Some lucky nonprofits don't even have to build an audience from scratch. They can just tap into an existing one that's growing around them. That's the case with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy (AWSC) on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Due to the climate crisis and rising ocean temperatures, more seals are visiting the balmy waters of the Cape and they've brought company: lots of great white sharks.🦈

With the seals came the sharks and with the sharks came....tourists who are eager to learn about these powerful apex predators.

With t-shirts and mugs for sale that say "Nice to Eat You” and "Seals Taste Like Chicken," shark commerce is big on the Cape this summer. Smartly, AWSC has thrown out a line…

Let's get clear on the difference between a charity partnership vs. marketing partnership.

A CHARITY PARTNERSHIP is when a company partners with your nonprofit because they want to support the mission of your organization. Some of the reasons companies will do a charity partnership include...

1. They love what you do and want to support you! Yay! This is the best, right? 😊

2. They love what you do, but are happy to take any benefits that may come with partnership. For example, a company could just make a donation to your nonprofit. But instead, they sponsor your golf tournament. They may get some business from the event, but that's not their main goal.

3. They want you to go away….

We got a great response to our new survey question on nonprofits that require or request a minimum revenue commitment from corporate partners. Some really interesting feedback, including the responses displayed above for the question: Why DON'T you require/request a minimum revenue commitment for specific fundraisers?

Have you taken the survey yet? If not...

TAKE THE SURVEY NOW!

Newsletter reader Trish Conklin, Director of Corporate Sponsorships at One Warm Coat, had a great idea for a survey question:

Does your nonprofit require corporate partners to make a minimum revenue commitment?

The commitment could be upfront, or for a specific fundraiser when it's unclear how much will be raised (e.g. POS program, donation boxes, purchase or action triggered donation, etc.) so you ask the partner to guarantee a specific amount.

In the coming weeks, we'll report the findings back to you and share some useful advice on how you should be addressing the minimum revenue commitment….

I'll keep things short this week as everyone is probably thinking about vacation time, fireworks and BBQs. 🏖🧨🌭

Something to think about tomorrow...

On July 4, 1845, Henry David Thoreau moved into the cabin he had built with his own hands on the shores of Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau wasn't seeking to live in isolation. His cabin was a half-mile from both the railroad and the main road into Concord. Rather, he was making a statement about who he was and what was important to him.

January is a popular month for resolutions. But the Fourth of July - the mid-point of the year - brings another chance to reflect on our direction, actions and commitments…

This week I've been noticing what I notice.

First, it was these warming stripe graphics on Twitter with the hashtag #ShowYourStripes. I was like, "What the heck is this and why is everyone sharing it?" Turns out the stripes show the rise in annual average temperature from 1895-2018 here in Massachusetts. You can find and share your stripe here.

What visual can you create that makes people curious and/or clearly shows the dire problem you're trying to fix in the world?

Second, it was all the articles on Woke Washing I read and saw this past week. Everyone is talking about how brands are selfish, disingenuous and transactional….

Robert Rose over the Content Marketing Institute has written a helpful article on the The 7 Core Roles of a 2020 Content Marketing Team.

Knowing that nonprofits are just coming around to content marketing and likely wouldn't or couldn't hire for all seven roles, I asked Robert about nonprofits starting with #5 Audience Development Manager and #6 Influencer Wrangler. With my focus on audience-building for corporate partnership success, I view the former as gasoline and the latter as a match!

I moderated a great panel at the Engage for Good Conference with the National Park Foundation on how nonprofits can attract companies from a variety of industries. Kim Hirose from NPF recorded footage from the session and I have eight clips to share with you. 

1. In the first clip (14:52), Stefanie Mathew, vice president of corporate partnerships at NPF, opened the session by explaining just how diverse NPF's partners are - "From A - Z. From American Express to Yeti." Stefanie also outlines three steps to better diversify your partnerships. Finally, the panelists from Coca-Cola, Subaru, Union Pacific and L. L. Bean introduce themselves and explain how they came to work with NPF.

2. In the second clip (2:03), Amy Strawbridge, Subaru's brand partnerships and experiential marketing manager, discusses how the car company's work with NPF helps their business.

3. In the third clip (0:42), Ranae Keckeisen, Union Pacific’s director of corporate relations, answers my question on if nonprofits have to approach B2Bs differently than they approach B2Cs…

I'm back from the Engage for Good Conference in Chicago! The conference was great, as usual. Congrats to David, Megan and the entire Engage for Good team.

I moderated two session at the conference and attended several more. A few highlights...

1. Chad Royal-Pascoe, National Vice President for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America outlined a comprehensive 8-point framework for working with corporate partners. The visual above is from Chad's presentation. Look at all the ways BGCA is striving to work with each corporate partner!

2. Lifestraw's Tara Lundy and attorney-turned-influencer Rachel Pitzel led an interesting conversation about getting serious about influencers. The big takeaway for me was that working with influencers is still very much a work in progress for many causes. The key is to stop talking about it and to start working with one or two influencers so you can test and learn from the experience….

I'm in Chicago at the Engage for Good Conference! Be sure to follow the conference hashtag (#EFG2019) on Twitter.

While I'm here, I'm moderating two panels at the conference, and you can learn from them whether you're in Chicago or not!

1. Today at 4:15PM CT, Karen Wu and I are presenting the 10 Commandments of Cause Marketing Law. If you are not at the conference you can still get your legal questions answered and a copy of the 10 Commandments by filling out our legal partnership survey.

2. Tomorrow at 1:30PM CT, I'll be with the National Park Foundation in a session that will explore how nonprofits can better position themselves to attract corporations from a variety of industries. The panel includes four corporate supahstahs: Coca-Cola, Union Pacific, L.L. Bean and Subaru. I'll be reporting back to you on all the nuggets of wisdom in an upcoming newsletter. Stay tuned!

If you are at the conference and want to meet up to say hi, just hit reply to this email. Or join me at one of the above sessions and we can talk afterward!

Just about every week I get a legal question about cause marketing. I'm not a lawyer - nor do I play one on TV - so I don't answer these questions. Instead, I call Karen Wu at Perlman & Perlman! Karen is a lawyer who specializes in cause marketing and corporate partnership law. She's also an outstanding person who goes out of her way to be helpful to the corporate partnership community.

Karen and I want to answer your legal questions!

This week I'm releasing some of the results from the salary survey Catalist and Selfish Giving conducted in April.

Below is the graph for 2019 partnership salaries for five positions. In the coming weeks, you'll see additional graphs on partnership salaries by geographic region, average duration of employment and fairness of compensation.

Stay tuned for more research! And be sure to take my latest survey on what you want to see more/less of from Selfish Giving in the coming year.

Speaking of what you want to see more/less of from SG, I'm already learning from what you are telling me!

First, I launched my latest survey last week on what you want to see more (or less) of from Selfish Giving in 2019. Early results are reporting that readers want monthly expert webinars. But is this true for you? What do you want in addition to my Wednesday newsletter? I want to hear form you.

TAKE MY NEW SURVEY

Second, you loved last week's story on Children's Miracle Network's and how they retained corporate partners for decades. And with good reason! Nonprofits report that 85% of their corporate revenue portfolio comes from their existing partners. Stewardship is critical.

Want to learn more? Sign up for this FREE live webinar next week on stewardship with CMN's Clark Sweat, Catalist’s Maureen Carlson and Lyft’s Veronica Juarez.

I'm pulling out the big guns this week and using my handsome pup, Charlie, to encourage you to take my NEW SURVEY!

This past weekend as I was crunching the numbers for the salary survey you took earlier this month (you'll be seeing the results soon!), I thought of another survey I should have done earlier this year.

This one is all about what you want to see more of (or less!) from Selfish Giving for 2019 and beyond. I did my first survey last year and the feedback was super-helpful. This new survey will make things even better! But I need your help.

Every organization defines stewardship just a little bit differently. They make it their own. They include activities that are both common to the fundraising sector and unique to their nonprofit at the same time.  It’s hard to come up with one single definition of what the word means, or create best practice tactics that work for all.

After 23 years working in several nonprofits, consulting for hundreds more, talking to corporate donors, designing CSR strategies, looking at constituent data, combing through research reports, asking questions, listening, following the marketplace and just plain observing, I’m going to give you a formula for effective corporate partner stewardship (and how to chop the word up into a more defined and digestible meaning.)

Last week, I discussed the importance of focusing on your website and building an email list. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, guest posting and SEO are all valuable, but they are all means to end: driving people to your website and signing up for email updates. I got several great emails back from people talking about what they are focusing on and why. Thanks for sharing!

This brings up another point: regardless of what you choose to focus on when it comes to content marketing, it has to be AWESOME. It has to STAND OUT. You simply can't publish stuff anymore to just...well...publish....

The people who read my newsletter are corporate partnership pros, but the section that is most popular with readers is not "Partnership Notes." It's "Marketing Your Cause" - and with good reason! You realize that the better you market your cause the easier it will be to recruit corporate partners. Since January I've been seeing a trend that I want to address...

At the beginning of the year, I explained why you should be on Twitter in 2019. I got some great emails from people that wanted to use Twitter more effectively. Mission accomplished!

Two weeks ago, I shared a post on what is and isn’t working on Facebook right now. You ❤️it and it was very popular. I'm glad because Facebook - while clearly evil 👿- is still important….

Three things this week.

First: Please, please head over and take the Selfish Giving / Catalist 2019 Corporate Partnership Professional Compensation Survey. This information doesn't exist ANYWHERE but is much-needed. As one reader wrote last week:

"A salary survey, umm, yes please! I have a hard time finding out what my salary should be, my peers aren't going to tell me and doing a google search just gives me a wide range! I hope a lot of people fill it out so we can get nice data."

The results of the survey could mean a big raise for you in the coming year!🤞