When I launched Ebeling Events, I wanted to start a business that would make me happy. Yes, I know that sounds selfish and maybe it is. But the way I look at it is this: I wanted to start something that was the best parts of what I walked away from at Disney. Now, while I don’t have a theme park, I wanted to treat my employees (at the time it was just me!) in a way that incorporated the core values that I had come to love. A few things that got me excited and I definitely tried to take full advantage of where a lot of the perks, but not just the obvious ones like a theme park pass and discounts. The things that I really was passionate about was the volunteer mission and opportunities they facilitated for us and their charitable donations and employee contribution match.
So when we launched, we borrowed from the idea that Toms made well known, the one-for-one business model but made a couple changes. Since we do not sell a physical product, I decided, for every event we produced whether it be a wedding or birthday party, fundraiser or celebration of life, we would make a donation to a charity. I work with our clients to make a donation that is mutually agreeable. If we are working for a nonprofit client, our donation goes straight back to their organization. Interestingly enough, Toms model for giving is changing and becoming closer to ours. I doubt our company influenced their decision, but it is nice to see that our model is out there and working well for others, too.
So why do we do it? Giving Back to the Community & Beyond
In many ways, I feel the call to help others. While having two young kids of my own and running a small business often has me hustling all over the place which means less opportunities to donate my time. We still make this a priority and have an opportunity to impact others, but want to be consistent about it. Our one for one model is a way we have found that is a great fit for us and our clients enjoy knowing that by hiring us, they are also making an impact. But we still make time to serve others when we can. This year, we packaged 55 boxes to send Christmas Gifts to kids in need and we also helped put up flags for the 911 memorial in Malibu.
As we continue to grow, I am excited to announce a giving match program is being implemented at Ebeling Events as well. Each member of our team will be able to have us match their charitable donations to our core nonprofit partners which include Team Rubicon, The Audubon Center & Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Each organization listed above is doing great things in their area of focus: veteran support & disaster recovery, environment and children’s health care respectively.
We realize what we do for business is not creating any social change, so we hope to participate in ongoing improvement overall. We are not doing this for a one-time social media post photo op or to generate business. We do it because we feel good about it and genuinely enjoy serving people. If you value helping others, then we encourage you to support businesses who do as well.
If you are a business wanting to add a similar model to your company but need help getting started, let us know. If you are a wedding vendor in the Malibu, Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Scottsdale or Phoenix markets with a similar purpose, we would also love to connect with you. We enjoy working with like-minded vendors, and want to tell other people about your great efforts, too. If you have any questions, please reach out!
I will leave you with this call to action…we have 40 days left in 2019. What can you do to give back this year (& have fun doing it)?