For years, almost 25 years in fact, our approach to giving back looked a lot like most small businesses’. A client asked us to support a cause close to their heart, and we said yes. A local team needed a sponsor, so we wrote a check. A golf outing offered a sign on the 18th tee, and our name went on it.
None of that was wrong, and I’m glad we did it. But I usually walked away with the same nagging question: did that actually move the needle for anyone?
So we decided to answer that question differently. On November 1st, we officially opened applications for Cohort 1 of Front Burner’s Fuel the Flame Grant, a 100% pro bono marketing program for Northeast Ohio nonprofits. Each cohort pairs one local organization with a senior team of our strategists, copywriters, and designers for about $5,000 worth of focused marketing work. Our plan is to run two cohorts every year, each six months long.
Applications are open now through November 30th. If you know a nonprofit that might be a great fit, keep reading. And then please pass this along.
From Sponsorships to Catalytic Impact
Our Fuel the Flame grant program gives us something we never really had before: a strategy for giving back. Rather than reacting to whichever request lands in our inbox, we get to be intentional about where our support goes, and we get to give what we’re uniquely good at doing and enjoy.
Here’s what a sponsorship sign can’t do. It can’t build a digital campaign that brings in donations while everyone’s asleep. It can’t set up the free search advertising Google offers eligible nonprofits, which so many organizations qualify for but never have time to configure. And it can’t make sure that when someone searches for a way to help, they actually find the organization doing that work.
A lot of nonprofits in our region are doing incredible things with tiny staffs and even tinier budgets. They’re experts at their mission, but they often don’t have the time or in-house expertise to run paid ads or optimize their website so it can be found in search. Digital marketing just isn’t everyone’s line of business, and we completely get that. It happens to be ours.
While I was writing an overview of what I wanted our Fuel the Flame program to be, I came across a phrase I’d never heard before: catalytic impact. I loved it immediately, because it describes exactly what we’re trying to create. We take something that comes naturally to us and use it to create THE thing – the BIG thing - that a charity has needed to be able to magnify their ability to serve.
Catalytic impact is an early investment or action that triggers a multiplier effect. It unlocks follow-on funding, system-level change, or institutional support that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. Think of it as the spark rather than the fuel. Once it catches, it keeps generating energy on its own.
A token donation helps for a moment. A catalytic impact project helps an organization expand its reach or hit its goal much faster, and keeps paying off long after our work wraps up. Now THAT is exactly what we’re looking to do with this program.
A few examples of what that could look like:
- An animal shelter that showcases adoptable pets on its website needs a strategy to help the site get found when prospective owners are searching for their next best friend.
- A friends-of-the-park group raising money for a new trail or waterway restoration gets a campaign that turns weekend visitors into donors, building the track record that helps them land larger matching grants.
- A small organization that qualifies for up to $10,000 per month of Google Ad Grants, but never had the bandwidth or knowledge to set up a Google Ad program, finally gets a managed account that puts its mission in front of people actively searching for it.
What We’re Looking For: A Clear Goal and a Way to Get “Unstuck”
We aren’t looking for the biggest organization or the most polished application. We’re looking for two things:
- A specific goal. What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Raise funds for a specific project, increase adoptions, recruit volunteers, grow attendance at a signature event, reach a new audience?
- What has to happen to get you “unstuck.” What’s standing in the way right now? Maybe you don’t have social media accounts set up correctly. Maybe you know you should be running ads but have no idea where to start. Maybe your story is powerful, but your messaging isn’t landing.
If a nonprofit can answer those two questions, they’re already most of the way there.
How It Works
Before any work begins, we agree on a locked scope focused on one high-impact project, like a marketing plan, an email campaign, a messaging refresh, or Google Ad Grants setup. The organization gets a single project lead on our team from kickoff through handover. They don’t need a marketing department, just one point of contact who can actively work alongside us. Our labor is completely free; any third-party software or ad spend is the organization’s responsibility.
Our selection committee scores applications on mission alignment, feasibility, and estimated impact, and every applicant will hear back from us. Once a project wraps up, the recipient is welcome to keep working with us at our reduced nonprofit rate, so the momentum doesn’t have to stop when the grant does.
Why Now: 25 Years in Northeast Ohio
Next year, Front Burner celebrates our 25th year in business, and I’ve been thinking a lot about what that number really means.
The marketing landscape changes at a breakneck pace. Since we opened our doors, tens of thousands of agencies have launched and vanished. We’ve navigated the rise of search, social media, mobile, and now AI, along with plenty of market swings in between. Making it through 25 years of those shifts as an independent agency in Northeast Ohio is a milestone we don’t take for granted.
We couldn’t have gotten here on our own. Today we work with clients all over the country, but Northeast Ohio is home. It’s where our team lives and works, and it’s the community that has supported us through every one of those years. Keeping this effort local was an easy decision, and it’s one of the most meaningful ways I can think of to say “thank you.”
Why I’m So Proud of This Team
Here’s my favorite part. This program isn’t something leadership dreamed up and handed off. Our team is serving on the selection committee that will choose the winning project, and they’ll be the ones rolling up their sleeves to do the pro bono work.
When I see how excited they are, I see our core values in action. Create Connections, Do the Right Thing, Keep Up the Heat, Empower Growth, and Cultivate Joy aren’t just words on our wall. They’re how this team shows up for clients every day, and Fuel the Flame gives them a chance to show up for our community in the same way. I couldn’t be prouder of them.
Twenty-five years in, we’ve learned that the most valuable thing we can give isn’t a logo on a banner. It’s our skill, our creativity, and our time, aimed squarely at a project that can spark something much bigger.
Help Us Find Our First Recipient
If you know a nonprofit making a real difference in a Northeast Ohio community, whether they’re supporting the people around us, protecting our parks and waterways, caring for animals, or working to make our region a more enjoyable place for everyone to live, please tell them about our Fuel the Flame grant and encourage them to apply before November 30th.
Not sure who might be a fit? Simply repost or share this with your network. You never know who’s connected to an organization that’s one great project away from getting unstuck.
Eligibility details and the application are here:
Let’s light something up together.
