The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League as a member of the National Football Conference Southern Division. The name of the team is a reference to the legacy of New Orleans jazz music. This choice is also an allusion to the team’s founding date, November 1, which is All Saints’ Day in the Catholic faith, as there are many Catholics in New Orleans. The team’s primary colors are old gold and black; their logo is a simplified fleur-de-lis.
In the modern world, social charity works on the principle of “win-win” and is beneficial for all participants in the process. Organizations can benefit significantly from a sports teams charitable activities. The New Orleans Saints have even developed procedures and guidelines for organizations and individuals who wish to donate. The team, in turn, offers a conscientious effort to meet as many requests as possible. The Saints have a company Terro Armstead Foundation Mission that provides an opportunity for young people to become leaders in a community (Player & Coach Foundations). They also collaborate with the Brees Dream Foundation, whose main goal is to improve the quality of life of cancer patients and provide care, education, and opportunities for children and families in need.
Charity arises as a response to unresolved problems, as a response to adversity. Moreover, the epidemic is the biggest disaster that has happened to us in the last 20 years (Wu and Zhu 154849). Against this background, the relations of the charitable sector with business and organizations began to develop in a completely new way. Charities suddenly proved to be a very significant social force. In the situation of the epidemic, it was social volunteers who were in demand in masses, which brings social volunteerism to an entirely new level both in terms of recognition and in terms of need in relations with organizations.
The Saints also hold events to combat the Covid 19 pandemic. For example, on March 30, 2021, an event was held to vaccinate employees and families (Player & Coach Foundations). Recently, The Saints and Shell introduced a new service initiative called Second Line. This program gives The Saints fans exclusive access to team-based volunteer projects that benefit the New Orleans community. The two companies’ goal is to “make the community a better place to live, work, and play” (Player & Coach Foundations). Such a desire to help other people should be noted as a positive aspect of the activity of the sports club.
As research shows, charity is more of an image-based nature. It is closely related to corporate PR, such as the foundation’s icon on the website, articles, and releases on the topic of assistance provided, collecting donations, volunteering trips of employees to orphanages and boarding schools. It is pretty challenging to implement an effective social project because unlike any marketing campaign for a brand, the specialists of an advertising agency work for free, and no less effort is spent (Hoover 3). With the development of digital technologies and Internet marketing, the opportunities to involve people in charity have also expanded. Social networks came to help with the announcement and communication to demonstrate clarity.
Thus, The Saints is a sports club actively engaged in charity, helping the New Orleans community. These activities could help the club establish a positive image in society by addressing burring issues and attract new investors. For the latter, it is a chance to show that they care not only about their revenue. The club should place activities at the beginning of competitions and also after the press conferences with athletes. Besides, in modern times, social media give the club enormous opportunities to spread information on events, collect donations and attract volunteers. Finally, it might be suggested for the Saints to organize charity matches and invite children from orphanages to watch them. Besides, it will be beneficial for the clubs public image to conduct master classes for older adults and children in need once a week.
Works Cited
Hoover, Joe, et al. “Moral framing and charitable donation: Integrating exploratory social media analyses and confirmatory experimentation.” Collabra: Psychology, vol. 4, no. 1, 2018.
“Player & Coach Foundations” New Orleans Saints. Web.
Wu, Hanyang, and Xianchen Zhu. “Developing a Reliable Service System of Charity Donation during the Covid-19 Outbreak.” IEEE, vol. 8, 2020, pp. 154848-154860.