Michael Patrick Partners Helps Nonprofits Extend Essential Services; Design and Brand Development Firm Is Committed to Giving Back to the Community.

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Michael Patrick Partners (MPP) of Palo Alto, CA, and Portland, OR, has a long history of donating its services, reducing its fees, and hosting fundraising events to help local nonprofits extend their delivery of essential community services. Through its pro bono Time and Talent program, the firm has donated more than 2,000 design hours and reduced its fees to support local organizations.

Ronald McDonald House at Stanford (ronaldhouse-stanford.org) is the favorite beneficiary of MPP's Time and Talent program. MPP's co-founder, Dan O'Brien, served on the Board of Directors of Ronald McDonald House in Palo Alto for six years and currently leads the Communications Committee through which MPP has designed a number of key projects, including the identity program that helped raise $18 million for the new capital campaign, environmental graphics, the House Web site, advertising, and ongoing newsletter program. His staff is currently working on a new Internet application to enable online giving for this home-away-from-home for families of children with life-threatening illnesses who are receiving treatment at local hospitals. Along with those projects, for nine years the firm has donated its time to design the identity and the literature to promote the annual Randy Cross Golf and Tennis Invitational that has raised $3 million for the Ronald McDonald House since its inception.

MPP approaches philanthropy from a number of directions. Along with donating consulting time and design talent to selected organizations, it offers a substantial reduction in fees to nonprofits. For seven years the firm also underwrote all costs for its annual golf tournament, enabling 100 percent of the proceeds to flow directly to charitable organizations. Through this tournament MPP developed a "how to run a golf tournament white paper" that instructs for-profit clients on how to organize charity golf tournaments.

Duane Maidens, co-founder and creative director of MPP Portland, said, "We made a decision long ago to contribute in a variety of ways. Each year we identify a few companies to which we can donate our services. For other organizations that come to us, we can usually find a way to contribute by reducing our fees and by encouraging our industry contacts to get involved."

Other nonprofits that have benefited from MPP's generosity include Avenidas (avenidas.org); Bread of Life; Center for Venture Philanthropy, Peninsula Community Foundation, and Peninsula Partnership (pcf.org); CORA (corasupport.org); Family & Children Services (fcservices.org); Menlo Park Atherton Education Foundation (mpaef.org); Pacific Art League (pacificartleague.org); Positive Coaching Alliance (positivecoach.org); San Francisco Symphony (sfsymphony.org); Sand Hill Foundation; and United Way (unitedway.org), to name a few.

Michael Patrick Partners, a nationally recognized design and brand development firm with offices in Palo Alto, CA, and Portland, OR, has earned the trust and the respect of a wide range of companies. Its staff focuses on three core design disciplines -- annual reports, brand identity programs, and collateral -- and has extensive experience launching new companies and new brands. Since the firm's inception, it has received more than 300 awards of excellence from the nation's most prestigious design competitions.

NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Michael Patrick Partners' Web site: www.michaelpatrickpartners.com

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