There are a lot of charitable organizations that routinely ask our medical spa for support whether it's a listing in their event program, a donation of a gift card or gift basket, or all out sponsorship of a fund raising event.

If you have a charitable heart, it's hard to choose which causes you can afford to support and which ones you cannot. Like all businesses in today's economy, medical spas have their challenges right now in keeping their businesses in the black. While making the commitment to keeping your employees and bills paid, I'm sure most of you feel an obligation to have a commitment to your community. So, instead of offering large donations to a cause, what are some other ways you can show your support for your community?

Go for a Walk! October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and while we may not be making a large charitable donation, my entire staff bonded together yesterday to walk in a 5K Breast Cancer Awareness Walk. Wearing matching outfits and showing the sponsorship of our medical spa, my staff has made me so proud that they have given up their Saturday to walk in the freezing rain for a wonderful cause! I'm so very proud of you girls!

Put it in a Bag! At the beginning of the year I placed a large order for some pretty awesome gym rated duffle bags with lots of pockets and compartments and, of course, our logo embroidered on both sides. When someone calls for a quick donation, it's easy to fill one of these bags with some tissue paper, a Gift Card, our Menu of Services, brochures, and some little samples provided by our reps like cleansers and moisturizers.

Strategic Gifts! A campaign we really liked this year was SpaFinder's Melanoma Bracelet during the month of May for Melanoma Awareness month. In addition to our eNewsletter and Blog to educate our clients on the early detection of melanomas, we purchased these "REFLECT" bracelets from SpaFinder in bulk and handed them out to every skin consultation we performed in our office during the month of May. This special bracelet changes color when exposed to harmful UV rays.

See RED! Have your staff members wear the color red on the American Heart Association's National Wear Red Day during the month of February! We even handed out red foiled chocolate hearts to our clients and offered a special discount coupon to any client who came into our office wearing red that day! This all was advertised ahead of time on our website and eNewsletter.

While these are just a few ways you can show your willingness to get involved, I'm sure you get the idea of how easy it is to not spend a fortune and still make a difference! I encourage you to post any promotions/ideas you have to help others in our industry help show they are a part of their communities!

Author: Paula D. Young RN runs internal operations and training at Young Medical Spa and is the author of the Medical Spa Aesthetics & Advanced IPL & Laser Training course for medical estheticians and laser technicians.

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