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America's Best Business/Nonprofit Partnerships Recognized at Fifth Annual Cause Marketing Halo Awards™

The Bon-Ton Stores and Goodwill Industries Earn Top Honor

May 17, 2007

New York – The Bon-Ton Stores and Goodwill Industries International have been honored with a Gold Cause Marketing Halo Award – America’s highest honor for companies and causes that do well by doing good – for the Goodwill Sale, a popular semi-annual retail promotion.

Twice a year, customers donate clean, gently-used clothing and household items to Goodwill and, in exchange, receive discount coupons toward new merchandise.  The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc., operates 277 stores in 23 states in the Northeast, Midwest and upper Great Plains under the Bon-Ton, Bergner’s, Boston Store, Carson Pirie Scott, Elder-Beerman, Herberger’s, Younkers and Parisian nameplates.  In 2006 alone, the semi-annual event generated more than 7.5 million pounds of donated merchandise.  With those donations, local Goodwill agencies earned roughly $10 to $11 million to provide job training and career programs to people in their communities who are having a hard time finding a job.

"Thanks to the generosity of Bon-Ton stores and their loyal customers, Goodwill is helping people in communities across America find and keep good jobs," says George W. Kessinger, President and CEO of Goodwill Industries International.  “Our success depends on the support of businesses and their customers, and we are delighted that Bon-Ton’s efforts on our behalf have garnered national recognition.”

“Receiving this award is a great honor for The Bon-Ton Stores,” says Bud Bergren, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. “I am moved by the generosity of our customers and associates and feel privileged to be able to acknowledge their commitment to this cause. The Goodwill Sale exemplifies our commitment to the communities in which we do business and we look forward to partnering with Goodwill in the future.”

“The Cause Marketing Halo Awards demonstrate the good that can be done when businesses and nonprofits team up,” says David Hessekiel, President of Cause Marketing Forum, Inc., the program’s organizer.  “It’s a competition in which we all win.”  Cause marketing is the strategy of building mutually beneficial alliances between companies and causes.

“In 1990 cause marketing spending was a bit more than $100 million – this year it is forecast to top $1.4 billion,” says Hessekiel.  The Cause Marketing Forum produces an annual conference, workshops, teleclasses and causemarketingforum.com, a website offering free resources to businesses and nonprofits interested in developing such programs.

Read more about the Goodwill Sale.

A complete list of this year’s Cause Marketing Halo Award winners will be available at www.causemarketingforum.com/awards.asp as of May 18 or by contacting  causemarketingforum.com.