Creature Comforts is collecting more than money from beer. They’re collecting research to see if their involvement with local philanthropies is a success.
The study is under the Department of Management at the University of Georgia and began in November. Each month Creature Comforts picks a new philanthropy in the community. The philanthropies are selected from a list of non-profits given by the Community Connection, but they have to revolve around people in need. The proceeds from sales every Wednesday go directly to the philanthropy for that month. This month they’re proceeds go towards Sparrow’s Nest, a Christian ministry center for those in need. Creature Comforts makes around 30 “hygiene kits” a week for the ministry.
David Keating, a Ph.D. student at the UGA Department of Management, says, “A lot of businesses want to do good. It’s not like every business is just out for money.”
The research started with phone interviews for 15-20 minutes with both customers and employees. Creature Comforts was able to learn about the customer’s experience, and what the employee’s thought about the customer reaction. The brewery’s ultimate goal is to see if the interaction with the philanthropies helps promote their causes.
Keating says, “This might be a better way for businesses to do it, in many aspects. Besides making customers want to come back, we want to help customers feel better about themselves – that they are doing good for the community at a local level.”
The brewery is now using the information from the phone calls in the first two months to build surveys. These surveys will be given to customers for the final four months of the study. If the study shows a success, Creature Comforts might look into maintaining this philanthropic ties in the future.
