Newsletter: Sponsor Success Story 🚀; Top Retailers to Target 📈; Yogurt Company is Now Largest B-Corp in the World 🙌
Elyse Meardon is proud of her work with Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (CMN) - and rightfully so. As managing director of CMN’s signature dance marathon program, she and her team are stewards of the fastest growing peer-to-peer fundraiser in the country!
Hundreds of colleges, and a handful of high schools, participate in the program each year. In 2017, dance marathon fundraisers collectively raised a whopping $38 million dollars for CMN and its children hospital affiliates across North America.
But even with the programs incredible success, particularly with peer-to-peer fundraising from event participants, there was a clear area for growth: sponsorship. [How they landed four $100k sponsors in 18-months]
Will CMN be part of the TOP 30 U.S. CORPORATE FUNDRAISING PROGRAMS???
Will you be joining them on the list? Complete this survey.
New stuff from me 😊
This week on CauseTalk Radio, Megan and I talk to Allison Robinson, Founder, The Mom Project and Brian Zellner, Recruiting Manager at BP, about BP Returnship Program. This initiative supports professional development among mid-to-upper level working professionals. The program targets women and men who have stepped out of the workforce for family or personal reasons and are now ready to return and reignite their career — an often-difficult transition for even the most qualified working professionals.
Partnership notes 📝
🏰White Castle is partnering with Puerto Rican singer and songwriter Gilmarie on a new Hispanic national ad campaign to bring attention to the island's plight post-hurricane. Our CauseTalk Radio interview with White Castle's in 2015 is one of my faves (White Castle's In-Store Fundraising Spikes 48%. What's On The Menu?) and earned them a spot on my top ten list. inally, fast food cause marketers could learn a thing or two from their meat and onion-scented candle.
🍺The 50 fastest growing breweries in the U.S. My experience is that craft breweries tend to be ahead of the curve on adopting cause marketing and recognizing the value of working with nonprofits.
📈You could build your prospect list from this graph that shows which retail categories are growing. However, the fact that dollar stores top the list is both good and bad news.
Is this the future of convenience stores? Dash In is a combination of a neighborhood bar and grill format with all day breakfast, 8 beer taps, self-service gas station and car wash.
🌳Nice example of a content partnership between George Washington's Mount Vernon and Bartlett Tree Experts. Via this plant finder, you can see plants that are grown on the estate and buy them for your garden. One thing that would make this better: ask for email address and build a database!
Marketing your cause 🤑
🤩Why your cause marketing needs influencers.
Email and social media campaigns can lead to higher time on site, perhaps a critical factor in driving donations. However, the medium is not the magic. The content you are sharing needs to be compelling.
👫I recommend a "Millennial First" strategy to clients. The Millennial Generation is too big and too influential to ignore. Now, they are the largest generation in the workforce. Which cause do Millennials prefer to support? New research may have the answer. Surprisingly, Millennials are not the ones most addicted to their phones. This one is.
🗣Of the five technologies that consumers believe will impact their lives the most, the smart home (with voice technology) topped the list. This is a massive opportunity for nonprofits to position themselves in people's everyday lives (and it's already been done by Whirlpool and Habitat for Humanity). Did you see the the story last week that Alexa users can now donate to more than 40 charities.
Cool jobs in cause** 😎
Senior Development Officer, Corporate Philanthropy, Pathways to Education (Toronto, ON)
Corporate & Events Manager, World Animal Protection (NYC)
Director, Corporate Engagement, Lupus Foundation of America (Washington, DC)
**Have your cause-related job featured here? Hit reply or email me at joe@selfishgiving.com.
Brain food 🧠🍌
This CBS backed startup will help advertisers donate to charities through digital ad buys. Givewith helps marketers create ads that trigger donations to select nonprofits when a consumer clicks on or views a digital ad, in hopes of boosting brand sentiment or sales.
🙌This yogurt company just became the largest B-Corp in the world. And REI is acting like one. Everything sold at REI - regardless of brand - will be held to seriously lofty sustainability standards.
⚽️This 13-year old has raised $210,000 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital by juggling soccer balls for hours on end. [VIDEO]. Lesson: stop telling people how to raise money for you. Let them do it their own way. The key is to inspire people to raise that money FOR YOU. This new report confirms that your goal should be top-of-mind awareness.
❝❞ A quote I'm thinking about: “I think the mistake we made is viewing our responsibility as just building tools, rather than viewing our whole responsibility as making sure those tools were used for good.” - Mark Zuckerberg before a joint hearing of two Senate committees on Tuesday
Upcoming awesomeness 🤩
"I was highly skeptical due to the cost of this webinar, but I didn't know how much I didn't know! Wow, I highly recommend this webinar and Joe Waters was extremely knowledgeable...The best parts were that he offered very tangible advice that nonprofits can use right away, and he offered a lot of great tools and support after the event! Great webinar for nonprofits of any size and cause."
Georgetown University, New Strategies Conference, Keynote, Washington, D.C., April 24th.
ServeMinnesota, Keynote, Minneapolis, MN, May 2nd.
CharityHowTo.com, How to Sell Event Sponsorships - A Step By Step Guide, Webinar, May 8th & 16th.
Engage for Good Conference, Mastermind Leader, Chicago, IL, May 22nd.
📢Can I speak for you organization? Contact me. Visit my speaking page for more details.
Need some help? Have a question, story suggestion or category you wan to see covered? Just leave a comment. 🙏
