Supporting our community?

Australian businesses wanting to target the pink dollar should give back to our community, says Whiterock Capital Partners (WCP).

WCP, which has a gay managing director, says it is repositioning itself to better service our community.

Based in Sydney, WCP’s managing director Munro Donen has been actively involved with the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Business Association for a number of years and served as a director for two years until 2010. Munro has been said to be a philanthropist and devotes many hours of his time to assisting worthy causes.

As specialist investment project marketers, WCP market quality well-researched investment property opportunities. Their directors have worked with a number of prominent national property developers for over a decade now.

As part of their repositioning strategy, when dealing with Payce Communities, developer of the Apex Apartments in Victoria Park, they recommended a specific relationship strategy campaign, recognising the importance of transparency and engagement with our community.

A key aspect of this plan was the engagement of Points of Difference Events (PoDE), to advise and develop with WCP a marketing campaign that delivered support to the GLTBQI community as well as delivering relevant marketing messages. The bottom line to Payce was, if you want to engage and market to our community, then you need to support it!

As part of the resultant campaign, WCP and Payce, through the Apex development, are sponsoring a number of key community events this Mardi Gras season.

They are delivering advertising support to Hats Off! (the major AIDS fundraiser of the Mardi Gras season), support of Queer Screen through session sponsorship and also to SGLBA through direct sponsorship (pending approval). Further, the company will also have a stall at Fair Day, providing direct exposure and engagement at one of our biggest community events.

Further, if this triangle of businesses is successful in their efforts, it will open up future opportunities. The partnership of PoDE and WCP see themselves moving into a position of being able to consult and guide future developments and developers, ensuring that the needs of the GLTBQI community can be positioned with those business wishing to operate in that market space.

As government funding becomes increasingly difficult to secure, we need to explore non-traditional relationships and philanthropic avenues. Whether it is ‘bricks and mortar’ requirements (imagine — a community space) or providing support and funding to our community, by working with and in our community, opportunities can be explored.

Relationships don’t happen overnight though! While Payce are obviously looking for a commercial return of their investment, a long-term engagement with the GLTBQI community will ultimately demonstrate their understanding and commitment. To that end, WCP and PoDE plan to continue to work with Payce on developing further support opportunities, ensuring that the gay dollar is earned and respected!