1. Helping Others Help Others
By: Lauren Deckard 11/23/2009
For over 12 hours, the owners hardly left the restaurant. The phone rang off the
hook, and rumors raged about the need to call in back up staff. While outside
observers attributed the chaotic environment to the popularity of the local Tenth
Street restaurant, regular customers found themselves amidst something special on
what started off as an ordinary Monday. Many restaurant patrons seemed to know
each other, greeting one another with upbeat words and cheery faces as they
walked into an entryway adorned with an array of bright blue balloons.
Local Lennie’s Restaurant, Pub, and Brewery partnered with the Bloomington
community to celebrate its twentieth anniversary on Nov. 16-18 by donating 100
percent of sales to three Bloomington charities: Hoosier Hills Food Bank,
WonderLab (a science museum for children), and Stone Belt (a service provider for
individuals with learning disabilities). Lennie’s frequently partners with area non-profit
organizations to provide financial support, but this event was the first time
they contributed for such an extended period of time.
“Bloomington has been helping us for 20 years, and we are thrilled that we can
give back to the community,” said Lennie Dare-Busch, CFO and co-founder of
Lennie’s Restaurant.
Reaching Out to the Community
In line with the spirit of Thanksgiving, Lennie’s sought to give back to local
organizations through its anniversary celebration. Both of the Lennie’s founders, Jeff

2. Mease and Lennie Dare-Busch, along with General Manager Michael Fox
collaborated to select the three charities based on their own respective involvement.
As Fox said, Mease’s decision to partner with Hoosier Hills was “obvious because
they are an organization that focuses on feeding people, and that is what we are all
about as a restaurant.”
Giving generously to feed the hungry is not a new concept for Lennie’s. Each year,
it sets aside one day to donate 100 percent of beer sales to feed the hungry. The
money that comes in from these sales is donated to an Indianapolis charity that
specifically focuses on reaching out to children in need. Lennie’s also attributes 90
percent of its advertising budget to marketing in charitable ways through providing
gift cards, participating in silent auctions, and conducting sales donation nights,
known as “dining for donors”.
“In general, local businesses are very supportive and philanthropic in
Bloomington,” said Stone Belt Development Director Amy Jackson.
Partnering with Stone Belt
The partnership between Lennie’s and Stone Belt first developed when Fox
approached Stone Belt, requesting permission to display Stone Belt clients’ artwork
in the restaurant dining room. One of these exhibits currently hangs on the
restaurant walls for the third time since the businesses paired up in 2007. This
exhibit consists of a multitude of colorful, abstract paintings and mosaics made from
fake jewels, pipe cleaner, cloth and other craft items ranging in size.

3. “Our relationship with Lennie’s is particularly unique because it’s not just a
financial contribution, but of time and in advocacy by displaying our art and
promoting clients,” Jackson said.
By providing advertising space for Stone Belt, Lennie’s benefits from the
relationship. Involvement with Stone Belt allows Lennie’s to expand its marketing
outreach outside of philanthropic events because they penetrate other valuable
social networks.
Connecting with the Customer Base
When it comes to reaching their target audience, Lennie’s primarily relies on word
of mouth. Fox recalls that in exchange for Lennie’s making the donation to its
partnering organizations, it became their responsibility “to get the word out to their
constituents.”
“We didn’t want to be passive participants,” Jackson recalled. “We wanted to
cultivate how great Lennie’s is into the community.”
As part of their marketing efforts, the three charitable organizations sent out
promotional flyers and emails to those on their donor lists and used Facebook to
invite hundreds of community members to the event Lennie’s created.
Bloomington residents are known to enjoy their food and beverages, and word of
the culinary event caught on quickly within the community. As published by the
Orbitz Travel Guide in 2007, Bloomington is "the seventh fastest growing
destination in the nation for wine and culinary enthusiasts."
Enthusiasts for Lennie’s and their philanthropic efforts helped make the event
successful by passing along the news. One of Stone Belt’s senior staff members sent

4. out an email that was then forwarded to a woman in her synagogue on four different
occasions. After hearing stories like these, Jackson estimates Stone Belt’s marketing
efforts alone “touched several thousand people.”
Hitting Their Mark
Despite the market’s current economic hardship, Lennie’s nearly doubled its
fundraising goal.
“Our goal was to raise at least $5000 for each of the three charities, but there was
no limit on our donation. It all depended on how busy we were,” Lennie Dare-Busch
stated.
Between sales of just over $23,000 and with additional donations from vendors,
Lennie’s collectively raised $8,700 for each non-profit. Even though none of these
organizations reported current plans to use their allotted donations, they recognize
the donations as a driving factor that enables them to run successful community
outreaches.
Meeting Community Expectations
Regular Lennie’s customer and Indiana University Kelley School of Business
Professor, Steven Kreft, coaches his Corporate Strategy students on the profit
drivers of sustainable business that occur when businesses incorporate social and
environmental interests into business practices to both maintain and improve
profits. Consumer trends illustrate their preferences for businesses to take socially
responsible actions, especially the younger generations. As Kreft told his students
they “are proving themselves to be the most socially minded class of individuals yet.”

5. Consumers focusing on being more socially aware have a tendency to watch the
news and listen to what Non-Governmental Organizations stress to them about
these business practices. As reported in a 2009 survey by Boellin Enterprises,
“consumer distrust in corporate leaders is at 52 percent, while 66 percent of
individuals report trusting NGO leaders.”
These statistics show how absolutely critical it is for businesses to reach out and
partner with area organizations if they want to sustain profitability and gain
consumer approval. Notably spreading goodwill throughout the community also
helps increase consumer trust in their specific businesses’ leadership and helps
them to avoid NGO attacks.
As Lennie’s took these precautions through their anniversary celebration to help
ensure profitability over time, Stone Belt particularly noted the weight of Lennie’s
donation in terms of their own financial statements because government financing
steadily decreases from budget cuts and reallocations.
Although Medicaid provides basic financial assistance, organizations such as Stone
Belt can only provide minimal services with the newly reduced government funding.
For charities to offer higher quality care, it is crucial they find private donors
interested and capable of supporting them. Finding such donors is becoming hard to
do because they face the same pressures of a tight economy.
“As of lately, we rely more and more on contributions from donors to immediately
improve people’s lives,” Jackson said. (1145)