$35,000+ in PR & Marketing Services Donated to Non-Profit Groups in 2007
A gift from the heart. That’s what Ellen Toplin and her office team are offering 25 area non-profit organizations to kick off the company’s 25th anniversary celebration this year. Toplin & Associates, Inc., a strategic marketing and public relations firm that specializes in representing professionals and service organizations, opened its doors in February 1982. “We wanted to commemorate this milestone in a substantive way,” said company founder Ellen Toplin, who started her career as a social worker in the early seventies before moving into corporate marketing in 1975. “We talked about having a party, doing giveaways and other promotions – but those types of promotional things just didn’t feel quite right for our firm.”
“Corporate anniversaries should be a time to reflect and give something back, in appreciation of the success a company has achieved,” Toplin said. That’s why she and her staff decided to donate their own services to a cross-section of area community organizations in honor of their celebration. “The foundation of our success has been built upon substance and service,” said Toplin. “We’re taking what’s at the heart of our business and giving a small piece of that back to our neighbors.”
Toplin asked staff members to select non-profit organizations with which they had a personal interest or connection and then invited clients and professional colleagues to suggest names of their favorite non-profits. The final list selections were based on the date and order of submission, along with the firm’s assessment of the organization’s ability to meet the needs of underserved populations across the Delaware Valley.
Each organization chosen to receive Toplin’s community appreciation outreach can choose to take advantage of a total of eight hours of any of the services the firm provides, which range from strategic planning to public/community relations, media relations, marketing communications, crisis communications, advertising and Web content development. Toplin’s total contribution across the 25 organizations carries an estimated value of more than $35,000 of in-kind contributions to the community.
The list of non-profits the firm has selected includes A Chance to Heal Foundation; AIDS Fund; American Diabetes Association (Bala Cynwyd); CeaseFire PA/CeaseFire Education Fund; Center for Advancement in Cancer Education; CASA of Philadelphia County; Community Volunteers in Medicine; Crossing the Finish Line; Devereux Foundation’s Kanner Center; Keystone Hospice; Lupus Foundation of America, Inc.–Southeast PA Chapter; One Step At A Time Therapeutic Riding Program; Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations; Smith Memorial Playground and Playhouse; Pennsylvania Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Network; People’s Light and Theatre; The Wellness Community of Philadelphia; and Woodrock, Inc.
Toplin & Associates, Inc., works with a wide range of companies in the healthcare, law, financial services, education and public service fields. Over the past 25 years, Toplin has been consistently ranked as one of the top public relations firms located in the Greater Philadelphia area by such media outlets as PR Week, O'Dwyer's, The Council of Public Relations Firms and the Philadelphia Business Journal. The firm has also been recognized as a marketing leader in many of its clients’ industries.
View the complete list of groups selected to receive pro-bono services.