporate partnerships. "It's about mutual gain," she says. "It's critically important to match the brand values."
Sometimes, the help the retailer gives goes beyond money.
Jigsaw, the advocacy service for children and families, has a partnership with the Body Shop in New Zealand.
When lobbying the Government for a repeal of Section 59 of the Crimes Act (the anti-smacking legislation), the Body Shop collected 20,000 signatures for Jigsaw.
"Their contribution was active," says says Tau Huirama, Jigsaw's CEO of strategic relations.
Barrie Thomas, managing director of Body Shop NZ, warns: "There can be obstacles; despite the overwhelming support we received on a petition we ran in-store to repeal Section 59, some customers were disappointed in our point of view and were not shy to tell our staff their opinion. There were instances of verbal abuse of our staff. Regardless of the negative comments, the support we have received speaks for itself, raising more than $150,000 for Jigsaw agencies."
Progressive Enterprises, traditionally a children's health supporter, has recently taken up a lower profile charity, Alzheimer's NZ, for its Foodtown chain.
Retailers and suppliers are working together more on charity projects, says a company spokeswoman. Last month, for the Movember charity which raised money for prostate cancer, Coca-Cola Amatil offered participants at Progressive $20 per "mo", with a pledge to spend up to $10,000.
The Warehouse is a good place to look for experienced retail/charity partnerships, with 25 years in the game and more than $2 million a year raised for charities.
To help decide where the money goes, the Warehouse has an application process, with charities "tendering" for the company's support.
"We are one of the founding sponsors of Starship. We raise about $300,000 to $500,000 for them every year. They still have to apply every year," says a spokeswoman. "They have to prove they need the funding to meet a need that is not being met elsewhere. Our executive team evaluates it and we have an external audit process for the applications/charities."
* Gill South is a freelance business writer based in Auckland
