We all know the cliché “thirty years of work to become an overnight success”! This cliché does not only apply to actors achieving stardom, but to those in nonprofits who work hard and steadily to form partnerships with a business or corporation. Thus is the case with the partnership that Jerri Kazmierzcak, a member of Assistance League of San Jose formed with the bookstore Barnes & Noble.
It started 10 years ago when Jerri approached Barnes & Nobles about the possibility of them donating books to the “Make a Difference Day” National’s project of having every AL chapter obtain books for children. Barnes & Noble agreed to take part in the project with AL of San Jose.
Jerri did not stop there. She then asked Barnes & Noble if they would be interested in donating books to children for Christmas. The supervisor placed a box next to the checkout counter for customers to place any children’s books they would like to donate. At the start a couple of hundred of books were donated. When a new supervisor came on board, she had her employees ask customers directly if they would like to donate to the children’s book box. She felt that customers needed to be made aware that the box was there instead of leaving it to chance that they would see it and donate books. As a result each year the quantity of books contributed increases.
More was to come out of this developing partnership. Every January Barnes & Nobles has a huge toy and book sale. Anything that they cannot sell or that may be slightly damaged during this sale, the company donates to AL of San Jose. The chapter is then able to give children more than just books, but also coloring books, puzzles, games, stuffed animals and craft books.
The next layer to this partnership that took shape was giving AL of San Jose the prime hours and days to wrap gifts during the Christmas holidays at the store. Customers wishing to have their purchases gift wrapped by members could and if they wished, could donate for this service. This activity has generated hundreds of dollars to the chapter’s unrestricted funds.
Another perk that has arisen from the partnership between B&N and AL of San Jose is a discount on books that the chapter orders for its “Readers Are Leaders” (RAL) program. The discounts given cannot be matched anywhere else.
Because Jerri has continued to nourish this partnership throughout the years, she recently was introduced to the regional manager. He expressed to her that B&N is very interested in keeping this partnership flourishing. He also stated that B&N would be interested in forming more partnerships with Assistance League chapters. A true indication of a successful partnership is when it expands to other chapters. Thus, the ground work has been done and both Jerri and B&N would like to see this happen.
As could be seen it was not an overnight phenomenon, but a thriving partnership between AL of San Jose and Barnes & Noble that came to be through a range of collaborative efforts among respective staff and members. Kudos to Jerri Kazmierzcak for providing a winning recipe for how to form, maintain, extend, strengthen and expand a partnership.
