Selfish Givingcause marketing | Cause marketing for nonprofits

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.

‘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.

Why and How Nonprofits Should Use Pinterest

Joe Waters — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:30:05 +0000

Enter the Pinterest “Causes I Love Contest” and you could win a $250 gift card!

One site I’m committed to spending more time on in the new year is the virtual pinboard Pinterest. It’s easy to use, powerfully visual, populated with cause marketing-loving women and growing like crazy. 4,000 percent in six months!

That's growth!

The heavy presence of women 25-44 on Pinterest is what distinguishes it from other new social media platforms, which are generally populated by men 18-24. Here’s a site that already has the audience everyone wants: women and moms who make most of the household buying decisions.

I think most people jump on Pinterest for the same reason I did. They want a place to easily organize images and display them all in one place. No more looking at pictures one at a time. No more digging through tabs to find the album you’re looking for. It’s all right there.

When I needed a place where I could display pictures of people who had snapped a picture of themselves with my book Cause Marketing for Dummies Pinterest gave me an easy place to pin, organize and see them all at once.

I also created a board for cause marketing promotions I liked. I plan to break out this board further with boards for point-of-sale, purchase-triggered, action triggered, message promotion, etc. to make even more sense of the images I’m pinning.

My cause marketing board on Pinterest.

Most of the pinning happening right now on Pinterest is around art, home decor, style and other things women love. Brands are also getting involved. USA Today recently joined. Mashable is on Pinterest, as is Peapod Delivers.

Lands’ End just finished a Pinterest contest that encouraged users to create their own holiday pinboard around their favorite Canvas items. Creators of stylish pin boards received gift certificates for $250.

Pinterest users are also pinning about brands, such as Starbucks.

Are you doubting that Pinterest will break the list of top social networking sites and will soon be forgotten? Think again. It’s already broken the top ten list right behind Yelp with nearly 32 million visitors in November.

But is your nonprofit right for Pinterest? Ask yourself these questions.

Do you have an interesting or compelling story to tell with images? Every cause does, but believing you do is half the battle. Pinterest is a natural site for museums, historical sites and cultural institutions. Maybe your nonprofit helps needy kids and you have a pinboard called “happy moments” to capture all the great things you’re doing for and with kids.

Is your cause considered hip, trendy, or do you just want to be? Pinterest users are looking for cool, trendy and hip things. I think organizations such as Goodwill and Shelter Scotland could pin fashionable used clothes available in their stores. Conservation International could post images of the beautiful and endangered frogs they are trying to save.

Are you engaged on other social media platforms? Despite my enthusiasm for Pinterest, it’s not a standalone platform. I wouldn’t start with it unless I already had an active blog, Facebook and Twitter. It’s win-win. You’ll gain traffic from visitors to Pinterest but your social media platforms can drive traffic to it as well.

Are you looking to reap the rewards of local SEO? I’ve talked about the benefits of your nonprofit being easily found online. Pinterest can give your SEO a big boost because the links posted there – every image links to a real web page – are being posted by REAL PEOPLE and not marketers and spammers trying to game the system. This won’t last forever so get busy now!

If you answered yes to most of these questions, keep the following in mind as you get started on Pinterest:

Be useful. Pinterest users are looking for ideas and inspiration. Speak to that muse. Just don’t pin a picture of the new lobby area of your school. Highlight an architectural detail that makes it interesting, unique and inspiring.

Create categories that reflect what users are looking for. If you run the Paul Revere House and want to post pictures of the furnishings and silver work call it “Early American Decor” or “Silver Teapots.”

Give the job to someone who has an eye for aesthetics. Not everyone has a good eye for pictures – that includes me! Just look at some of the images on Pinterest. They’re beautiful. Yours should be too.

Learn from these 15 Pinterest superusers. I found this article on the habits of 15 superusers very helpful on what Pinterest is for and not and how to use it wisely. This post made me laugh as there is only one guy on the list. Yep, Pinterest is for the ladies.

Don’t just pin, repin. Pinterest is just like any other social network. It’s not all about you. Search through Pinterest and find images that you can repin on your boards. As with most social platforms, this is where the magic happens!

Let your supporters pin for you. Add “pin it” buttons to your blog or web site so your visitors and supporters can create their own pin boards that highlight your cause.

Fundraising ideas for Pinterest are already popping up. Check out this one from the folks at Help Attack!

~~~

Enter the Pinterest “Causes I Love Contest” and you could win a $250 gift card!

Let me show you how easy it is to use Pinterest for causes.

Here’s an easy way to give Pinterest a try, and you might even win a $250 Donorschoose.org gift card.

Sign up for Pinterest and create a board called “Causes I love Contest.”
Pin images to the board of anything you love about your favorite cause(s). Need some inspiration? Check out the “Causes I love” boards on Pinterest. You can pin anything. Just make sure it looks awesome!
At noon on Thursday, January 12th, I’ll judge the best board based on content, originality and downright stylishness and emotional appeal and reward the winner with a $250 Donorschoose.org gift card to use for a school project in your area that’s sure to make a classroom smile.

Get busy and have fun pinning!

The 10 Best Cause Marketing Posts of 2011

Joe Waters — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Here’s one last look back at 2011. Here are the top ten posts at Selfishgiving.com as ranked by PostRank.

The Best Local Cause Marketing of 2011 (and 3 that Really Stunk)

Joe Waters — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Here are my picks for the best local cause marketing programs of 2011. My criteria for picking these promotions wasn’t based on dollars raised, but on how well they represented the potential for local cause marketing. In short, these programs inspired me and made me proud to be a cause marketer.

I hope they do the same for you! If you know of other local programs that should be added to my list – good or bad – include them in the comments section of this post. Also, I’m looking for some great cause marketing promotions to include on my cause marketing page on Pinterest!

Program: Peapod Virtual Food Drive for The Food Bank for New York City

Location: New York City

Details: Customers can create their own virtual food drive and invite friends, relatives and co-workers to support it.

Why it’s on the list: I love online cause marketing when I can find it. This program fits seamlessly with Peapod’s business model. You shop online for yourself. Now you can shop online to help others. I’m a big fan of the Food Bank for NYC. They have a great mission and do great cause marketing all year long!

~~~

Program: Tevolution Twists, Sips, Gives to Four Nonprofits

Location: Washington, D. C., Los Angeles

Details: Every time you buy one of Tevolution’s delicious teas you can enter the text code behind the label to donate $0.25 to one of four causes.

Why it’s on the list: I like that Tevolution started runs a business with one thing in mind: to make and sell an outstanding iced tea. The best way for a business to help a cause is to be a great business FIRST, and that’s Tevolution’s first priority. I also like that the two co-founders of the company saw the value and promise of using SMS for consumers to direct their donations to one of four charities.

~~~

Program: Great Wolf Lodge Gingerbread House Supports BBBS

Location: 10 locations nationwide

Details: For a donation of $20 to Big Brothers Big Sisters, Great Wolf Lodge guests can enjoy a meal inside a life-size gingerbread hsouse through December 25.

Why it’s on the list: For those of you who regularly read my blog, you know I love holiday cause marketing, especially experiential cause marketing. This Christmas promotion won’t raise the most money, but it’s unique, creative and memorable.

~~~

Program: KFC, Dairy Queen Sell Pinups to Raise Money for Homeless

Location: Savannah, Georgia

Details: This program has cashiers selling pinups for $2 at the register. Drive thru guests get a special insert with a QR code to scan to learn more about the program and donate on their smartphones.

Why it’s on the list: This simple, transactional cause marketing program has already raised nearly $20,000 for the Chatham-Savannah Authority for the Homeless. It shows what great, local cause marketing can accomplish when people are motivated, committed, persistent and trained in cause marketing.

~~~

Program: 40 Local Companies Partner with the Ellie Fund for Cancer Care

Location: Boston

Details: Executive director Julie Nations recruited 40 businesses that each committed to donating a minimum of $1,000 through purchase-triggered donation programs. For example, a local dry cleaner offered customers 20% off the cleaning of pink products with 5% of the cost going to the Ellie Fund. A local e-tailer sold a special pink ribbon clip and donated 10% of the proceeds to the charity.

Why it’s on the list: Just as Maggie Keenan in Savannah, Georgia showed us that any cause and company can do point-of-sale, Julie shows the potential of purchase-triggered programs for nonprofits. The Ellie Fund’s cause marketing program is a great example of using the assets you have on hand to create a program that rasies money and awareness for YOU.

~~~

Program: Foursquare Cause Marketing Finds Home with Shelter Scotland

Location: Scotland

Details: Shelter Scotland offered real value to customers that checked into eight thrift stores. They offered a buy two, get one free special for both new and loyal customers on every sixth check-in. Foursquare users also earned unique badges – wonderfully designed by a noted Scotland designer – for each store. When you collected all eight you were entered into a contest to win prints of the designs.

Why it’s on the list: This is special addition to my list because Shelter Scotland didn’t have a company partner for this program, which, according to my own definition doesn’t make it cause marketing. Instead, it created the Foursquare program for its own business, a chain of thrift stores. While the program could be enhanced with a for profit partner, it’s a great example of Foursquare cause marketing for nonprofits that have storefronts (e.g. Goodwill).

~~~

Program: PUMA Runs Wicked Far for Soles4Souls

Location: Boston

Details: The weekend of the Boston Marathon the PUMA store on Newbury Street put a treadmill in its front window on which passerbys could run a mile a two. For every mile logged PUMA donated a pair of shoes to Soles4Souls, a nonprofit that provides shoes to poor people around the globe.

Why it’s on the list: While this promotion was created by an international footwear company, it shows just how easy cool cause marketing is for even just one store. If you run a bakery you can sell a special cupcake to benefit a cause. If you run a hair salon you have a cut-a-thon. And if you sell running shoes you can set up a treadmill on which visitors can run a mile or two to support a cause. You don’t have to be big to be bold!

~~~

These are my picks for best local cause marketing programs for 2011. Here’s my pick for the worst.

Program: KFC Shows They Don’t Give a Cluck About Juvenile Diabetes

Location: Utah

Details: One Kentucky Fried Chicken location in Utah ran this promotion: Buy a HALF-GALLON of soda — with 800 calories from 56 spoonfuls of sugar — for $2.99 and a buck goes to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Why it’s on the list: This program was just wrong right from the beginning. Campaigns for health causes in fast food chains shouldn’t involve menu items, unless they are healthy meals. Connecting a large soda with something like diabetes – even Type I diabetes, which I’m told is a genetic condition not related to diet – just isn’t smart. If I can make mistake Type 1 and Type 2 so can millions of Americans. This program was a disaster for JDRF, KFC, and gave cause marketing a stinging black eye.

~~~

In 2011, I published a guest post and wrote a post on two campaigns that deserved a critical eye. I’m not including them in in my official list because they’re not local promotions. However, you should read them so you can kick off your own cause marketing programs in 2012 without incident. I would hate it if next year you ended up on my naughty list.

Walgreens Checks-In to Controversy with 4sq Cause Marketing

Urban Outfitters’ Cause Marketing for NPR is a Poor Fit

Selfish Givingcause marketing | Cause marketing for nonprofits

Budlight Combines Superbowl Ad with Likes to Help Rescue Dogs

‘Employee Engagement’ is My New Cause Marketing Buzzword

The Difference Between Transactional, Transformative Cause Marketing

What is Transactional Cause Marketing?

What is Transformative Cause Marketing?

Three Easy Steps to Cause Marketing Success

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

7 Things Nonprofits Should Focus on in 2012

Winners: Pinterest ‘Causes I Love Contest’

First Place

Second Place

Third Place

Writer for Hire

IKEA Saves the Children When Facebook Fans Invite Friends to Shop

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!

Why and How Nonprofits Should Use Pinterest

Enter the Pinterest “Causes I Love Contest” and you could win a $250 gift card!

But is your nonprofit right for Pinterest? Ask yourself these questions.

If you answered yes to most of these questions, keep the following in mind as you get started on Pinterest:

Enter the Pinterest “Causes I Love Contest” and you could win a $250 gift card!

The 10 Best Cause Marketing Posts of 2011

Other must reads on cause marketing

The Best Local Cause Marketing of 2011 (and 3 that Really Stunk)