Give, and you shall receive. That's a lesson learned for Minneapolis branding and design consultancy
Imagehaus.
Creative Director Jay Miller started a giving program when he founded the company in 2000. Last month, the firm calculated that it's provided more than $2 million worth of services to nonprofits.
When Imagehaus saw its big-box retailer work shrink in recent years, it was able to fall back on some of those same nonprofits when they returned as paying customers, says Miller.
Twin Cities nonprofits are invited to
apply for a grant on Imagehaus' website. The company chooses about one per quarter. Alumni can later get additional services at cost.
The four-person firm recently purchased an 1,800-square-foot commercial condo in the SOHO Lofts building and will be moving there from the other side of downtown early next spring.
As a branding firm, Imagehaus helps retailers come up with names, logos, and store concepts. Besides its nonprofit work, Miller says they benefit from having
a mix of large and small clients.
"Our business model has always been very diversified," says Miller.
That's helped them in terms of stability, but also in a creative sense. They're able to take what they learn from working with big-box retailers and apply it to mom-and-pop stores, and vice versa.
"We learn from both--different things," says Miller. "When you have your smaller companies and smaller budgets, it challenges you to be creative in different ways."
Miller says he expects owning instead of renting will reduce the company's overhead and hopefully help it add employees in 2011.
Source: Jay Miller, Imagehaus
Writer:
Dan Haugen