Harvey & Smith Impact

10/20/2026

10/20/2026

Giving back can give people another reason to choose your business.

This Thursday, Saratoga Outdoors is hosting a Community Night benefiting Franklin Community Center, Inc., donating 30% of sales during the event to support its work with Saratoga County residents.

Franklin Community Center helps neighbors meet essential needs, including food and clothing. An evening like this brings that work in front of people who may know the store well but haven’t yet connected with the nonprofit.

For a local business, that’s an opportunity to do more than make a donation. It can bring new people through the door, give regular customers something meaningful to participate in, and build relationships that last beyond one evening. People have choices about where they shop. Seeing a business show up for their community can become part of that choice.

For nonprofits, a business partner can offer something just as valuable as visibility: a personal introduction to a new circle of potential supporters.

The key is to build the effort together. Ask what the nonprofit needs. Make it easy for customers to participate. Share the responsibility for getting the word out. Then keep the relationship going after the event ends.

Saratoga Outdoors is offering a practical invitation this week: shop locally and help support a local nonprofit in the process.

Thursday, October 22 | 5–8 p.m.
490 Broadway, Saratoga Springs
30% of event sales benefit Franklin Community Center.

Have a purchase in mind? Consider saving it for Thursday. Work nearby? Share the invitation with your colleagues.

Graphic: Franklin Community Center, Inc.
Event details: https://www.franklincommunitycenter.org/events

10/15/2026

A giving drive brings people together around a need in their community. It can also introduce a business to a nonprofit’s work in a way that opens up possibilities neither had considered.

Perhaps the collection leads to a conversation about the cost of getting donated food where it needs to go. A business could help cover that expense for an agreed period. Its employees could organize future collections around the nonprofit’s requests. Customers could discover an organization they want to support themselves.

For the nonprofit, that could mean a recurring expense covered and connections to new supporters. For the business, it brings structure to its giving: a clear budget, a manageable commitment and something employees can help carry forward.

Our latest Journal piece explores how those arrangements can work, including a regional example of funding that supports the staff and transportation behind food distribution.

If your business or nonprofit is planning a giving drive this season, there may be more to the conversation than what goes in the collection box.

Read “A Giving Drive Can Be the Start of Something Bigger”:
https://www.harveysmithimpact.com/journal

Photo: Joel Muniz

10/14/2026

Protecting the environment and supporting our neighbors can begin with the same question: who could use what we no longer need?

Sustainable Saratoga is a local nonprofit working to protect natural resources through education, advocacy and community action. Its Saratoga Recycles Day brings that environmental mission together with the work of other local organizations, creating one collection point for items that can be reused or responsibly recycled.

On October 31, phones and chargers will be collected for Wellspring Saratoga, adult bicycles for Bikeatoga, and eligible books for partners including Saratoga Children’s Literacy League. Each organization has specific requirements, so checking the accepted-items list is an important part of giving something useful.

There’s a lesson here for businesses thinking about community giving: begin with a nonprofit’s needs, then help people contribute in a coordinated way. Choosing an accepted category, sharing the guidelines with employees and arranging a drop-off can turn individual contributions into a workplace effort that supports local organizations.

Residents can check what they have at home. Businesses can bring colleagues into the effort. Before collecting, review the guidelines so the receiving organizations get items they can use.

Saturday, October 31, 9 a.m.–noon
S**C overflow parking lot, west of Route 50
$5 per vehicle; additional fees apply to TVs and mattresses.

Accepted items and event details:
https://sustainablesaratoga.org

Photo: Sustainable Saratoga

10/13/2026

A night out can be the beginning of a much longer relationship with a cause.

This fall, nonprofits across the Capital Region are bringing neighbors, friends and local businesses together for evenings that help sustain their work. RISE Housing and Support Services is bringing Rocky Horror to Saratoga Springs on October 23 to support Homebase Clubhouse, a new community for adults living with mental health challenges, opening in January 2027.

On November 5, Ten Broeck Mansion's Raise the Roof for Education gala will support a new education center, creating more room for people to learn and connect with Albany’s history. And on November 21, Albany Center Gallery's Mystery Masquerade will help sustain the artists, exhibitions and public art that bring creative life to our region.

Behind each invitation is work that continues long after the evening ends. Buying a ticket helps support it. Taking the time to understand the organization can reveal where you might want to stay involved.

For business owners, that might mean bringing colleagues, meeting the people behind a cause, or asking what a useful partnership could look like. For nonprofit leaders, these events offer a reminder of what fundraising can do when people have a clear way into the mission and a reason to return.

Our Fall 2026 guide explores five local benefits, the organizations behind them, and how to attend or give. Find an evening you’ll enjoy and a cause you’d like to know better.

Read the guide:
https://harveysmithimpact.com/journal

Photo: Bryan Lasky.

10/13/2026

Every Thursday, Sidewalk Warriors Troy provides meals, fresh food and everyday essentials to Troy residents who need support. The organization is entirely volunteer-run, offering a welcoming place neighbors can count on week after week.

Its invitation to “Support a Thursday” connects giving to that weekly work. Donors can see what their support helps provide, whether they contribute food and supplies, make a one-time donation or give monthly so the organization can plan ahead.

There’s a useful fundraising lesson here. When an organization explains an ongoing need in concrete terms, people can more easily understand where they fit. A Thursday distribution gives supporters something specific to help sustain, and a reason to stay involved beyond a single gift.

For businesses, that opens the door to a relationship built around what the nonprofit actually needs. A supply drive organized with the team or sponsorship of a Thursday can bring employees together in support of their neighbors.

Help Sidewalk Warriors Troy keep its Thursday tables stocked. Check the weekly needs list for items you can contribute now, consider a monthly gift, or contact the team about how your business could support an upcoming distribution.

https://www.sidewalkwarriorstroy.com/donate
Photos: Sidewalk Warriors Troy

10/10/2026

Shared values can bring people through a business’s door and closer to a nonprofit’s mission.

At Subculture Vegan Deli & Provisions in Albany, that connection takes a practical form. The shop offers a discount to Capital Region Vegan Network members, whose membership dues support the nonprofit’s programming, events and advocacy. Customers have another reason to visit the shop, and another benefit to belonging to the network.

There’s an idea here for business owners and nonprofit leaders alike: build partnerships around what your communities already care about. A well-matched business can make nonprofit membership more valuable. In return, it has an opportunity to build relationships with people who share its commitments. That’s the kind of thoughtful community partnership we champion at Harvey & Smith Impact.

Tomorrow, Sunday, October 11, Capital Region Vegan Network brings people together for Veg Out at Riverfront Park in Troy, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. Come explore the food and meet the vendors, and consider a donation to help sustain CRVN’s work beyond the festival.

Thank you to CRVN and membership partners like Subculture for giving shared values a place in everyday life. When you’re in Albany, visit the shop at 227 Lark Street. And take our recommendation: try the apple c***r doughnuts.

Explore Veg Out:
https://capregionvegans.org/event/crvns-annual-vegout-vegan-food-festival/

Support CRVN:
https://capregionvegans.org/donate/

10/10/2026

10/09/2026

05/31/2026

One thing we notice working with nonprofit leaders is how rarely they fully disconnect.

A day off becomes a chance to catch up on email. A vacation becomes time to think through staffing challenges, grant deadlines, budget gaps, and board questions.

The reality is that mission-driven work follows many leaders everywhere they go.

Still, stepping away has value.

A different city. A different routine. A few days without rushing from meeting to meeting. Sometimes that’s enough to return with a clearer perspective on problems that felt impossible a week earlier.

The work will be waiting when you get back.

Photo: Harvey & Smith Impact Consultant Larry Blake Harvey in Boston’s Chinatown.