Cleaning for a reason

SSPC99 said:

Cleaning For a Reason
After reading all of the comments on this thread I felt sad and a little frustrated at the perception some have unfortunately had. I would like to just take a second to add my experiences with Cleaning For a Reason.

I own a very small cleaning service in Vancouver, WA and we are a Cleaning For a Reason partner. We have been a parner since joining fall of 2010 after meeting the founder & other volunteers and partners (companies that donate cleaning) at the ISSA international convention held in Orlando. I can tell you first hand that the organization is in no way a scam. They are a very well respected & very well organized organization. I have met many company owners that participate & provide free cleanings every month. I think most of the frustration seems to be that because we have so much more need than the enrolled service partners can provide, it frustrates people and seems that perhaps it is not even a legitimate organization.

My company is pretty typical of those that participate. We have just 3 employees that work in our residential cleaning department, and just a handful of other part time employees that clean the small number of commercial buildings & churches we clean. In other words, we are a very modestly sized company with a very small profit margin. In a company where every single dollar matters and where we struggle to find any extra money grow our business, we choose to participate at our own expense because we care. What goes around comes around and we know that if everyone does the best they can to show kindness and lend a hand when others need it most, it makes the entire world, including our own world a better place. Our employees love to participate, knowing that they are bringing a smile to some relief to other women who are going through a very difficult time and find little energy to deal with such daily task.

However frustrating the shortage of service is please understand a few things. This organization was started by someone just like you and I. An ordinary woman that owned local cleaning service that saw a way she could lend her organizing abilities and her companies resources to help other women who really needed it. This organization is really very young and though it has hundreds of companies who participate, it will take a long time to build it to the size that it will need to be to meet all of the need that exist. When I read some of the angry post it hurt because I thought, after all I personally have sacrificed to provide free service for others, it seems that if you can't do "it all" than it will not be good enough. I don't believe that. We all have to do what we can and it will help, especially those many women who have been able to be helped. Just so you all know, many of the company partners I have met are small to medium sized cleaning companies, some are so small they even operate out of their home offices. For our companies size and financial resources we are only able to service 2 women at a time. I know there is so much more need, but we feel we can at least do what we are able to and others will hopefully follow our example.

As for the charge that companies participate only to seem to be philanthropist and brag on their websites, I really don't think that is the case. It cost us directly about 75% or more of the cost we would charge just in the payroll, taxes, material, and vehicle expense we cover to be able to provide services for free. My suspision is that that couple hundred or more a month we donate would probably pay for a lot of advertising if we really were looking at it from that angle. Really, how many people even look at my website to see we participate? I don't know, but it isn't much. Yes, we do want to be good community partners and we do want to engage ourselves and our employees in the cause, but it's not for show, and it does make a difference in a lot of lives. Incidentally, many of the people that work at the Cleaning for a Reason office are volunteers and they have very few paid staff, and let me tell you, when I do talk to them you can tell they are hopping as fast as they can. Us partners pay a very modest monthly fee to support the foundation and it goes directly to the basics.

I am doing what I can to spread the word to other cleaning service owners so hopefully more will learn about the foundation and choose to participate. I know the Cleaning For a Reason founder spends a lot of her time in supporting and encouraging more companies to join up and make a difference. All of us women can spread the word to other companies of this great opportunity they have to support the women in their community. Definately not a scam, but do we need more partners to help all of the beautiful women who are waiting for service, YES we do! Spread the word to the companies in your area ladies.

concerned_cleaner said:

Cleaning for a Reason is for PR and Marketing
I am reluctant to even share this but after reading the many posts on this board and others from cancer victims I feel compelled to share my experience with Cleaning for a Reason from a cleaning service perspective.

One thing is true, Cleaning for a Reason is a legitimate organization, paper work filed, volunteers, and all that jazz, blah blah blah.

While it does do some good, it excels at its main purpose. It is a PR machine for the consultant that founded it and her consultant friends she placed on the board. They all do business together and shamelessly use Cleaning For a Reason to promote their businesses.

Dig a little deeper and you will also see her husband serves on the board, along with her best friend and one of her actual employees. Not much for over sight of the actions of the board. There are a few others on the board that do not profit from the industry, but they donate money to the organization.

I talked with someone that used to be on the board that was “asked to step down” and she said no one can even disagree with the founder without her husband nearly threatening them, very intimidating.

It is the cleaning service owners that do the real good, donating free cleanings and pay for it out of their own pocket most do it for the right reasons, but many others sign up just to get the logo on their marketing digs.

My cleaning service used to be in it and paid the $25 a month for the privilege of giving our services away. I don’t do it anymore; I prefer to do “good” on my own. I have tried to raise questions about this but lordy let me tell ya, you don’t want to bad mouth the group they will come down on you like the plague.

I wish more would speak out and tell the truth about this to all of the maid services that try so hard and give so much to make it work. None of the HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars they take in goes to the cleanings, where does all of that money go? No one knows.