Newsletter: This Charity Pin-up Raised $323M ☘️; Krispy Kreme Launches Dough-nate for a Donut 🍩 ; Brand Activism vs Social Good: What’s the Difference? 🤔
The grandaddy of 'checkout charity' programs is the MDA Shamrock ☘️Pin-up. The campaign has been around for 37 years. During that time it's raised a whopping $323 million. That's a lot of green! This month you can buy a shamrock at 20,000 retails locations. I bought mine at Star Markets in Newton, Massachusetts!
The good news with checkout charity (i.e. register fundraisers, charity pin-ups, round-ups and donation boxes) is you don't need 20,000 stores to raise a small fortune. Local programs that involve a couple dozen to a few hundred stores can post impressive totals.
1. Rhode Island-based Ocean State Job Lot with 133 locations in the northeast raised over $400,000 in December for my old employer Boston Medical Center.
2. In February, Idaho-based Jackson Food Stores with 230 convenience stores in six western states raised $187,000 for the Coalition Against Sexual & Domestic Violence.
3. NORMS restaurants with just 17 locations in Southern California raised $25,000 for the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.
Interested in learning more about checkout charity and developing your own program? Here are a couple resources for you:
How One Nonprofit Raises Millions with Charity Pinups
7 Key Takeaways for Cause Marketers from 2017 America's Checkout Champions Report
A key report produced by Engage for Good on the health of checkout charity fundraising comes out every other year. And 2019 is the year for the new report. It's like Christmastime for cause marketers!
But the folks at Engage for Good need our help.
Did your organization execute a 2018 checkout or point-of-sale fundraiser that generated between $750,000 - $999,000 from consumers? Click here to fill out the survey.
Did your organization execute a 2018 checkout or point-of-sale fundraiser that generated over $1,000,000 from consumers. Click here to fill out the survey.
The survey results will be released at this year's Engage for Good Conference in Chicago. I hope to see you there!
✍️ Partnership Notes
1. Beginning this month, fragrance maker Scentsy will raise money Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation through the sale of the When Life Gives You Lemons warmer. Scentsy will donate $8.50 from the sale of each warmer to fight childhood cancer. Scentsy just wrapped up a six-month partnership with the American Heart Association that raised over $130,000.
2. That post I wrote last week on should you swear in cause marketing? I got a resounding "Hell, yes!" Examples you sent me of risky or potty-mouth cause marketing included: Check Your Mate, Durex RED, FU Cancer, and #WinterSwearJar. One reader also sent me this research confirming that people who swear are wicked smart.🤓
3. Benefit Cosmetics is steering 100% of its brow wax proceeds from its annual the Bold Is Beautiful Project to Planned Parenthood. Benefit knows its audience. 90% of millennial women say women’s reproductive health decisions are a major concern. We interviewed Benefit on CauseTalk Radio in 2017. Listen here!
4. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts is launching the Dough-nate for a Doughnut campaign to support Kaboom and the SeriousFun Children’s Network. Now through May 4, customers can donate a $1 or more at stores and receive an original glazed in return.
🤑 Marketing Your Cause
1. 4-H is running a contest sponsored by a division of DowDuPont to find farmfluencers.
2. What companies hate about the content you are creating for them.
3. Because I know you like things for free: 10 solid principles to fight the decline of organic reach on social media.
😎 Cool Jobs in Cause Marketing**
1. Strategic Partnerships Associate, ACLU (NYC)
2. Specialist, Corporate Relations, Planned Parenthood (Washington, D.C.)
3. Manager, Development, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (Tampa, FL)
**Have your cause-related job featured here for FREE. Hit reply to this email and give me the details and a link.
🧠🍌 Brain Food
1. Brand activism vs social good. What's the difference?
2. The situation with Boeing is a good example of the bad things that can happen when corporations run the government.
3. Just for fun...This was the most popular paint color the decade you were born.
Have a question, comment or just want to say hi? Just leave a comment below or head over to Twitter. 🙏
