Newsletter: Back to School Campaigns to Watch This Month 🎓 ; Chili’s ‘Create-a-Pepper’ Program Benefits St. Jude 🌶️ ; Robots are Coming for Your Fundraising Job 🤖
I'm busy in D.C. this week teaching at the New Strategies Program at Georgetown University, so I'll keep this week's 'Note from Joe' brief.
For many of us, September feels like a second January—a time to refocus after a much-needed summer lull, if you were lucky enough to get one. For partnership teams, it's now a mad dash to the end of the year!
I'd love to know how my newsletter can help you achieve your year-end goals—or even set you up for a stellar start to 2025.
What topic would be most helpful for your partnership program’s success in 2024/25? Pick just one!
I need more prospects—more quality and quantity in my pipeline.
I have plenty of leads—I'm just struggling to close them.
I have some great companies already supporting my organization, but I need to tap them for referrals to new prospects.
I'm struggling with the more mundane things (e.g. contracts, pitch decks, proposals).
I'm having trouble maximizing the potential of our current partners. We need to be doing more with our existing partners.
I'm interested in how AI can support my partner recruitment efforts. Practical advice only!
Do you have a more specific issue you want me to address? If so, just hit reply and tell me what you need.
✍️ Partnership Notes
1. Back to school cause campaigns to watch for this month via my friends at For Momentum.
2. Cause marketing advice from the National Grocers Association Annual Convention members. This article was written in 2012! But it shares timeless advice by emphasizing that successful cause marketing hinges on focus and genuine passion. 🙏
Focus and consistency are key: Successful cause marketing efforts should focus on a few select causes rather than spreading resources thin across many initiatives.
"Less is more": Limiting the number of causes or events can prevent the message from becoming diluted to the consumer, making the impact stronger.
Personal passion matters: If the person in charge has a personal connection or love for the cause, the likelihood of success increases significantly.
Choose causes you believe in: It is better to commit to one or two meaningful efforts that resonate with you and your customers rather than trying to please everyone with multiple causes.
Shoppers value cause marketing: Over 56% of surveyed U.S. adults would pay up to 2% more for products in stores that support causes they believe in, and nearly half would travel further to shop at these stores.
3. No Kid Hungry serves summer meals with help from CEOs, including a $2.6 million donation from Tropical Smoothie Cafe.
4. Chili's Grill & Bar commemorates 22-year St. Jude's partnership with the return of the Create-A-Pepper Program. 🌶️
🤑 Marketing Your Cause
1. Denver Botanical Garden creates a viral sensation with its “Water Lily Weigh-Off” contest. The winning lily was so massive that it could have easily supported the four raccoons that wrecked my water garden last month! 🙄
2. “Stories are data with a soul.” – Brené Brown
3. Reporters are struggling to find interview subjects. How to make your nonprofit a media darling.
😎 Cool Jobs in Cause
Is it just me or a summer lag, but has hiring for corporate partnership positions slowed down? I generally only share partnership positions, but with no listings this week, I'm sharing something else with a great organization!
1. Vice President, Foundation Relations, Points of Light, Remote ($165k - $175k)
🧠🍌 Brain Food
1. The robots are coming for your fundraising job. 🔒(🔒 = This article is behind a paywall, but I can email it to you.)
2. Americans still want businesses to stay quiet on public policy.
"Businesses are one group that Americans do not want to hear from on current events: Fewer than four in 10 U.S. adults (38%) believe businesses should take public stances, a decline of 10 percentage points since 2022."
3. As a devout believer that Candy Corn is the nectar of the gods, this is what my room in heaven will look like.
