Charities hook up with Wal-Mart to spread message

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Posted 8:26AM on Thursday, March 14, 2002

LITTLE ROCK - For decades, manufacturers have fought to get their products into the nation's largest retail chain. Now, nonprofit groups are reaping the benefits of pairing up with Wal-Mart Stores. A nonprofit group called Speaking of Women's Health announced Wednesday that it's teaming up with Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart to spread its message nationwide. The Cincinnati-based group works to educate people about women's health, well-being and safety. Wal-Mart now offers women's health information in permanent displays at all of its 2,700-plus stores in the United States. "Wal-Mart is regarded as one of the premier names," said Ernie Goss, an economics professor at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. "Anytime you can get Wal-Mart to collaborate with you or to showcase your product or your cause, that's a definite huge plus." Company spokeswoman Jessica Moser said, "It just goes so well with what Wal-Mart tries to do. When we go into a community, we try to give back." The retailer also will host events every three months on everything from beauty products to monitoring one's health. "The Wal-Mart sponsorship with Speaking of Women's Health increases our reach exponentially," said Dianne Dunkelman, the group's president and chief executive. "With the support of Wal-Mart and our other national sponsors, our information will be accessible to tens of millions of women every week." Moser said Wal-Mart allows local stores to decide which charities to support, but also aligns with some groups on a nationwide basis. Nonprofit associations say such a partnership can be a good deal for both the company and the nonprofit group, if the fit is right. Independent Sector, a Washington-based group of nonprofits, said there's a growing trend toward such corporate partnerships. Still, the organization noted, the relationship might not work for all charities. Problems could include the logistics of getting a group's message into a format that can work nationwide, and for groups with a regional focus or those advocating controversial topics, such as mental health issues, the partnerships may not work. Goss also said it can be a fine line for a company. "Once you've said it's OK for this charity, all of a sudden, how do you say no?" Goss said. "Once you delve in that, it's a slippery slope."