Selfish Giving
JUNE 10, 2011
I just can’t understand what Kentucky Fried Chicken is thinking with its latest cause marketing program. This picture says it all. Buy a HALF-GALLON of soda – with 800 calories from 56 spoonfuls of sugar – for $2.99 and a buck goes to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. I’m actually more astonished that JDRF would sign on for such a pact.
Nonprofit Marketing Guide
MAY 6, 2011
When I ask staff at nonprofits to describe their organization’s public personality, I often get blank stares, or something like “Ummm. we don’t have one, so I guess, well, how about ‘boring?’&#. I admit, it’s a tough question, especially if you’ve never considered that an organization could even have a personality in the first place.
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Selfish Giving
NOVEMBER 22, 2011
Whatever challenges, misfortunes and problems you faced this year, I bet you still have something to be thankful for on Thanksgiving. Maybe it’s just the fact that you’re alive! I know I’m thankful for a lot of things. After all the important stuff, I’m thankful for good businesses and nonprofits that execute great cause marketing promotions that make me proud to call myself a cause marketer.
Selfish Giving
JUNE 23, 2011
Niccolo Machiavelli , the Italian diplomat who wrote the classical treatise The Prince 500 years ago, probably would have been a big fan of cause marketing. For a man so interested in statecraft, Machiavelli would appreciate the bottom-line benefits of cause marketing to causes and companies. Some have called Machiavelli a manipulator. I see him more as a realist.
Speaker: David Worrell, CFO, Author & Speaker
Your financial statements hold powerful insights—but are you truly paying attention? Many finance professionals focus on the income statement while overlooking key signals hidden in the balance sheet and cash flow statement. Understanding these numbers can unlock smarter decision-making, uncover risks, and drive long-term success. Join David Worrell, accomplished CFO, finance expert, and author, for an engaging, nontraditional take on reading financial statements.
Selfish Giving
JULY 19, 2011
You all know I love cause marketing - a partnership between a nonprofit and for-profit for mutual profit. But I also love iced tea. So it’s no surprise that I love T?volution , a delicious new brand of iced tea from Purpose Beverages, Inc. , launching right now in in Washington, DC and Los Angeles. This is purpose-driven entrepreneurship as T?
Selfish Giving
MARCH 30, 2011
“Fate leads those who are willing. The unwilling it drags.&# – Seneca. I’ve been thinking and talking a lot about mobile and cause marketing lately. Mobile seemed to be a big buzz word at SXSW earlier this month and I know firsthand there was lots of talk about it at Nonprofit Technology Conference the following week. Over the two days I was there, the only sessions I attended were on mobile.
Nonprofit Leadership Zone brings together the best content for advertising professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Selfish Giving
SEPTEMBER 12, 2011
You can use all the facts, figures and statistics you want, but unless you make an emotional connection with people they usually won’t give. If by chance they do, it will be go-away money. You’ll be as disappointed to receive it as they are reluctant to give it. Emotion is important to all types of fundraising, including cause marketing.
Selfish Giving
OCTOBER 18, 2011
Selfish Giving and Cone Communications , a leading public relations and marketing agency that specializes in cause marketing, are teaming up to share our top “pinktober” cause marketing promotions. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and companies are partnering with breast cancer charities on a variety of “pink” promotions.
Selfish Giving
DECEMBER 13, 2011
I love Christmastime! There’s classic music like Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer , time with friends and family (minus grandma), lots of delicious baked goods from my wife and, yes, presents! I’ve already gotten some great gifts: five cause marketing promotions that keep me believing in the spirit of giving that happens when company and cause work together.
Selfish Giving
NOVEMBER 2, 2011
I’m fascinated by the whole food truck phenomenon. We have a number of food trucks here in Boston and I just finished watching The Great Food Truck Race on The Food Network. I’m also heading out to Los Angeles today for the Blogworld Expo and am hoping to sample some of their great food trucks! I’m impressed by how food trucks market themselves and are such big users of social media.
Speaker: Dave Sackett
Traditional budgeting and forecasting methods can no longer keep pace with today’s rapidly evolving business environment. Static budgets, rigid annual forecasts, and outdated financial models limit an organization’s ability to adapt to market shifts and economic uncertainty. To stay ahead, finance leaders must leverage a future-forward approach—one that leverages real-time data, predictive analytics, and continuous planning to drive smarter financial decisions.
Selfish Giving
JUNE 8, 2011
Everyone wants to be more successful selling their cause marketing programs. But how? Try social media. It’s been a key part of my success, and I bet social media can help you too. I’ll talk about how to use social media to sell cause marketing in another post. But let’s first confirm why you should use social media for cause marketing in the first place.
Selfish Giving
MAY 2, 2011
I’m always finding good examples of cause marketing on Twitter. I have a few open searches on Tweetdeck that capture most of them. The great people I follow on Twitter send me the rest. I had these seven cause marketing promotions saved in my “favorites.&# They offer something for everyone. Pay attention! Toys “R&# Us Speaks Up for Autism.
Selfish Giving
NOVEMBER 29, 2011
I love when students put their education to good use. Maggie Keenan , a branding and cause marketing consultant in Savannah, Georgia, is a graduate of my Six Figure Cause Marketing course , which shows nonprofits and businesses how to develop and execute an effective and lucrative cause marketing program. Maggie gets an A+ for her latest effort: a regional cause marketing program to support the Chatham-Savannah Authority for the Homeless, Inc.
Selfish Giving
JANUARY 5, 2011
Last January I wrote a post on What is Cause Marketing? that got a lot of great feedback. Over the past year I’ve gone back to that post many time and reread the comments again and thought about how I was defining cause marketing. I felt I had the first part right. Cause marketing is a partnership between a nonprofit and a for-profit for mutual profit.
Speaker: Tim Sarrantonio, Director of Corporate Brand
Do you really know your donors? Not just what they give, but who they are? 👥 In this interactive session, we’ll break down how nonprofits can use behavioral indicators (affinity, recency, frequency, and monetary value) to build prospecting segments that go beyond wealth screening and actually align with donor identity. You’ll walk away with practical strategies to move beyond basic demographics and cultivate supporters based on how they already engage with you!
Selfish Giving
SEPTEMBER 26, 2011
Facebook made some interesting changes last week that may help evolve how nonprofits and businesses use Facebook “likes” for cause marketing. The change should shakeup how organizations weigh the meaning/worth of a Facebook “like.” All of us have seen Facebook cause marketing programs before. If you “like” the nonprofit’s (or sometimes the businesses’) page the company makes a donation to the nonprofit.
Selfish Giving
APRIL 27, 2011
I’m really excited to have Jocelyne Daw guest post on my blog today. In addition to being a wonderful author who’s written two of my favorite books on cause marketing, Cause Marketing for Nonprofits and Breakthrough Nonprofit Branding (with Carol Cone ), Jocelyne has been a great mentor to me and other cause marketers. In her post today, Jocelyne makes an important distinction between cause marketing and sponsorship.
Selfish Giving
SEPTEMBER 15, 2011
The gang over at For Momentum had a great post yesterday on a new cause marketing program that Better Homes and Gardens is launching on their website this fall. Of course, I’m a self-professed Halloween junkie (along with David Neff ) so I love stuff like this. Every fall, pumpkins and pumpkin stencils are the most popular content on BHG.com.
Selfish Giving
JULY 4, 2011
Happy Fourth of July! I’m celebrating the day with these three cause marketing promotions that support our troops – a great cause to support on the day we celebrate freedom. I didn’t find these promotions. I asked you to send me your examples of Indendence Day cause marketing and you responded! These three were the best. In first place, Joey Leslie in San Luis Obiscpo, California sent me this promotion from Which Wich bags that will be filling decorated bags with treats for tro
Speaker: Jennifer Hill
Payroll compliance is a cornerstone of business success, yet for small and midsize businesses, it’s becoming increasingly challenging to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of federal, state, and local regulations. Mistakes can lead to costly penalties and operational disruptions, making it essential to adopt advanced solutions that ensure accuracy and efficiency.
Selfish Giving
FEBRUARY 28, 2011
I love Twitter. There’s a certain magic to Twitter. So interesting. So fast. So current. So informative… So short, just 140 characters. I’ve learned a lot about cause marketing on Twitter, and now I want to my fantastic teachers with you! My criteria for picking them. I chose real people as much as possible. For me, Twitter is all about talking to people, not logos or brands or billboards.
Selfish Giving
JUNE 16, 2011
It’s been an interesting week since I wrote my post on the cause marketing promotion between Kentucky Fried Chicken and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. I learned a lot, particularly about Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. I plan to put my new found education to good use in the coming months. But there are lessons for everyone from this cause marketing promotion.
Selfish Giving
DECEMBER 19, 2011
The Arby’s Foundation , the giving arm of Arby’s Restaurant Group , the second largest sandwich shop chain in the United States, did something last week that rivals the good deeds of Santa Claus himself. It gave Share Our Strength’s (SOS) No Kid Hungry campaign $2 million dolllars. Arby’s customers kicked in most of it. $1.7 million to be exact.
Selfish Giving
AUGUST 3, 2011
The Foursquare check-in for Cause Marketing for Dummies in this city is at the landmark that inspired one of the first cause marketing promotions. Are you in Boston, New York or Los Angeles today? Well, it’s your lucky day! Check-in to “Cause Marketing for Dummies&# on Foursquare in Boston, New York and Los Angeles– today only –and one person in each city will win a copy of my first book Cause Marketing for Dummies.
Speaker: Radhika Samant and Todd Wuestenberg
Employee recognition has often been deemed a "feel-good" initiative, tied closely to rewards. While we understand its importance, we tend to associate recognition with intangible outcomes like engagement and sentiment, rather than direct impacts on retention and high performance. In today’s workplace, the true ROI of recognition lies in its ability to regenerate tangible, business-driven results.
Selfish Giving
MARCH 28, 2011
I’ve admired UNICEF’s Tap Project since it began in 2008. Since then it’s raised $2.5 million. This year’s program wrapped up on Saturday and I’m sure they’ll add generously to this total. Have you visited the Tap Project web site ? There’s a lot cause marketers can learn and borrow from the site. This program is easy, turnkey and completely replicable.
Selfish Giving
JUNE 21, 2011
I’ve made it my mission of late to find good online cause marketing options for small companies and causes. Thanks to the Cause Marketing Forum Conference two weeks ago , I’ve discovered two more. I’m a little embarrassed that I’m just learning of MissionFish and Benevity. But better late than never, right? MissionFish , which was just acquired by eBay in May, has a tagline that says it all: “The way to fundraise on eBay.&#.
Selfish Giving
APRIL 4, 2011
New research out of the University of Michigan confirms what I always knew was true: I was right to name my cause marketing blog Selfish Giving. After giving college students the choice between donating through a cause marketing promotion or donating directly, the students that chose the former felt more selfish, less generous and even less happy. Maybe I should change my blog to SelfishStingyUnhappyGiving.com.
Selfish Giving
APRIL 25, 2011
All great advice books have a certain agelessness. While their subject is defined by their time, they share common themes and ancient wisdom. Placed in a different time and place, they could have been written by Aristotle, Plato, Montaigne, Thoreau or by modern authors Dale Carnegie, Stephen Covey or Jim Collins. A new addition to the library of timeless advice is Randal Moss and David Neff’s The Future of Nonprofits.
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Selfish Giving
JULY 25, 2011
I love this cause marketing promotion from a UK housing charity that brings together eight Edinburgh thrift shops with the leading location-based service, Foursquare. It capitalizes on a physical location. Shelter Scotland helps people with all sorts of housing problems from homelessness to poor living conditions. 16 percent of Shelter’s annual donations come from its two dozen thrift shops throughout Scotland.
Selfish Giving
MARCH 14, 2011
No sooner had the ground stopped shaking in Japan last week and people were already shaking their fists calling for a moratorium on cause marketing. It happens after every disaster (the last being after the earthquake in Haiti). I’m not saying that these calls for pause weren’t uncalled for. I’m just wondering whether cause marketing is really a disaster after disasters, or are people being overly sensitive or maybe even hurting they want to help.
Selfish Giving
AUGUST 30, 2011
I get lots of good questions about cause marketing from people who are new to the field. Most of them are about where to start. It’s not always an easy answer as people are at different points in their development. Here are three strategies for cause marketing newbies, regardless of where you are in the journey. 1. I’m a big fan of cause marketing, but everyone else in my office knows nothing about it, including my boss.
Selfish Giving
OCTOBER 3, 2011
October is here and millions will be raised this month with cause marketing for breast cancer organizations. Two of the best known are Komen for the Cure and Breast Cancer Research Foundation. These large organizations with their national partnerships will raise the lion’s share with their “pink” products and promotions, but they won’t be the only ones raise money with cause marketing.
Speaker: Tim Sarrantonio, Director of Corporate Brand
Is your organization ready to build a recurring giving program that not only sustains but also propels your mission forward? 🚀 In this new webinar with industry visionary Tim Sarrantonio, we’ll guide you through the critical steps to establishing and scaling a successful recurring giving program. Whether you’re starting fresh or enhancing an existing program, this session will provide the strategies you need to deepen donor relationships and secure long-term support!
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