Newsletter: 3 Lessons from a Nonprofit That Lost Its Biggest Sponsor 💥 ; Purina Turns Hockey Penalty Box Into Dog House for Charity 🐶 ; Did Emily Dickinson Have a Boston Accent? 🚗

The Boston Marathon is one of the best known road races in the world, but what's not widely known is that it's run by a nonprofit, the Boston Athletic Association or BAA.

And just like many nonprofits do, the BAA has run into a stumbling block: It just lost its biggest sponsor for its largest event.😱 Yep, after nearly 40 years the financial services giant John Hancock is ending its support for the Boston Marathon.

Here are three things we can learn from Hancock's departure and the BAA's hunt for a new major sponsor.

⏳ The sponsorship world was different in 1985. Neither Hancock nor the BAA wanted to over commercialize the race. The Hancock marketing executive that negotiated the original pact told the Boston Globe last week that...

“The challenge at the time was to form a partnership here that didn’t try to squeeze every dollar out of the BAA; that’s how it happened...It wasn’t because we had the best bid [$10 million over 10 years], it’s because we [Hancock] empathized and sympathized with their viewpoint.”

Those days are over.

There's a pretty good chance the next sponsor will squeeze until their named "title sponsor" of the race. The Dunkin' Boston Marathon is a real possibility.

Lesson for you: Nonprofits need to accept that companies will want more for their sponsorship dollars. Less charity, more marketing. Prepare now for the inevitable by boosting your sponsorship packages and developing a more flexible mindset.

🙂 It's not all bad news for the BAA. The Boston Marathon has some incredible assets. The first year of the Boston Marathon and John Hancock partnership the race had only 5,000 runners. Now it boasts 30,000. The BAA also has a ton of other sponsors ranging from Amazon to Citgo. 500,000 people line the course to watch the race. Millions more around the globe watch it on TV. Whatever sponsorship deal they ink will bring in millions.

Lesson for you: Sponsors generally want three things: A big audience OR a lucrative niche audience OR a well known event that gets lots of media exposure. The Boston Marathon has all three. ✅ How are you developing your event so it's attractive to sponsors? Are you making it bigger? Are you cultivating an event with a powerful niche demographic? Are you growing the media coverage for the event? If you are not doing one, two, or all three of these things, you're kind of wasting your time chasing marketing sponsorships. Instead, focus on recruiting charity sponsors that love your mission and aren't looking for any marketing benefits.

🌎 The BAA isn't limiting itself to just Boston companies. The BAA told the Globe that getting another Boston company like Hancock would be ideal. “But, we have to be ready for the possibility of someone who’s not Boston-based or doesn’t have the Boston headquarters as also being an excellent possibility and fit.”

Lesson for you: Don't hesitate to look outside your immediate area for good sponsors. Although a company may not be located in your area, they may have an interest in your event for a variety of reasons. Develop good contacts with your state's business development office and your city's chamber of commerce so you know who may be in the pipeline.

✍️ Partnership Notes

1. Levi Strauss partners with get-out-the-vote nonprofits to target 150 community colleges in 40 states. It's a wicked smahht strategy as community colleges have some of the most diverse and representative student populations in the country!

2. I ❤️ this action-triggered program! The St. Louis Blues and Purina team up to turn the penalty box into the "doghouse" to raise money for local support dog training organizations.

3. New research out of the UK reports that 95% of nonprofits say raising more funds is their #1 partnership goal. No surprise here. However, companies expect a range of things - six to be exact.

🤑 Marketing Your Cause

1. I'm always telling you to improve your email headlines. This subject line tester will help. I've been playing around with it and it's pretty good!

2. The National Park Service is killing it on social media with its un-BEAR-able humor! 🐻

3. How Best Friends Animal Society grew its mid-level donations from $400k to $2.5M by sending monthly email surveys.

😎 Cool Jobs in Cause

1. Senior Director, Business Development & Licensing, Girl Scouts of the USA, NYC

2. Director of Corporate Partnerships, City Year, Chicago ($80k-$95k)

3. Vice President, Corporate Partnership, ALS Association, Remote ($140k-$190k)

4. Director of Corporate Partnerships, One Warm Coat, Remote ($75k-$85k)

🧠🍌 Brain Food

1. A few years ago for Halloween, I recommended you read this creepy article in The Cut on 'The Watcher.' It's so creepy that Netflix is releasing a limited run series based on the story. Plus, four years later the writer behind the original Cut story has written an update. Pick a stormy night. Pour a cup of hot tea. Dim the lights. And curl up on the couch for this one! 😳

2. Did Emily Dickinson have a Boston accent? "Pahk the caht in Hahvahd Yahd."