Raising $1M in seven years, RE/MAX Shoreline philanthropy transitions to #4LocalGood
Photo / Courtesy RE/MAX Shoreline
RE/MAX Shoreline's Jess Paladino participates in Tri For A Cure each year.
RE/MAX Shoreline reached a milestone of raising $1 million through its sponsored events in just seven years since the inception of its philanthropic giving program.
This year, the program is transitioning to a new focus: The contributions of individual agents.
Giving program
In the past seven years, RE/MAX Shoreline's sponsored events have focused on dozens of local nonprofits throughout Maine and New Hampshire.
Its sponsorships brought attention to some causes that were making their first efforts toward public visibility of their work.
Having reached the $1 million milestone, RE/MAX Shoreline began to reflect on what its next community goals should be.
"Our message to our agents has always been, 'We are all about you,'" said Rachel Reed, the firm’s co-owner and COO. "Our Philanthropic Giving Program was amazingly successful. Yet, when we looked at where we should set our sights next, we concluded that this program was not in keeping with our culture.
“That is, it highlighted the generosity of our agency instead of the wonderful community work of our agents, whose generous contributions are made to their choice of charity at the time of closing on a transaction in the form of a donation, and therefore were not included in the tracking and publicity" of the program.
As a result, she said, agents and their charities of choice were not receiving the recognition and visibility they deserved.
#4LocalGood
Reed said that many close relationships have been formed with local nonprofits in both states through the program, and the organization will continue the local community support.
Going forward, however, RE/MAX Shoreline will focus on the agents and their nonprofits of choice in their individual communities. This year marks the seventh anniversary of the debut of the philanthropic giving program and the ninth anniversary of the founding of RE/MAX Shoreline. The agency will enter its 10th year with a new program to celebrate agents giving back, called #4LocalGood.
"We chose a name that reflects just how much care our agents are devoting to the communities in which they serve," Reed said.
Looking back at the history of agent giving, she continued, there were a wide range of donation levels, "and, in keeping with our culture, that is something that each agent must decide for themselves, in addition to where those funds should be directed.”
The agency therefore looked to the median level of giving to be reflected in the program name.
"While there was more than one case of agents giving their entire commission to a nonprofit, there were many times as well that donations were less substantial,” she said. “The median level of giving was around 4%, and from there we determined the program name."
"RE/MAX Shoreline agents who are giving back to local nonprofits through the processing of closings will now have the option of displaying a rider on their property sign indicating their intent to have a portion of their commission donated, and we'll be doubling down on our efforts to celebrate all the good work done by each of our agents in the communities of Maine and New Hampshire," said Reed. "The success of a program should not determine the direction of our brand - our culture must be the driving force."
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