Two things this week...

1. We had a great first Social Impact Book Club meeting last week! Now we're on to the second book and you get to pick it! Just head over to our Facebook group (join the group if you haven't already) and vote on the next book. You have three choices. If you have a book to suggest to the group, just enter it into the comments and we'll add it to the list! I'll announce the next book in next week's newsletter…

I've had some great conversations the past couple weeks with nonprofits about what's happening with them during the pandemic, and what questions they have regarding corporate partnerships. Below are the ten most common questions - and the resources I've been suggesting again and again!

1. I'm scared. Will everything be alright?

It will! This will all end someday. We've been through times of plague before - and ones worse than COVID-19. See my answer to #10. ​Plus, the crisis could usher in a golden age of cause marketing and brand purpose! 😎

2. What should my game plan be for corporate partnerships over the next 12 to 18 months?

Accelerist's Brittany Hill did a nice job charting a course in the webinar we did together last month. Here's the replay…

Three things this week...

1. The 'Read With Purpose' Social Impact Book Club 📚meets next Thursday, April 23rd @ 4pm ET. Join me and Megan Strand as we discuss our first book: From Generosity To Justice: A New Gospel Of Wealth, which you can download for FREE here. Request to join the 'Read With Purpose' Facebook group here.

2. Last week, I was anxious and sad so I opened up a few spots on my calendar to talk to readers. I had GREAT conversations with nearly a dozen nonprofits! 😊It was so inspiring I want to do it again! Just visit Selfish Giving and hit the BOOK NOW button and then choose a 30-minute Zoom meeting for today, Thursday or Friday…

I'm hitting pause on the videos I've been doing the past couple of weeks. Instead, I'm freeing up my calendar so I can talk to as many of you as possible on Zoom about what's happening with your nonprofit and answering any questions you might have.

I just want to be helpful! ​We can talk about sponsorship, cause marketing, content marketing or share our tips on hiding from our fellow cellmates during these trying times.

Interested? Do this...

1. Visit Selfish Giving and hit the BOOK NOW button.

2. Chose a 30-minute phone meeting for later today, Thursday or Friday between 3pm and 5pm EDT.

3. I'll send you a link to Zoom!

I'm looking forward to talking with YOU!

I hope you are as well and healthy as you can be in light of the current situation.😷Best to you and your family and friends!

Today, I'm expanding a bit beyond the webinar I did last week on future-proofing your nonprofit. This week I got several questions specifically on email newsletters and how nonprofits - and even individuals - can use them effectively. So in this week's video, which is a little over 20 minutes long, I discuss…

​We had a great webinar yesterday! We had over 300 registrants and 225 people showed up live! If you were one of those people in attendance, thank you!

The team at Accelerist will be sending you a link to the FULL webinar soon. Brittany Hill had a lot of great suggestions and insights on what to do with your partnerships moving forward.

My presentation, which followed hers, was all about how to strengthen fundraising for your partnerships AND your nonprofit.

Because my presentation is really my manifesto on how I'll be helping you in the coming weeks and months, I re-recorded it this morning so you could watch it over the next few days….

Today is the day! We have 200+ people registered.

At 2pm ET, Brittany Hill at Accelerist and I are presenting...

Future-Proof Your Partnership Program (and Your Nonprofit) for the New Normal

Brittany will be giving you a roadmap to help your partnerships survive the next two years. And I'll be showing you how to build an asset that will help you raise money NOT JUST FROM companies, but from individuals and foundations as well.

Looking forward to talking to all of you at 2pm today. SIGN UP HERE…

Three BIG messages this week...

1. Brittany Hill at Accelerist and I are teaming up to present Future-Proof Your Partnership Program (and Your Nonprofit) for the New Normal. Not only will you get a roadmap to help your partnerships survive the next two years, but we'll also give you a plan so you you raise more money NOT JUST FROM companies, but from individuals and foundations as well.

2. I can't believe my buddy, John Haydon, has been gone for over a month. Days before John passed, he finished his last book Donor Care: How to Keep Donors Coming Back After the First Gift. Please consider buying the book. If you follow John’s clear and concise “CARE framework” for donor communications, you’ll attract additional support from existing donors and see your retention rates improve significantly! All profits from the sale of the book will go to a fund to support John's teenage son….

A lighter newsletter this week as I'm busy teaching at the New Strategies Program in the Business for Impact program at Georgetown University.

Yep, that's me in the duck costume.🦆Curt Weeden, the founder of New Strategies and a corporate giving savant, called me a few weeks back and asked me if I would mind wearing a costume at New Strategies. I said sure! Heck, why wouldn't I?

When I got off the phone my wife asked me why Curt called. When I told her she gave me a crazy look. "What kind of costume?" she asked. "I don't know," I told her….

Legal eagle Karen Wu just finished the third installment of her four-part series on the four key legal issues you - my readers! - requested guidance on in the Selfish Giving / Accelerist Partnership Law Survey you completed last year.

This time, Karen is answering your questions on contracts.

The four questions Karen answered are…

Karen Wu just finished her third installment of her four-part series on the four key legal issues you - my readers! - requested guidance on in the Selfish Giving / Accelerist Partnership Law Survey you completed last year.

This week, Karen is answering your questions on contracts.

The Charity questions Karen answers include…

I had an interesting conversation with a corporate client the other day about the best way for her company to pick a nonprofit partner.

I have to admit my first response was: "It can be kind of complicated."

It's complicated because there are a lot of variables that go into picking a nonprofit partner. As I talked to her, I started drawing circles and writing things on them. I eventually came up with the acronym T-W-A…

Here's our first pick for the Social Impact Book Club! Megan Strand from Engage for Good and I chose Darren Walker's From Generosity to Justice: A New Gospel of Wealth.

We're really excited about this book because Darren is proposing a new, bold vision of philanthropy that is truly transformative and world-changing. That sounded good to us - and is just the kind of "meta" message we wanted to kick-off the book club.

You can download this book (or audio book) for FREE at the Ford Foundation web site.

A few questions to ask as you read this book…

Q. Any suggestions for getting local businesses to “pay up” after an event where we gave permission to use our name/logo in exchange for a set % of sales that day? By no means is this the first time I’ve had to “nudge” for payment. My usual follow-up email works in getting the check. But right now I have 2 places who are dragging their feet. My typical emails say: "Just following up, would like to get something in the next newsletter, or need to report results to the Board" (something along those lines). Meanwhile, I provided pre-event social media coverage, attended the events, even provided some activities for the kids. Oy vey. Help, Joe!

John Haydon didn't work in corporate partnerships and cause marketing. He was so much bigger than our little niche. John was a bonafide superstar in fundraising. He had tens of thousands of followers and was frequently ranked the #1 influencer in the nonprofit sector.

John was a speaker, consultant, blogger, podcaster and author. He was also a dad, brother, friend and fiancé. He was everything. He was my best friend.

Near midnight on Saturday and under the light of the full moon, John passed away after a courageous two-year battle with cancer. Our friendship began a decade earlier in an unlikely place: Twitter. On Monday, I returned to the site to memorialize my friend...

Q. I work for a larger arboretum in the Chicago suburbs and believe it or not, our biggest challenge is working with other teams here to stay organized! I am hoping to find suggestions or ideas from other organizations that work to ensure that internal teams are keeping up with mutually agreed benefits such as logos or signage, acknowledgement in press releases, and on-site presentations, etc.

Do you like to read? I ❤️to read! So does Megan Strand at Engage for Good. And we're hoping you do too because we want you to join our new Social Impact Book Club. Here's how it will work.

1. Every quarter we'll pick a business book that's relevant to your social impact work. (BTW: I'd rather do a book monthly than quarterly, but let's take baby steps!)

2. At the end of the quarter, we'll meet online to discuss the book and announce the next book.

3. Want to join? It's FREE. Just hit reply and say YES! Bonus points if you have a book to suggest.

Join the club. Hit reply and say YAY to books!…

While I was goofing off in Paris earlier this month with my twin brother - drinking red wine 🍷and searching for the perfect Chantilly whip cream - the team at Accelerist was already back at work. A few days earlier, their CEO, Brittany Hill, had posed a challenge to the team:

"What do corporate partnership professionals need to know to be successful in 2020?"

To answer this question, the team did their research and collected insights from Alzheimer's Association, Direct Relief and JDRF, and brands such as Amazon, PwC and RE/MAX. They are sharing what they found in a new, FREE, must-attend webinar on Wednesday, February 12th at 12pm EST…