The battleground is Europe, but it really could be anywhere in the world.

Governments are out of money, and museums, historical sites and cultural institutions are turning to the private sector and to consumers to keep their doors open and visitors moving through the turnstiles.

• Shiny electric cars sit outside one Rome museum after a business paid $110,000 for a sponsorship.
• The Louvre in Paris is exploring licensing its name to a line of elegant watches.
• In Spain an art museum is saving money on electricity by promoting its electric company partners.

Everyone talks about the growing reliance on corporate partnerships, but it’s only the beginning of the commerce and consumerism nonprofits will have to adopt to survive.

And cause marketing will be part of the vanguard.

With government funding decreasing annually and limits on how much donors will pay for tickets to a gala or an exhibition, nonprofits have to be more creative than ever in generating revenue, exploring untapped assets and watching expenses.

Beautifully situated on the left side of the Siene, the Musée d’Orsay has leveraged its location for profit by displaying giant posters for Air France and even H&M Clothing.

The days of going hat-in-hand are over as nonprofits have to hold onto their hats–and keep their heads–amid charges and retreats, victories and setbacks. Cause marketing may straddle both cause and commerce, but consumerism and elitism will always be wary of the other.

Will my favorite painting at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, Watson & the Shark, soon be sponsored by Charlie the Tuna?

Will I really care? I’m not sure. But I am sure of this. Resistance is futile.

Last week I got a thank you letter I really liked. This week my wife got a thank you letter she didn’t like. What was the difference?

Her thank you was for a Komen for the Cure run/walk she had participated in the previous weekend. My wife walked with a whole team of women, including a close friend of hers from work who has been fighting cancer for some time.

My wife was happy to walk and raised $400. Her team of five raised $2,500.

But when she read this email from Komen she didn’t feel appreciated. Although the subject line for the email said “Thank You!”, it felt thankless.

Thanks for putting a team together. Thanks for buying and screening your own team apparel. Thanks for taking time out on a Saturday morning to join us at the walk. Thanks for raising all that money and for exceeding your goal.

But do you think you could spare an extra ten bucks, sister? Because without it we’re not going to make OUR goal.

I was less insulted by the appeal, but probably because I’m a professional fundraiser and have looked a gift horse in the mouth more than once. Sadly, all in the interest of making goal, instead of what was in the best interest of my supporters.

But thinking like a donor, a supporter, I could understand how this email could strike the wrong chord with me, my wife and others that supported Komen last weekend.

What about you?