Aaron Christy in Indianapolis, Indiana isn't your typical business owner. For him, business is more than just a way to earn a living – it's a way to increase his ability to give back to the community! Aaron and co-owner Adam have worked with many nonprofits and done lots of different outreach events and charitable endeavors such as Habitat for Humanity, homebuilds in Mexico, and many more. While all of these memories are special in their own way, one event really stands out for Aaron.
The Tats 4 Tails Fundraiser
Back in September of 2022, Aaron Christy and Indy Roof Company took part in an event called "Tats-4-Tails", hosted by Stage Left Tattoo and Piercing. The fundraiser was for the Shelbyville Animal Shelter, and people were able to choose animal-themed flash tattoos at a discounted rate. All proceeds from the tattoos were donated to the animal shelter. With such a large turnout, Aaron and his company were able to help raise over $10,000 dollars for the shelter! Not stopping there, Indy Roof Company matched the raised funds – resulting in a donation of $20,000 check presented to the shelter.
Huge Impact, Small Area
The animal shelter has lots of veterinary costs to cover, and plenty of animals to treat. While the city does help fund the shelter, it's certainly nowhere near enough. In fact, the vast majority of animal shelters in Indiana and the rest of the country rely entirely on donations, charity fundraisers, crowdfunding, and gifts. After Covid, fundraisers became almost impossible to hold – really hurting the shelter financially. That's why Tails-4-Tats had such an enormous impact on the shelter and community, and what was so special about the event to Aaron Christy.
Being able to present that check was a great photo opportunity, but that's not what it's about. Aaron saw the efforts of himself and everyone involved making that direct impact right in front of him, in his own community. $20,000 to a smaller organization like an animal shelter goes such a long way compared to a giant organization. After talking directly with the animal shelter, Aaron was really able to see the different the event made. They told him that the $20,000, was enough to help fund the shelter for the next 5 years. All from one afternoon!
Doing The Right Thing Comes With Reward
Many business owners are so concerned about profits and their bottom line that making the time to coordinate charity outreach is simply not something they are willing to do. Aaron is different in this regard, but what he's found is that by doing good, some great things ended up happening for the business, too! Because Tats-4-Tails was organized in conjunction with a local tattoo company, that meant a lot of younger folks coming out to the event. In turn, there was a lot of social media activity around it all, and a single Facebook post generated almost 10,000 shares and over 80,000 impressions. That's more than four times the population of Shelbyville!
What this means is that simply by doing the right thing and giving back to his community, Aaron's company received a ton of attention. The company name was put in front of thousands of people. So while advertising the business was never the reason Aaron got involved with the event, he was blessed with business upside. If more business owners would recognize that doing good is good business, imagine what could be!
