Marijuana Business Magazine July 2018

“If a business is looking to engage in a community-outreach project, they need to be looking long term – certainly beyond 90 days; maybe six months would be more appropriate – to really start to see the fruits of their labor,” Mahmalji said. In 2017, Kaya Cannabis launched a program that allows customers to pick what organizations should receive dona- tions.The Denver dispensary opera- tor prints a second copy of customers’ receipts and labels three to four baskets that are on display with the names of nonprofits to which Kaya Cannabis is donating money. The baskets rotate about every two months and might include health-related, civic-engagement and animal-welfare options, said Amanda Gonzalez, CEO of Kaya Cannabis. “You pick which one of those felt most meaningful to you, drop a copy of your receipt in there, and at the end of each month we total up all those receipts and give each nonprofit a per- centage of the sales,” Gonzalez said. Kaya Cannabis donated roughly $15,000 to local groups from the time of the program’s creation in May 2017 through the end of December, Gonza- lez said. To get the program started, the company: • Reached out to local community foundations to see what groups they recommended working with. • Asked industry peers which groups accepted donations from cannabis companies. • Sent emails to nonprofit listservs requesting participants, then allowed groups to sign up on its website. “From those resources – mostly just putting it out to the community – we ended up with about 46 nonprofits that said they were interested. Some of those weren’t good fits for us,” Gonzalez said. “For example, as much as we care about younger folks in the community, we would never publicly donate to anything that has to do with children under the age of 21, because we never want to be perceived as marketing to that population.” ◆ DEVELOPING A STRATEGY C rafting a strategy for giving back does not require a significant financial investment or even outside help, according to the co-founders of the Den- ver consulting firm KindColorado. But it does require a keen understanding of what would be suitable for your local community. “We encourage starting with three steps: Find out what you care about; find out what your staff cares about; and find out what your community needs,” said Courtney Mathis, president and co-founder of KindColorado, which helps cannabis companies in the state strategize how to connect with neighborhood groups and nonprofits. In practice, Mathis and co-founder Kelly Perez start by asking the owners and executive team of a cannabis company they are working with about the issues and causes they would like to address. Responses might include hunger, poverty, domestic-violence prevention or homelessness. From there, KindColorado recommends that busi- nesses poll their employees: See what causes connect with them, where they volunteer and what motivates them to give their time. For the third step, the Denver firm recommends attending city council meetings and contacting politi- cal representatives and neighborhood groups to get ideas for outreach opportunities. “You can go plant trees or pick up trash, but if your community did not ask for that, then you are not really serving them – and in some ways, you might be disre- specting them,” Mathis said. After compiling internal information and mapping outreach opportunities in the community, marijuana businesses can find where needs, management direc- tion and employee feedback align. Then, company executives can start building a corporate social respon- sibility plan. Mathis recommends cannabis companies look to the B Corps program to see how participating businesses, including Patagonia and Ben & Jerry’s, meet goals to create positive social impact. B Corps are for-profit com- panies certified by the nonprofit, Pennsylvania-based B Lab to meet standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. Conscious Company Media is another way to see how other businesses are holding themselves accountable, Mathis said. The Boulder, Colorado-based company produces Conscious Company Magazine and shares stories about business as a force for good, hosts edu- cational events and workshops and connects talented individuals with purpose-driven work. – Adrian D. Garcia 46 • Marijuana Business Magazine • July 2018