Newsletter: Turn Your Halo Award Application Into Case Study Gold 🏆; 9 Ideas to Market to ​Young People Who Seem Unreachable 🙉 ; A Great New Book on Corporate Partnerships 📕🤝

Over the past two weeks, I've received great reader feedback on my ​Anti-Partnership Partnership Strategy post​ in my last newsletter.

Corporate partnerships can be frustrating for those who lack the resources, time, experience, and staff to execute them properly.

"Joe, I am feeling so defeated by (the lack of) corporate partnerships in my development department of one (me!). It really knocked my confidence in fundraising as a whole, and reading was like therapy. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one struggling. I’ve flirted with the idea of stopping any effort in that dept, and your writing is moving me even closer to that conclusion. Low-lying fruit only."

Another reader wrote:

"I definitely agree with you on the corporate partnership piece for nonprofits. Earlier in my career, I was determined to get Google, Delta, Coca-Cola, Brooklyn Brewery, Stoli, and other like-minded companies to contribute to the non-profit I worked for as a major gifts officer. I wasted a massive amount of time and did things that had little to no ROI."

Other readers shared their advice.

One of them was Kurt Reiber, president of the Freestore Foodbank and an accomplished ​partnership professional​.

"My thought on the “anti-partnership partnership strategy” is to engage your existing Board Members or look to new Board Prospects that are connected to the Corporate Partners that you want to engage with and ask them to make the necessary introductions. At Freestore, we ask our Board Members to help us “open doors” to these types of opportunities and engagements. This was critically important when we conducted our recent Growing Beyond Hunger capital campaign, which we launched when the pandemic hit, so we had to pivot and focus primarily on Corporate Partners and large Family Foundations."

Another experienced partnership professional wrote:

"I recommend the following:

1. Up your search game. Let companies discover you and make sure your keywords are working for you. Driving inbound inquiries is vital.

2. Leverage LinkedIn to engage corporate decision-makers

3. Create a solid suite of offerings - a few sponsorsable opportunities and some employee engagement offerings. And be open to where they want to plug in or create something custom.

4. Be ready to say "no" to companies unwilling to provide financial support while also weighing the potential to grow the relationship with a "low-lift" offering when donations aren't on the table.

5. Invest in some PR. If you have something newsworthy to share, get it out there.

6. Curate your outreach list. Everyone wants to work with Google, Amazon, Ben & Jerry's, and Coca-Cola. Yawn. If you aren't a fit, move on. Look for companies with strong alignment and companies whose CSR strategies are developing so you can get in early."

Thanks to everyone who responded! I wish I could have included everyone's comments, but space is limited, correct?

But I did get some great ideas for future posts!

✍️ Partnership Notes

1. Brewery Dogfish Head is partnering with Record Store Day (an organization dedicated to supporting independent record stores) to ​support indie record stores​.

2. While corporate giving craters to less than one percent of pretax profits, ​after-tax corporate profits reached an all-time high​ of $2.8 trillion.

How can we convince companies to donate more to nonprofits? 🤔 They certainly have the money.

3. Engage for Good announced the ​2024 Halo Award finalists​ for outstanding corporate social impact initiatives. This list includes some great partnerships.

If you're a finalist, congratulations! 🍾🥂 If you applied but didn't get picked, better luck next year.

Either way, filling out the EFG application for a Halo Award is a big undertaking. It means you've collected a TON OF INFORMATION on your partnership and the benefits to BOTH PARTNERS.

Here's an idea.

🏆🏆🏆 I can turn your Halo Award application into case study gold and a powerful form of social proof to help you close new corporate partners!

I've already done this for several clients. Just hit reply to this email to learn more!

🤑 Marketing Your Cause

1. While you watch this ​Dramamine mini-documentary on the history of the barf bag​, consider how your nonprofit can capture eyeballs through tangential content marketing.

Examples of nonprofit tangential content marketing, according to ChatGPT

Environmental Conservation Organization: An organization focused on environmental conservation could produce a series of blog posts or a mini-documentary about outdoor adventures. These posts or mini-documentaries would showcase beautiful natural sites and subtly emphasize the importance of preserving these areas.

Animal Welfare Nonprofit: An animal welfare group could create a fun, viral video series featuring cute animal moments or pet care tips. While these videos might not directly discuss the nonprofit's rescue operations or advocacy work, they engage the audience's love for animals, increasing awareness and support for the organization's underlying mission.

Historical Preservation Society: This society could publish articles or podcasts on interesting but lesser-known historical facts or mysteries from their region. By captivating the audience with engaging stories, the society indirectly highlights the value of historical knowledge and preservation, aligning with its mission to protect historical sites.

Arts and Culture Nonprofit: They could create content around the benefits of creativity for mental health or the importance of art in community building. Even if the content doesn't directly promote their art programs or cultural events, it aligns with the broader goal of fostering an appreciation for the arts.

2. Nine ideas to market to ​young people who avoid marketing​ and seem unreachable.

3. The biggest ​email marketing opportunities for B2B​. #3: Website popups for subscriber acquisition. I simply don't understand why more partnership teams aren't collecting email addresses on their partnership web pages. It's bizzahhh to me!!!

😎 Cool Jobs in Cause

1. Manager, Strategic Partnerships & Marketing, ​National Parks Conservation Association​, Remote, $65k - $75k

2. National Director Corporate Partnerships & Account Management, ​Boys & Girls Clubs of America​, Atlanta

3. Senior Director, Corporate Engagement, ​Big Brothers Big Sisters​, Remote

4. Director of CorporatePartnershipsp and Sales, ​YMCA​, Atlanta

🧠🍌 Brain Food

1. Boston Marathon runners are disappointed that ​Monday's new finisher medals will feature a large bank logo ​across the bottom. I agree that the branding could have been more subtle. What do you think? 🎁 (🎁 = This article is behind a paywall, but I'm a subscriber and am "gifting" it to you.)

2. One of the great things about working in corporate partnerships is knowing so many incredible people. Two of those people, Linda Garnett and Sharon Dann, the duo at Stellar Partnerships, live in the land down under, Australia.

They've written an incredible new book called ​Partnerships Reimagined: Non-Profit Strategies to Capture Corporate Value​.

Here's what I wrote about it:

"I loved this book! Linda and Sharon really dove deep into everything you need to know about corporate partnerships. It's like they read the minds of partnership pros, answering all their burning questions. This is the go-to guide for any nonprofit looking to step up their game and attract more corporate support. In my book, this book is ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️."

Thanks for reading this week! As always, let me know if you have any questions or if I can be helpful in any way.