Selfish Giving

Budlight Combines Superbowl Ad with Likes to Help Rescue Dogs

Joe Waters — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 03:51:18 +0000

Nice Superbowl ad for rescue dogs. It ties into a Facebook Like promotion at Budlight’s page that rewards each like with a one dollar donation to the Tony LaRussa’s Animal Rescue Foundation, up to $250,000.

I also think it was probably the best ad of the game, admitting that the other ads were pretty lackluster.

You can watch the commercial here.

It’s great that Budlight chose to support a local organization! Maybe we should get Weego to play for the Patriots next year.

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Friends of Georgia State Parks: Taking QR Codes to the Park

Joe Waters — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:55:14 +0000

I very much enjoyed speaking to your group today! There was a lot of talk and questions afterward about QR codes. Tonight, in researching for my latest book, QR Codes for Dummies, I found this story on how Fort Smith Historic Site in Arkansas is using QR codes!

It’s a great article that I think you’ll find interesting and helpful. Here’s the challenge: to get it you need to scan this QR code!

There’s a good lesson in this too. While this article is about QR codes, the magazine it was in, CRM, isn’t quite up to speed on mobile technology and hasn’t optimized its site for The Third Screen. So you might have to squint or expand the post a bit to read it. If you have an iPad or tablet, you should be able to read it easily.

If you don’t have one already, the first thing you’ll need to do is download a reader to your mobile device.

If you have an Apple device visit the app store and download my favorite reader, QR Reader for iPhone.

If you have an Android device, visit the Android market and download QR Droid.

If you have a Blackberry device, you’re in luck! Many BB’s already come with QR code readers. Located the MENU key on your device and select SCAN A BARCODE. If your Blackberry doesn’t have a scanner, visit the app store and download QR Code Scanner Pro.

All of these readers are FREE!

Stil confused about QR codes? Here’s a video that will take you step by step in choosing a QR code reader and and scanning your first code.

Good luck! And, as I said in my presentation, contact me if you have any questions.

Komen Sucks…But So Do You

Joe Waters — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:06:21 +0000

Nothing Komen for the Cure does surprises me anymore.

They sell deep-fried chicken to raise money to cure breast cancer. They sue other nonprofits that use “for the cure” in any variation in their name. Now, they’re flexing their muscle and shutting off the funding to Planned Parenthood.

For Komen, it’s just another day being a big, arrogant SOB that has swallowed too much of its own public relations and is drunk with power and eager to show its fight.

Part of me grudgingly admires Komen. Heck, I tell nonprofits all the time they should operate more like businesses. And that’s what Komen is doing. If they were a for-profit company instead of a nonprofit we’d be applauding their actions, or at least ignoring them. After all, we live in a country where success and money wash every sin clean. And Komen has plenty of soap to spare.

The challenge is that Komen is a nonprofit but their walking and talking like the Standard Oil of our time. I hope they’re headed for a crash, or at least a painful breakup.

But that’s not up to me. It’s up to you. (I say you because I’ve never supported Komen and I never will. I don’t even talk about their cause marketing much except to be critical of it. Yeah, I’m grinding my ax when I can.)

You gave them their swagger with your sweat, support and money. You created a monster. Not that you care. You’ll turn a blind eye and find comfort in the stories of sadness, hope, womanhood, courage and success that define the Komen experience.

That’s just what Komen wants. Come walk season, you’ll still be wearing pink.

You need a new narrative that puts cause above Komen. A true supporter is someone who is willing to defend her cause from the people who would hurt it, even if they are within the cause. This new story needs to be about accountability and direction that speaks to the breast cancer organization you want.

If you’re happy with deep fried cause marketing, brand witch hunts and punishing poor women, congratulations, you have the organization you want.

But if you want something else: wipe away your tears, dump the pink and find your angry voice and tell Komen to change their ways, or you’ll change yours.

Heroes with A Heart Grant Recognizes Unsung Nonprofit Heroes

Joe Waters — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:00:09 +0000

If you’re like most people, you get most of your inspiration from people who are quietly changing the world each and every day. They’re not on the front page of the newspaper, and they’re not mingling with the Gates and Buffets of the world. They’re everyday people like you and me who have shown extraordinary commitment to making this world better than when they found it.

The CTK Foundation “Heroes with a Heart” Grant Award asks YOU to nominate a “Hero with a Heart,” and give them a chance to win $5,000 – a simple thanks for the hard work that they do.

What are the details of the “Heroes with a Heart” Grant?

Here’s an overview of awards the CTK Foundation will offer and details on how you can nominate your Hero:

Go to www.communitytech.net/foundation to nominate your Hero with a Heart today!

Good luck, Heroes!

‘Employee Engagement’ is My New Cause Marketing Buzzword

Joe Waters — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:04:25 +0000

I’m trying to learn more about volunteering and employee engagement initiatives for businesses that want more than the transactional cause marketing campaigns I specialize in. These are the days when I wish employee volunteering expert Chris Jarvis lived closer to me and not in the home of terrible baseball, Toronto.

The employee engagement side of cause marketing is mostly new to me. Sure, employee volunteers – upwards to 1,200 people for a two day event – were a big part of the Halloween event I produced in Boston for five years. But organizations focused on this area are taking employee volunteering to a whole new level with online platforms that bring causes into cubicles.

This week, Los Angeles based Causecast announced its new Employee Impact Platform, which helps companies promote and manage workforce volunteering. This can range from highlighting volunteer and community opportunities, to making matchable donations, to sharing news and updates on the company’s commitment to and progress addressing social initiatives.

Causecast's Employee Impact Platform

Causecast is positioning its EIP as the first full-service platform for employee engagement.

The arrival of Causescast, a for-profit company, into a space that has largely been led by nonprofits such as VolunteerMatch and HandsOn Network, may highlight the value of employee engagement programs both as an opportunity and as a business. In a conversation I had with Ryan Scott, CEO and Founder of Causecast, back in October, he stressed that his for-profit company was better positioned to meet company demands for a state-of-the-art engagement platform.

In a note to me yesterday, Ryan said, “I‘m leveraging the power of capitalism to transform the way we build social change movements. People are pushing for this kind of change - Occupy Wall Street being a prime example – but have no tools to make it happen. Effectively engaging employees in a shared company social mission can drive a movement from the inside, one that has the power to create measurable impact around social issues.”

At least one person agrees. “Causecast goes right to the heart of this problem by providing a solution that employee advocates can understand and use that doesn’t require IT support to execute,” says Rob Enderle, principal analyst for the Enderle Group.

Despite HandsOn Network mobilizing over 30 million volunteer hours last year and VolunteerMatch’s impressive list of clients, which include McDonald’s and Walmart, cause marketing through online employee engagement is as new to most companies as health insurance was to them a century ago. Many large companies have yet to formalize their volunteer programs with online solutions that can compete for employees’ attention like a work deadline and Facebook can.

I’m curious if Causescast and others can convince mid-sized companies with large workforces – an area of mammoth opportunity for employee engagement providers – to invest in an online volunteering platform for employees. While I’m a big believer in the power of FREE! for cause marketing, this is one area where companies will have to pay for play.

Only time will tell, but if adoption of traditional cause marketing tactics (e.g. point-of-sale, purchased or action triggered donation programs) are a bellweather for volunteering platforms it could be a long, rocky road for the folks that aim to corner America’s cubicles for a cause.

The Difference Between Transactional, Transformative Cause Marketing

Joe Waters — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:00:00 +0000

I’ve been talking to a lot of people about the difference between transactional cause marketing and transformative cause marketing. I’ve concluded that I’m not being very clear on the difference and need this post as much as the people who ask me to explain it to them.

I did what I usually do when I don’t understand something: I talked to someone smarter than I am. In this case, someone A LOT smarter: Kristian Darigan Merenda, Senior Vice President of Business + Social Purpose at Edelman. Kristian is also one of the four talented women, including my cause marketing “mom” Carol Cone and Jocelyne Daw, who co-authored my favorite book on cause marketing: Breakthrough Nonprofit Branding.

At an airport restaurant in Cleveland between flights she explained the difference to me on two napkins. Unbeknownst to Kristian, she wiped her mouth on the back of one so so I guess I have her DNA if I ever need to clone her. Added bonus.

Here’s the back of the napkin explanation.

Everything I need to know about cause marketing on two napkins. I may frame them.

What is Transactional Cause Marketing?

Transactional cause marketing is a marketing strategy that’s defined by:

One-off promotions that are generally reactive to opportunities in the marketplace.
First generation partnerships that have a short promotional cycle.
Single platform programs.
Dominance of transactions over relationships to maximize immediate giving.
Promotions that aren’t central to or defined by the brands of either partner.
Primary goal is to raise money and build awareness for the nonprofit partner.

It doesn’t sound fabulous, but transactional cause marketing is the norm. I would say that over 90% of the cause marketing programs in the marketplace have the attributes I listed above.

Nevertheless, my experience is that few organizations start a cause marketing program with the sole aim of raising a few bucks and building some general awareness.

There are exceptions.

In 2009, I blogged about the Charles River Conservancy (CRC) and how they stumbled on a pot of cause marketing gold thanks to Absolut Vodka. Absolut has produced several “city” vodkas and in 2009 it chose the CRC to receive a portion of the proceeds from sales of Absolut Boston Vodka (as they had in other cities, most notably New Orleans which received $2 million after Hurricane Katrina).

The program was a one-off as Absolut had no plans of continuing its support for CRC. Indeed, their selection of CNC in the first place seemed pretty random.
This program was active for just a few months.
The major platform was the purchase-triggered donation from vodka sales. Absolut did set up a Wall of Pride of famous Boston sports moments outside the Prudential Center. But beyond CRC reaping the proceeds from this program, the wall had no connection with the nonprofit or water conservation.
Absolut led the promotion with the “city” vodka theme, not water conservation.
There wasn’t much rhyme or reason to Absolut supporting CRC or the Conservancy working with Absolut. This was about a brand giving a cause some money and generating some general awareness for them. Simple.
The partnership ended and the promotion didn’t spur the CRC to do more cause marketing. However, Absolut has since then done other city vodkas, including Brooklyn. Once again, New York is second to Boston.

This promotion is the very definition of transactional cause marketing.

Most nonprofits have bigger aspirations. Transactional cause marketing is kind of like a career in sales. No one stares up at their parents as a kid and says “I want to sell!” No one goes to college to prepare for the rigors of cold calling and pitching prospects. But a lot of people end up doing just that.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being in sales – I proudly call my myself a nonprofit salesman – or just doing transactional cause marketing. Being happy and fulfilled with what you’re currently doing and making money from it is a good thing. The challenge arises when you decide that your position is holding you back and you really want something more.

In the case of cause marketing, most organizations want to succeed at transformative cause marketing, but are unsure of what that is, how it differs significantly from what they’re currently doing or how to achieve it.

What is Transformative Cause Marketing?

Before I tackle transformative cause marketing I want to clarify that I’m still talking about cause marketing, not cause branding or corporate social responsibility. Cause marketing is a tactical activity between a nonprofit and a for-profit and that doesn’t change. What does change is the focus, role and purpose of cause marketing.

One-off promotions are replaced with strategic signature programs that are proactive, brand-centric and long-term.
Multi-platform programs reflect the shift from a transactional to relationship mindset between partners.
Raising money and building awareness becomes secondary to an overarching priority: accomplishing the nonprofit’s mission.

I’ve spent most my career doing transactional cause marketing. It seems more common at the local level where I’ve worked. But that doesn’t mean local nonprofits can’t do transformative cause marketing. They do all the time. It just doesn’t get the press the big national programs get.

One moment of transformative glory for me occurred with Halloween Town, a signature cause marketing program I ran for five years.

Kristian explained to me that “signature” means you own it. It’s the flag a nonprofit waves, regardless of promotion or partner. We certainly owned Halloween Town. We created it with iParty Stores to help accomplish our mission, attract consumer-facing companies and throw one hell of a Halloween party for the kids of Boston.
Halloween Town had more than one platform. It involved in-store cause marketing but also a two-day Halloween event that attracted 15,000 people.
Unfortunately, we lagged on mission. Halloween Town was ultimately about fall fun and the powerful demographic it spoke to: moms with kids. Perhaps that’s why it only lasted five years before we decided it had done it’s primary job of attracting just as many cause marketing partners as possible.

Better examples of transformative cause marketing include St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s wildly successful Thanks and Giving and the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women, of which Kristian and Carol were key architects. These signature programs better reflect the mission driven nature of transformative cause marketing.

These transformative players don’t raise another’s flag or change their colors on demand. They have a higher calling. Conversely, transactional cause marketers are hired guns that follow the money and wave flags red from tragedy and soaked in tears. I know this firsthand. I used to be one of those gunslingers.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said that “Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.” Transformative cause marketing is the product of leaders who empower us to make this leap.

So, did I explain the difference well? What did I miss? What would you add, change, delete? Here’s your chance to think transformationally and plant your own flag.

Three Easy Steps to Cause Marketing Success

Joe Waters — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:33:06 +0000

The first step in cause marketing success is an asset analysis. I talk about it here in this video I sat for at Blogworld late last year.

To learn more about starting with an asset analysis and the two other steps needed for cause marketing success, check out my new post at Razoo.com’s Inspiring Generosity blog:

Getting Started with Cause Marketing, Easy as 1-2-3

I just started writing for Razoo.com and you can read my weekly post on Tuesdays. My first post with them just appeared last week.

7 Things Nonprofits Should Focus on in 2012

Razoo.com has some other great regular bloggers, including John Haydon and Geoff Livingston. I hope you’ll check out their regular posts as well.

Winners: Pinterest ‘Causes I Love Contest’

Joe Waters — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:29:18 +0000

Wow, choosing the winner of the Pinterest “Causes I Love Contest” was a lot of fun. But it was a tough decision too. Truth be told, I asked my wife to help.

We loved so many of the boards I decided to hand out three awards. First place gets the $250 DonorsChoose.org gift card. Second place a $100 gift card. Third place a $50 gift card.

First Place

I loved this board by Anne Spires DeLong. The pictures are wonderful and it’s clear that she loves dogs, pets and animal adoption.

Second Place

This is a great board from Jessica Stanford. Jessica’s board especially spoke to my wife with its interesting and cute pictures. We both loved all the causes that are represented on it.

Third Place

I thought Kathy Hernandez had a clever idea for her board. She pinned pictures of people that share her last name of Hernandez that she supports through Kiva. Talk about put a human face to giving. What a great use of Pinterest!

Congratulations to all the winners and everyone who participated.

Anne, Jessica and Kathy: You can contact me at joe@selfishgiving.com to receive your DonorsChoose.org gift cards!

Writer for Hire

Joe Waters — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:15:01 +0000

I have three goals for 2012 (or three words as Chris Brogan has suggested). Speaking, consulting and writing. I already have several speaking gigs booked. I also have some consulting lined up. I could tell you more on the latter but then I’d have to kill you because of the confidentiality agreements I’ve signed.

That leaves writing. Soon I’ll be busy writing QR Codes for Dummies, Portable Edition, for Wiley Publishing. Of course, I’ll be writing my blog and contributing to The Huffington Post, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Mediapost: Causes, Forbes and The Nonprofit Quarterly when the opportunities arise.

Now I want to write for you.

I can do ghost or byline and I think my rates are reasonable: generally $150 for a 300 to 400 word post. I write about what I know: cause marketing, nonprofits, branding, tech, social media, mobile and how all these things link back to, well, cause marketing.

For everything I write I promise:

To offer great ideas appropriate to your audience
To follow up, and then leave you alone
To be open to negotiating the article’s slant
To do my homework
To deliver clean copy
To meet your deadline
To hit your word count
To be open to discussing edits and revisions

That’s my pitch.

Let’s work together in 2012. I’m already looking forward to it!

IKEA Saves the Children When Facebook Fans Invite Friends to Shop

Joe Waters — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:55:00 +0000

This is my featured post in Mediapost: Causes. Subscribe to its weekly newsletter and learn from some of the best thought leaders in the cause world!

One of the more successful digital tactics for cause marketing are Facebook “Likes” promotions. When you “Like” the nonprofit’s page or the company’s page – or both, depending on the promotion – the company makes an in-kind or cash donation to the nonprofit.

A good recent example of Facebook cause marketing was the Kraft Fight Hunger Facebook page for Feeding America during November. “Liking” the page triggered one meal donation, and more donations were earned as fans answered football and food-related trivia questions through the 2 Minute Trivia Drill Game.

The program generated a whopping 25 million meals for Feeding American food banks across the country.

An added benefit of Facebook Like promotions is the boost in fan count on both partners’ pages as friends and family ask others to “like” the page.

This coming weekend, home products giant IKEA is betting that Facebook cause marketing will fill its stores.

On January 14th, IKEA is hosting a Bring Your Own Friends (BYOF) event with deals and giveaways and is rewarding Facebook fans that invite their friends with a donation to Save the Children.

There are two things we can learn from this program.

First, it takes Facebook cause marketing to a new level by using Facebook “likes” to help drive what really matters to a retailer: in-store foot traffic. This may become standard practice for brands. As I reported back in September, changes to Facebook are making “likes” and fans second to engagement.

Nonprofits and cause marketers should expect brands to experiment with new metrics for Facebook cause marketing, including testing its potential for driving traffic to stores.

Second, this promotion puts the cause marketing at just the right place – after the self-serving main offer of savings and giveaways, which is what really motivates shoppers. The donation to Save the Children is a secondary benefit, and the charity gets the money whether the invitee shows up or not.

IKEA’s shopping event for charity is better than most retailers’ programs.

Despite all the talk of their success, I’m not a fan of the “shopping days” Macy’s, Bloomingdales and other stores market to charities. They’re pyramid schemes with the stores and a few big charities at the top making all the money.

The IKEA Facebook Like promotion is sound marketing, great digital cause marketing and good philanthropy.

I like it.