Just a quick note this week wishing everyone a very happy holiday season. Whatever you celebrate this time of year, I am wishing you the very best in health and happiness for the season and for the New Year.

I am very thankful for all of you! I count you all as a Christmas miracle!

Now, about that picture at the top. I haven't shared it in a few years. One of those precious kids is me circa 1972. The other is my really ugly identical twin brother, Jeff…

Last week I reported on CVS being accused of fundraising fraud at checkout. While I think its likely CVS will be vindicated of the charges, there are a few takeaways we should all keep in mind for future checkout charity programs.

1. Companies shouldn't soley rely on consumer donations. While CVS pledged to make up any shortfall for the $10 million they agreed to raise…

2023 is right around the corner. Here are three things you can do RIGHT NOW to be better at partnership sales in the new year.

☑️ Strive for more consistency. If you want more consistent success in your partnership program, you need more consistency in your actions. This means dedicating time every day to prospecting, cultivating, and closing partners. No excuses….

The #1 emotion you have to deal with in almost every partnership meeting is FEAR.

1. The prospect's fear that you're not the right partner

2. The prospect's fear that you'll make them look stupid

3. The prospect's fear that you don't know what you are doing

4. The prospect's fear that a bad partnership will get them fired

How will you address the prospect's fears…

FACT: I have yet to meet a partnership professional that didn't salivate at the prospect of getting ACTUAL PROOF that a nonprofit partnership helped a company sell more stuff.

Everyone wants this!

When I'm writing partnership case studies, most nonprofits say: "Can you ask if the partnership has helped them sell more XYZ?"

I get the desire to want to know. I really do.

But I've concluded that you may not want to know the answer for two important reasons….

Who are your Perfect Partnership Prospects (PPP)???

Do you have a list of them that you refer to often?

Are you creating content specifically for them to get them on board?

Are you connecting with other people within the company so you have multiple touch points?

I ask because I had a great conversation last month with JOANN about their partnership with the National 4-H Council (4-H)….

One of the things I really enjoy about writing case studies is I get exposed to all kinds companies and how they raise money for their respective partners.

Last week I had a great conversation with a large retailer (1000+ stores) about its checkout charity program and how they absolutely blew the lid off their fundraising goal.

Here are four solid lessons that could help you smash the record of your next checkout charity program…

I'm knee-deep in partnership case study work right now, so I've been suggesting to some partnership peeps that if they only have one or two partnerships that they should write them up themselves.

Here's my 8-step process!

🚦Get Permission. Call your contact at the company and ask her if she would be willing to participate in a case study. If they are bigger company, insist that they…

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.

There's a few things we can learn from Hancock's departure and the BAA's hunt for a new major sponsor….

Last week I got a question from a reader about the best ways to reach out to a prospective partner.

Here you go...

🔬Do your research. The first thing to do is to confirm that the company is indeed a good prospect. Next, I apply this rule: Do not reach out to a prospect unless you (1) have an referral from someone they know (e.g. "Joe Waters suggested I contact you...") or (2) an OVP (overwhelming value proposition) for them that makes the opportunity too good to miss and you had to call them.

🤝 Build relationships….

I'm back! 🇮🇹 And what a trip!

The sites! The food! The coffee! The corporate partnerships!

While I unplugged from my newsletter for TWO WHOLE WEEKS (a new record for me), I never really stopped thinking about corporate partnerships. I even learned a couple things about partnerships when my wife and I toured the Colosseum in Rome.

Our tour guide was discussing preservation efforts at the Colosseum and how the Italian government had turned to the business community for support.

It turned out to be a tough sell. While it's common here in the U.S. for companies to support public treasures, it's less common in Italy.

However, ONE COMPANY did step up…

🎃 Have you noticed that pumpkin spice is like...EVERYWHERE. Candles, coffees, teas, chips, vodka, donuts, Twinkies, and PEEPS (my favorite!).

So, if everything has pumpkin spice in it this fall, shouldn't your partnership strategy also have pumpkin spice mixed into it???

Now, before you stop reading and conclude that the pumpkin has finally slid off Joe's pumpkin-flavored cracker, hear me out…

The gang at Remarkable Partnerships (RP) in the UK has released a helpful article for new corporate fundraisers. It's called 5 Top Tips for New Corporate Fundraisers.

I agree with every point! Those Brits are so wicked smahht!💂🇬🇧

However, let me take a moment today to expand on their points and offer a few key insights of my own…

Last week I was teaching in the New Strategies Program at Georgetown University on what I call audience-centric fundraising.

In a nutshell, I argued that to be successful with corporate partnerships your nonprofit needs to build an audience that knows, likes, and trusts you. This is important because companies look for audiences to tell them what is good, popular, and profitable in this world.

During my presentation, I highlighted several nonprofits that have done a great job at audience-building and have attracted major corporate support.

I also introduced a new example that I thought had great potential….

On Sunday I dropped my son off at college for his sophomore year.

At 8pm it's already dark.

I'm starting to see late-season blooms in the garden like goldenrods, asters, and pink sedums.

I can't believe September is right around the corner.

A new month! A new season!

Before publishing any more new content, I thought it might be helpful to review what I've written this summer to make sure you haven't missed anything that could be helpful…

Every other week I get a newsletter in my inbox called The Authority. It's all about how consultants like me can get more clients by being a visible authority in their particular area of expertise.

Last week, the author of the newsletter, Luk Smeyer, shared an article that's relevant to consultants AND to partnership teams.

Luk discussed the importance of targeting existing clients and referenced a graph from Forrester called the B2B Revenue Waterfall….

A couple years ago I noticed that while case studies were prized and used by B2B businesses, very few nonprofits used them. What surprised me even more was that most of the corporate partnership teams I knew didn't even use them - which made no sense to me whatsoever!

Since then I've written well over 100 case studies for partnership teams! Whether you write your own case studies, or have me write them for you (just hit reply to this email and we can discuss! 🥰), I've learned a few things along the way that I want to share with you…

I wanted to share a couple the answers I got to the two questions I posed to readers last week.

🙋‍♂️The first question was on whether having a media partner attracts corporate partners. The overall response was mixed. Some readers believed having a media partner helped recruitment, others didn't.

On the nay side, one reader wrote…