Praise for Win-Win for the Greater Good

“Win-Win for the Greater Good provides the ‘how to’ blueprint for organizations of
any size and from any sector to build highly productive partnerships. It reveals the
true essence of success - focusing on the business objectives of your partner, while
striving together to create a greater good.”
Casey Sheahan, CEO, Patagonia, Inc.
“Win-Win lucidly captures Bruce Burtch’s decades of practitioner wisdom on cross-
sector partnerships. The book is filled with rich examples and insightful practical
guidance on how to build powerful partnerships. Read it and learn from a master!”
James E. Austin, Harvard Business School, Emeritus, Author, The Collaboration
Challenge
“A ‘must read’ for any organization. Through real stories and his deep experience,
Bruce Burtch proves that magic can happen when a partnership is focused on creat-
ing a greater good.”
Howard Behar, President, Starbucks Coffee International, Retired
“America had Christopher Columbus. Cause marketing has Bruce Burtch. A man of
firsts like the great explorer, Bruce has been designing innovative, highly-successful
cross-sector partnerships since 1975. Win-Win for the Greater Good will help you
chart a course for success for your organization and for a better world.”
Joe Waters, Selfishgiving.com, Co-author, Cause Marketing for Dummies
“If you are looking for a guidebook on how to best ignite your organization’s eco-
nomic and social impact on your stakeholders, your community and our world...
this is it!”
Chip Conley, Founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality and Author of PEAK
“In Win-Win for the Greater Good Bruce Burtch takes over three decades of first-
hand experience and puts it into an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guidebook for the
creation of successful cross-sector partnerships.”
Julie Wilder, Manager of Employee Impact Programs, Autodesk
“An amazing compilation of great ideas! Win-Win for the Greater Good provides
terrific tools and concepts that will help your non-profit, your business or your com-
munity make a difference in the lives of many.”
Sherri Lewis Wood, Founder, One Warm Coat
“Worth its weight in fundraising gold. Win-Win for the Greater Good turns the
tables on traditional approaches to nonprofit/for-profit funding relationships.“
Peggy Duvette, Executive Director,
WiserEarth
“Best book ever written on this important
subject! A treasure chest of ideas for
creating good.”
Mary O’Mara, Executive Director,
Marinlink
 Please accept this PDF of
Win-Win for the Greater Good
With my compliments
Bruce W. Burtch
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

Praise for Win-Win for the Greater Good

“Win-Win for the Greater Good provides the ‘how to’ blueprint for organizations of
any size and from any sector to build highly productive partnerships.  It reveals the
true essence of success - focusing on the business objectives of your partner, while
striving together to create a greater good.”
Casey Sheahan, CEO, Patagonia, Inc.

“Win-Win lucidly captures Bruce Burtch’s decades of practitioner wisdom on cross-

sector partnerships. The book is filled with rich examples and insightful practical
guidance on how to build powerful partnerships. Read it and learn from a master!”
James E. Austin, Eliot I. Snider and Family Professor of Business Administration,
Emeritus, Harvard Business School, Author, The Collaboration Challenge

“A ‘must read’ for any organization. Through real stories and his deep experience,
Bruce Burtch proves that magic can happen when a partnership is focused on creat-
ing a greater good.”
Howard Behar, President, Starbucks Coffee International, Retired

“America had Christopher Columbus. Cause marketing has Bruce Burtch. A man of
firsts like the great explorer, Bruce has been designing innovative, highly-successful
cross-sector partnerships since 1975. Win-Win for the Greater Good will help you
chart a course for success for your organization and for a better world.”

Joe Waters, Selfishgiving.com, Co-author, Cause Marketing for Dummies

“If you are looking for a guidebook on how to best ignite your organization’s eco-
nomic and social impact on your stakeholders, your community and our world...
this is it!”
Chip Conley, Founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality and Author of PEAK

“In Win-Win for the Greater Good Bruce Burtch takes over three decades of first-
hand experience and puts it into an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guidebook for the
creation of successful cross-sector partnerships. Bruce gave in-depth partnership
training to 85 nonprofit organizations sponsored by Autodesk. The response from
attendees was enthusiastic and very positive. I recommend Bruce’s book to nonprofit
or for-profit organizations wishing to stimulate their community engagement and
effectiveness.”  
Julie Wilder, Manager of Employee Impact Programs, Autodesk

“An amazing compilation of great ideas! Win-Win for the Greater Good provides
terrific tools and concepts that will help your non-profit, your business or your com-
munity make a difference in the lives of many.”
Sherri Lewis Wood, Founder, One Warm Coat
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

“Worth its weight in fundraising gold. Win-Win for the Greater Good turns the
tables on traditional approaches to nonprofit/for-profit funding relationships. It
challenges you to build a business value proposition and provides over 30 ways to
beneficially impact your organization through partnerships, while greatly increasing
your service impact.”
Peggy Duvette, Executive Director, WiserEarth

“Best book ever written on this important subject! A treasure chest of ideas for cre-
ating good.”
Mary O’Mara, Executive Director, Marinlink

“I’ve had the privilege of seeing Bruce utilize the concepts and ‘how to’ steps con-
tained in this book with extraordinary results in the work he has done with us at
Ramsell. If you’re a for-profit or not-for-profit looking for ways to develop or en-
hance cross-sector partnerships, I believe you’ll find this book to be a tremendous
resource to help you accomplish your goals.”
Tim Murrill, Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Ramsell

“Anyone seriously interested in developing a cross-sector partnership and exceling

at it must read this stimulating and thought-provoking book from someone that has
dedicated his life to this field.”
Solomon Belette, CEO, Catholic Charities of the East Bay

“Where is it written that giving back to the community should only benefit the recip-
ient and not the giver? Thank you, Bruce for dispensing with that myth so effectively.
(And, hopefully once and for all!) And you do better than that - you demonstrate
how the collaboration of businesses with non-profits exponentially produces ben-
efits to an entire community. This book should be the ‘go to’ reference for company
executives, small business owners and leaders of non-profits.”
Vicki Whiting, Publisher, Kid Scoop News

“Bruce Burtch was born to be the guru of nonprofit/for-profit partnerships having

worked for both types of organizations, large and small, in management and on the
front lines. He truly understands the clashing forces that can make or break organi-
zations, appreciates the nuances that can bring them together or push them apart,
and knows how to harness the collective win-win potential of partnerships between
organizations from different sectors of business that didn’t realize – until he showed
them the way – their mutual needs.”
J. David Pincus, Ph.D, Author and Visiting Professor, University of Arkansas

“Bruce Burtch’s message is both powerful and pragmatic. With clear step-by-step di-
rection enriched by real-life examples, Win-Win for the Greater Good is an essential
read for any organization that wants to extend its reach, optimize limited resources
. . . and fulfill its mission.”
Rick Knapp, Retired business executive, Consultant, Non-profit board member
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

Copyright © 2013 by Bruce W. Burtch

All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-0-9897741-0-9
Printed in the United States of America
First Edition
Win-Win for the Greater Good
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

Dedication Page
It’s My Father’s Fault
From the very beginning, all I ever saw in my father was a man com-
mitted deeply to giving back to his community for the blessings he
had been given - “paying his dues” he called it. No matter what chal-
lenge life threw at him, he never turned away, never complained,
never stopped helping one more charitable organization, one more
person who needed a hand. If I have ever done anything in my life
that has helped others, I must blame my father. As my role model he
stands above all others and I thank the good Lord for giving me, and
so many others, a man who lives by his personal motto: Life is Good.
And so is he.
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

Acknowledgements

Many people have had a hand in developing this book. First and foremost, I want
to thank my wife Janie for her patience over the years through my endless search
for save-the-world ideas. Writing this guidebook on building cross-sector partner-
ships and cause marketing was one project she strongly supported, as she knew that
what I have experienced in 35 years - developing partnerships focused on creating a
greater good - was an important message to share.
To three dear friends - David Pincus, Rick Knapp and Steve Wood - who offered
not only strong encouragement to write the book but who also took on the ardu-
ous task of reviewing its initial draft. Each of them is a consummate professional,
extraordinarily smart and with gentle yet firm criticism.
To Alison Owings, my editor, whose revisions made me really pleased with what
I wrote! She was and is simply amazing.
To my guest contributors, Ed Chansky, Bob Lanier and Farron Levy, who are
players at the very top of their game and who without a blink, offered their exper-
tise. Their contributions brought great insight into areas I would not dare to venture
alone.
To James E. Austin, Eliot I. Snider and Family Professor of Business Administra-
tion, Emeritus, Harvard Business School, Author, The Collaboration Challenge, for
his support of this book and inspirational work in the field of collaboration.
To Dr. William Ury, co-author of the landmark work, Getting to Yes: Negotiating
Agreement Without Giving In, for kindly reviewing and approving what I wrote in
this book.
To my colleague Joe Waters, who lent his review and expertise in cause market-
ing, proving it somewhat ironic that he co-wrote the book, Cause Marketing for
Dummies, which only someone as smart as Joe could write so well.
To Brian Narelle, for the amazing cartoons and characters that flow from his
always-churning, most creative mind. He has given this story its leading character,
Glow, and so much more.
To Christie Kragel, my multi-talented stepdaughter, who undertook the arduous
task of copyediting the final manuscript - a job very well done!
And finally, to all the friends, colleagues and clients from the nonprofit, for-profit,
education and government sectors with whom I have traveled this journey so far and
shared the goal of making a difference.
Thank you all.
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

Contents
Why I Wrote This Guidebook 1

Soccer Balls 4

PART I: GOOD TO GREAT TO GLOWING 8

Good to Great 8
Glowing Your Business 10
The Story of Glow 12
Glowing Companies 13
New Organizations Building a Foundation for Glowing 15

PART II: UNDERSTANDING CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS AND

CAUSE MARKETING 17
What Nonprofits Say About For-Profits 18
What For-Profits Say About Nonprofits 18
Against All Odds: Tenderloin After-School Program 20
Welcoming Individual Agendas 24
Turning the Tables: Presenting a Business Value Proposition 26
Creating Multiple Links Between Organizations 30
Multiple-Sector Partnerships 33
Win-Win: The Many Benefits of Cross-Sector Partnerships 38
Benefits For-Profits Receive From Partnering With a Nonprofit Organization 40
Benefits Nonprofits Receive From Partnering With a For-Profit Organization 50
Which Provides More Value: Money or Brains? 63
Cause Marketing: Where It All Started for Me 63
Cause Marketing: What It Is 67
What to Avoid When Developing a Cause Marketing Campaign 80
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

PART III: HOW TO DEVELOP A CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIP

OR CAUSE MARKETING CAMPAIGN 84
Cross-Sector Partnership Development Process 85
Assessment 87
Stakeholder Engagement 97
Key Objectives 99
Partner Development 102
Finding a Partner 104
Developing a Partnership 116
Building Trust 138
Transparency 139
Project or Campaign Concepts 145
Negotiation/Legal/Agreements 147
Strategy Development 157
Marketing Plan 166
Media Relations 170
Evaluation and ROI 190
Funding Plan 195
Implementation 201
Case Study: Prepare Bay Area 202
Rejoice, Revise and Repeat 218
You Are Beginning to Glow! 223
Epilogue 225

Win-Win Resource Center

To assist your development of cross-sector partnerships and cause mar-
keting, I have provided a companion online Win-Win Resource Center.
Here you will find extensive research on cross-sector partnerships and cause
marketing, PDFs, forms, templates, articles from our contributing experts,
presentations, videos and other valuable and continually updated material.
Free access to all this information can be found: www.bruceburtch.com/
ResourceCenter.
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

Why I Wrote This Guidebook

Having spent more than 35 years deep in the trenches of developing

cross-sector partnerships and cause marketing campaigns with the non-
profit, for-profit, education and government sectors, I have learned what
works and what doesn’t. I have developed partnerships - from a local
two-person art program, a three county children’s magazine, regional
campaigns for Fortune 500 corporations to cause marketing for an in-
ternational sports organization, and all sizes and variations in between.
I have experienced people in all types of organizations working together.
And through it, all I have developed a step-by-step, proven process to
planning and implementing successful cross-sector partnerships.
Beginning with my first job at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, the
world’s largest pure amusement park, where I developed a relationship
with the state-sponsored Ohio Travel Council, I discovered the many
benefits of bringing different sectors together in a mutually rewarding
relationship. A few years later, I was hired by Marriott Corporation as
Public Affairs Manager and given the task (at age 25) to design the open-
ing promotion of its largest project in history: the family entertainment
center Marriott’s Great America in Santa Clara, California. It was here
where I conceived and directed my first comprehensive cross-sector part-
nership campaign with the March of Dimes. Through the challenges,
opportunities and understanding gained through this relationship, the
main theme of my career was set: cross-sector partnerships provide more
benefit to all the partners than each could have ever accomplished alone.

From those early experiences and beyond, in my work as Public

Relations Director of the United States Olympic Committee, to the
founding of The William Bentley Agency, an integrated public rela-
tions/marketing agency, to the honor of serving as director of market-

1
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

ing & communications for the American Red Cross (San Francisco)
Bay Area chapter, to my current role as Founder/CEO of Bruce W.
Burtch, Inc., a cross-sector partnership consulting and training firm,
each role and relationship along this path have created a foundation
of knowledge that I wanted to share.

I wrote this guidebook because I have seen thousands of organiza-

tions from all sectors struggling through the recent economic times. I
have seen and still see a lot of pain and a need for help and real answers.
Yet I know from experience that there is an extraordinary amount of
opportunity lying in wait for the right combination of partners, on
any issue, in any sector, in any small town or metropolitan city, in any
corner of the world. Cross-sector partnerships can be extraordinarily
successful when these partners join together for their individual and
mutual success, while focusing on creating benefit for the greater good.

What I hadn’t found was a comprehensive course or “how to” guide-

book on the development of cross-sector partnerships. And while the
principles and practices presented in this book will benefit any size
organization from any sector, my primary focus is small to midsize
organizations - roughly speaking, those with between 10 and 500 em-
ployees. This is a vast market with approximately 2,000,000 nonprof-
it and for-profit organizations in the United States alone falling within
this employment range. This does not include the tens of thousands of
educational institutions, school districts and governmental agencies.
It is with these “smaller” organizations where I have found cross-sec-
tor partnerships to be the least utilized and consequently, where I feel
there is enormous opportunity to stimulate their economic and social
benefit success, and thus improve the overall economy and well-being
of our country and many others.

2
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

Two other activities also fueled my desire to better understand and

share the information I had learned. First, as National Writer on cross-
sector partnerships and cause marketing for Examiner.com, an online
news service which reaches 242 markets across the United States and
Canada, I have had the opportunity to interview many executives from
the nonprofit, for-profit, education and government sectors. Many
of these interviews were published in my on-going series, Profiles in
Partnership. And secondly, my company undertakes an annual survey,
The Burtch Report, which provides a detailed analysis of cross-sector
partnerships involving small to midsize nonprofit and for-profit or-
ganizations. These two activities have provided exceptional access to
thought leaders and an understanding of the opportunities and chal-
lenges facing smaller organizations.

Win-Win for the Greater Good is a guidebook, not an overview, not

a nice collection of stories. My goal is to take over three decades of
experience in developing partnerships between all sectors and provide
you with the blueprint, the materials and the tools that will guide you
in developing highly successful, highly profitable cross-sector partner-
ships. Here you will find information from the very basic to more chal-
lenging concepts. Each reader comes to this guidebook with different
experiences and different levels of expertise.

In 1978, I was asked by the president of a large foundation what

I wanted to do with my life, and almost without thinking I said, “I
want to do well by doing good”. He leaned back in his chair, laughed
heartedly and replied, “I’ve never seen anybody do that before.” That
very phrase to “do well by doing good” has been my personal mantra
and foundation of my work from that minute forward. From the bot-
tom of my heart I believe that doing good is the necessary prerequisite
for doing well. Doing good benefits everything you do and everything
you are. Doing good and doing well can best be accomplished through
win-win partnerships.

And that’s why I wrote this book.

Bruce W. Burtch

3
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

Soccer Balls

All we wanted were 10 soccer balls.

It was 1979 and I was a volunteer with the San Francisco Special
Olympics. One of our athletes was Joey and Joey had down-syndrome.
He was about as round and he was tall, and he was always running,
always smiling, always coming up to me saying, “Coach, what are we
doing next?” Very special people like Joey are why I wanted to be part
of Special Olympics. And Joey wanted to play soccer. But we didn’t have
a soccer program. We realized that soccer would be one of the easiest
sports that could reach almost all of our athletes, and at very little cost.
We had free use of sports fields, all of our athletes had some form of a
running or tennis shoe and we had volunteers with some background
in soccer. All we needed were the soccer balls – about ten dollars each.

Like any nonprofit, we didn’t want to pay for anything we could

otherwise get donated, so we connected with a friend who worked
in the Community Relations Department at San Francisco-based Levi
Strauss & Co. We asked her if Levi’s would donate $100 to buy 10
soccer balls for our new program.

Levi’s agreed and the first Special Olympics soccer program in north-
ern California was born. And Joey was ecstatic.

We soon realized, however, that we didn’t have enough volunteers

to handle the number of athletes now interested in playing soccer. We
then went back to Levi’s and asked if they might have some volunteers
to help us.

They did and our soccer program grew even more.

4
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

Levi’s Employee Relations Department took notice of this enthusi-

asm from their employees and wrote an article in the company newslet-
ter. That brought not only greater recognition to our program but even
more volunteers. Then a local newspaper did a story on this burgeoning
relationship between Levi’s and Special Olympics. In time, one of Levi’s
executives joined our Board of Directors. Levi was also becoming one
of the largest financial supporters of our Special Olympics program.

Meanwhile, apart from being a board member of San Francisco Spe-

cial Olympics, my day job was Director of Public Relations for the Unit-
ed States Olympic Committee. I was gearing up for the 1980 Olympic
Summer Games in Moscow. But the Cold War was getting hotter, Rus-
sia invaded Afghanistan, and because of that, President Jimmy Carter
announced that the United States was boycotting the Olympic Games.
From this huge disappointment came a surprise gift.

Fred Banks, then president of Levi’s Women’s Wear division, called

me up. He said, “Bruce as you certainly know, Levi’s was the official
team outfitter for the U.S. Olympic team and because we are not going
to the Olympic Games we have all of the official U.S. Olympic Team
uniforms and warm-ups. We cannot sell or use them in any commer-
cial manner, and they’re just sitting in a warehouse.” Then Fred said
the most amazing thing: “Would you be interested in Levi’s donating
these Olympic Team uniforms to Special Olympics?” After I picked
myself up off the floor, we discussed the logistics.

One of the most moving experiences imaginable is watching Special

Olympics athletes enter a stadium for their games. Every athlete is brim-
ming with pride and excitement. Now imagine that following summer
at stadiums across the country, Special Olympics athletes making their
entrance while wearing the official uniforms of the 1980 United States
Olympic team, emblazoned with a large USA across the back. To every-
one involved, it was a magical, emotional moment.

The relationship between the Special Olympics and Levi’s kept grow-
ing. It certainly helped the Special Olympics. But in terms of positive
media coverage, employee morale and much more, it also helped Levi’s.

5
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

And it all started with 10 soccer balls.

As we fast-forward, it is abundantly clear that we live in a chal-

lenging time. In 2011 the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported that the
nation’s largest charities saw a decline of 11% in donations, greater
than any in the past 20 years. And while some indications show that
nonprofit funding is turning around, according to “Giving USA,”
charitable giving grew less than one percent in 2012. Thousands of
smaller nonprofit organizations are at high risk of closing down. This
sad situation comes at a time when there is increasing demand for the
social services these organizations provide.

The social support system is in trouble and those people it supports

have nowhere to turn. Anne Wilson, CEO of the United Way of the
San Francisco Bay Area, warned “the recession has severely compro-
mised our community’s safety net.” As a moral public, we cannot let
this safety net fail.

However, individual, corporate and foundation funders impacted by

the decline of their income, sales or investment portfolios cannot, in
many cases, maintain their past support levels when there is so much
need. Tough decisions must be made - who to support and at what
level. The desire to help must be tempered by financial reality.

The situation is serious and for many, this is entirely new territory.
The time has passed for believing we can operate as we always have
under “normal” circumstances because “normal” doesn’t exist any-
more. The answers do not come from staying the course. The answers
come in the realization that to weather this storm, the nonprofit, for-
profit, education and government sectors must find new approaches,
proven techniques and new economic streams that will work, even in
these challenging times.

The organizations that will lead the new normal are the ones that
realize they need not and should not take on these challenges alone. As
in the soccer ball story, there are astonishing opportunities for orga-
nizations that collaborate, indeed partner, with organizations in other
sectors. These organizations will lead their industry and their commu-

6
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

nity in doing good. These are the organizations and people who will
attract the most publicity, drive new sales or donations, increase their
brand recognition and create the greatest goodwill.

The management of these more enlightened organizations are not

afraid to share and not afraid to partner with other sectors. They’re
not the ones who work in silos, treasuring their own personal power
rather than the much greater power of the collective body. They will
stand firm against those afraid of this new collaborative thinking. The
irony is that the leaders and organizations who want to stay the course
may lose market share and profitability, may demoralize employees and
all stakeholders by their myopic focus on their organization and their
bottom-line.

This is not a time for business as usual. Now is the time to take full
advantage of multi-benefit cross-sector partnerships focused on the
greater good. This is the new normal and it’s win-win.

7
 PART I GOOD TO GREAT TO GLOWING

PART I
GOOD TO GREAT TO GLOWING

In Jim Collins’ book, Good to Great, he described a “great” company

as one company whose financial performance achieved several mul-
tiples better than the stock market average over a sustained period. He
also attributed the main factor for achieving this greatness as having
a company focus its resources on its particular field of competence.
Much has changed since this was published in 2001, especially the fast
rising tide of consumer concern, and in some cases, demand for the
business community to be more focused on sustainability, being good
citizens, and giving back to their communities.

In Good to Great, Collins identifies 11 companies (Gillette, Kroger,

Walgreens, Wells Fargo, Phillip Morris and others) he felt had made
this transition from good to great. The standard he used was that these
companies had either met or underperformed the stock market for a
15 year period and then transitioned to providing returns of at least
three times that of the stock market over the subsequent period.

In Firms of Endearment published in 2007, authors Raj Sisodia, Jag

Sheth and David B. Wolfe, challenged the more traditional capitalistic
understanding as to what is seen as being a successful business. Their
book promotes the need for a “new capitalism of caring” with its

8
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

focus that all stakeholders must be equally valued. This approach mir-
rored my own beliefs and experience that there was a much better way
for corporations to benefit everyone involved with their organization,
both internally and externally, and not just their shareholders.

The authors of Firms of Endearment took a very different path in

their analysis. Their research sought out companies that strived to “en-
dear” themselves to all their stakeholder groups—customers, employ-
ees, partners, communities, and shareholders. They looked for compa-
nies that aligned the interests of all stakeholders in such a way that no
stakeholder group gains at the expense of other stakeholder groups.

The companies they selected included Amazon, BMW, The Con-

tainer Store, eBay, Google, Patagonia, Southwest Airlines, Starbucks,
Whole Foods and others.

When the authors of Firms of Endearment completed their analysis

of just the one category of stock market performance and the return
to investors during the period of 1996 to 2006 (the primary focus of
Good to Great, they found that:

1) Over a 10-year horizon, Firms of Endearment companies out

performed the Good to Great companies by 1026% to 331%
(a 3.1 to 1 ratio).

2) Over five years, Firms of Endearment companies outperformed

Good to Great companies by 128% to 77% (a 1.7 to 1 ratio).

3) Over three years, Firms of Endearment companies performed

on par with Good to Great companies 73% to 75%.

By focusing on the benefits to all stakeholders, the Firms of En-

dearment companies met, or in the five and 10 year periods, greatly
outperformed companies that focused primarily on stock performance
and return to investors. This message cannot be emphasized enough.
The authors summed up this comparison by saying that they had a
“seismic disagreement” with Good to Great when it comes to defining
what is “great.” They concluded, “To us, a great company is one that
makes the world a better place because it exists, not simply a company

9
 PART I GOOD TO GREAT TO GLOWING

that outperforms the market by a certain percentage over a certain

period of time.”

Glowing Your Business

No matter what kind of work you do, you are in business. Whether
you are a sole consultant, run a small hardware store, or are the CEO
of a Fortune 500 corporation, you are in business. You may be Execu-
tive Director or run fund development for a nonprofit organization,
teach in your local elementary school or work in an agency of state
government, whatever the case, you are in business. A business can
be defined as an occupation, profession, calling, vocation or employ-
ment. In other words, if you are in any sector of for-profit, nonprofit,
education or government, you are in business. So the vast majority of
what you find in this book will relate to your work in any sector.

However, when I talk about this desired transformation of “glowing

your business,” I’m referring to the for-profit sector. The basic prem-
ise of this book is that a for-profit organization can only glow when
it has joined hand-in-hand in partnership with one or more from the
nonprofit, education or government sectors to create a greater good.

This brings us to what I feel is the next step in the evolution, and
potentially revolution, of business: going from a good company to a
great company to a glowing company. You become a glowing com-
pany when you have purposefully embedded a “cause consciousness”
into the very fabric of your organizational culture. By cause conscious-

10
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

ness I mean your organization meaningfully and systemically:

• Commits to being a pro-active, socially-focused, caring company

• Creates partnerships with other sectors and aids their mission

in service to people or environmental issues in need

• Makes all business decisions based on doing good, not just on

making money

• Engages all your stakeholders, internally and externally, in this

cause consciousness culture

• Commits to a future where your organization’s success is in

direct relationship to the benefit you provide for others

When you do this, when you and all involved with your organization
practice this cultural shift, people will take notice. Cause consciousness
will affect your employees, and they will like working for your com-
pany. They will talk to others about the good things your company is
doing and how they themselves are participating in these good efforts.
And this will raise their morale and their job satisfaction, and they
will stay longer with your company. Your customers and all business
relations will notice this change and this will increase your sales, your
brand recognition and your customer loyalty. You will start to favor-
ably stand out against your competition. The media will be attracted
to your company and provide press coverage on what you are doing to
benefit your community. Your community will start talking about your
organization, your people and your importance to the community. And
because of all this, your organization will begin to grow, you will start
to make more money… and you will begin to glow.

11
 PART I GOOD TO GREAT TO GLOWING

The Story of Glow

I grew up in northeastern Ohio where there are millions of fireflies.
These wonderful little creatures come out when it’s dark and usually
when it’s very warm. A firefly creates its own light, glowing from within.

In a similar way, people can also create that inner glow which can
become visible to others. For inside all of us there is light. We say smart
people are bright. Happy people have a sunny disposition. Don’t we
call the best among us stars? When someone falls in love or a woman
becomes pregnant, we say they have a glow about them…because they
do. It isn’t a visible light. It’s an energy that can be seen on their faces
and felt in our hearts. And we are drawn to it.

It’s no different with an organization. An organization is nothing

more than a group of people. And when they’re collectively focused
on a higher purpose, when they have embedded a cause consciousness,
when they’ve entered into meaningful collaboration with organiza-
tions in other sectors to create a greater good in society - that organi-
zation will glow. Everyone inside and all around such an organization
will be warmed and attracted by that glow.

I use our firefly “Glow” as a guide throughout this book. When you
see her, expect something glowingly important.

12
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

Glowing Companies
Throughout this book we will explore examples of cross-sector part-
nerships. I will always encourage you to find models to learn from
- their successes, their challenges and their mistakes. What does a
glowing company look like, what are those models? I’m sure you’ve
heard of the very good work of TOMS Shoes, The Container Store,
Build-A-Bear, Southwest Airlines, Life is Good and many more. These
organizations have embedded a cause consciousness deep into the very
DNA of their corporate culture. I am constantly on the lookout for
organizations that are glowing. And so it is such a thrill when I witness
the good works of Autodesk, Better World Books, Umpqua Bank, Bon
Appétit Management Company, and more that may not have received
the recognition they deserve but are glowing or on their way to being
glowing companies.

I have put case studies of several of these companies in the Resource

Center which I encourage you to read, and I suggest that you visit
their websites and read their annual reports, particularly the sections
on company philosophy, sustainability programs, community involve-
ment and employee volunteer participation.

One example of a Glowing company is the outdoor apparel and

equipment company Patagonia. Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia’s found-
er, began rock climbing at the age of 14, and when he began his com-
pany, it focused on selling rock climbing equipment. As he branched
out into clothing he did so with the philosophy of being in business
to make a meaningful social change. And his was the first company to
recycle fleece and the first company to use all organic cotton. Patago-
nia’s goal is to “use business to inspire and implement solutions to the
environmental crisis.”

Patagonia produces high-quality environmentally friendly garments

that command significant price premiums. Its environmental mission
motivates it not only to donate to environmental causes and reduce
the impact of its own production, but also to share its practices with

13
 PART I GOOD TO GREAT TO GLOWING

other companies. Patagonia is able to maintain a larger gross profit

margin than its competitors.

Patagonia has an Environmental Internship Program which provides

that after one year of service, Patagonia employees may volunteer up
to two months for an environmental non-profit of their choosing and
earn their regular salary. They also have a program where employees
may take Field Days to test their gear and get paid. And if these aren’t
cool enough, “Let My People Go Surfing” is Patagonia’s flextime pol-
icy. Basically, you cannot schedule your surf time, you need to surf
when the surf is good. So, Patagonia employees are trusted to get their
job done and use the flextime to take advantage of the outdoors. This
highly rare combination of service to the environment and enjoying
the environment go hand-in-hand, naturally.

Patagonia, like other companies that seem to glow, has made giv-
ing back to society an integral part of its overall business plan. This is
not just good corporate social responsibility - this is a sound business
strategy. When Patagonia and other socially conscious, forward-think-
ing companies provide such benefits, especially paid time off for par-
ticipating in doing good for society, they see the results come stream-
ing back in – in employee loyalty, dramatically decreased employee
turnover, increased productivity, better customer relationships, and a
better bottom-line.

So is it any surprise that Patagonia receives 15,000 resumes each

year for about 100 open positions? So they can pick the very best em-
ployees. It’s a wonderful cycle. Treat your employees well, they’ll stay
with you and you’ll attract the best.

Patagonia does very well while it is also focused on doing good.

Patagonia glows.

Another glowing company is Better World Books. CEO, Andy Perl-

mutter, offered this quote:

“Better World Books is about collaborative consumption – we enable

people to share their pre-loved books, rather than sending them to

14
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

landfills. In the process they can raise much needed funding for lit-
eracy and education in support of local communities – and that is the
essence of our business – doing well by doing good and supporting
institutions that are the pillars of healthy communities in our world.”

New Organizations Building

a Foundation for Glowing
What is most exciting is the rapidly growing movement of combin-
ing good business and doing good by those starting new businesses.
Across the globe, and certainly in the United States, the Millennial
generation and others are starting businesses based on the cause con-
sciousness philosophy. More and more, these startup organizations
are on the track to becoming glowing companies.

Another very exciting trend, especially among baby boomers, is

people retiring from their former business lives and starting nonprofit
organizations, or providing their expertise to support existing nonprof-
its. The wealth of talent in this trend is simply extraordinary. Cross-
sector partnerships should come naturally to those who are moving
from one sector to another.

Case studies of several of these soon-to-be glowing businesses can

be found in the Resource Center, but let me share one here.

I am working as an advisor to Clear Ear, a medical device startup

company that spun out of Stanford University’s Biodesign program
in 2011. The two founders, Lily Truong and Dr. Vandana Jain, are
all about wanting to do good for society, while they are developing a
profitable company. So they reached out to me to assist in the develop-
ment of their foundational social good philosophy, or what I call their
cause consciousness. They have an established policy where they will
donate their resources: 1% of people, 1% of product, and 1% of prof-
its. Obviously, as a startup, in the first couple of years these donations
won’t be large. However, this foundational philosophy will serve their
company, all involved and the greater good as they grow.

15
 PART I GOOD TO GREAT TO GLOWING

This policy may sound familiar to those of you that know Sales-
force.com. Salesforce was founded on the same policy of donating 1%
of their product, 1% of their revenue and 1% of their employees’ time.
And that policy has helped them become a leader in their field and
grow to over $3 billion in annual sales. I first heard about Salesforce.
com when they proactively came to us at the American Red Cross and
offered 50 free licenses on their cloud-based CRM platform. Today
they will give free software to any nonprofit that applies to the Sales-
force Foundation.

Whether you are just starting a company or are part of a long-estab-

lished organization, embedding a cause consciousness into your cul-
ture will provide multiple benefits, position your company for growth
and success, and create a greater good for society. When you become a
glowing company you take win-win to an entirely new level.

Now that you understand the ultimate goal - to become a glowing

organization -we will begin laying the foundation for your transition.
First we will review the basics of cross-sector partnerships and cause
marketing and then undertake a step-by-step guided journey in the
development of your own programs, projects or campaigns.

16
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

PART II
UNDERSTANDING
CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS
AND CAUSE MARKETING

Each sector of nonprofit, for-profit, education or government has attri-

butes, policies, missions and business practices which vary somewhat
to significantly from those of the other sectors. In the development of
cross-sector partnerships, this can be both a blessing and a challenge.
Experience shows, however, that the benefits of cross-sector partner-
ships far outweigh whatever obstacles or challenges may arise.
For the past three years, our firm has issued The Burtch Report, a
survey of primarily small to midsize nonprofit and for-profit organiza-
tions. Included in the survey is the question: “What misconceptions
do you feel the for-profit community has about the nonprofit com-
munity?” And of the for-profit organizations, “What misconceptions
do you feel the nonprofit community has about the for-profit commu-
nity?” The results over the past three years show that in far too many
cases nonprofits and for-profits don’t understand each other’s business
models or philosophies, or how to work with each other effectively.

Challenges aside, these responses also speak the truth and thus pro-
vide pathways for better understanding and for the successful develop-
ment of partnerships.

Here is a small sampling from The Burtch Report:

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 PART II UNDERSTANDING CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS AND CAUSE MARKETING

What Nonprofits Say About For-Profits

The biggest challenge is helping the for-profit understand the value of
non-profits and how they can think outside the box to create a true
partnership.
• For-profits have difficulty in understanding the full cost assoc-
iated with delivery of nonprofit’s obligation in partnerships.

• Making contact (and a connection) with the person(s) who has

the ability to determine whether or not to support our organi-
zation in one form or another is often very challenging.

• Unrealistic expectations of results: their ROI (return on invest-

ment) expectations are too high.

• Short-changing necessary operating costs, such as insisting all

funds go to program/ direct service, leaving no money for
execution

• All they want to do is use my logo and reputation to sell more

products.

• I don’t trust that they really believe in our cause.

• We need their money, but we could lose our reputation.

• They’re really not interested in helping us develop our services

or grow our volunteer base.

• Different understandings of the value of our work; For-profits

are trying to fit our work into their marketing objectives instead
of looking at the partnership as equal parts nonprofit mission
and for-profit marketing.

What For-Profits Say About Nonprofits

• They think their logo is worth far more than it really is in the
marketplace.

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 Win-Win for the Greater Good

• They move far too slowly to match our business style and ag-
gressive marketing plans.

• Everything has to be decided by a committee. Where is the

leadership there?

• They put up so many obstacles, especially saying that doing

such and such could harm their reputation.

• Wouldn’t it be easier to do something on our own than to com-

plicate things by working with a nonprofit organization?

• Let’s face it - the smartest people don’t go work for nonprofits…

there’s no money in it.

• They just don’t know how to run a business.

• They have a different culture and value sets.

• They lack clarity as to most important outcomes they are com-

mitted to achieving.

• Lack of resources, lack of innovation, minimal accountability

These quotes speak volumes about how far apart the relationship
can be at the start. Yet these challenges can be overcome because your
common goals and opportunities are great. It simply boils down to
beginning with an open mind, developing clear communication and
above all, being totally honest about your organization’s objectives,
needs and limitations

Karen Baker, California Secretary of Service and Volunteering, said

“Some of the nuances in the private and nonprofit sector can make
(partnerships) challenging. For example, it is tough for nonprofits to
understand the private sector – their interests, their challenges, and their
language. The same is true of the private sector fully understanding the
nonprofit world. In order to have mutually beneficial partnerships, it is
critical to have an honest understanding of what each party is seeking
out of the relationship. Open dialogue and communication at the onset
of a partnership is so critical, and often times, that is what is missing.”

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 PART II UNDERSTANDING CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS AND CAUSE MARKETING

While there may be some operational and philosophical differences

between the sectors, be especially careful not to assume the individuals
within a certain sector operate or think alike. Like you and me, every-
one is different. Your predisposition as to how a particular sector op-
erates could become a major obstacle in any constructive cross-sector
communication or partnership.

In Getting to Yes, Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, Roger

Fisher and William Ury emphasize that while it is important to “pay
attention to differences of belief and custom, avoid stereotyping indi-
viduals. Different groups and places have different customs and beliefs.
Know and respect them but be aware about making assumptions about
individuals.” Such assumptions based on their group characteristics are
“insulting, as well as risky. It denies that person his or her individuality.”

In developing cross-sector partnerships, you are not really working

with different sectors as much as working with individual people from
these sectors. That is where the focus of open and honest communication
must lie. All sectors - nonprofit, for-profit, education and government
- have different cultures, different business practices, different histories
and different approaches. These differences are what make cross-sector
partnerships so exciting and so successful. Just don’t shoot yourself in
the foot by presuming that you understand the other sectors, because
until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes…you really don’t. Let’s ex-
plore a cross-sector partnership that was extremely successful, though it
had significant challenges of misunderstanding and miscommunications
to overcome, some of which were never completely resolved.

Against All Odds:

Tenderloin After-School Program
Leadership San Francisco is a year-long program sponsored by the San
Francisco Chamber of Commerce that promotes civic engagement,
made up of participants from the nonprofit, for-profit, education and
government sectors. Our forty-member class spent a day experienc-
ing the crime-ridden San Francisco district known as The Tenderloin.

20
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

Besides the proliferation of adult

bookstores, strip clubs, bars and
a significant amount of homeless
people milling around the filthy
streets, what struck us was the
number of young children we saw
using these streets, sidewalks and
storefronts as their playground.
Motivated to do something, a
couple members of our class met
with San Francisco School Super-
intendent Ramon Cortines. He
advised that “the most pressing
need for these inner-city children
was a safe, quiet, creative place Photo courtesy of Nita Winter

to go after school.” We then ap-

proached Brother Kelly Cullen, Executive Director of the Tenderloin
Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC), a non-profit pro-
vider of low income housing, which owned a building on Eddy Street,
dead center in The Tenderloin. Leasing a portion of the first floor of
this building was Connie’s Bar, a seedy, prostitute-laden establishment
with the sign posted prominently on the front door “No one under 21
allowed.”

I proposed to our class that we take over Connie’s Bar and turn it
into a free educational, recreational and cultural center for the chil-
dren of The Tenderloin. It was an idea so large and so ripe with chal-
lenge that it took nearly 5 meetings for our class to agree that we just
had to do this. As the loudest proponent of this outrageous idea, I was
chosen to spearhead the endeavor.

First we formed a partnership between Leadership San Francisco

and TNDC. Seeking a prominent leader of the San Francisco business
community, we enticed Holger Gantz, general manager of the Hilton
Hotel and Towers, which bordered upon The Tenderloin to join our
partnership. Holger enthusiastically led the fundraising drive which

21
 PART II UNDERSTANDING CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS AND CAUSE MARKETING

attracted Pacific Telesis, Koret Foundation, Gap, Bank of America,

Wells Fargo Bank, PG&E and many others. Additional members of
the hospitality and construction industries and members of the general
community rushed to join the effort. Together we did what no one
thought was possible - in one year we raised over $200,000, secured
the lease on Connie’s Bar, completely renovated the space, built a small
children’s library, computer room, director’s office and play room. On
July 13, 1993 the Tenderloin After-School Program opened.

Along the way, an astonishing level of media coverage and diverse

public support was received - all on a volunteer basis. An editorial in
the San Francisco Examiner summed it up nicely: “In the real world…
progress, if any, is measured inch by inch through gauntlets of frustra-
tion, bureaucracy, broken promises and, of course, lack of money. So
let’s congratulate the enthusiastic people of Leadership San Francisco
’92…and all who made this dream come true.”

President Bill Clinton, Senator Dianne Feinstein, San Francisco

Mayor Frank Jordan and many others wrote letters of commenda-
tion. President Clinton wrote, “These kinds of bold initiatives require
a partnership between business community resources and local non-
profit experience.”

And today, rather than using peep show signs as their jungle gym,
the children of The Tenderloin have a clean, safe place to go after
school. That’s the very great news.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for this project was bringing together
a highly diverse partnership team. The Tenderloin Neighborhood De-
velopment Corporation owned the building that housed Connie’s Bar
but was unable to provide further financial support. The Leadership
San Francisco class of 1992 was a small volunteer group of young men
and women who could work hard but who also lacked the financial
wherewithal to undertake such a costly project. The low-income com-
munity surrounding the proposed after-school program strongly fa-
vored the opportunity to provide a safe, off-the-streets place for their
children, but could not financially support the project.

22
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

Most surprising was

the resistance from one
of the Tenderloin Neigh-
borhood Development
Corporation’s own pro-
gram managers, whose
programs would most
directly benefit from
the new after-school
program. This program Photo courtesy of Tenderloin After-School Program
manager created an an-
tagonistic relationship with the Leadership San Francisco volunteers
and made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that we were coming in from
the “outside” to push our way into her area of responsibility. Whether
this reaction was due to cultural differences, turf resistance or other
misunderstanding factors, her defiance flew in the face of everything
this project stood for - helping the children. Obviously, the after-school
program could not have been accomplished without the significant
“outside” help we brought to bear.

I have never fully comprehended this defiance and I use it as a teach-

ing moment for myself in the development of cross-sector partnerships.
Striving to understand personal agendas and misconceptions, especially
those that can potentially sabotage a project focused on doing good, is
a valuable exercise in your partnership development process.

Sadly, for nearly 20 years, nowhere in the promotional literature or

website of the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation,
which houses and manages the after-school program, was there any
mention of this unique partnership, or all of the community businesses,
organizations and volunteers who worked so hard to create and fund
the program. And no acknowledgment was given to the Leadership San
Francisco team that inspired and drove its existence. Indeed, their web-
site stated: “The Tenderloin After-School Program (TASP) was started
with the help of parents in one of TNDC’s buildings.” That’s it, and it
was simply not the truth. TNDC took all the donated help and in spite
of the mountain of evidence to the contrary, took all the credit, too.

23
 PART II UNDERSTANDING CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS AND CAUSE MARKETING

Note: As I was editing the final version of this book, I received an

invitation from the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corpora-
tion to attend the 20th Anniversary celebration of the opening of the
Tenderloin After-School program. I had mixed reactions to this invi-
tation. On the one hand, I was so proud of our class and all the oth-
er community partners involved for our accomplishment which has
served thousands of vulnerable inner-city children during the past 20
years. But on the other hand, I was still upset about the untruth that
had been told for so long. I decided to try one more time and wrote the
Executive Director of TNDC asking him to give credit to our Leader-
ship Class of 1992 and the many other people and organizations who
had contributed so much. I accompanied this request with the quotes
from President Bill Clinton, Senator Dianne Feinstein and other no-
tables praising “the partnership.” To my very pleasant surprise, he
responded favorably and by the event on May 17, 2013, the TNDC
website gave the long overdue credit, as did the Executive Director
from the podium at the celebration event.

The challenges of the Tenderloin After-School Program point out

that there are often distinct differences between the business practic-
es, philosophy and personalities of each person and each sector. In-
deed, organizations and individuals coming together will have per-
sonal agendas that they bring to the partnership. As we just saw, these
personal agendas can sometimes be quite negative, however, in most
cases, addressing and respecting individual agendas and objectives can
be quite positive for the partnership.

Welcoming Individual Agendas

In almost every case, each partner will have specific reasons and busi-
ness objectives for why he/she wants to explore a partnership. These
individual “agenda items” are important. For example, for-profit or-
ganizations are usually looking to increase the sales of their products
or services or expand their community goodwill. They may want an
opportunity for their employees to engage as volunteers on commu-
nity projects which will expand their knowledge, skills and job satis-

24
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

faction. Nonprofit organizations are usually seeking funding, spon-

sorship of their events, volunteers, in-kind donations of equipment,
technical expertise or other needs.
In many cases, these initial agenda items are just the proverbial tip
of the iceberg. When you drill into the many benefits, opportunities
or linkages that can be developed, between the different sectors in a
partnership, the list will become extensive.

You should openly share all your important agenda items with your
potential partners. In fact, I strongly encourage you to put all your
cards face up on the table and discuss freely what you are seeking from
the potential partner relationship. And I recommend that you do so
at your very first meeting. When your potential partner understands
your specific marketing and organizational objectives, they are in a
much better position to work with you to meet them. And when they
share their specific marketing and organizational objectives, you will
be far more open and motivated to help meet their objectives. This
open approach to partnership is the beginning of a trusting relation-
ship, and as with any relationship, successful cross-sector partnerships
begin and end with trust.

Laura Pincus Hartman is Director, External Partnerships for Zynga,

the hugely successful online game company. When asked how she is
able to get nonprofit and for-profit organizations to stop hiding their
agendas and start working collaboratively together, she commented: “I
think the purpose is not to get them to shed their agendas, but it certain-
ly is to encourage them to shed misconceptions and to break through
existing mental models and preconceived notions. However, in fact, you
want every partner to bring with them their agendas, their vested inter-
ests, because it’s those interests that are going to serve to motivate them.
So, you’re not asking for-profits to leave profit interests at the door, or
leave all of your interests at the door, because it’s that profit motive that
motivates, that encourages, and that’s going to influence them to make
the best possible decisions. You want each stakeholder to do what it
does best and then we also need, of course, our nonprofit partners. You
want those nonprofit partners to do what they do best.”

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 PART II UNDERSTANDING CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS AND CAUSE MARKETING

By presenting all of your agenda items in a partnership you’re not

being selfish or trying to overreach in your expectations. You are sim-
ply asking the question: What if? And it’s a very important question
to ask. If we develop a strong, trusting, lasting relationship, could we
potentially receive all or most of our organization’s objectives? And
what could we potentially give back to our partner? Motivating and
helping each other meet or preferably exceed individual objectives and
thus create the much desired win-win approach - is the primary goal of
cross-sector partnerships, along with creating a greater good through
your partnership.

Turning the Tables:

Presenting a Business Value Proposition
The usual nonprofit/for-profit scenario is that the for-profit organiza-
tion is providing funding in a more philanthropic manner, while the
nonprofit is seeking funding to meet the needs of its organization’s
mission and services to the community. Business value is rarely part
of the equation. Yet providing a mutually beneficial business value is
what creates a strong attractiveness to work together and subsequent-
ly, a much more lasting bond between the organizations.
Think about the typical situation. A nonprofit organization has a
particular need or program it wishes to develop that requires exter-
nal funding. They write up a carefully prepared description of this
need, how many people it will impact and how this need or program
will further their community mission. They certainly will estimate the
amount of money that seems reasonable to request from a corporate
funder. This amount may be based on the for-profit’s past giving his-
tory to this organization, or what the for-profit has given to other non-
profits before. The nonprofit is very careful not to ask for too much,
yet they want to ask for enough to impact their need.

The nonprofit also realizes that the corporate funder or local busi-
ness is probably being approached by many other nonprofit organiza-
tions seeking funding. So they want their presentation to have dra-

26
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

matic impact, a strong case for funding. That is usually the nonprofit’s
primary focus - a strong argument for the needs of their cause.

Now let’s turn the tables and look at this situation from the for-prof-
it organization’s point of view. Imagine you are a for-profit executive
who has been listening to or reading proposals like these typical non-
profit pitches, over and over again. And in walks a nonprofit execu-
tive with a well thought out, business value proposition which clearly
shows that by working with their nonprofit your for-profit business
will receive multiple benefits - benefits such as increased sales of your
products or services, ways to increase the morale of your employees,
opportunities that will raise your brand awareness, and a long list of
other benefits. Now that is a very different approach. Which would
be most effective?

What I mean by business value proposition is that each side address-

es the marketing and business objectives of the potential partner. They
have done their homework, read the other organization’s promotional
materials and annual report, conducted an Internet search for press cov-
erage and other information about their potential partner, maybe even
talked to a friend who works or volunteers at that organization, and so
they have a good understanding of the business priorities of this poten-
tial partner. With this understanding, they put together a presentation
which shows that by working with their organization (for-profit, non-
profit, education or government), multiple benefits towards the other’s
business or mission objectives can be achieved through a partnership.

This is the business value proposition approach, and it is by far the

most successful way to create a lasting cross-sector partnership and
bring multiple benefits to all partners. By understanding this business
value mindset you have a huge advantage over your competition, no
matter which sector or side of the partnership equation you come from.

A case in point: Two friends of mine, Sheila Jones and Kathy Egg-
ert, are Northern California artists who founded a program called Art
from the Heart. They bring local artists, musicians, dancers and other
creative artists into schools where, unfortunately, there are little to no

27
 PART II UNDERSTANDING CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS AND CAUSE MARKETING

creatively expressive
opportunities. I have a
particular empathy for
one of these challenged
schools, San Pedro El-
ementary School in San
Rafael, CA, as my step-
daughter was a second
grade teacher there.
Nearly 100% of San
Art from the Heart mural at San Pedro Elementary School
Pedro students are His-
panic children, almost all of whom are bused to the school. For most of
these children, English is their second language, and a large percentage
of their parents speak no English at all. Because the school receives no
budget for the arts and the children’s parents are, for the most part,
unable to provide financial support, San Pedro was void of artistic pro-
grams, other than a play put on each year by the teachers and one violin
program that reaches about six children. This school met all the criteria
for an Art from the Heart program, but had no available funding.

Sheila, Kathy and I were talking one day about corporate funding and
I asked what their budget was for the year. They said it was a little over
$9,000 for supplies and the small stipend they give to their guest artists.
I asked them if they had ever thought about going to Autodesk, which is
headquartered in San Rafael, almost right down the road, and forming
a partnership with them. Autodesk is a multi-billion dollar, multina-
tional computer design company full of artists and designers and other
highly creative people. They said they couldn’t imagine that a company
as big as Autodesk would be interested in their very small program.

I was able to set up a meeting between Sheila and Kathy and the Au-
todesk Grants Committee (SF Bay Area). After making a few introduc-
tory remarks, I sat back and let Sheila and Kathy run the show. They
began by saying how at first they hesitated to contact Autodesk. But
after reading their community relations guidelines and other informa-
tion that was publicly available, they felt that they could bring them

28
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

an opportunity that would be of significant benefit for Autodesk.

They explained how Autodesk employees could get involved with

Art from the Heart, how fun and valuable it would be to the employ-
ees and how this program would provide highly favorable publicity
and goodwill all over the community because of Autodesk employees
working with these low income children in these challenging schools.

During the meeting they poured out their hearts about the needs of
these children, and how artistic expression was so important for chil-
dren’s personal growth and educational success. They showed pictures
of the children making murals, gluing seashells around picture frames
and other art projects. Their presentation was heartfelt and convincing.

The five members of the Autodesk Grants Committee were totally

engaged. As a matter of fact, one member was a cellist in the Golden
Gate Orchestra, two were graphic designers, and one was a puppeteer.
Every one of them wanted to volunteer with Art from the Heart. The
meeting ended with hugs and hearty handshakes.

A few weeks later, Art from the Heart received a $5,000 donation
- over half of its annual budget. Most surprisingly, this $5,000 was
up to ten times the amount Autodesk normally gives to a first-time
grantee. Autodesk would even pay for the time spent by their volun-
teers working on the program. Their generous donation would not
only bring artistic programs to San Pedro Elementary School, but also
help to expand their programs to other schools within the San Rafael
School District which met the same criteria.

Kathy and Sheila had presented Autodesk with an opportunity to

get involved with children at risk, in their schools, in a very creative
and meaningful way.

The key lesson from the Autodesk/Art from the Heart relationship
is that while they were immensely different in size and organizational
focus, they had the advantage of providing a business value proposi-
tion to each other. In the case of Autodesk, they were able to provide
funding, volunteers, and lend significant credibility to a small orga-

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 PART II UNDERSTANDING CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS AND CAUSE MARKETING

nization through this relationship. Undoubtedly, Art from the Heart

will emphasize their relationship with Autodesk in future funding and
partnership requests, which should increase their attractiveness to
other for-profit organizations. Art from the Heart provided a business
value proposition to Autodesk in the form of employee engagement,
good community relations and helping to address Autodesk’s Corpo-
rate Social Responsibility objectives.

I have worked with well over 100 nonprofits and rarely have I seen
nonprofits utilize this business value proposition approach. Yet this is
exactly how for-profit businesses operate internally. A corporate mar-
keting or sales proposal will not see the light of day unless it provides a
solid business value proposition for increasing their business. In other
words: If it doesn’t make dollars, it doesn’t make sense.

So it cuts both ways. If you don’t take the effort to understand the
needs and business objectives of your potential partner, how can you
possibly expect them to want to support and engage in the needs and
business objectives of your organization? Of course the good news
is, when you present a solid business value proposition and carefully
listen to theirs, you have the foundation for a truly successful cross-
sector partnership.

Creating Multiple Links

Between Organizations
While funding was certainly an important aspect of the Art from the
Heart and Autodesk partnership, what convinced these two organiza-
tions to work together was how each would bring multiple benefits
to the other. For example, when the employees of Autodesk volunteer
their creative talents to work in schools as part of the Art from the
Heart programming, a bond or linkage is formed between the non-
profit organization, the sponsoring for-profit, and the students in the
classrooms. Over time these linkages become very strong as the par-
ticipants engage intellectually, physically and emotionally with the stu-
dents, schools and each other. And these linkages will begin to expand,

30
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

from the initial links of funding and then personal involvement, to the
press coverage this effort may draw, the employee satisfaction that will
be generated, the potential of putting an Autodesk employee on the
Board of Directors of Art from the Heart, the community recognition
and goodwill that will be stimulated, and so forth. As the partners
enjoy these growing opportunities of working together and see the
benefits come pouring out, their relationship and organizations will be
linked strongly together on many levels.
Imagine two pieces of leather connected by one simple thread. You
hold one piece and your friend holds the other. Now imagine that you
both pull on the separate pieces of leather. The thread breaks very
easily. Now imagine the two pieces of leather are connected by three
threads. You pull again. You feel a brief bit of resistance from the three
threads, but still they break without much effort. Now imagine that
there are 10 threads connecting the two pieces of leather. Now pull,
pull hard. With quite a bit of effort you might be able to break a few
of the threads, but probably not all 10. In any case, the resistance was
strong, the bond of the 10 threads held firmly.

And so it is with cross-sector partnerships. When the relationship

consists of only one linkage between the organizations, let’s say the
for-profit organization buys tickets to a nonprofit’s annual fundraising
dinner, that link (or thread) can easily be broken. For example, no one
from the for-profit organization may actually go to the dinner but it
wanted to show their support for the nonprofit’s mission. There was
no bond, no real relationship. Now imagine that there are three links
between the for-profit and the nonprofit – the for-profit organization
bought the fundraising dinner tickets, had donated some used com-
puter equipment to the nonprofit and some of their employees spent
a Saturday painting the nonprofit’s dining room where they provide
free meals to the homeless. Now there is a pretty strong relationship
with these three linkages between the organizations. Each year when
the for-profit reviews their community relationships and contribution
strategy, they will look favorably upon this nonprofit organization
where they have developed three good links.

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Now imagine the two organizations have developed 5, 6 maybe

even up to 10 linkages. Now imagine trying to pull these two organi-
zations apart. It’s very difficult, indeed darn near impossible, to break
apart such a strong, binding relationship.

I use this example for two reasons. When multiple linkages are
developed between the for-profit and nonprofit organization, a very
strong bond and relationship is established over the years. This non-
profit organization is uppermost in the for-profit’s contribution strat-
egy. Their employees are volunteering time to serve that nonprofit and
their organization is receiving the benefit of higher morale and em-
ployment retention because of the satisfaction they receive from work-
ing in the community on their company’s behalf. Going down the list
of potential linkages, the individual partners realize that many if not
all of those involved in their organization have become engaged in this
relationship, and all are benefiting from it. So much good is coming
from this relationship, from these linkages and benefits.

The second reason I give this example is what happens in challeng-

ing economic times. When a down economy may cause a for-profit
company to struggle, they will look to areas where they can decrease
their expenses, and naturally, one of the areas they will analyze is
their corporate philanthropy and their nonprofit relationships. If their
management, community relations department or foundation decides
to reduce their annual contributions by say 10%, who will they cut
out of their nonprofit funding or partnership plan? Yes, the easiest to
come off the list are those organizations where they have the fewest
linkages. While these nonprofits may be doing good work in the com-
munity and the company likes supporting them, the bond between the
nonprofit organizations and the company is rather weak.

Now just try to recommend pulling funding and company support

away from the organization with whom the company has spent many
years developing a close and strong partnership relationship, and
where they have 5, 6, or maybe 10 linkages. One of the company’s
senior managers is probably sitting on the Board of Directors of that
nonprofit organization, and they certainly are going to object. The

32
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

company’s employees who feel great pride in their commitment and

volunteerism to that nonprofit will not want to see any change. The
media coverage that the company has received from the relationship
would stop and they don’t want to see that happen. There is a long list
of reasons why the for-profit will not want to sever ties with organiza-
tions where they have developed such strong linkages.

This is also a very clear message to nonprofit organizations. In dif-

ficult economic times, the companies that have the strongest linkages
and partnerships with a nonprofit will, to the extent that they can,
fight hard to continue to keep that partnership going. They have too
much to lose and will receive too much resistance from their employ-
ees and all those involved with their organization. In most cases, they
will look to lessen or possibly terminate their relationships/ funding
with other nonprofit organizations with whom they have fewer link-
ages and a weaker relationship. Don’t be on that list.

Nonprofit, for-profit, education or government sector - it doesn’t

matter. The more threads, the more benefits developed between the or-
ganizations through cross-sector partnerships, the stronger and more
lasting the relationship becomes, and the benefits to all partners and
their stakeholders continue to grow.

Multiple-Sector Partnerships
Some of the best cross-sector partnerships involve three, and some-
times all four, of the nonprofit, for-profit, education and government
sectors. While it may seem more complicated, in many cases the more
sectors you have involved in a partnership, the better. Each partner
brings a different perspective to the partnership, different business ob-
jectives, valuable intelligence, new assets, volunteers, and much more.
The biggest challenge is managing all of these people, assets and op-
portunities. It’s what I call an “abundance management problem,”
and it’s a very nice problem to have.

Fishing in the City

One of my favorite examples of a four-sector partnership is Fishing in

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 PART II UNDERSTANDING CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS AND CAUSE MARKETING

the City, begun by the California Department of Fish and Game. This
program has been in operation for many years, and it just keeps getting
better. Fishing in the City focuses on creating sustainable programs that
create repeatable experiences for children. It is not enough to take a kid
fishing, they must learn how to do it on their own and have access to
the equipment, materials, lakes, and fish near where they live or their
parents work. A typical community partnership includes schools, ser-
vice clubs, local park agencies, water districts, and businesses.
This program has three primary goals:

1) Teach kids and their families to fish

2) Improve fishing in urban areas (near home and work)

3) Help residents learn how individual actions affect the quality of

water in local streams, creeks, and bays

These goals are accomplished through the creation of local part-

nerships that offer community-based programs. Potential partners in-
clude any organization, agency, or business interested in fish, fishing,
kids, and/or clean water. Ethan Rotman who works for the California
Department of Fish and Game has coordinated the San Francisco Bay
Area program since 1995. The program is so successful, it is used as a
model by other states and has been adopted by Rotary International
for use across the country (They call it “Rotary Fish”).

The largest and most successful program is “South Bay Fishing in

the City” which serves youth and their families in the Santa Clara Val-
ley of California. The many partners in this program include:

1) County of Santa Clara

2) City of San Jose

3) Bay Area Sport Fishers

4) California Department of Fish and Game

5) Rotary International

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 Win-Win for the Greater Good

6) San Jose School District

7) Tackle Manufacturers and Retailers

8) US Fish and Wildlife

9) Boys and Girls Clubs

Working together, these organizations coordinate 15 learn-to-fish

events annually in the Santa Clara Valley. Each event brings in addition-
al local sponsors and partners. According to Rotman, “Part of the lon-
gevity of the program is the variety of partners. When one agency faces
cutbacks, another partner is able to step forward and fill the gap. Over
the years each partner has ebbed and flowed in and out with their ability
to participate, but the program has never been in danger of collapse.”

I particularly like this partnership because not only are all four sec-
tors involved (nonprofit, for-profit, education and government) but
like the Levi’s/Special Olympics soccer ball story earlier, there are many
linkages involved with Fishing in the City: volunteerism, education,
in-kind donations, in-school activities, adults working with children,
community involvement, corporate funding, media relationships and
more. The strength and power of this innovative cross-sector partner-
ship program is because of these multiple linkages.

This multi-sector, multi-linkage approach worked wonderfully in

a partnership to bring much-needed health and wellness services to a
very low income population in Oakland, California.

5th Annual Health and Wellness Fair

Ramsell Corporation provides services to agencies that serve under-
served populations. It also owns The Apothecary in Eastmont Town
Center, a shopping mall in the low-income and predominantly Afri-
can-American area of East Oakland.
“The Apothecary is a community pharmacy inside of Eastmont and
has been in business for almost 50 years,” stated Eric Flowers, CEO
of Ramsell. “We have held 4 Health Fairs in the past. This year we
wanted to attract a far larger audience to take advantage of all the free

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 PART II UNDERSTANDING CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS AND CAUSE MARKETING

health services, but to do so we needed to find partners.” They asked

for my help and I had the honor of co-directing a rather extraordinary
four-sector partnership for the 5th Annual Health and Wellness Fair.

Our first partner was the office of California State Assemblymember

Sandré R. Swanson, which had held a Health Fair in the past, but for
staff and budget limitations, had decided not to continue their event
for 2012. In reviewing our separate agendas, we realized that this was
an excellent match. Assemblymember Swanson was deeply committed
to bettering the lives of his low-income constituents. Ramsell and The
Apothecary wanted to provide a meaningful public service, especially
in their home community of the East Bay, and more particularly, for
the low income neighborhoods The Apothecary has been serving for
nearly 50 years.

The Alameda County Public Health Department had also held a

Health Fair in the past, and for similar reasons as the Assemblymem-
ber’s office, had decided to discontinue their event for 2012. This
government agency which provides multiple services to low income
and underinsured populations was eager to join forces. To complete
the lead partnership team, the Centers for Elders’ Independence came
on board. This nonprofit organization provides care for seniors age
55 and older with health problems that
make it impossible for them to stay at
home without the help of caregivers.
Joining together, these four partners set
out to do what none of them could have
accomplished on their own.

As the planning for the greatly ex-

panded Health Fair began to take shape,
we reached out to Oakland Mayor Jean
Quan and Nate Miley, President of
the Board of Supervisors for Alameda
County, to seek their personal and pro-
motional support, which we received.
Much needed and appreciated addi- Photo by Bruce Burtch

36
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

tional financial support came from Kaiser Permanente and One Pacific
Coast Bank. KTVU 2, the Fox TV affiliate for the San Francisco Bay
Area, KBLX radio and Bay Area News Group, the largest newspaper
group in the San Francisco Bay Area, joined in as the official media
sponsors.

Ultimately, 90 health and wellness educational and professional or-

ganizations were attracted to this Health Fair, and they provided free
services, such as dental, vision, blood pressure, HIV/AIDS testing, child
immunizations, senior health, smoking cessation, asthma, and much
more. At the end of the Health Fair, September 15, 2012, over 600 low
income East Bay residents had received multiple free services from this
amazing assembly of partners and health and wellness providers.

The fitting climax to this extraordi-

nary event was when a homeless wom-
an, Brende White, who had pushed a
shopping cart of all her belongings into
the Health Fair, won a custom-made
walker. She was delighted, the audience
cheered boisterously, and our partner-
ship team simply cried with happiness.

“This unique partnership is a perfect

example of what can happen when con-
cerned community-focused organiza-
tions see a common goal,” commented
Assemblymember Swanson later. “Com-
bining the abilities of these diverse for- Photo by Bruce Burtch
profit, nonprofit and governmental organizations means that far more
Oakland and East Bay residents will benefit from the services provided
at the Health Fair. This innovative partnership stands as a promising
model for others to follow.”

Angela Ball, Director, Public Health Nursing for the Alameda County
Public Health Department said, “Though the Health Fair was just one
day, it will have a lasting effect on underserved and underinsured resi-

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 PART II UNDERSTANDING CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS AND CAUSE MARKETING

dents, as it will link them

to services they need for a
better, healthier life.”

Yes, this was an ex-

traordinary gathering of
partners and providers,
but it all grew from the
simple idea that together
we can do more than each
Photo by Bruce Burtch
of us on our own. And we
all worked together with a shared mission and vision.

In the end, the overall cost of the Health Fair, including event man-
agement personnel, marketing and media materials, tables, chairs, sig-
nage, PA system, staging and security, was approximately $45,000.
These costs were shared among the many partners and sponsors. The
Bay Area media coverage value alone was probably five times this
amount. Serving over 600 low-income residents in need of such health
and wellness services, and the goodwill generated in the greater com-
munity for all partners and providers…priceless.

I can’t tell you how many times I have been told by organizations in
all sectors that they were challenged by finding good partnerships. My
response is always the same, good partners are all around you, you
just need to take the time to find them.

Win-Win: The Many Benefits

of Cross-Sector Partnerships
To best appreciate the successes of cross-sector partnerships, stories
are certainly helpful, but we also need to dig into the organizations
themselves to understand how they tick and how they can work better
with one or more partners.
From my experience, most people and the organizations they repre-
sent begin their exploration of a partnership with a fairly limited list

38
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

of partnership goals. Usually the “ask” is fairly simple and straight-

forward. The nonprofit might approach a for-profit organization for
a donation to a particular project or program, or to sponsor a table at
their annual fundraising gala. The for-profit organization may be seek-
ing to raise the morale of its employees by arranging a one-day event
where the employees would volunteer at a local homeless dining room
or shelter. The misconception here is that cross-sector partnerships are
not about philanthropy, cash donations, “one day and done” volun-
teer events, or sponsorships such as a breast cancer 3-day event or
pledge walk. By definition, a partnership is a relationship. Many times
there are contractual stipulations, but in nearly all cases, the partner-
ship is based on a relationship meant to be long-term, jointly beneficial
with many linkages.

In my workshops, participants are asked to write down all the ben-

efits they think a nonprofit organization can receive by working with
a for-profit organization in a partnership. Then we flip the exercise
around, and they write down all the benefits they think a for-profit
organization can receive by working in partnership with a nonprofit
organization. And what I have found is startling.

To the question of how many distinct benefits a nonprofit can re-

ceive from partnering with a for-profit organization, the answer is,
at least as of this writing: 31 distinct benefits. And to the question of
how many benefits a for-profit organization can receive in a partner-
ship with a nonprofit organization: 38 distinct benefits. That is one
heck of a lot of benefits for each partner to receive in a partnership.
However, what surprises my workshop attendees the most is the fact
that for-profit organizations can potentially receive more benefit than
can nonprofits. Most people think it would be the other way around.

These benefits are the real “secret sauce” of my work. There is an

extraordinary amount of benefit that can be achieved by all partners in
a well-designed, trusting, objectives- driven, cross-sector partnership.
This has been proven so often over the last 35 years that I can make
the following statement with absolutely no reservations:

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 PART II UNDERSTANDING CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS AND CAUSE MARKETING

An innovative public relations program, the most clever social me-

dia campaign, the funniest or most emotional advertisement, the deep-
est discount or the biggest sale, the largest benefit race or the most
successful fundraising gala - none of these can come even close to the
multiple benefits that come from a cross-sector partnership.

Rather than detail all 31 nonprofit benefits and the 38 for-profit

benefits here, I’m going to list the 10 most important ones, at least in
my opinion, from each category. The complete listing of all 69 benefits
can be found in the online Resource Center. By the way, you may be
able to add even more benefits for either list, and I ask you to email me
personally with your discoveries.

Benefits For-Profits Receive From Partnering

With a Nonprofit Organization
Top 10 Benefits (These are not in any particular order, other than in-
creasing sales, which is nearly always noted as number one.)
1) Increase sales of products or services

2) Increase employee engagement, job satisfaction and reduce

turnover

3) Increase customer and brand loyalty

4) Attract the best employees through community involvement

5) Increase community goodwill by having your leadership and

organization recognized for the good they create in society

6) Increase shareholder return

7) Reach new markets and new customer demographics

40
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

8) Increase employee skill development, teambuilding and leader-

ship skills

9) Draw media attention and coverage for free

10) Attract new business partners and relationships

Key For-Profit Benefits

While each of these 10 top benefits is very important, I’ve chosen sev-
en for closer examination:

Increase Sales of Products or Services

Cross-sector partnerships provide the rare opportunity of generating
goodwill and helping those in need while also stimulating sales of your
products and services.
In our earlier example of the Health and Wellness Fair, the prima-
ry objective of Ramsell Corporation as the lead partner was to be a
good community citizen. This event also provided strong recognition
and involvement of The Apothecary, the drugstore owned by Ramsell,
which is located in the shopping center where the event was held. Thus
the event’s promotion would also drive business, over time, to The
Apothecary.

Increase Employee Engagement, Job Satisfaction

and Reduce Turnover
Extensive research has shown that when employees are allowed to
engage in their community under the sponsorship of their employers,
the morale of the employees increases significantly. The 2010 Cone
Cause Evolution Study surveyed employees involved in their compa-
ny’s cause programs and found:
• 77% agreed with the statement: It’s important for my company
to provide employees with opportunities to become involved in
causes.

• 79% agreed with the statement: I feel a strong sense of loyalty to

my company.

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 PART II UNDERSTANDING CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS AND CAUSE MARKETING

• 57% agreed with the statement: My company’s commitment to

addressing social/environmental issues is one of the reasons I
chose to work there.

AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah won the National Award
of Excellence from Points of Light Foundation for their employee vol-
unteer programs. AAA provides up to 24 hours of paid time off for
volunteering for company-supported community outreach initiatives
through the AAA Volunteers program. Roger Hancock, Manager of
Community Affairs, said: “By volunteering, employees are learning
new skills, demonstrating and living AAA corporate values, improving
AAA’s reputation in the community, collaborating better with other di-
visions and departments, improving morale and deepening employee
engagement, and having fun.”

Richard Steckel and Robin Simons’ book Doing Best by Doing Good
published a study of 188 companies which found employee morale to
be three times higher in firms heavily involved in their communities.

When morale is high, so is employee retention and that has a direct

effect on the bottom-line of any organization. Employee turnover is
expensive. A study by Bliss & Associates Inc. stated:

“It should be noted that the costs of time and lost productivity are
no less important or real than the costs associated with paying cash to
vendors for services such as advertising or temporary staff. These are
all very real costs to the employer. These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employee’s annual compensation figure. The cost will
be significantly higher (200% to 250% of annual compensation) for
managerial and sales positions.”

It doesn’t take a math whiz to figure out that when employee mo-
rale is high, they tend not to leave their companies, which lessens the
organization’s turnover rate, which reduces the significant cost of such
turnover, and thus increases a company’s profitability. Nice equation!

Increase Customer and Brand Loyalty

It would seem that nearly every company that sells a product or ser-

42
 Win-Win for the Greater Good

vice offers consumers some sort of a customer loyalty reward pro-

gram - frequent flyer miles, credit card purchase rebates, buy 10 cups
of coffee and get your 11th free, the same deal at my local carwash,
upgrades to special concierge services at hotels and upscale specialty
retail stores, the list goes on and on. According to Colloquy research,
despite the recent recession, “U.S. consumer participation in rewards
programs is on the rise across all demographic segments…Consumers
are leaning on loyalty programs to stretch household budgets further
by earning rewards for their purchases.”
From the business perspective, here are three good reasons why cus-
tomer loyalty programs are so strong:

1) By encouraging customers to remain loyal, it helps to reduce a

company’s advertising and marketing budget.

2) It is easier and costs less (estimates are seven times less) to

retain an existing customer than to attract a new customer.

3) When you know a customer’s buying habits (think Costco) you

can direct promotional programs to their specific areas of
purchase interest.

A refreshing new trend has been added to this customer loyalty re-
ward approach. By developing a relationship between your for-profit
company and a respected nonprofit where the nonprofit can raise funds
to support its mission, there has been a very positive response from
consumers. This sales and marketing oriented cross-sector partnership
approach is commonly known as cause marketing. Later on we will
explore cause marketing in detail. Studies by Cone, Inc. reinforce the
importance of cause marketing on increasing customer loyalty.

• 92% of the public has a more positive image of a company

that supports a cause they care about.

• 85% of the general public and 92% of Moms want to buy a

product that supports a cause.

• 87% of the general public and 93% of Moms are likely to

switch from one product or service to another (price and quality
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 PART II UNDERSTANDING CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS AND CAUSE MARKETING

being equal) if the other product or service is associated with a

good cause.

• 50% of the general public would try a new brand or one

they’ve never heard of, if connected to a cause.

These are, obviously, incredible numbers. And they speak volumes

on the importance of developing cause-related, cross-sector partner-
ships for your business. If you are the corporate marketing and sales
director or a nonprofit development director reading this book, you
should stop right here, put those statistics in a frame and mount them
prominently on your wall. What other form of business/marketing
can significantly raise your sales (or donations), lower your costs and
build the retention and loyalty of your customers while generating
community goodwill and supporting the mission of the nonprofit?

Attract the Best Employees Through

Community Involvement
Every organization is looking to find the best employees and as we’ve
all experienced, sometimes the employment application and resume
don’t tell the whole story. Andy Ball, former CEO of Webcor Builders,
one of the nation’s premier construction companies, found that Web-
cor’s employee volunteerism and engagement in their community has
been a tremendous benefit in attracting high caliber employees. Accord-
ing to Andy, “It started as a desire by a small group of individuals and
it has become who we are. It defines how we act and defines the kind of
people that are attracted to us and we, in turn, find that those are the
best people to do the work. They perform the best, they are great peo-
ple, they care, they are responsible and they take the leadership roles.”
James Austin in The Collaboration Challenge noted “Conference
Board survey of 454 companies revealed that 90% of managers be-
lieve that their company’s community volunteer programs help these
companies attract better employees. Company support for commu-
nity service activities also enhances employee motivation and morale,
thereby strengthening company loyalty and retention.”

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 Win-Win for the Greater Good

The 2009 PRWeek/Barkley PR Cause Survey offered this quote

from Chris Mann, Associate Integrated Marketing Manager for New
Balance, regarding their company’s 20-year association with Susan G.
Komen for the Cure: “HR would tell you that it’s big for recruitment
and retention. It’s been brought up in people’s interviews as one of the
reasons they respect the company.” Mann said it was one of the things
that attracted him to New Balance.

When you engage with your community and especially when you
embed a cause consciousness into your organization, you will attract
the best employees and this provides a definite competitive advantage.

Reach New Markets and

New Customer Demographics
According to Wikipedia, the term market share refers to “the percent-
age of a market (defined in terms of either units or revenue) accounted
for by a specific entity.” Marketers are keenly aware of the importance
of developing as broad a market share as possible to support and pref-
erably, increase their business. Two of the fastest growing demograph-
ics/market share opportunities for potential customers are the Genera-
tion Y/Millennials and seniors.

Generation Y
Gen Y, also known as Millennials, refers to people born in the 1980s
and early 1990s. This generation is or should be of particular interest
to marketers, as they have a very strong affinity to causes. The 2010
Cone Cause Evolution Study stated that “college-aged Millennials
have nearly $40 billion in discretionary income to spend. Still, each
wants to shop wisely, and more than any other demographic group we
tested, they buy with an eye toward the greater good.” They buy…
for the greater good!
This study also found that “Ninety-four percent of respondents ages
18-24 find it acceptable for a company to involve a cause or issue in its
marketing (versus 88% average) and “they are much more willing to
try new products because of a cause affiliation.” The study also found
that “Millennials’ passion for supporting causes presents significant

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 PART II UNDERSTANDING CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS AND CAUSE MARKETING

growth opportunities for companies as these young adults’ income

and purchasing power grows.”

The study also suggests that “Millennials are the most socially-con-
scious consumers to date. In the past year, 81% of respondents have
volunteered in some way (either weekly, monthly or once or twice a
year). And 87% consider a company’s cause commitments when de-
ciding where to work.”

Seniors
As a “Baby Boomer” myself, I find it increasingly difficult and some-
what embarrassing to admit that I qualify for the Senior Meal pricing
at Denny’s. The U.S. Census Bureau defines the Baby Boomers as those
born between January 1st, 1946 and December 31st, 1964 and they
make up about one-fourth of the U.S. population, or an estimated 78
million people. That’s an enormous wave of people hitting or nearing
retirement. Yet due to many financial factors, especially the recession
of 2008-on, a large percentage of Baby Boomers plan to keep work-
ing. According to a recent AARP survey of Baby Boomers, 40% of
them plan to work “until they drop.”
Like the Millennials near the other end of the work age-spectrum,
cross-sector partnerships offer an exceptional opportunity to expand
your business into this vast marketplace of new “seniors” and of
course, the 40.3 million other people 65 and older, according to the
2010 census.

Increase Employee Skill Development,

Teambuilding and Leadership Skills
For many, the presumption is that the nonprofit organization benefits
most when a business volunteer offers his or her services. Yet nothing
could be further from the real truth. Ask anyone who has ever vol-
unteered and they will probably tell you that they received as much,
if not far more, from their volunteer experience than they gave. The
obvious example for me is American Red Cross volunteers. They start
their Red Cross training by learning CPR, emergency preparedness
and other lifesaving skills. So right away they learn skills that could

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 Win-Win for the Greater Good

be of critical help in a life-threatening situation. When you see Red

Cross workers at a disaster relief operation or a crisis communica-
tions center, you find people holding extremely responsible positions
of leadership. They will be setting up and serving a shelter full of
people displaced by the disaster, managing food delivery to the emer-
gency shelter, directing communications and media relations, all the
way up to the senior-most leadership positions where they are manag-
ing hundreds and possibly thousands of volunteers in a comprehensive
disaster relief operation.
During the aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, a Red Cross
volunteer (who worked for a trucking company) was tasked with the
awesome responsibility of coordinating the transportation of food and
supplies from all around the country to Louisiana. What type of em-
ployee was this woman, emblematic of all who serve in such trying
situations, when she returned to her full-time job? Needless to say, she
brought back a deep compassion for her fellow human beings and the
extraordinary confidence that she could take on such a major assign-
ment and handle it to near perfection. She came back with newfound
and proven leadership abilities, and much more. She brought back
with her new skills, new understanding and a deeper commitment
than she may have ever had in her “real” job. She came back a much
more valuable employee, a team-builder, and a leader.

Bobbi Silten, Chief Foundation Officer of Gap Foundation told me

of Gap’s proactive effort to place mid-level and entry-level Gap store
personnel in community volunteer roles. These employees learned lead-
ership and presentation skills, learned the ability to coordinate groups
of people, to teach classes, and many other valuable lessons that would
serve them well when they returned to their Gap store. And important-
ly, these were experiences and learning lessons that, for the most part,
would not have been learned at that stage in their store employment.

A study by the National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Partici-

pating found:

• 79% of volunteers said that their volunteer activities helped

them with their interpersonal skills, such as understanding

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people better, motivating others, and dealing with difficult

situations.

• 68% of volunteers said that volunteering helped them to

develop better communication skills.

• 63% reported increased knowledge about issues related to

their volunteering.

• 23% said they volunteered to acquire job-related skills and

improve job opportunities.

Nonprofits need volunteers, for in many cases they are the lifeblood
of their organization. Volunteering is, most definitely, a two-way
street. It’s just that sometimes a lot more traffic is heading back to the
for-profit employer.

Draw Media Attention and Coverage for Free

Every organization, from every sector, wants to attract favorable cov-
erage from the media. In many cases, getting such free publicity is
challenging for a for-profit business. In some industries, such as oil,
tobacco, alcoholic beverages and gambling, garnering favorable free
publicity is quite rare, even when they are doing good work for their
communities.
When I became the national writer for cross-sector partnerships and
cause marketing for Examiner.com, I began a series called Profiles in
Partnership. To date I have interviewed over 25 senior executives from
the for-profit, nonprofit, education and government sectors in order to
share their advice and experiences in cross-sector partnerships. Many
of the quotes throughout this book are taken from these one-on-one
interviews. In one interview with the oil giant Chevron I was told they
were quite surprised that I was there to interview them about their
cause-related work. One executive said that they almost didn’t grant
the interview because they were “pretty sure it was going to be nega-
tive.” That has been their conditioning in working with the media.

I cite this story because that is the general climate in today’s media/
business relationship - one of skepticism and distrust, as we clearly

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saw in our discussion on misconceptions. So here’s the good news:

even skeptics in the media and others can be won over when they see
your organization is forming an honest and valuable partnership with
a nonprofit organization to help the underserved in your community.

Chevron and its Richmond, California refinery formed a partner-

ship with Catholic Charities of the East Bay and together developed a
program called Project B-Mat, which stands for Bilingual Medical As-
sistant Training. This partnership was developed to support and train
low income, limited-English speaking residents to secure employment
as clinical medical assistants in high-demand occupations in the East
Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. To date, the program has enrolled
more than 52 individuals, of which 37 have completed their extern-
ship at 16 different healthcare facilities, and 15 are currently working
in the field.

Understandably, this partnership takes great pride in its achieve-

ments to date, which is only just beginning. In a joint press release they
stated, “The partnership between CCEB and Chevron has developed
into a relationship that goes beyond the usual grantor/grantee collabo-
ration, and can serve as a model for other nonprofits, local businesses,
and corporations to contribute to improving the lives of the communi-
ties in which they operate.”

The favorable media coverage from such cross-sector partnerships

can range from coverage in a local newspaper to garnering publicity
across the world. This free media coverage builds strong community
goodwill, attracts new employees, increases brand recognition, and
helps counter possible negative feelings or publicity. Of course it must
be understood that as staff/volunteer time is required to develop and
present the stories to the media.

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Benefits Nonprofits Receive From

Partnering With a For-Profit Organization
Before I provide the list of nonprofit benefits, I wanted to show the fol-
lowing cartoon by Brian Narelle, who also created our firefly Glow and
other graphics for this book. I voiced my opinion that many nonprofit
executives needed to explore new ideas and proven ways to raise fund-
ing and decrease costs by joining hands with their for-profit brethren and
form cross-sector partnerships. A few days later in the mail I received
the following cartoon which graphically depicted the opportunity.

Now this is certainly an oversimplification of the situation, but the

truth is, if you want to catch fish, you need to go where the most fish
are. And they are found in the ponds, streams and lakes that haven’t
been heavily fished before.

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As we have seen, there are 38 benefits, and counting, which can be

received by for-profits through cross-sector partnerships. Nonprofits are
right behind with the potential to have at least the 31 benefits – those
we have discovered so far. Here are the top 10 benefits nonprofits can
receive and a closer examination into several of them:

Top 10 Benefits

1) Increase funding

2) Connect to new business partners and strategic relationships

3) Receive pro bono services

4) Attract loaned executives

5) Attract in-kind donations (equipment, furniture, computers,

software, etc.)

6) Provide professional development for employees

7) Attract new volunteers

8) Provide volunteer management

9) Increase media coverage and improve media relationships

10) Develop earned income opportunities

Increase Funding
In the majority of cases, the primary reason a nonprofit organization
seeks a partnership with a for-profit organization is to increase their do-
nations. Indeed, many nonprofits believe the terms “partnership” and
“sponsorship” are interchangeable, and they definitely are not. Cross-

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sector partnerships are focused on developing long-term, multifaceted

relationships. The very good news is that these partnerships can, and in
most cases do, provide significant financial benefit. And because they
are partnerships, the financial benefits should continue over many years.

Receive Pro Bono Services

Pro bono publico, usually shortened to “pro bono” is a phrase derived
from Latin meaning “for the public good.” The term is generally used
to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without
payment as a public service. Pro bono service, unlike traditional vol-
unteerism, uses the specific skills of professionals to provide services
to those that could not normally afford to hire such an agency. For
example, the law profession has a longtime tradition of providing such
pro bono services. Happily, pro bono services have expanded well be-
yond the law, opening a lot of opportunity for your organization.
While this pro bono opportunity may be sought in nearly any area
of business, where it has become most prevalent is in the creative ser-
vices. Public relations and advertising agencies, graphic design firms,
web designers, copywriters, photographers, artists, nearly all creative
agencies are looking for opportunities to promote their work, while at
the same time wanting to help their community. Many creative people
and agencies gain new clients through the exposure they can receive
by working with nonprofit organizations. It is an enormous and free
resource for you to tap.

Note: Taproot Foundation is a nonprofit organization that makes

business talent available to organizations working to improve society.
Taproot has become the nation’s largest nonprofit consulting orga-
nization and is building a global pro bono marketplace. Taproot has
published a new guidebook on pro bono practices: Powered by Pro
Bono: The Nonprofits Step-by-Step Guide to Scoping, Securing, Man-
aging, and Scaling Pro Bono Resources. Find this book on Amazon
and other locations.

Find much more about the Taproot Foundation at www.taproot-

foundation.org and in the Resource Center.

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Attract Loaned Executives

An area similar to pro bono services is what is referred to as “Loaned
Executives.” In my experience I‘ve seen very few nonprofit organiza-
tions take advantage of this opportunity. Now this category is not the
people serving on your board of directors; that’s a very different role.
Nor are they your everyday volunteers. Loaned executives are paid by
their sponsoring organizations, not the nonprofit. Loaned executives
are very skilled, high-level advisors who come into your organization
and work on specific areas, typically for periods of three to six months,
and sometimes longer.
A good example of a Loaned Executive program was developed by
the United Way of the Bay Area. UWBA describes their program as of-
fering “a unique opportunity for Bay Area professionals to give back
to the community, while providing their employers with an “out-of-
the-box” way to cultivate the next generation of company leaders.”
These loaned executives, several from Wells Fargo Bank and Califor-
nia Department of Transportation, spent three months working full-
time at United Way in responsibilities such as fundraising, delivering
presentations and coordinating events at Bay Area companies that
participate in United Way programs. All of the loaned executives were
sponsored by their company who paid for their salaries and benefits
while they worked at the United Way.

These programs provide many benefits to both the person who pro-
vided their services and also back to their sponsoring company. In
particular, there is the opportunity for professional development of the
executive and for an in-depth understanding of the nonprofit sector.
This is a win-win situation, for sure.

You might be thinking: That’s all well and good for organizations
as large as the United Way, Wells Fargo, Caltrans, and the like… but
what about me? Rest assured - the opportunity of loaned executives
can work for any size organization. Let’s say you are a small nonprofit
organization that collects warm coats to donate to homeless shelters
in the winter. One of your key areas of concern is the collection, stor-
age and distribution of these coats. You could go to a local company

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that had a distribution process, such as a local grocery store, trucking

company or possibly your local UPS. Ask them if they could lend you
an executive who could work with you to make your organization’s
collection, storage and distribution system work more effectively. You
might ask your local hardware store if they could lend somebody to
help you with inventory management. The list of potential support
is nearly endless. You may not get such a loaned executive for 4-6
months, but you probably will get someone who can bring you the
expertise you need at no cost.

Attract In-Kind Donations

It may seem a no-brainer that corporations, or any business for that
matter, might donate used computer hardware, software, supplies, ,
furniture, or a myriad of other items that a nonprofit organization
could put to good use. Overstocked items, and in many cases, the reg-
ular products that a company has or produces might also be donated
to your organization, instead of a cash donation. This latter example
is the staple of many special events when organizations receive wine,
beer, other beverages, food, and related supplies in lieu of cash.
If an organization uses vehicles to take food to shut-ins, provides
transportation for seniors, for emergency services or other transpor-
tation uses, there is a very good chance that on the back or side of
these vehicles you will see the names of for-profit organizations or
foundations which have provided funding for those vehicles. Corpo-
rations and independent foundations can be approached to support
your transportation needs, but don’t overlook local new or used car
dealerships, trucking companies, delivery services and other local
companies that use a lot of vehicles as a potential partner. The promi-
nent sign recognizing the donor on the back of the nonprofit’s bus
provides a very public acknowledgment of that donor’s contribution
and promotes its business as well. Remember that the maintenance of
these vehicles is quite costly, so take that into account when seeking
donated vehicles. Clearly, the best part of in-kind donations is that
everything that is donated is something you don’t have to pay for.
One note here: while many organizations may provide services, these

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services cannot be taken as a tax deduction, unlike products or sup-

plies. So be sure to check with a tax accountant on this issue.

The best approach is to look carefully at all the line items in your
annual budget, in every area of your budget, and see which items or
services might be donated from local vendors rather than purchased
by your organization. You might be surprised at how much you can
save through in-kind donations directly related to your normal cost
categories.

Consider in-kind donations as the equivalent to cash, and provide

equivalent recognition to the donor. If the donor provides $2,500
worth of in-kind donations to an annual gala, they should be recog-
nized at the same level in your promotional materials as if they gave a
$2,500 cash donation. In-kind donations offer several opportunities
to a nonprofit organization. Not only can they reduce the expenses
and provide supplies or equipment that could increase your productiv-
ity or comfort, the request alone could be the beginning of a larger and
deeper relationship with that in-kind donor. As with volunteer activi-
ties, such simple requests are excellent ways to begin strong partner-
ships. And all you have to do is ask!

Develop Earned Income Opportunities

A local church invited me to come and discuss ways they could in-
crease their revenue. Now this particular church sits on top of a hill
with a spectacular view of the San Francisco Bay. During our discussion
it came up that a major telecommunications company had approached
the church and wanted to put up a cell phone tower in the back of their
parking lot. The tower would take up very little space and would be
cleverly disguised as a tree, so it would fit in with the many trees that
bordered the church property. I became quite interested in this opportu-
nity until I was told that they declined the offer. Being a church and thus
a nonprofit organization, they reasoned they could not have a business
relationship with a telecommunications company.
They were shocked when I explained that many nonprofit organiza-
tions had business relationships with for-profit companies and indeed,

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many nonprofits ran their own for-profit operations. Probably the

most well-known example is Goodwill Industries, which runs retail
stores of donated items. Or that the Girl Scouts sell cookies; Delancey
Street Foundation owns and operates the highly popular Delancey
Street Restaurant; the Red Cross and other blood centers collect and
sell blood to help cover their operating expenses. The practice is very
wide-spread. How much so? The National Center for Charitable Sta-
tistics estimated in 2008 that nearly 70% of the $1.4 trillion generated
by nonprofits came from the sale of goods and services.

The law generally holds that a nonprofit can make money by rent-
ing or selling products or services and other profit-generating means,
though some of this income may be taxable. According to the NEO
Law Group, “The IRS categorizes earned income into two categories:
related and unrelated. A public charity generally does not pay taxes
on related income, but it does pay taxes on unrelated business income
at the corporate rate, also called the unrelated business income tax
(UBIT).” So this is a question for your accountant or tax expert.

In the case of the church, it could have legally rented that space for
the cell tower, assuming it complied with city laws for the placement of
a cell tower. This was a huge missed opportunity, especially when you
consider that the rental income of the small space in the back of their
parking lot would have exceeded their pastor’s annual salary!

Earned Income Case Study

The American Red Cross Bay Area chapter, dead center of earthquake
country, wanted to raise funding and spread awareness about the need
for having emergency supplies in homes, cars, and places of work. I
came up with the idea of doing a “magalog”, which is a cross between
a product catalogue and a magazine. I envisioned this as a 16-page,
four-color magazine with engaging stories about Red Cross disaster
operations, a volunteer’s story from Hurricane Katrina, helpful “Did
you know?” tips, and suggested emergency supplies, which the reader
could order through the magalog.
As this magazine/catalog would be released in November, we named

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it “Give the Gift of Preparedness” for the holiday season. We planned

on mailing the catalog to over 60,000 Red Cross donors, and we
formed a partnership with Benefit magazine who agreed to insert the
catalog in their November issue that went out to over 50,000 upscale
subscribers in the San Francisco Bay Area. There was just one major
problem: we didn’t have the internal budget to design, print and mail
all of these catalogs.

So we approached one of our chapter’s lead partners, Wells Fargo

Bank, and offered a partnership opportunity. Together we came up with
a program which in return for their $50,000 donation we would print
our original printing estimate (110,000) plus an additional 200,000
copies which they would distribute to every Wells Fargo Bank branch
location in the San Francisco Bay Area for the public to take home. And
we provided the back cover for their partnership advertisement.

We contacted our Red Cross emergency supply providers and of-

fered them the “opportunity” to advertise in this unique emergency
preparedness magalog. We raised over $84,000 in sponsorship and
advertising funding (2.5 times the cost to design and print) before the
magalog was even sent to the printer! So our share of all the sales of
the emergency supplies advertised in the magalog was pure profit.

It is estimated that nearly 1,000,000 people read this unusual and

very important safety information. It was a huge marketing, emer-
gency preparedness and fundraising success, and all the partners and
advertisers were thrilled.

So if nearly 70% of all income generated by nonprofits comes from

the sale of goods and services and your nonprofit is not at least explor-
ing this area, look again at the opportunities of earned income. You may
be leaving a ton of money on the table!

Volunteers: The Lifeblood of

Nonprofit Organizations
Volunteers are not only listed twice within the top 10 benefits; they
permeate the entire relationship between a nonprofit and for-profit,
especially when you include board members, pro bono services, and
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other benefits where personal time and services are being offered free
of charge to the nonprofit. In many cases, volunteers are the lifeblood
of nonprofit organizations.
When I first joined the American Red Cross, I was stunned to learn
that 96% of the Red Cross staff is volunteers. The number of volun-
teers participating in a disaster relief response can be extraordinarily
high. For example, Red Cross sent over 244,000 volunteers to the re-
lief efforts for Hurricane Katrina - that’s more than the attendance at
the last three Super Bowls combined.

The American Red Cross has developed sophisticated, thoughtful

and effective programs to recruit and manage such a huge number of
volunteers. The Red Cross gives their volunteers major responsibili-
ties, provides on-going training and evaluation, and keeps them ac-
countable, and on task.

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Match the Task to the Talent

It is important to try to engage volunteers at their level of expertise,
and ideally to even push them a bit to enhance their learning oppor-
tunity. Bobbi Silten at the Gap Foundation said, “I feel much more
competent helping with strategy with a nonprofit than I do painting a
fence. I am not competent painting a fence. Some of us have hidden
talents.” She continued, “Our employees get a lot out of being in this
(volunteer) program, not only in what they are able to give but what
personally they are able to get. They are more likely to come back if
they’re feeling good about what they’re doing, they see someone ben-
efitting, but they are also building their own leadership skills.”

One-Day-and-Done Volunteer Events

One-day volunteer events, such as those provided by Habitat for Hu-
manity or Rebuilding Together, are short projects, such as painting a
home, refurbishing a school classroom, planting a community garden.
They provide a “try it and see if you like it” opportunity, but with no
real commitment. These events are highly popular as teambuilding
activities, especially for corporate employees. Having painted a mural
at an elementary school as part of Rebuilding Together, I experienced
firsthand the camaraderie, hard work and sheer joy of working to-
gether for a good cause we all experienced.
However, there are times when these one day and done events can
be problematic. John Power, Executive Director of the Volunteer Cen-
ter of San Francisco, provided the following example: “For many years
for-profits have called upon their nonprofit relationships and said, “We
want to bring 100 employees next Saturday and have a meaningful vol-
unteer opportunity at your organization.” This situation creates tension
for both the for-profit pushing for the one-day event and the nonprofit
which may be ill-prepared with such short notice to provide any mean-
ingful activities for the for-profit volunteers.” Fortunately, this situation
can be easily avoided by longer-term planning and close communication
between the nonprofit and for-profit organization.

One of the current trends in volunteerism is the move away from

these traditional “one-day-and-done” events. Power stated, “More

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and more companies are interested in delivering greater impact both

to the nonprofit and to their employees, so they are more interested in
getting more skilled, longer-term opportunities. For-profit organiza-
tions need to understand what the nonprofit needs and help the non-
profit expand their understanding about what the for-profit needs.”

One-day-and-done events are good. However, their effects tend not

to last long enough to create fundamental benefits to the partnering
organizations. On the other hand, cross-sector partnerships provide a
much deeper, longer-lasting relationship, and thus much more effec-
tive morale building and team development benefits for all involved.

Volunteer Management
A major mistake made by many nonprofit organizations is that they
accept volunteers based on the sheer fact that these individuals want
to help their organization. While very well-meaning, a volunteer with-
out training and especially without on-going support and supervision
can become a drain on the organization’s staff time and resources,
or worse. Running a successful volunteer program requires a well
thought-out plan and the capacity to manage the plan.
Consequently, all volunteers should be treated as though they are
new employees. In seeking and managing a successful volunteer pro-
gram it is recommended that you:

• Write a job description for each position with the responsibili-

ties and tasks you want them to perform.

• Recruit your volunteers as though you were looking for new

full-time or part-time employees, possibly using Craigslist,
classified, online jobsites and other methods of recruiting.

• Thoughtfully and thoroughly interview all applicants, follow-

ing closely the job description you provided.

• Train new volunteers in the mission of your organization and

their responsibilities.

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• Hold the volunteer accountable for the tasks to which they are
assigned.

• Provide a supervisor responsible for managing them and en-

couraging them at all times.

• And here’s the most challenging part: if they don’t work out…
fire them!

Yes, they are volunteers and not being paid; however, they are hold-
ing responsible positions and are accountable to your organization for
those positions. If they are not working up to your expectations, they
are probably not that engaged in your mission, and consequently, it
best serves both the volunteer and the organization to part ways as
soon as possible.

When volunteers are recruited, well-trained and dedicated to your

mission, they become active and engaged stakeholders in the success
of your organization. By providing such volunteer management, you
will increase your efficiency and expand your services, and you can
decrease, sometimes significantly, the amount of money that your or-
ganization needs to raise.

I want to repeat that last line: You can decrease, sometimes signifi-
cantly, the amount of money the organization needs to raise through
effective volunteer management.

The TCC Group, based in New York City, provides strategic plan-
ning and management consulting services to foundations, nonprofits
and the corporate community. TCC is one of the leading organizations
on measuring organizational effectiveness. Peter York, Senior Partner
and Chief Research and Learning Officer, made a presentation at the
2010 Bay Area Volunteer Leaders Forum. He provided the results of
TCC Group’s study measuring organizational effectiveness around the
management of volunteer programs. Peter said one the most startling
statements I’ve heard in a long time: “Nonprofit organizations could
lower their annual funding requirements by 20% to 40% if they ef-
fectively manage their volunteers.”

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20% to 40%! Say you have an annual budget of $300,000, you could
potentially save $60,000 - $120,000 per year by effectively managing
your volunteers. Wouldn’t you consider that amount the net result of
an excellent fundraiser, or couldn’t that amount cover at least one or
two much-needed new staff members? Now if that amount, 20% to
40%, seems like a stretch for your thinking (even though TTC’s ex-
perience shows that it’s not), what if you achieved a 10% to15% net
savings? That might certainly make up for the probable drop in your
organization’s donations over the past several years…and potentially,
much more. Now do the same math with your annual budget. It’s an
eye-opening exercise.

The volunteer opportunity is a huge win-win for the nonprofit and

the for-profit, but only when the volunteers are well-managed. For
more information, visit TCC Group at: www.tccgrp.com

The Volunteer Bottom-Line

When you have clearly defined what you need in terms of volunteers,
next develop job descriptions for these volunteer positions, train them
well, decide who they will report to, how they will be managed and
communicate other important operational issues and requirements of
their job. This initial effort on your part will return ten-fold benefits
to your organization and also establish relationships, and preferably
partnerships, that can serve your organization for years to come.
Volunteers provide great value to your organization, and great value
to themselves and their sponsoring organization. The following sec-
tion addresses the topic of comparative value - people versus money.

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Which Provides More Value: Money or Brains?

When considering a cross-sector partnership, not surprisingly, the first
topic that seems to arise is money. How much should the nonprofit ask
for or how much should the for-profit consider donating? While money
usually enters the conversation at some point in a partnership discussion,
it’s short-sighted to think that money is the only or even the best value to
receive in a partnership. Quite simply: If you focus on money you may
leave a lot of money/value/assets on the table, never to be seen again.
Karen Baker, California Secretary of Service and Volunteering, of-
fers: “A million dollar value of brainpower is so much more helpful
than a million dollars. I can find money. I look for talent and I mean
top-shelf talent, which you can shop for when you’re shopping for
public/private partnerships.”

This belief is echoed by Dannielle Campos, Senior Vice President

and National Philanthropy Program Manager for the Bank of Amer-
ica Charitable Foundation. Dannielle said, “When working with a
nonprofit it can’t be just about the dollars but also about the other
human resource capital you can bring if that company is interested
in making, really building a strategic partnership with a nonprofit in
their community. The dialogue has to be bigger than the check and the
nonprofits usually need more than just money.”

Here is the underlying secret to success of cross-sector partnerships:

first seek brains…and the money will follow.

Cause Marketing: Where It All Started for Me

In 1975, Marriott Corporation hired me from my position as Public
Relations Director of Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio,
and sent me to Northern California to be the Public Affairs Manager
of their new theme park Marriott’s Great America. Marriott had pur-
chased 556 acres of old pear orchards in Santa Clara. This location
was dead center in the middle of what was soon to become the world’s
technology center -Silicon Valley- though we had no clue at the time.
My job was to develop the public relations, press relations and pro-
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Photo courtesy of Marriott Corporation

motion for the opening of what was the largest investment in the his-
tory of Marriott Corporation. I was 25…and I was jazzed.

Shortly after my arrival, I received a thick document of standard

operating procedures detailing how Marriott opened a new property.
Their experience was based mostly on hotels and restaurants, not an
entertainment complex the size of a small city. I was instructed to
spread around free tickets to the theme park, primarily to nonprofit
organizations, the press and community groups. This was a “goodwill
gesture” to help demonstrate Marriott’s desire to be a good neighbor
in our new community.

Marriott at that time had no company-owned hotel or name pres-

ence in northern California. So it seemed to me that if we were going
to have any significant impact or attention, we needed to do some-
thing that would stand out. And passing around a few free tickets was
not going to do it.

I thought that if we developed a partnership with a nonprofit organi-

zation which had a great reputation all over our marketing region, and
especially, with an organization that could take advantage of working

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with us on such a mammoth project, together we could create some-

thing special. I had absolutely no concept of cause marketing at the
time as this form of cross-sector partnership hadn’t been invented yet.

Our small staff started interviewing nonprofit organizations that had

a significant presence in northern California and the western United
States. One of these interviews was with Chapters West of the March
of Dimes. In our discussion I discovered that the March of Dimes had
three main goals:

• Increase the number of pledge-walkers

• Increase the overall donations

• Have the donations collected by their campaign’s budget

deadline

The goal for our team was straight-forward: open the largest proj-
ect to date during Marriott Corporation’s history and attract over 2
million visitors to our new entertainment complex the first year. If
accomplished, that would be a new attendance record for a regional
theme park.

Marriott’s Great America and March of Dimes felt that by work-

ing together we could meet each other’s marketing objectives. So we
formed a partnership.

In March of Dimes chapters throughout their 17 state Western Re-

gion, Marriott’s Great America provided a grand prize in each region
for the pledge-walker who brought in the most money by the deadline.
In cities further away from Santa Clara, the grand prize was tickets for
their family and plane fare to Santa Clara for the theme park’s open-
ing day. However, in the cities that were a relatively short distance to
travel, we offered the winner 100 free tickets to the opening day of
Marriott’s Great America. Needless to say, word of this contest spread
like wildfire, especially through middle and high schools of the closer-
in cities. This partnership and contest created tremendous visual, viral
and media promotion.

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The marketing opportunity for Mar-

riott’s Great America was sensational.
Its name, logo and theme park informa-
tion were on every pledge card, every
poster, every piece of promotional ma-
terial and press information throughout
the Western Region. We utilized our
“spokes-rabbit” Bugs Bunny to lead
several of the major walks and to do a
rather outrageous press tour

The results of this partnership were

off-the-chart. March of Dimes raised
$2.5 million, 40% more money than
had ever been raised in their Western Bruce and Bugs Bunny on press tour in 1976
Region. And that was a lot of money for a fundraising drive in 1976.
Marriott’s Great America received hundreds of thousands of dollars in
free publicity, word-of-mouth promotion and brand awareness, which
was instrumental in attracting a record-breaking attendance of over
2.2 million people in the theme park’s first year. Talk about win-win!

According to the Cause Marketing Forum, Huffington Post, Wikipe-

dia and others, this partnership is considered the first cause marketing
campaign in history, though the term “cause marketing” hadn’t been
invented yet. Seven years later in 1983, American Express developed a
promotional program for the restoration of the Statue of Liberty and
coined the term “cause-related marketing” as part of their campaign.

The irony in cause marketing, as in all forms of cross-sector partner-

ships: the more you focus on the greater good and not just on making
money, (usually) the more sales and donations you will make. While
it seems we cannot turn on the TV or open a newspaper without seek-
ing some form of a cause marketing campaign, the market is far from
saturated. There is enormous potential in utilizing cause marketing
to benefit your for-profit or nonprofit organization, especially in the
more local, more personal campaigns, where the utilization of cause
marketing is just beginning to grow.

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Cause Marketing: What It Is

Cause marketing is a specialized subset of cross-sector partnerships,
and like all cross-sector partnerships, cause marketing is a partnership
between two or more sectors. Though in cause marketing, the partner-
ship is primarily between nonprofit and for-profit organizations and
is primarily about marketing, sales, fund development and increasing
brand awareness. Cause marketing has grown by leaps and bounds,
and in 2012 an estimated $1.7 billion was spent in North America
alone on cause marketing campaigns.
Cause marketing is a marketing campaign with specific strategic
goals and objectives. It is not an event, sponsorship or one-time proj-
ect and certainly not philanthropy. You will find as we explore further
into this area that a well-strategized and well-developed cause market-
ing campaign will bring you many of the benefits we have discussed in
cross-sector partnerships.

While there are many definitions of cause marketing, the following

is how I prefer to define it.

Let’s break this definition down to see why this particular descrip-
tion is a bit more comprehensive, and possibly more demanding among
others available, yet touches upon the foundational elements of highly
successful cause marketing campaigns.

Partnership: Going into the partnership, both sides should come to-
gether as equals. This equality is necessary for a fair, trusting and suc-
cessful working partnership. Without this trust, without this focus on
true partnership, your campaign is dead in the water before it’s launched.

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Two or more: In most cases, a cause marketing partnership is be-

tween two partners, but as we have seen, sometimes partnerships can
have three and even four sectors involved. And sometimes, even mul-
tiple partners within sectors. Bringing multiple partners together can
leverage the success of the marketing objectives. So don’t limit your
partner opportunity thinking. More may be better, or maybe not,
based on your marketing strategy and campaign needs.

Individual marketing objectives: All sides may be approaching this

partnership with very different marketing objectives and internal agen-
das. This is to be expected. Having clear communication and under-
standing about these separate agendas and objectives and then work-
ing toward the benefit of all partners will greatly enhance the overall
success of your cause marketing campaign.

Combined resources: Possibly more than in any other marketing or

promotional endeavor, the successful execution of your cause market-
ing strategy and resulting campaign creates a whole far greater than
the sum of its individual parts. You just can’t possibly accomplish
alone what you can do working together for your mutual success.

Create a greater good: This is the part of

my definition that seems to be left out in
every other definition I’ve ever seen. How-
ever it is this focus on the greater good
that sets the foundation for your success-
ful campaign. Focusing on the greater good
is the key ingredient that will motivate all
partners and stakeholders involved in your
campaign. The greatest impact, the real
magic, comes when your campaign focuses
on the people, issues or environment that
Photo coourtesy of Gene Dailey
will benefit from the campaign:

• Those whose lives will be saved because they are now prepared
for an emergency

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 Win-Win for the Greater Good

• The women and men in the future who will not get breast
cancer because of the research you are helping to fund

• The homeless who will be given shelter

• The children who will be saved from starvation

• Addressing serious environmental situations

This is the greater good. You can address any nonprofit’s cause, but
to be optimally successful, you must focus on who or what will benefit
from your effort. Nonprofits as such are not causes in and of them-
selves, but facilitators that bring much-needed services and support to
the cause, which of course, is the people, environment or social issues
themselves…the greater good.

Types of Cause Marketing Campaigns

Cause marketing campaigns come in all shapes and sizes - from na-
tional campaigns such as the Pepsi Refresh Project, designed to fund
good ideas, big and small, that help refresh our world - to a local bar-
bershop supporting St. Baldrick’s Foundation to raise funding for chil-
dren’s cancer research, and every conceivable application in between.
Cause marketing campaigns fall into one or more of the following
categories:
• Pinup or Point-of-Sale
• Purchase-Triggered
• Action-Triggered
• Donation-Triggered
• Behavioral Change
• Social Media

• Cross-Media/Integrated Media (sometimes called Transmedia)

The type of cause marketing campaign decided upon depends great-

ly on what an organization needs, the type of partner(s) chosen, and
the capacity and resources the partners bring to the table.
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Pinup or Point-of-Sale Campaign

You see these all the time when you walk into a grocery store. The
person checking you out at the cash register will ask you if you’d like
to make a donation to a particular cause, which is added to your bill.
Children’s Miracle Network and St. Jude Hospital are two very popu-
lar pinup campaigns. When you make a donation, you write your
name on a paper plaque, which is usually posted on a store window.
The store collects all the donations and forwards them to the charity.
This campaign gives you an immediate “feel good” as your plaque is
posted. Kids love this one, of course. The customer donation is usu-
ally small, $1-$2.
The perfect example of this type of cause marketing campaign is the
annual Halloween Promotion benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research
Hospital, one of the world’s premier centers for the research and treat-
ment of pediatric cancer and other catastrophic childhood diseases.

During the month-long Halloween Promotion, thousands of res-

taurants, convenience stores, grocery stores and other retail locations
nationwide encourage consumers to make a $1 donation to St. Jude.
In return for their contribution, donors write their names on pump-
kin-themed pinups, which the establishments display throughout the
month of October.

Many point-of-sale campaigns avoid

the pinup aspect altogether and just have
the donation added to the bill, such as
Safeway’s fundraising campaign for
breast cancer, which also eliminates the
need and cost of the paper plaque. Safe-
way has raised a total of $108 million for
breast cancer awareness and research.

A program growing in popularity is

Hotels that Help (www.hotelsthathelp.
org), which encourages hotel operators
to add a $1 contribution to their final
hotel bill. You can, of course, opt out of Point-of-sale pinup for St. Jude

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 Win-Win for the Greater Good

providing this donation, but the vast majority of people leave the $1
donation on the bill. The management and employees of each hotel
decide which local or regional nonprofits will receive these donations.
The one dollar donation against a significantly higher hotel bill makes
for a relatively easy choice, and hotels and their employees enjoy the
opportunity of benefiting their community.

Such pinup and point-of-sale campaigns are especially effective be-

cause customers are asked directly for a donation when their wallets are
out, and the donation is usually small. The only real downside to pinup
campaigns is customer and check-out person fatigue. It’s difficult for the
store personnel to ask every single customer for a donation and do so
enthusiastically, at least after the first 100 or so customers. This can be
partially mitigated by strong management encouragement, visits from
the nonprofit personnel, contests or bonuses for the most money raised,
and not having the campaign last more than a few weeks. Frequent cus-
tomers can get tired of hearing the same pitch for the same cause. And
sadly, customers sometimes react badly to the poor guy/gal behind the
register who is trying to help the cause or just doing his/her job.

Overall, pinup and point-of-sale campaign can be quite successful.

Millions of dollars have been raised by the largest programs, and they
can work especially well for local charities which serve people in the
surrounding area of the retail store and where there may be a more
local/emotional appeal to the cause. However, in order to manage ex-
pectations here, pin up campaigns tend not to raise a lot of money
unless they are undertaken by national organizations such as St. Jude,
Safeway, Children’s Miracle Network and the like, utilizing hundreds
if not thousands of locations. But these campaigns are still quite valu-
able and provide great branding and community relations opportuni-
ties for the nonprofit and for-profit partners.

Purchase-Triggered
Another form of cause marketing campaign is what’s called a pur-
chase-triggered donation. That’s when the customer buys a product
or service and a donation is made to the cause being promoted. My
favorite example of a purchased-triggered campaign is TOMS Shoes.

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With every pair pur-

chased, TOMS will give
a pair of new shoes to a
child who has none. Us-
ing the purchasing power
of individuals to benefit
the greater good is what
TOMS is all about. This
concept, which they call
“One for One” (buy one Photo courtesy of TOMS Shoes
and give one away) is a
growing trend in cause marketing. As of September 2010, TOMS had
given over 1,000,000 pairs of free shoes… and that was a while ago!

AT&T has a highly successful cause marketing relationship with

Special Olympics in many markets around the country. In a promotion
that ran from May 2011 to Feb. 2012, AT&T donated $40 for every
new activation of any product listed on their co-branded website by an
AT&T customer. Some form of this AT&T promotion has been going
on for many years.

Purchase-triggered can also refer to when you dine out during a spe-
cial promotion where a percentage of your meal’s cost is donated to a
charity. You pay for the meal and the restaurant makes the donation.

Purchase-triggered donations work very well for smaller cross-sec-

tor partnerships, whether it’s a local store providing a buy one, give
one program, a restaurant’s charitable contribution, buying insurance
from a local agent, purchasing a new car, providing a job referral or
the almost unlimited ways that nonprofit contributions can be made
from the sales of any product or service.

Action-Triggered
Who hasn’t been involved in some sort of cause campaign where you
run in a half-marathon or 3-day benefit walk or pledge to give a certain
amount of money for each mile or lap someone else does (my favor-
ite!), like kids raising money for their school for running laps around

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the track. In these cases, the action of others triggers your donation.
Many social media campaigns are also action-triggered campaigns.
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training is a great
example of an action-triggered cause marketing program. Team in
Training has trained over half a million runners, walkers, triathletes,
cyclists and hikers and raised over $1.2 billion to fund lifesaving can-
cer research. While this program, the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer,
March of Dimes and other similar programs are national in design, the
exact same action-triggered concept is frequently used by your local
elementary school and local youth organizations.

Donation-Triggered
One Warm Coat
One Warm Coat started out in 1992 as a Thanksgiving weekend coat
drive in San Francisco. Since then, more than 3 million coats have
been donated during their 20-year history. This terrific program was
started by Sherri Lewis Wood and had been originally run out of her
bedroom. Only in 2011 did she hire her first full time employee, and
yet this campaign has been an unbelievable success and model cause
movement all across North America.
One Warm Coat teamed up with the Burlington Coat Factory and
ABC TV’s Good Morning America for a campaign that runs between
October and January of each year. Anyone wishing to donate used or
new coats can drop them off at the Burlington Coat Factory locations.
As a thank you, donors receive a coupon for 10% off their purchase at
the Burlington Coat Fac-
tory stores. This particu-
lar campaign has collect-
ed more than 1,000,000
coats.

Sherri told me, “The

partnership is extreme-
ly valuable for all three
partners because we each Addison Graham, volunteeer, One Warm Coat

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have a different role to play in the drive: Collection (at Burlington

Coat factory stores), Distribution (through the One Warm Coat net-
work of agencies) and Communications/Media by ABC’s Good Morn-
ing America. 

A great example of a donation-triggered campaign involves two

well-known names: Goodwill Industries and Whole Foods. These or-
ganizations partnered to celebrate Earth Day. Goodwill put their fa-
miliar bins at participating Whole Foods locations around the San
Francisco Bay Area. The goal was to divert used clothes and house-
hold items that would otherwise be dumped in landfills. The result:
Nearly five tons of clothing and household goods were collected in
over just the one weekend of this campaign!

When exploring a donation-triggered cause marketing campaign, it

can be helpful to look for particular days, seasons or special events that
are already in the public’s mind. One Warm Coat takes full advantage
of the holiday season because of its gift-giving focus and the fact that
in many parts of the country it can be very cold. Other opportunities
include Valentine’s Day, Halloween, President’s Day, or even National
Harmonica Day. Tying a campaign to the notoriety and/or emotion of
a particular day, season or event can tap into the consumers’ existing
interests and increase the attraction to the campaign.

St. Baldrick’s Foundation began on March 17, 2000, when three

business executives decided to turn their annual St. Patrick’s Day cel-
ebration into a fundraising event to benefit kids with cancer. To make
this event more interesting, they decided to have a head shaving event
as their fundraiser. Their goal was to raise $17,000 on March 17. But
when the clippers stopped clipping over $104,000 had been raised in
that very first event.

Since that first event, St. Baldrick’s Foundation has established itself
as a volunteer-driven charity committed to funding the most promis-
ing research on childhood cancers. According to its website, “The St.
Baldrick’s Foundation currently funds more in childhood cancer re-
search grants than any organization except the U.S. government. Since
2000, more than 246,000 volunteers—including more than 24,000

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 Win-Win for the Greater Good

women—have shaved
in solidarity with chil-
dren fighting cancer at
the Foundation’s signa-
ture head-shaving events
around the world. Each
shaveesm is a walk-
ing billboard for the
cause!” Thanks to gen-
erous friends and fam-
ily, these shavees enabled
the Foundation to fund
more than $103 million
in childhood cancer re-
search grants.

It doesn’t get any bet-

ter than that. What I like
best about St. Baldrick’s Photos courtesy of St. Baldrick’s Foundation
(besides its great slogan:
Shaving the Way to Conquer Kids’ Cancer) is how many cause mar-
keting success factors it includes:

1) The cause is highly emotional, raising funds for children with

cancer.

2) By having their heads shaved, participants are making a very

personal commitment to the cause.

3) The fundraising events are very “local,” being held in barber-

shops, salons, schools and other locations all across the
country and around the world.

4) It’s a relatively simple event/campaign to execute successfully.

5) It’s action-triggered; you must really do something (have your

head shaved and raise money to support lifesaving childhood
cancer research).

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6) It utilizes the high visibility of St. Patrick’s Day to enhance the

promotion of the St. Baldrick’s March events.

Cause marketing works best when people are personally and emo-
tionally engaged in the cause. With St. Baldrick’s, hearing those clip-
pers buzzing toward your head certainly gets you engaged and prob-
ably a bit emotional as the hair from your very own head falls to
the floor. But with each strand that falls, and every dollar raised, the
potential to find cures for childhood cancers rises.

Behavioral Change Campaign

The following campaign examples are cause marketing partnerships be-
tween a nonprofit organization and/or governmental agency and the me-
dia. Such campaigns are designed to have maximum emotional impact
and are targeted to a wide public audience in order to change a personal
behavior pattern. They usually do not involve a payment or donation.
A classic
campaign de-
signed by The
Ad Council fo-
cused on get-
ting the public
to wear seat-
belts and clev-
erly combined
humor with
Vince & Larry, the Crash Test Dummies
a very serious
message. According to The Ad Council, “Since Vince & Larry, the
Crash Test Dummies, were introduced to the American public in 1985,
safety belt usage has increased from 14% to 79%, saving an estimated
85,000 lives and $3.2 billion in costs to society.” View a spot from this
clever campaign at: (www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5h2NF2xMYI)

Another Ad Council iconic campaign was called “The Crying Indi-

an” and featured the late actor Iron Eyes Cody as its spokesperson. In
this Keep America Beautiful public service campaign, Iron Eyes Cody,

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 Win-Win for the Greater Good

who portrayed
himself as a
Native Ameri-
can, is seen
standing next
to a stream
with a tear
running down
his cheek as he
PSA from Ad Council
spoke of the
need to stop littering and polluting our environment. It was first aired,
appropriately, on Earth Day.

Changing behavior is one of the most difficult and expensive types

of cause marketing campaigns. In many, if not most cases, campaigns
that take on major behavioral changes are funded by the government
and/or the result of legislation or lawsuits.

In early 2012, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services teamed up to produce
a new anti-smoking campaign. According to their joint press release,
“The $54 million campaign will be seen on billboards and print, radio
and TV ads that show people whose smoking resulted in heart surgery,
a tracheotomy, lost limbs or paralysis.”

Highly successful behavioral issue campaigns can also be accom-

plished with a significantly smaller budget. Take the campaign called
Fair Play. Concerned about the health of Marin County, CA, several
community organizations partnered with the annual Marin County
Fair to create a culture that encourages fair visitors to make healthier
choices both at and after the Fair. Fair Play is striving to address and
change social norms and provide a healthier and more family-friendly
environment at the Fair. They have created changes in policy practices
and voluntary measures related to alcohol, tobacco, access to healthy
foods, physical activity and healthy living. Because of this effort, all ad-
vertising and sponsorship for alcohol and tobacco have been banned at
the Marin County Fair. As the saying goes: Think globally, Act locally.

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Social Media Campaigns

Without a doubt, the fastest growing area of cause marketing is in the
area of social media. It is absolutely exploding. Campaigns abound
utilizing the social networks of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, texting
and many other online or mobile platforms and applications.
For example, a remark-
ably swift and effective
campaign was launched by
the American Red Cross
after the devastating earth-
quake hit Haiti. Two days
after the quake, over $4
million had been raised,
and that number quickly
increased to over $32 mil-
lion in the month following the earthquake, all from more than three
million people using their mobile devices to text “Haiti” to 90999.
Each text automatically donated $10 to the American Red Cross.
The speed and effectiveness of this campaign was due in large part to
mGive, a mobile donation platform, which is a subsidiary of Mobile
Accord Inc. donated its services. Of course, the devastation in Haiti
and the tremendous international media coverage made it very easy
for people to want to help. Texting made it simple.

More recently, the same text numbers

and approach were utilized with high suc-
cess to make donations to the Red Cross
following Hurricane Sandy’s devastation
on the East Coast and Midwest of the
United States.

This type of text-to-give campaign can

be done at a very local level. For example,
Mobile Loaves & Fishes in Austin, Texas
wanted to raise awareness of the homeless
situation in their community. They devel-

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 Win-Win for the Greater Good

oped a social media campaign called “I Am Here” which focused on

one homeless man: Danny Silver. The campaign was promoted on local
TV and radio stations and in the local newspaper. The public was asked
to text “Danny” at 20222 which would trigger a $10 donation. This
campaign raised enough money to get Danny and his disabled wife off
the streets and into a home. It also brought great coverage and better
understanding of the plight of the homeless population in Austin.

Note: I borrowed (the polite way of saying stole) the “I Am Here” ex-
ample from my friend and colleague Joe Waters, which was taken from
the book he co-authored, Cause-Marketing for Dummies. Joe is one of
the country’s leading experts on cause marketing and also the founder
and “chief information pusher” on his blog www.selfishgiving.com.

Cross-Media/Integrated Media Campaigns

(Sometimes Called Transmedia)
As with cross-sector partnerships, cross-media (or what is also called
integrated or sometimes transmedia) can greatly increase the impact
of cause marketing campaigns. Integrated media campaigns combine
the impact of multiple marketing and media disciplines. A good ex-
ample of an integrated media campaign combining general advertis-
ing, in-store promotion and social media was the matchup of two
major brands, Pepsi and 7-Eleven. By purchasing a Pepsi product at
7-Eleven locations, proceeds of up to $250,000 were donated to Feed-
ing America, which provides emergency food assistance to 37 million
Americans each year, including 14 million children and three million
seniors. Additionally, customers were able to double their donations
by visiting 7-Eleven’s page on Facebook.
“Studies show that cause-marketing and social media are two criti-
cal ways to reach millennial consumers, a target demographic for both
7-Eleven and Pepsi,” said Jesus Delgado-Jenkins, 7-Eleven’s Senior
Vice President of Merchandising, Marketing and Logistics.

Regardless of an organization’s size, cross-media/integrated media

approaches should be a part of any well-thought-out cross-sector part-
nership or cause marketing campaign. As is my mantra throughout this

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book, small and midsized organizations, whether nonprofit or for-prof-

it, can and should take full advantage of every marketing opportunity.

Striking the Emotional Chords

There is no getting around it. When we see an advertisement or public
service announcement that hits our emotional buttons, we respond to
it, we are drawn to it and in most cases - we remember it. Emotion
sells. And there is no reason not to take advantage of the proven effec-
tiveness of an emotional appeal in cause marketing or any cross-sector
partnership effort.

What to Avoid When Developing a

Cause Marketing Campaign
Even with the best intentions, sometimes among major players who
should know better, cause marketing can go terribly wrong. The man-
tra of cause marketing, indeed of all cross-sector partnerships, is that
the partners need to be well aligned. Their missions, their products or
services and how they present their campaign to the public must make
sense as a partnership. The public becomes skeptical when they smell
or taste that the campaign is purely done to make money. Here are
some bloopers.

Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) Pothole Program

Recognizing the ubiquitous problem that many of our roads and high-
ways have fallen into disrepair, KFC thought that it would be a good
idea if they teamed up with several cities around the country and filled
in those cities’ potholes. So the public would know who was making
this generous donation, KFC painted their bright white logo on top of
the freshly laid asphalt. As you see in this promotional photograph,

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“The Colonel” is pointing his cane at a

recently paved, logo-covered pothole.
So we see potholes filled with oily black
tar, covered with a KFC logo, which will
be run over by cars, slowly but surely eras-
ing the logo. This message has the unin-
tended effect of linking KFC and its heav-
ily-oiled, deep-fried chicken with steaming
oily black tar and inadvertently, brings a
whole new meaning to “road kill.”

I hate to pick on KFC, but if the bucket

fits. After the above-described campaign, Photo courtesy of KFC
they developed a partnership with Susan
G. Komen for the Cure and produced a second highly-questionable
campaign where they really stuck their wing in it.

“Buckets for the Cure” Campaign

KFC and Susan G. Komen for the Cure
launched a campaign in which they printed
pink KFC buckets with the breast cancer rib-
bon and then handed their customers the buck-
et full of fried chicken wings, legs and breasts.
$.50 of the sale of each bucket went to the
charity. What were they thinking? A respected
nonprofit organization dedicated to education
and research about breast cancer promoting
Photo courtesy of KFC
deep-fried food, in pink buckets.
Yoni Freedhoff of Weighty Matters said: “So, in effect, Susan G. Ko-
men for the Cure is helping to sell deep-fried fast food and, in so do-
ing, help fuel unhealthy diet and obesity across America, an odd plan
given that diet and obesity certainly impact on both the incidence and
recurrence of breast cancer.”

What was this campaign really all about? Yes, money. KFC donated
more than $4.2 Million to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the largest

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single donation in organization’s history. Roger Eaton, President of

KFC Corporation said, “This was a campaign that allowed our cus-
tomers to fill up their stomachs and their hearts at the same time.”
Needless to say, this campaign caused a media and consumer contro-
versy which, if only briefly, damaged the credibility of Susan G. Ko-
men… but it made lots of money.

The investor extraordinaire, Warren Buffett, once said, “It takes 20

years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” There is noth-
ing worth the risk of destroying a hard-earned reputation.

The key points I would suggest you take away from this discussion
on what not to do in cause marketing:

• Do absolutely nothing that will hurt your brand. Good reputa-

tions are hard to gain and much harder to regain if lost.

• Never be just about the money; greed is ugly and hard to hide.

• Always put the cause first, which will gain attention, loyalty
and finally, financial success.

• Be unique! Stand out from the crowd! Don’t be a chicken!

(sorry)

Wrapping Up
Cause marketing comes in all shapes and sizes and can be an excep-
tionally effective fund development and brand awareness-generating
program because it:
• Leverages the marketing clout, assets, intelligence and connec-

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tions of organizations from different sectors

• Focuses on doing good, and the public responds very well to

organizations

• Motivates your employees, customers and all stakeholders of

your organization

• Attracts media attention…for free!

• Generates sales and raises donations

• Delivers what one organization can’t possibly do alone

Note: You will find excellent research studies and much more on
cause marketing in the Resource Center.

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PART III HOW TO DEVELOP A CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIP OR CAUSE MARKETING CAMPAIGN

PART III
HOW TO DEVELOP A
CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIP OR
CAUSE MARKETING CAMPAIGN

Now you’re ready. You understand the importance of embedding a

cause consciousness within your organization. You know how cross-
sector partnerships and cause marketing will grow and benefit your or-
ganization. Whether you work for a junior college, a five-person tech-
nology startup, the local chapter of Make -A-Wish foundation, a state
government agency or a large nonprofit or corporation, you are pre-
pared to begin your journey to a more effective and profitable organi-
zation. You might even have a few potential partners in mind or causes
that are particularly important to your employees. As when building a
house, no matter how ambitious your plans, without a well-designed
blueprint, your house may become just a jumble of wood and nails.
I have seen so many mistakes due to misunderstandings between the
sectors - rushing ahead before doing the necessary homework, develop-
ing programs and campaigns without the proper resources in place,
marketing efforts based on the wrong strategy, money wasted and great
ideas that failed because of not wanting to deal with the small details.
So we are going to drill down into some detail. OK, a lot of detail.

And one last thing before we dive in - you may think that you don’t
have the resources, the time, potential partners, or enough relationships
in the community or with media to pull this partnership business off.
Here I will show you that you can be highly successful if you follow
the path and Cross-Sector Partnership Development Process presented
here. So step onto the path and start your amazing journey now.

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Cross-sector Partnership
Development Process

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Assessment
Know Thyself!
Before you start your partner exploration process, you need to analyze
carefully your reasons for wanting a partnership, assess your abilities
and assets, and especially your commitment to deliver your end of the
bargain. A clear understanding and preparedness when entering into
a cross-sector partnership comes only after a comprehensive internal
assessment confirming that you’re ready, willing and able to be a pro-
ductive partner. In other words: you must first know yourself before
you can reach out to others.
Who are you? Most organizations think they have a pretty good
idea of who they are. They may have vision statements, mission state-
ments, standard operating procedures, annual reports and/or press re-
leases that tout their latest products, services, partners, achievements,
etc. However, without analyzing your corporate culture, and especially
how you’re seen by the public, you may not know who you really are.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos described your organization’s brand as

“What people say about you when you’re not in the room.” Your
brand, which is a fancy way of saying your reputation, is not who or
what you think you are but how you are viewed by all who come in
contact with your organization.

Taking the time to develop a clear understanding of what your orga-

nization really stands for and how it is viewed by the public is not only
the necessary foundation for a successful cross-sector partnership, but
for the success of your business in general.

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Before you begin the Assessment Process I present here, I strongly

recommended that this process be led by your senior management,
preferably your CEO or Executive Director. S/he must be involved in
this cross-sector partnership conversation and Assessment Process, at
least in the beginning stages, as this individual sets the overall tone,
direction and strategy of your organization. I suggest that your Assess-
ment Process team include several people from the list below, though a
smaller organization may not have or need this deep a team.

• CEO/Executive Director

• Chief Marketing Officer and/or highest member of your sales

or marketing team

• Director of Community Affairs and/or Public Relations

Director

• Top representatives from your outside creative agencies (PR/

advertising/marketing)

• Director of Human Resources

• A member of your Board of Directors, especially one whose

business is marketing or creative services

• At least one well-respected employee

• At least one volunteer, if applicable

• A recorder: Someone to take detailed notes and serve as the

communications link for all on this assessment team

The entire Assessment Process should take no more than two or

three meetings, especially if notes are provided and next steps are
determined as assignments for each member of the team to prepare
for the next meeting. The length of this process depends greatly on
the commitment of the team, leadership involvement, and how much
work may have already been done by your organization.

In the course of this Assessment Process, problematic issues may

arise - be sure to address them immediately. Such issues rarely go away

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and can be very embarrassing and a waste of time and money if not
handled early and well. The key to this critical exercise is to ascertain
if your company has the motivation, ability, personnel, budget and
leadership to undertake a long-term partnership, with all of its inher-
ent bumps and challenges…and rewards.

The following is the Assessment Process I designed for for-profit or-

ganizations. An electronic copy of this form as well as the Assessment
Process for Nonprofit Organizations can be found at the Resource
Center.

Assessment Process for

For-Profit Organizations
Step 1: What Do You Want to Do?
Have your assessment team brainstorm and write down all of the ideas
and needs that you think would best serve your organization. Here is
a sampling:
• Increase your product or service sales

• Introduce a new product

• Attract new customers

• Increase employee satisfaction and morale

• Generate broader brand recognition

• Attract favorable media coverage

• Help in opening a new office or service area

This is a small sampling indeed, as this list could become very long.
Undoubtedly, new ideas will be added to this list as you go through
the Assessment Process, and certainly when you begin meeting with
potential partners, more and more opportunities come to light. But
it’s good to come to an agreement on the general direction that your
organization wishes to follow.

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Step 2: Assess Your Company and Brand Perception

With the ability to craft your messages through advertising, sales ma-
terials, social media and public relations, all too often organizations
see themselves and thus their brand as what they are promoting ex-
ternally. Nothing is further from the truth. It bears repeating: Your
brand, which equates to your reputation, is what others think of you,
not what you think of yourself. To miss this key fact is to waste an
enormous amount of time and money.
The objective in this second step of your Assessment Process is to
understand as fully as possible how your company is perceived by the
following groups:

• Your employees

• Your customers

• Your suppliers

• Your competitors

• The industry you are in

• The community or markets where you do business

• The media

• Indeed, anyone and everyone who comes in contact with your

company, its products or services

Start Step 2 of your Assessment Process by asking your team the

following questions:

• Have you done a survey of the different stakeholder groups

listed previously to ascertain your brand perception? What
were the results? If you haven’t, this is a must-do first step.

• Does your customers’ brand perception of your company differ

from how you would like to be perceived? How significantly
does it differ?

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• How do your employees describe your brand and your corpo

rate culture? Have you asked them? If not, it is important to
do so.

• How would you/your executive team describe your corporate

culture?

• What are your target market audiences and/or segments?

a) Geographical market areas

b) Demographics of your customers (gender, age, race, etc.)

• What is your history in working within your community, espe-

cially with nonprofit, education or governmental entities?
Describe good experiences and challenging ones.

• What do you currently provide to your community, such as

event sponsorships, cash or in-kind donations, volunteers,
employee matching grants or other services, products or
donations? Please detail.

You should have a pretty good understanding of your organization’s

reputation and brand and will be able to answer most or all of these
questions. If you have contracted with external advertising or PR agen-
cies, they will have probably developed an analysis of your brand in
their creative development of your messaging. If you do not have such
information to answer each of these questions, I suggest you utilize the
simple, inexpensive (basic levels are free) and highly efficient online sur-
vey opportunities from such companies as www.surveymonkey.com or
www.verticalresponse.com. For The Burtch Report, we used the basic
level (10 questions or less) of SurveyMonkey, and each survey was free!

Surveys provide the necessary “snap shot” of where you are and
who you are. In order to develop a successful survey for this book,
Vivek Bhaskaran, CEO of QuestionPro, has generously provided a
step-by-step approach to designing an online survey/questionnaire.
His most helpful approach can be found in the Resource Center under
Survey Development.

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Step 3: Is Your Organization Ready for a Cross-Sector

Partnership or Cause Marketing Campaign?
This is not a rhetorical question. Even though you fully recognize the
benefits to your organization of developing cross-sector partnerships, as
with any business venture, you need to assess whether you are capable
in staff time, financing, and other areas to take on such an effort. Cross-
sector partnerships require a significant investment in time and people to
make them successful, though the results should far outweigh the effort.
Questions:

• Have your CEO, Executive Director, and/or other key leaders

committed personal involvement to developing a cross-sector
partnership?

• Can your organization allocate financial resources to this

endeavor?

• Can your organization assign a respected person to serve as the

primary point of contact with other partners for the duration
of this relationship?

• Does your organization have internal marketing resources with

the ability and time to undertake a long-term cross-sector
partnership?

• Does your organization have consulting and/or external

agencies to help with the creative aspects?

• Does your organization have existing relationships in other

sectors with the potential to become partners in a campaign?

• Does your organization have existing partnerships? Or have

you ever done such a partnership or campaign in the past? If
so, what did you do and what did you learn from these
experiences?

• Is your organization willing to form a transparent partnership

which allows both/all parties to share information essential to

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a successful partnership? (This does not mean confidential

information.)

The following are a few related issues that need to be addressed

to ensure the proper assessment of your potential to take on a cross-
sector partnership.

Executive Buy-In
J. David Pincus, author of the book Top Dog and a leading researcher
in the study of leadership and CEO communication, coined the term
“CCO,” Chief Communications Officer, referring to the vital dual role
the CEO plays in company-wide communication. He commented, “Few,
if any, major organizational initiatives have much chance of succeeding
without the whole-hearted support of and hands-on involvement by the
top executive, for every key constituency takes its cues from that singu-
lar individual who is not only the organization’s de facto leader but its
tone-setter, role model and emotional cheerleader as well.”
This critical role as key influencer is not limited to internal audi-
ences only. Pincus continues, “The commitment of an organization’s
CEO to a particular cause or initiative sends a clear signal to other
business and community organizations who may be asked to partici-
pate. Potential external partners know the highest level of leadership
will be engaged in the endeavor.”

Your CEO (Executive Director for a nonprofit, principal or superin-

tendent for a school system, agency director for government) must be
the champion of your organization’s cross-sector partnership or cause
marketing effort. In most cases he or she will not be the on-going
“point-person” in the relationship, but his/her message must be clear
to all involved: “I am fully committed to this partnership, for the good
that it is doing for our organization, our partners, and society.”

Time and Resource Commitment

Your partnership team must understand that it will be spending at
least six to 12 months in the development and execution of your cross-
sector partnership program or cause marketing campaign. Your team

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and especially your organization’s leadership need to be prepared to

make that type of commitment.

Logo/Intellectual Property
Your organization has important intellectual property that may include
your corporate logo, copyrights, trademarks, marketing slogans and the
like. You may have a style guide or other document that provides very
clear stipulations on how you can use your logo, your brand, your key
messaging in printed or communicated materials. It should go without
saying that nothing in your cross-sector partnership should create any
negative reactions to your reputation or to your intellectual property.

Anything Else?
The assessment questions and related issues I have provided will cover
most of the information and challenges that could arise as you be-
gin to develop your partnership. This list is not exhaustive and other
things may come up in the course of your relationship with your own
organization and certainly when working with partners in other sec-
tors. Avoid no issue: deal with them right away.

Step 4: What Do You Bring to a Partnership?

Now is the time to take a long hard look at what your organization
brings to the partnership. As in a poker game, your chances of win-
ning are far greater if you know what is in your hand before you
worry about what’s in the hands of the other players.
Develop a detailed list of all the assets, people, support agencies,
talents, etc. of what your organization brings to a partnership. Here is
a sample list to begin this important assessment. You should be ready
and prepared to offer to your potential partnership some or all of the
following: begin:

1) A strong brand, name recognition and reputation – local and/

or beyond

2) Executives, management team members and employees com-

mitted to the success of the partnership

3) Senior management support for employees to engage in the

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programs of the partnership, preferably, paid time off for

volunteering hours

4) Employee volunteers interested in participating

5) A valuable service or product to promote, if this is the prior-

ity of your partnership; otherwise, you might just want to
focus on providing a service to your community.

6) Internal creative services

7) External creative resources, PR/Advertising agency

8) In-kind donations of products, services, equipment, office or

meeting space, etc.

9) Business partners that might wish to join and support the

partnership

10) Contacts with the media and important influencers in the

community

11) Management or employees who could become advisors or

board members of partner organizations

12) The sincere desire and commitment to do something good for

your community and world

Step 5: Defining Your Partnership Team

This step of the Assessment Process is to define the management and
staff personnel who will develop and lead the on-going partnership. In
the majority of cases, the on-going partnership team will not include
your CEO but it may include a member of your senior management.
Small organizations might, however, include their CEO or Executive
Director on their partnership team.
Additionally, your on-going partnership team should be made up of:

1) A point-person who will serve as the primary interface between

your organization and the partnership. This point-person should re-
port on a regularly scheduled basis to executive management and your
partnership team.
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This point-person needs to be very well respected at all levels of

your organization to be able to accomplish their task efficiently. In
most cases, this point-person should be selected from your marketing,
community relations or public relations team, as these areas of re-
sponsibility tend to require experience in effective communication and
dealing with diverse external entities and challenges. You also want
someone who has the vision of what might be accomplished and the
optimism that it can actually get done. A lot rides on the success of this
point-person’s role, so choose carefully.

2) A member of your human resources or employee volunteer man-

agement team. These people bring an important perspective of the per-
sonnel and abilities within your organization.

3) An employee whose area of responsibility relates to the project/

ideas under consideration.

4) If feasible, a member of your external public relations and/or ad-

vertising agency. As professionals in the area of community relations,
creativity and media relations, they bring a wealth of ability, impor-
tant contacts and external experiences to the team.

This five-step Assessment Process is the strong foundation upon

which your future partnerships will be based. Take nothing for grant-
ed, do this homework, and make any changes necessary if this As-
sessment Process exposes deficiencies in your communications, your
organization and/or your brand. Indeed, one of the great benefits of
this process is uncovering other important issues to be addressed that
might not have anything to do with the development of an external
partnership.

Once this Assessment Process is complete, you will feel much

more confident and competent as you begin your search for the right
partner(s).

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Stakeholder Engagement
Utilizing Your Full Team
Wikipedia defines a stakeholder as: “Any person, group, organization,
or system who affects or can be affected by an organization’s actions.”
Look around at all the people who are involved in your organization,
both internally and externally: your employees, your customers, your
shareholders, your vendors, your community, your business partners,
government regulators, the media - these are your stakeholders and these
are the people who really matter. These are the people you must pro-
tect, serve and value the most. When you focus your efforts on bringing
value to all your stakeholders, you create the greatest beneficial impact
for your organization. The converse is also true – if your stakeholders
are not engaged, not valued, they have the potential to have a negative,
and sometimes significant, impact on your organization.
Here is a diagram that illustrates the many stakeholders of a typical
for-profit organization.

The stakeholders for a nonprofit organization are very similar. Your

shareholders are your donors, your customers are the people you serve,
your business partners are your volunteers, etc.

As you see, there is an interrelationship, indeed interdependency,

where all stakeholders are involved in a give-and-take relationship
with the organization of which they are stakeholders. At first glance,
it would seem that the relationships are primarily between the orga-
nization and the outer circle of their stakeholders. However, as this

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diagram reflects, the stakeholders themselves can have separate rela-

tionships between themselves, and thus impact and influence the entire
organizational ecosystem.

As we explored earlier, when an employee believes that their orga-

nization has a particularly strong commitment to being a good citizen
in their community, they will loudly and confidently communicate this
belief. Consequently, the stakeholder and communication/effect cycle
is potentially more interrelated. The ramifications can be significant,
as any positive or negative influence a stakeholder has on other stake-
holders can have a corresponding positive or negative influence on the
organization itself.

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The very good news is that when an organization is focused on the

success of all stakeholders, all stakeholders are focused on the success
of the organization. And when an organization is focused on not only
benefiting all stakeholders, but additionally in serving the greater good
through a well-designed and well-executed cross-sector partnership,
your organization will begin to glow.

Your stakeholders will provide an honest critique because they have

a vested interest in the success of your organization. They will provide
creative input, business contacts, perhaps funding, and a myriad of
other assets that will serve your cross-sector partnership endeavors.

Key Objectives
Before beginning the deep dive into what your organization would like
to do through a cross-sector partnership and then defining your key ob-
jectives, there is a critical first step - asking the question: Do you know
your WHY? The products or services your organization provides is
the what you do. The manner in which you deliver these products or
services to your customers or the public is how you do that delivery.
However, the most important question that you and your organization
must determine is why you do what you do. The why must come first.
The why is your driving motivation. It’s what inspires you, your em-
ployees, your donors, indeed all your stakeholders, to take interest in
your organization and to support it wholeheartedly. Without a strong
and articulated why, you are just another nuts-and-bolts organization
(in any sector), and one of the very many.
The similarities to what we have described as a glowing business are

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obviously related to the why. Glow starts from within, and radiates
outwardly, and so does the why. You can’t have a glowing organiza-
tion unless all your stakeholders are inspired and motivated, thrilled
to be involved and thrilled to tell others about this involvement. My
belief is that the best and maybe the only way to create this glow, this
why, is by embedding a cause consciousness into the very essence and
culture of your organization. When your organization stands not just
for your own benefit, but far more importantly, for what you can do
for others and to create a greater good…that’s the glow, that’s the why.

Simon Sinek wrote the terrific book Start With Why. He writes, “By
WHY I mean, what is your purpose, cause or belief?” And further on,
“People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.” And
my favorite line: “… all those who share the organization’s view of the
world will be drawn to it and its products like a moth to a light bulb.”
Or in our case, a firefly!

With the understanding of your WHY firmly in place, now you can
move on to what you want to do. We have explored the multiple ben-
efits that can come from a cross-sector partnership. But practically
speaking, your organization must choose the specific objective or a
very short list of priorities that are the highest priorities. For example,
you may decide that your top priority is to raise the sales revenue of a
particular product or service, provide employee volunteer opportuni-
ties in your community or to open up a new store or business location.
If you are a nonprofit, your primary objectives may be to increase your
donor base, fund and open a new project or program, attract corpo-
rate volunteers, develop an earned income opportunity, etc.

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To assist in determining your “What do you want to do?” process,

you may wish to utilize the two “Top 10” lists: Benefits a for-profit
organization can receive by working with a nonprofit organization
and Benefits a nonprofit organization can receive by working with a
for-profit organization, provided earlier in this book, or preferably, re-
view the complete lists of benefits which can be found in the Resource
Center.

Now you have over 30 distinct benefits your organization may be

able to receive in a cross-sector partnership and these will serve as a
guide in determining which objectives would have the greatest positive
impact on the needs, challenges or opportunities facing your organi-
zation. When developing your strongest case for what will work best
for your organization, and in due course what will provide the best
partnership opportunity, you need to select from these ideas or objec-
tives your top three, and then very clearly, define and agree upon your
number one objective.

Have your team answer these questions:

• What is the number one objective that would have the greatest
impact on our organization? This top priority may be all you
need for the focus of your campaign. Clearly define it in one
sentence.

• If you have a second objective, define it but make it second in

your effort.
• If you have a third objective, define it but make it third in your
effort.

By defining your top objectives, and especially by selecting one as

your top objective, you significantly increase your potential for a suc-
cessful project or campaign. If you try to address too many objectives
you will weaken the energy, resources and talent, and potentially not
accomplish any of your objectives.

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Partner Development
Let’s Go Exploring!
Before we start off on our exploration for partners, there is a criti-
cal concept - alignment- that must be well understood. The correct
alignment between your organization and a potential partner is of
paramount importance and must be the filter through which all of
your discussions, meetings and decisions are viewed. By alignment I
mean that when put side by side, your brand aligns with their brand
and your values with their values so that this partnership is intellectu-
ally, emotionally and practically compatible. It must make sense to the
partners and especially to the public. This critical need for the proper
partnership alignment is also referred to as “brand fit.”
As we saw in what I feel was the stunningly poor example of brand
fit between Kentucky Fried Chicken and Susan G. Komen in the “Buck-
ets for the Cure” campaign, the wrong product or service alignment
can be disastrous for a cross-sector partnership or cause marketing
campaign, and more importantly, to an organization’s reputation.

In your Assessment Process, you looked at your brand, what your

organization stands for and the reputation of your company in the mar-
ketplace. This is the starting point of your alignment process. Appro-
priate brand fit is fairly obvious. If you are a grocery store, for example,
an appropriate brand alignment would be to work with your local food
bank or a homeless shelter. If you are a construction or hardware supply
company, Habitat for Humanity or Rebuilding Together would provide
outstanding alignment because your business expertise, employee tal-

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ents and your knowledge of construction materials are needed in the

building or remodeling of homes.

This alignment creates a natural flow when integrating the mission

and cause of your partners into your own organization’s culture. It just
makes sense - to you, to your organization, to your partners, to the pub-
lic - to all you wish to attract to the cause.

Here are two examples of excellent alignment:

An Appetizing Trio: Campbell’s Soup, Susan G. Komen

for the Cure and Kroger Stores
This campaign goes back a few years but provides one of the best ex-
amples I’ve ever seen of the right brand alignment and a gusty creative
idea involving one of the world’s most recognizable brands. This three-
partner campaign did an amazing thing: it took the 140-year-old iconic
red and white brand of Campbell’s soup, changed it to pink and white,
and added a pink ribbon. For the one-month campaign, they placed
these pink and white cans in 2,500 Kroger stores, a major Midwestern
supermarket chain. Kroger promoted the fundraising/awareness-raising
campaign throughout the region of each store, but most importantly,
the in-store displays drew exceptional attention to the new pink cans
and naturally, to the cause. Campbell’s donated 3.5 cents for each can
that was sold to Susan G. Komen. During this one-month campaign,
sales of Campbell’s soup doubled in the 2,500 participating Kroger
stores. As the success of the campaign began to grow, many store man-
agers set up additional displays of the pink and white Campbell’s soup
cans outside of their normal location in the soup section, increasing
exposure and thus creating additional sales.
In its first year, this cause marketing promotion generated sales of
over seven million cans of Campbell’s soup, which netted approxi-
mately $250,000 to the charitable organization. Importantly, the seven
million cans of soup went into homes and reinforced the partnership
message of supporting breast cancer research. It doesn’t take a market-
ing wizard to realize that when you have such a successful campaign,
you should do it again. So the following year the partners executed

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basically the same one-month campaign in the 2,500 Kroger stores

and sold over 14 million cans of Campbell’s soup!

A Daring Duo: Barefoot Wine

and Surfrider Foundation

A more recent example of excellent brand fit or alignment is the part-

nership between Barefoot Wine and the Surfrider Foundation, whose
mission is the protection and enjoyment of oceans, waves and beaches.
Together they created the Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project to help
keep America’s beaches “barefoot friendly.” The partnership hosted
beach cleanups and restoration events coast-to-coast, utilizing volun-
teers to clean the shorelines, plant native greenery and collect litter
along the beaches. At the end of each event, volunteers enjoyed Bare-
foot Wine and surf-inspired food. Aligning a brand like Barefoot Wine
with the surfing-originated and water-focused Surfrider Foundation is
an example of excellent alignment. Even the events themselves empha-
sized this barefoot-friendly fit.
The campaign won the Cause Marketing Forum’s 2012 “Halo
Award” for Best Environmental or Animal Campaign. And while the
campaign and both organizations are national in scope, this type of
cause-related campaign could just as well have been orchestrated with
any community park, beach or swimming pool partnering with local
businesses related to water sports. It’s about finding the right idea and
the right brand fit.

Finding a Partner
Everyone is going after the Fortune 500 corporations or the top 50
nationally-known charitable organizations. The competition at this

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level is fierce, for their attention and a potential partnership. In most

cases, I advise against jumping into that fray. However, if you have a
fairly small organization (in any sector) in a fairly small community,
you may not have many sizable organizations to choose from. Don’t
let that stop you. There are plenty of great but smaller partner oppor-
tunities to work with and they usually will be much easier to approach
OK, now is the time to put on your most comfortable hiking boots,
pull out the well-worn jeans, clean the old binoculars and fill the water
bottle - you’re about to go exploring. Be confident, you are fully pre-
pared to enter the wonderful world of cross-sector partnerships. We
are going to explore how to find a nonprofit partner and how to find
a for-profit partner. This exploration works just as well when seeking
partners from the education and government sectors.

“Established For-Profit Seeks Nonprofit

Partner for Mutual Opportunities”
While it’s not quite as easy as placing a classified ad, you are on the
search to find a partner to help provide the business objectives you are
seeking. You are also about to undertake an out-of-the-box experience
and educational journey. There is so much to learn and so much to en-
joy as you reach out into the nonprofit and educational communities
or even seek a government partner. With approximately 1.6 million
nonprofit organizations in the United States alone, there are bound to
be one or two that best match the criteria of your search.

Involve Your Stakeholders

A great place to start your partner exploration is with those people
closest to your organization. I suggest that you hold an all-staff meet-
ing (even if there are only two to three people “on staff”) and invite a
board member, a few customers, friends in the media, volunteers, busi-
ness partners, etc. Begin this session by clearly stating the following key
factors supporting your decision to seek a cross-sector partnership.
• The results of your Assessment Process, so that all employees/
stakeholders understand the work that has been done, and
especially, the CEO/leadership commitment involved in devel-

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oping a cross-sector partnership program.

• The why of this effort. You must communicate why a partner-
ship is important to your organization and most especially,
why you feel a partnership will benefit those whom the non-
profit organization serves - the greater good. It is the why that
attracts others to your cause.
• The what: The one to three top objectives you have selected.
Keep them in their proper order, though be flexible in case
something comes up in your partnership search that might, for
very good reason, reorder your objectives.
• Use the list of benefits as a guide to explore as many potential
benefits as possible.
The purpose of this meeting with your internal team and others is
to begin the process of developing a master list of your best potential
partners, and once those are determined, narrow your focus down to
your top three and no more than five best candidates. Before selecting
March of Dimes as our best partner with Marriott’s Great America, we
reviewed approximately 20 regional nonprofit organizations, selected
our top five, interviewed three, and selected the organization which best
met our mutual marketing objectives. Fortunately, March of Dimes
agreed with our selection.

Other Resources for Seeking a Nonprofit Partner

What may have come out of the above processes is not a particular
nonprofit but possibly an area of interest or cause, such as working
with underserved children, providing shelter for the homeless, sup-
porting a particular cancer treatment or medical ailment. Also take
advantage of the several online resources which will help guide and
narrow your search.

UniversalGiving.org
UniversalGiving.org is an award-winning website and 501(c)(3) non-
profit organization that helps people give and volunteer with the top-
performing projects all over the world. All projects are vetted through

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UniversalGiving’s trademarked, proprietary Quality Model™ and

100% of each donation goes directly to the cause. This site is easy to
use and provides opportunities to donate and volunteer with nonprofit
organizations all over the world. Importantly, they do the due diligence
on these organizations so that you know they have met UniversalGiv-
ing’s stringent requirements.

CharityNavigator.org
This is also a great site to find organizations in your areas of interest.
It breaks down nonprofit organizations by categories such as human
services, health, environment, education, arts and culture, animals,
etc. In addition to providing detailed information, it also provides a
rating system, from one to four stars, with four being the top rating.
I have found Charity Navigator’s presentation format easy to follow
and understand. The search box at the top of the Charity Navigator
works best if you know the name of the charity, and like UniversalGiv-
ing, you can type in keywords such as your subject area and location
and find a multitude of organizations.

GuideStar.org
Guide Star is another terrific resource for finding detailed informa-
tion on nearly every nonprofit in the United States and beyond. You
will find the leadership of the organization, detailed descriptions, and
importantly, copies of each nonprofit’s 990 IRS forms. One of the ben-
efits of working with 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations is that they
must submit this 990 form tax document annually to the IRS. These
forms allow the IRS and the public to understand how nonprofits
operate and provide detailed financial information. Reviewing these
forms gives you a clear view of the financial stability of the organiza-
tion and also how they spend their money.
GuideStar works best when you know the name of the particular
organization you are seeking. However, you can use their “Advanced
Search” tab to search by subject matter.

Local Resources
If you are seeking nonprofit partners that are more local in nature, es-

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pecially organizations that might not be affiliated with national chari-

ties, many area Chambers of Commerce will have nonprofit listings on
their websites. Many cities also provide local business and nonprofit
listings. For example, in my county of Marin, California, the website
Marin.com provides a comprehensive community listing of nonprofit
organizations and businesses.
Other organizations, such as volunteer centers and foundation cen-
ters, can be found online and in most major cities, where an enor-
mous amount of information has been gathered. It’s free in most cases.
These centers usually have libraries that provide publications, printed
and online directories, and other valuable information.

Consider What the Public Finds Most Appealing

While popularity is certainly not the most important factor when de-
termining which organization, project, cause or issue would provide
the best focus in selecting a nonprofit partner, knowing that an issue
has strong consumer interest should be taken into consideration.
For the past five years, Edelman, the world’s largest public relations
agency, has conducted a Goodpurpose® study. According to the Edel-
man website, this annual global research study “explores consumer at-
titudes around social purpose, including their commitment to specific
societal issues and their expectations of brands and corporations.”
The 2012 survey was conducted in 16 countries among 8,000 adults.
The following graphic from the study provides a ranking of what con-
sumers care most about.

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A Word of Warning
As part of your due diligence in exploring potential partners, be on
alert for areas of potential controversy. For instance, some organiza-
tions have an exceptionally high cost of fundraising as compared to the
money they put into their services. This can be a turnoff to the media,
the public and to funding sources you may wish to partner with. Guide
Star and Charity Navigator have rating systems and other information
on this overhead/fundraising to services provided cost ratio. And always
conduct a web search on the organizations you are exploring, looking
especially for any media coverage that might be negative. If there has
been any controversy in the recent past, it is usually a good idea to avoid
a partnership with this organization until its reputation improves.
Have no doubt; you will find several organizations that fit the criteria
you’re seeking. So by all means, choose partners that enjoy the highest
reputation, solid management and are void of controversy. The partner-
ship should reflect well on all parties.

“Attractive Nonprofit Seeks Motivated For-Profit

Partner for Long-Term Relationship”
Oh, if it were only that simple. The steps and criteria when you are
a nonprofit organization wishing to set up a partnership with a for-
profit company are nearly identical as a for-profit seeking a nonprofit,
educational or government partnership. Your partnership develop-
ment team should:
• Undertake the Assessment Process

• Define your top one to three business objectives in seeking a

cross-sector partnership

• Hold a brainstorming session to develop a short list of potential

for-profit partner candidates

• Communicate with all of your stakeholders the business

objectives and seek their input as to appropriate for-profit
partners and particular personal contacts they might provide

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Web Search
Having completed the above steps you will have a preliminary list of
potential candidates, and you may add to that list as your investiga-
tion for the best aligned partner candidates continues. With this list
in hand, read their website, especially looking for employee volunteer
activities, community relations or corporate social responsibility sec-
tions, mission statements, messages from their leadership, their annual
report and press releases. Also search the web to find anything and ev-
erything that’s been published in the media, industry associations and
other information about the organization. Again, keep a sharp eye out
for anything that might be seen as controversial.
To expand your search beyond this initial list, do an online keyword
search using city, area of interest, and other criteria and you will be
able to find for-profit organizations that fit the parameters set up by
your partnership development team.

LinkedIn
If you are not currently a member of the web-based, primarily busi-
ness-focused database LinkedIn, I recommend that you join immedi-
ately. There is no cost for the basic service and there is an enormous
amount of information on people and companies that will serve your
partnership search. Once you have identified particular companies
of interest by searching LinkedIn, you will find profiles of executives
working for that organization and you may find people within your
network who are connected directly to those executives. If you are
provided with a particular name, the LinkedIn “Profile” will provide
an excellent background on that person. It is a very helpful source for
information and networking.

Hoovers.com
Hoovers is a subsidiary of Dun & Bradstreet, a business research com-
pany. Hoovers provides detailed information on most for-profit or-
ganizations in the United States, if they are of any size. They offer a
free level of service which provides basic information such as location,
address, telephone number, key executives and a short list of their

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primary competitors. In most cases, there’s little reason to pay for a

higher level of service.

Business Journals
Another good source is the Business Journal or Business Times which
are published weekly in larger U.S. cities. And many communities will
have a business-focused magazine. Many of them publish an annual
Book of Lists, which is a comprehensive compilation of the largest 50
to 100 companies in a myriad of business categories, such as largest
public companies, largest private companies, fastest growing, etc. The
Book of Lists will provide the organization, area of business, address,
telephone number, CEO and other pertinent information.
In many cities, the Business Times/Journal will also publish an an-
nual Giving Guide, which highlights the major philanthropy and non-
profit work within their community. This is a great source for finding
out which nonprofit organizations are receiving funding from for-
profit companies. It will offer profiles and other information to guide
your understanding of these partnerships, and provide ideas for your
own partnerships.

Of course, the business section of your local newspaper is helpful, es-

pecially if they have online search capability, though I have found busi-
ness journals and these special editions to be more targeted and easier
for finding a lot of information quickly.

Chambers of Commerce
Most communities of some size will have a Chamber of Commerce, and
if you go to the Chamber of Commerce’s website, most of these websites
will list a “Member’s Directory” and present all the members of their
Chamber, usually by the category of their business, such as banks, at-
torneys, printers, PR/advertising agencies, and the like.
These listings will usually give you the name of the organization, ad-
dress and a website, though rarely have I found they provide the key
person or their email. Again, if you find organizations of interest but
have no direct contact, one or more of your stakeholders may know a
member personally and provide an introduction.

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Volunteer and Foundation Centers

Utilizing a volunteer or foundation center can be highly productive, as
there is so much information in one location, and many times the center
will have subscriptions to fee-based services, which they will provide
free to you. They also have paid and volunteer staff trained to help you.

Focus Your Search on the Marketing Department

The budgets of a corporate marketing and sales department are be-
tween 100 and 1,000 times larger than the budgets of their foundation
or their philanthropic giving. Consequently, it is in the marketing and
sales department that you will find the big partnership money, and
your largest opportunity.
As an example, the Gap Foundation, which is highly effective in
developing strong community improvement efforts, provides approxi-
mately $1 million a year in community funding. By comparison, Gap
Inc. spent over $70 million in advertising for the Gap division alone in
2010, and the overall advertising budget of Gap, Inc. (which includes
Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic and other retail brands) exceeded
$115 million in 2003. I would presume this spending has gone up sig-
nificantly since then, thus the Gap Foundation budget is far less than
1% of their combined advertising budget.

The marketing department provides other overall business and sales

strategies for the for-profit organization. And in most cases, the sales
department, public relations department, public affairs and commu-
nity relations departments reside within the marketing department. So
open this door first.

Seeking an Educational Partner

There is little argument that our school systems are in dire need of sup-
port, especially in lower- economic regions or sections of our larger
cities. As we discussed with Art from the Heart, so many children are
without art or music programs, and also physical education classes and
other activities many of us grew up with in our schools and took for
granted. The lack of these programs is devastating on the creative and

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physical development of our children. Partnerships with the education

sector provide the opportunity to do good for our schools and our youth
in schools, and such partnerships can create an emotional impact and
attractiveness for funding, media coverage, interpersonal engagement
and other valuable benefits to all partners and stakeholders involved.
In other words, schools are right and ripe for partnerships. Here are
two examples of innovative cross-sector educational partnerships:

Hire for Education

Hire for Education was a partnership developed by the recruitment
process outsourcing company Accolo (www.accolo.com). When an in-
dividual or organization provides a referral for a job opening through
their online system, Accolo will provide a donation to your school. All
you have to do is put the school’s reference number in their online sys-
tem for the donation to be activated. It’s simple, highly effective and
profitable for schools.

Kohl’s Cares
Kohl’s, a department store chain, won the Cause Marketing Forum’s
2011 Halo Award for educational program. Kohl’s launched the Kohl’s
Cares $10 Million Contest, which awarded $500,000 to the top 20
vote-getting schools for a total of $10 million. Facilitated by Facebook,
the contest asked customers, parents, teachers, school supporters and
students, “What would your favorite K-12 school do with a half mil-
lion dollars?”…and then opened the entries up for online voting.
I’m not a fan of such contests (popularity or audience size-focused)
where you vote for your favorite…unless there are thousands of win-
ners. However, this particular contest/campaign enrolled 82% of eligible
schools in the country, again demonstrating the serious need for funding.

These are just four examples of local, regional and national educa-
tional cross-sector partnership programs and opportunities. The po-
tential of forming partnerships to support our schools and the resul-
tant benefits to the partners is seemingly endless. And, needless to say,
the schools are waiting for your partnership.

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Seeking a Government Partner

The competition for government-funded grants is extraordinarily
challenging, as much or possibly even more than seeking funding from
corporate or independent foundations. Taking funding out of the
equation, what is many times overlooked are the multiple opportuni-
ties for cross-sector partnerships utilizing the knowledge, reach and
influence that working with the government can provide.
Fishing in the City is an excellent example of how the California
State Department of Fish and Game was able to establish multi-sector
partnerships, bring their information (and fish!) into classrooms, and
provide an educational experience for all involved. While they brought
much to the table, they didn’t bring funding. That was provided by the
other partners involved in the program.

Karen Baker, California Secretary of Service and Volunteering, has

instigated several innovative programs bringing the private, nonprofit
and public sectors together. She knows that government could play a
much larger role than it is now providing. “What’s really missing in
this (partnership) discussion is the role of government, but the limita-
tion is that government (financial) resources are scarce. What I’m also
equally intrigued by is people really don’t know how to get into the
public (government) sector space as a partner. Most of the profession-
als that I’ve met have only done the private and nonprofit deals.”

Adding government’s non-financial resources to your partnership

can greatly expand your reach and influence. Don’t overlook this op-
portunity.

Focusing on Your Best Potential Partners

At this point you will have a short list (three to five maximum) of non-
profit, for-profit, educational or government partners that seem to best
fit the criteria of working with you in a cross-sector partnership. Prefer-
ably, you will be able to reduce that list to your top two or three orga-
nizations so that you can concentrate your information gathering. You
might have easily found one particular organization that seems to stand
out and meet all of your partnership criteria. However, this immediate

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match-made-in-partnership-heaven is rare. I strongly recommend that

you investigate at least two or three potential partners at this stage.
Do not rush forward to set up an in-person meeting with these po-
tential partners, either. First you need to focus your alignment lens and
make sure you have pulled together and analyzed all the information
you can find about these organizations. It is critical that you do this
analysis first and avoid potential problems, financial and otherwise,
that may arise as you get further into your partnership discussions.

These two or three organizations should meet the following criteria:

• Their organizational mission is well-aligned with your organi-

zation

• They reasonably match your organization in size and market-

ing region

• The organization is not controversial

• The organization is financially stable, preferably successful and

growing

• The organization has a primary audience (age, gender, geo-

graphical, interests, etc.) that is the same or similar to your
organization or the audiences you want to address

• The organization is one with whom your team would be excited and
passionate about forming a long-term, strategic partnership

When you have done your homework and feel right about a poten-
tial partnership with these selected organizations, you will radiate the
enthusiasm that says you’re about to enter a win-win relationship. I
cannot emphasize enough the importance of this preparation, the con-
fidence it will give you and how beneficially this positive attitude will
influence the potential partner sitting across the table.

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Developing a Partnership
The partner development process is nearly identical for all sectors. If
an example presented here speaks more to the for-profit sector, just
imagine the same situation from your own sector’s perspective, and
vice-versa.

Approaching Your Potential Partners

Now that you’re confident in your two or three best candidates for
partnership, begin the approach process. Ideally, in your discussions
with your employees and other stakeholders, you have been given
the names of high-level contacts at these potential partners. The very
best approach is to ask your contacts to set up a three-way, in-person
meeting with their contact at each of the potential partner organiza-
tions. Don’t be shy about this – you want an in-person meeting, or at
the very least, a three-way telephone conversation to begin the pro-
cess. In asking your contacts for an introduction, make sure that they
have a clear understanding of why you want to meet this particular
person and what the value will be to the contact’s organization. Your
contact should be enthusiastic about you and your organization so
that this enthusiasm will transfer to who they are contacting on your
behalf.

In most cases, this is purely a “get acquainted” meeting, so it’s best

that this first meeting is just the three of you. It’s less formal and more
comfortable to look each other in the eye and see if there’s any chem-
istry or reason to go forward with your potential partnership discus-
sions. It’s best if you go to your potential partner’s organization for
this meeting, or meet in a neutral place, like the local coffee shop.

A Suggested Approach
Plan carefully how you want to approach your personal contact to ask
for her/his help. Don’t take chances with this and just shoot from the
hip. You have too much to lose if your contact is not enthusiastic and
knowledgeable about your ideas or desire for their help.

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Here is a suggested opening of a conversation with your friend/

contact:

Hi Sue. I have some very exciting news. It hasn’t been announced

publicly yet, but we are going to open up a new Ramos Building and
Supplies store in Cleveland. We don’t have a store there, and we want
the Cleveland community to know that we are going to be good neigh-
bors and good community citizens, as we have been in our other loca-
tions. I know that you’re friends with one of the board members of
the Shelter for the Homeless chapter in Cleveland, and I read that they
are opening a new shelter. I think there’s a wonderful opportunity for
us to provide volunteers from our new store and some building sup-
plies to this great organization, but I don’t know anyone there. Could
I ask you the favor of setting up a meeting between your friend on the
Board or with their executive director and myself? And would you
please attend this meeting? Having you there would show that we’re
very serious about working with them.

Sue will have more questions and you will go into a bit more detail.
However, when she makes the call to set up a three-way meeting she
will be enthusiastic knowing that this new store could be very help-
ful to the nonprofit organization in Cleveland. She will want to help
you… and the board member and/or executive director will be look-
ing forward to the meeting, knowing that there is good potential value
in it for their organization. You are set up for success even before the
first meeting.

A Word of Caution:
When asking for this meeting, your friend/contact may say, “Just drop
my name and I’m sure they will meet with you.” This is an easy way
for your friend/contact to believe they are helping you without really
getting personally involved. But, they must get personally involved!
From my experience, this “drop my name” approach rarely works.
And indeed, the higher level you go, the less successful this not-so-per-
sonal approach becomes. Having your friend/contact personally set up
and attend this first meeting not only guarantees that you get the in-
person or over the phone meeting, but most importantly, your contact

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serves as your advocate for the beginning of a trusting relationship

between the organizations.

How Much Time Should You Ask For?

I have found these first meetings have lasted anywhere from 20 min-
utes to an hour and a half, so ask for 30 minutes. By asking for 30
minutes you are being respectful of their time, and this respectful ap-
proach will help get you the appointment.

How much time is enough, or what is too much? Several years ago
an associate and I had a meeting at Sun Microsystems to introduce a
new service opportunity. In setting up the appointment I had asked
for 30 minutes. At the 25 minute mark, I could tell that my associate
thought that we should wrap up our discussion. However, our Sun
counterpart was fully engaged in the discussion, so we continued. At
45 minutes, my associate closed her notebook in what I thought was
an inappropriate way of saying, “It’s time for us to leave.” I looked
over at our counterpart and said, “I see that we have gone consider-
ably past the time I had requested and I want to honor this time com-
mitment.” To which she said, “No, I want to understand more about
this offering... let’s continue.” We left after an hour and 15 minutes,
and it was a very successful first meeting.

When You Don’t Have a Personal Introduction

Getting to the right contact at an organization is always the most chal-
lenging part in beginning your partnership search. If you don’t know
anyone personally and your stakeholders or friends aren’t able to pro-
vide an inside track to a key executive as a good partner candidate…
here is a proven technique that I use.

If the company is fairly large, I will go to their website and look for
the “Investor Relations” or “Press Relations.” Many times this will
be a separate section or might be listed under the section “About Our
Company.” Usually there you will find a link to recent press releases
and in most cases, at the bottom of that press release there is a press
contact name, an e-mail or telephone number. This person may not be

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the person that you eventually want to talk to, but this person knows
everybody at the executive level of their organization because they
write and sometimes speak for the organization’s executives. In the
vast majority of cases you will find these people to be quite friendly
and helpful. After all, you don’t put mean people in your public rela-
tions or media department!

Be sure to prepare a few key points that you wish to discuss with
them about your interest in their organization, and especially, the value
you can bring to them. Write these points down and have them ready
for your conversation. The faster you get to the value you can bring
them, the more likely they will keep you on the phone and eventually,
help you. You do not want to read a script to them, but pretty close to
that. Rehearse your opening so that it comes across naturally.

Here’s an example of a good opening:

Hi Tomas, This is Janet Moore, Executive Director of Shelter for the

Homeless in Cleveland. I just read that Ramos Building and Supplies
is going to open a new store here. I believe your employees would ben-
efit from working hand-in-hand on a new community project we are
developing. The local TV station has already requested an interview
about it, so I know this project is going to receive great press coverage.

Would you be able to give me the name and direct telephone num-
ber or e-mail of the person in charge of community partnerships?

Right up front you’re telling this person you are bringing something
of value to their organization. They will likely realize that you may
be helping the public relations and media relations with this potential
relationship. Do not talk about the needs of your organization at this
point. If for some reason they’re not clear on who might be the best
person to provide a contact, suggest the director of marketing, direc-
tor of public relations or director of community affairs.

There is the possibility that you might be connected immediately to

the right contact. I’ll never forget the time I was connected by their me-
dia person on this first “cold call” to the office of the CEO of a major
corporation… and the CEO answered the phone! Luckily I had pre-
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pared my short pitch and had practiced what I was going to say. So once
I got over my brief shock… I went into my reason for wanting to set up
a meeting. He said he was interested in this opportunity but that I re-
ally needed to talk to his director of community relations. And get this:
He would have this person call me… and she did. WOW!! I could’ve
messed up this wonderful opportunity if I had not been prepared.

Another time, I was trying to find the marketing director in North-

ern California for a major mobile phone company, and I couldn’t find
the person’s name, title or contact information anywhere I searched.
So I did an Internet search and found out that their corporate head-
quarters was in Dallas, Texas and their corporate phone number was
listed. I called the main number in Dallas and asked to be connected
with their director of marketing for Northern California. She asked
me to hold, and in a matter of a few seconds I was transferred to that
marketing director’s cell phone, in Northern California….and she an-
swered! This was amazing. The only problem - during the call I had
to politely ask for her name!

So start with the media relations/public relations people because

they are usually not the executive gatekeepers (those who are paid
specifically not to let you talk to the executives!) and being far enough
from the executives, they’re usually more willing to give out internal
information and hopefully connect you directly to the right person.

A word of caution: If you are a nonprofit organization contacting a

for-profit organization, in many cases you will hear, “There is a grant
application form on our website you need to fill out first.” Stop…do
not go there, unless as a last resort. You must communicate that this
is not a donation request. Gently explain that you are not looking for
funding or a sponsorship but that you have a business partnership
opportunity you think would work best for their public relations or
marketing department. You must have your pitch ready and practiced
to get around these challenges.

Remember: Any open door into the organization is the right door.
If for some reason you strike out finding a good contact name, anoth-
er great entry point at most organizations is their Human Resources

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(HR) department. And in many cases, it is the HR department that

directs employee relations and their community involvement. So defi-
nitely check them out.

Send a Personal Letter of Introduction

If you don’t have a friend/contact who can set up a personal meeting,
and you haven’t been able to gain entry through more unconventional
approaches, at least you should now have the name, title and address
of a high-level contact as your potential partner. The next best ap-
proach is to send a short letter to this contact. Yes, a personal, on real
paper stationary with a stamp, letter. When was the last time you got
a personal, stamped and signed letter? Didn’t it get your attention?
Rarely do people send letters anymore because e-mail is so easy. But
e-mail is impersonal, especially to someone you don’t know. If you
want to grab their attention and show you have an important propo-
sition that will bring value to their organization…send this personal
letter. To make a good first impression, this introductory letter must be
short, no longer than 10-12 short sentences.

When I was developing a marketing and partnership program for

the USS Potomac Association, which owned Franklin Delano Roos-
evelt’s 1936 presidential yacht, we had stationery featuring the official
Presidential Seal. You can imagine the impact this envelope and statio-
nery had when it hit the desk of the recipient, with its red, white, blue
and gold embossed presidential insignia! Your stationery might not be
quite that impressive, but I assure you it will be far more impressive
than an e-mail.

Here are my recommendations for a successful introduction letter:

• The opening line must grab their attention by talking to the

value that you can bring them. This will keep them reading. If
you are being referred by someone, absolutely use that refer-
ence as your first sentence. Be sure to say why he/she feels you
and this person should get together. Your opening should be
something like: “Last year a partnership we developed with Re-
building Together generated a 20% increase in donations.

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I would like to explore…” Once you have grabbed their attention,

move into why you feel the alignment between your organizations
makes sense.

• In your research, you have chosen these potential partner orga-

nizations because they seem to have a good alignment with your
organization. You know their key messages and what their CEO
or Executive Director has been saying in the media or in their
press releases about their organization’s role in their community.
So, in your message you want to show a strong alignment be-
tween your organization and what they are saying with their
public messaging. Ideally, you want to parrot back to them
what they are saying, without ing the exact words. You will
sound in line with their philosophy because you are saying what
they have already said.

By the way, do not mention that you are talking with other organi-
zations. That question might come up when you are in a face-to-face
meeting, but at this point it could be negative to your efforts.

• Tell them why you want to help, the problem you’re trying to
address, such as the need for the community to have a new
homeless shelter. Briefly explain why your organization might be
uniquely positioned to help make this shelter happen.

• Tell them a little bit about your organization, and if possible,

something that has been successful that would relate to what
is important to them. This should only be two or three sentences
max.

• If you are a nonprofit approaching a for-profit, you might want

to emphasize that a relationship with your organization would
be most attractive to your local media, would create strong
community awareness of their involvement, serve as a fun
project and morale boost for their employees, or other realistic
benefits.

• End the letter with a specific request, a call-to-action. I can’t tell

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you how many times I have seen letters, e-mails or other pitches
that have no call-to-action at the end. It’s like a car salesman
telling you all the benefits of the new car model, then never
asking you to buy it. You must close the deal, even if the deal is
just to get that first appointment. So at the end of your message
or letter, ask for a specific appointment time and suggest a few
specific ones that work for your schedule. For example: “Would
you be available on June 17, any time between 9-11:30 a.m., or
on the 18th during the same time frame?” Offering this time
frame will help reduce the all-too-often back and forth schedul-
ing challenge. And it might make your contacts immediately
look at their calendar, which is exactly what you want them to do.

Note: This first letter is not and should not be a proposal. It is way too
early to get into detail, so do not overwhelm them with your ideas. You
have one goal: to get a personal face-to-face meeting. You do not want
to give them any reason to say, “I saw your proposal and I’m not inter-
ested.” And this reaction will happen many times if you put too much
information and ideas into your introductory letter. Most importantly,
never put a dollar amount in this letter. At this early point you really
have no idea the best financial relationship between your organizations.

In many ways, this letter is a tease, and the more concisely written,
focusing on a couple of key points as to why you feel this partnership
is well-aligned and brings benefit to their organization, the better the
chance of your arousing their interest and getting that all-important
face-to-face meeting.

I have put a sample letter in the Resource Center for your review.

When All Else Fails…Send an E-Mail

Of course, the far less attractive approach is sending an e-mail. The
problem with e-mail is that busy executives receive an enormous
amount, and the higher the level of the executive, the higher the prob-
ability they have an administrative assistant/gatekeeper who monitors
all e-mail coming in. This person decides what is important for the
executive to see… and what to ignore.

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Finding the correct e-mail address of an executive in a large organi-

zation of any kind can be difficult. But if you do, your e-mail should
mirror almost exactly what you would put in the letter we described
above, but be even shorter. The only major difference with sending e-
mail is that your subject line is the make or break first thing you need
to focus on. The subject line must grab their attention because you
must get the e-mail opened if you want to have any chance of it being
read. Remember, you are up against an enormous amount of e-mail
competition with any executive.

Examples of Attention-Grabbing E-Mail Subject Lines:

• Susan Bishop thinks you’ll like this idea (But only if you are re-
ally being referred by Susan!)

• Our nonprofit can drive more business into your stores

• Soon KGO TV 7 will be talking about you (Tease that this idea
will cause a lot of news)

• Our employees want to help (Insert name of their organization)

• This event broke all records last year (Asking for a sponsorship/
partnership for an event)

You can think of a lot more subject lines, but the important point
once again: you must grab your potential partner’s attention. Be sure,
however, that you don’t sound like you are selling anything…or your
message will never get opened.

I have put a sample email in the Resource Center for your review.

The Introductory Phone Call

Armed with your personal contact’s introduction, or with the name,
title and telephone number of the person you want to reach, you may
feel confident just picking up the phone and calling. However, unless
you are experienced at making such over-the-phone (or “cold call”)
introductions, you run the risk of killing the opportunity before it ever
gets off the ground.

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I strongly recommend that you start by sending the introductory

letter or email. In your letter you can present your thoughts in the
most convincing order; you will better position the alignment; you
will clearly present the benefits and other key point, and close with a
strong call-to-action, all on your terms. It is much, much harder to do
this on an introductory “cold” phone call.

Voicemail
If you must make that phone call, be prepared to hear an answering
machine. Or in the best of cases, reach the executive’s administrative
assistant. Ask if you can leave a voicemail for the executive about a
business opportunity with your organization. Leaving a message on
voicemail is always challenging. You are forced to say a lot in a short
amount of time, so you may tend to rush your words, but voicemail
offers an excellent opportunity to provide a short, clear, motivating
message. Rarely have I heard of people practicing how to leave a good
voicemail message, but this is exactly what I recommend. Your mes-
sage should be no longer than 20-25 seconds and get straight to the
point. Here’s an example:

Good morning, Thomas. This is Janet Moore, Executive Director

of Shelter for the Homeless here in Cleveland. There’s a wonderful op-
portunity to develop a teambuilding event for your employees by hav-
ing them volunteer on the new homeless shelter we are building. As
you know, the press loves to cover this type of community event. I’d
like to set up a meeting with you within the next two weeks. I only ask
30 minutes of your time. Please call me at 415-555-1111.Thank you.

Remember to keep it short and provide detail as well as a call-to-

action.

Write your message out and practice it several times so that you
sound relaxed and clear. Be sure to add a strong benefit that his com-
pany will receive by working with you. Most importantly, put excite-
ment in your voice. Your enthusiasm will make him want to return the
call. And whatever you say, DO NOT give the impression that you are
seeking financial donation. Yes, this may come at some stage of the

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partnership, but it’s too soon now. This call is about offering benefit
to their organization, and you don’t want to turn them off before they
get to know you.

Not Hearing Back Is Not a No…Sometimes

Many times you will not get a response to your letter, e-mail or phone
call. This is not necessarily a “no” - executives are just very busy. You
now have a good reason to call them directly and ask if they’ve had
a chance to look at your letter or request a meeting. And of course,
if you get the administrative assistant, you will be armed with your
short pitch. I suggest you use a message similar to the voicemail mes-
sage above. If you have not been able to reach this executive and/or
the administrative assistant to arrange for a meeting after one written
message and two follow-up calls, stop… and try to find another door.
There is no reason to keep trying to reach a person who is not respond-
ing. Go back to your first referral contact, call the human resources
department or find another person to help you get inside this organi-
zation. Of course, if you were introduced by a mutual contact, see if
that person can follow up, after you have tried yourself a few times. If
nothing works, move on to the next organization on your priority list.

When You Absolutely Must Send a Proposal

or Grant Application
Whether by referral, letter, e-mail or phone call, you have one and only
one goal - to get a face-to-face meeting with the executive from your
potential partner organization. Remember, you’re not trying to get a
deal at this stage - you just want to sit down with them. But sometimes
you have to send a proposal. I hate when this happens, but it does
frequently. And it usually happens when they think you are seeking
a donation or other request and they do not understand that you are
seeking a more value-driven, longer-term partnership. My best sugges-
tion here is to keep this proposal to the minimum amount of informa-
tion, whenever possible. Give them enough information to satisfy their
questions and be intrigued by the relationship you’re proposing, but
not enough information for them to say that they’re not interested.

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If you must send a proposal and are able to write it freely without
having to fill in boxes, follow the guidelines in the previous “Send a
personal letter” section.

A common practice today, especially when approaching a corporate

or independent foundation for a grant, is being required to fill out an
application on their website. This can be anywhere from a 10- minute
process, to many hours, sometimes even days. These questionnaires
will ask very specific information, such as timetables, the proposed
program, budgets of your organization, tax ID information, Board
members, funding or other areas you are seeking, etc. A few years
back I filled out an application for the U.S. government’s Save Amer-
ica’s Treasures grants, and it took me over two weeks to collect the
information and write the grant. As I was asking for $750,000, I bit
my tongue and filled out all the boxes. Unfortunately, while we made
the final round, we didn’t win the grant. The good news: such detailed
advance proposals are not the general practice.

A proposal should begin with an Executive Summary. This sum-

mary should be no longer than 3/4 to 1 page absolute maximum. In
many instances, the reader of your proposal (hopefully a high-level
executive or program officer) will never need to go past this first page.
Lay out everything in those first few paragraphs to convince them that
a partnership is in their best interest. Really, this could be your whole
proposal, but they will probably want more. The Executive Summary
comes at the beginning of your proposal and it is best to write it last,
after you have formulated and written down all your other thoughts
and added-value benefits. This will let you pick out the key points you
want to emphasize in your Executive Summary.

In your proposal, highlight several assets you bring to the partner-

ship. Here are a few suggestions you could mention:

• You have proven experience in programs like this, so the

possible partners know they can rely on you. Give an example if
possible.

• If you have a well-known brand, emphasize that.

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• List Members of your Board who have offered assistance.

• You have an active employee relations/HR department that co-

ordinates community volunteer opportunities.

• You have a PR or advertising agency that is already working

with you and might be able to help with creative services.

• You have strong relationships with the media in your community.

Unless required, never talk about money in this proposal. This could
turn them off, and the numbers may be totally out of whack with what
you finally do together. If you are filling out boxes for a grant applica-
tion, you will be required to put in the amount you’re asking for, but
in a more open proposal, your focus is on creating an interest in a
mutual benefit.

Finally, be sure you put an attention-grabbing cover letter on the

proposal. In that letter, focus on two key points: the good alignment be-
tween your organizations and what you can bring to their organization.

Jello Job
When searching for potential partners, I suggest you build a database
as you collect the information on the people, companies and organiza-
tions you research and the organizations that these people/companies
support. It’s an on-going process to keep such a database up-to-date,
but this database will be of exceptional value when looking for future
potential partners. This is a great job for an intern, a volunteer or re-
ceptionist. It’s what I call a “Jello Job” because it can fill in when there
are small gaps between other work assignments.

When an arts organization wanted me to look for potential corpo-

rate partnerships, I began collecting the program of every cultural or
other major event I attended, such as the ballet, symphony, theater, spe-
cial events and the like. Also, after many fundraising galas or events,
nonprofit organizations will place an ad in the local papers thanking
their sponsors. I collected these ads and after cross-referencing the

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companies and organizations that were sponsoring cultural programs

and events, I built a database that listed the company and the organi-
zations it supported. Using information-gathering techniques, I filled
in the names and contact information for the executives at these or-
ganizations. Soon I had a list of well over 200 potential partners I felt
would be relevant to our arts organization. It’s easy and it works. It’s
a Jello Job.

Preparing for the First Team Meeting

If you were successful in having an introductory meeting, you are
ready to move into a more formal meeting with members of your team
and your potential partner’s team. To make the best impression and to
set the meeting on the most productive course, there are a few essential
things that you must do first.

1) Confirm who will be at the team meeting

Confirm with your contact at the potential partner organization

who they will be bringing to the team meeting and their positions
within the organization.

You want to encourage your potential partner to bring a couple of

members of their executive/senior staff and marketing team so that
you can get as much top level buy-in of this partnership concept as
possible. And try to match the number of people they bring with the
number of people you bring. If you are a small organization, you
might want to also take a member of your board. And of course you
will include your pre-determined “point-person,” as s/he will be the
primary liaison on all matters concerning the project or campaign and
reporting back to the rest of the team.

Note: There’s a good chance you’re not going to get the CEO or
Executive Director of a large company or nonprofit organization at
this first team meeting. So I strongly recommend…and this can be a
touchy subject…that you don’t bring your CEO or Executive Director
either, unless you and/or they are a fairly small organization. The rea-
son is this: In such meetings the person at the top of the organization
may tend to talk about all the good things your organization is doing.
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The focus of this meeting must be on what value your organization

can bring to your potential partner. From my experience, this focus on
another entity is hard for many leaders. So prepare a follow-up report
for your leadership, but if possible, leave them back at the office.

2) Review the research

Review the research you have gathered on this particular organiza-

tion. Be familiar with its mission statement, any particular projects
they are currently developing in their community and the like. As al-
ways, you are looking for areas of alignment. Read the bios of the peo-
ple who will be at the meeting (use LinkedIn, the company website,
Facebook, etc.) ahead of time so you and your team will have a better
understanding of the person(s) you will be meeting with. Look for
areas of commonality between yourself and your organization, such
as another organization to which you both belong to or a hobby you
share. Mentioning these commonalities during your first meeting may
well create a favorable impression and interest.

3) Prepare a list of questions

Prepare a list of questions that were raised during your research and
initial idea development. These might include questions about the staff
time, funding and/or other services that you may request your partner
to provide. Concurrently, prepare answers to such questions about what
you bring to the table. In other words, prepare questions you need to
have answered, while also preparing for questions you might be asked.

4) Prepare a list of your initial ideas

Prepare a list of your initial ideas and concepts to discuss with this
potential partner. For example, if they are building a new homeless
shelter, by reviewing what they have done with other organizations
and the type of organization they are, you’ll have specific ideas of how
you might work together. Have your ideas well thought out and based
on what you know your team could deliver. Yet remember—the pri-
mary objective of this first meeting is to emphasize the value you and
your organization can bring to your potential partner’s organization.
By emphasizing, through your ideas, how you can help their organiza-
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tion, they will be far more likely to be open and enthusiastic about a
potential partnership.

5) Avoid a proposal

Do not bring a written formal proposal. At this early point you have
no idea if they want a partnership or what type of partnership would
work best for all sides. So don’t go in with any preconceived notions
about what you’re going to do.

A Word of Caution
Do not go into this meeting convinced that you have the best idea.
The best idea will be the one that you and your partners decide upon
together that will best meet your mutual goals. If you come on too
strong, too assured, you may quickly alienate your potential part-
ner. However, if you have a strong idea or two that meet the mutual
goals, bring these up in an exploratory manner. Talk them out togeth-
er. Sometimes when you take this softer approach, your partner will
show great enthusiasm, even to the point of thinking that it was his
or her idea. While it’s hard to have someone else take over your idea,
your ultimate goal is a strong partnership, so always keep that as your
top priority.

Several years back I was involved in a meeting between Wells Fargo

Bank and the American Red Cross. I had suggested this meeting to my
boss at the Red Cross because I felt there was a wonderful opportunity
to develop a mutually rewarding marketing and fund development
program. He set the meeting up, and there we were in the impres-
sively large boardroom of Wells Fargo Bank, with its Chief Market-
ing Officer and a member of her team, along with my boss and me. I
had tried to set up a preliminary meeting with my boss to discuss my
ideas for an emergency preparedness catalog, with Wells Fargo serving
as the sponsoring funder and distributor. However, he felt we should
just go to the meeting and see what they wanted to do. So after all
the introductions and niceties, there we were, sitting across the table
just staring at each other, no one saying a word. Clearly, they thought
we had come in with a particular idea in mind. It was embarrassing,

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for me at least. So I jumped in and introduced the magalog idea I de-

scribed earlier and explained how I thought it would work for our two
organizations.

What we didn’t know going into that meeting was that Wells Fargo
was just about to launch a new advertising campaign based around
the theme “Preparing for Your Financial Future.” When their Chief
Marketing Officer outlined this campaign, it was amazingly aligned
with my idea for an emergency preparedness catalog. Wow! The group
seized on the catalog idea. Everyone got excited and added their own
thinking. Over the next several months, the idea led to a phenomenally
successful and profitable partnership. We were lucky that despite our
lack of joint preparation it worked out well. Don’t take that chance;
be sure to prepare.

Leadership Approval
In spite of the above example, it is imperative that you go into this
meeting and all early discussions with the approval of your CEO/Ex-
ecutive Director or senior management. Meet with your leadership
and present your thoughts and ideas and get their input and their ap-
proval to move forward. It would be a waste of time, embarrassing
and potentially damaging to your organization’s reputation, to meet
with potential partners without this leadership approval.

Where to Meet
If you are a nonprofit organization and have a particular operational
program such as a homeless shelter, then offer to have your potential
partner tour it, meet your team, and especially meet the people your
team and shelter serve. Showing the good work of your organization
will create an emotional engagement, and this is an excellent start to
a relationship. This goes both ways. Nonprofit organizations always
enjoy visiting business operations. A building supply company could
offer the homeless shelter partnership team a tour of their warehouse
or even of one of the community projects they have worked on in the
past. Such on-the-ground visits create an extremely welcoming atmo-
sphere and excitement for your budding partnership.

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Suggestions for a Great First Team Meeting

These meetings can take on many different feelings: warm and friend-
ly, welcoming to your organization and the potential of working to-
gether. And sometimes they can be somewhat cold and standoffish,
with the “other side” taking a “show me what you’ve got” attitude.
Needless to say, I’ve experienced lots of both.

You want to immediately warm up the room, so I suggest you begin

by saying how impressed you’ve been with this particular organiza-
tion’s commitment to their community. It’s important at this beginning
point to cite a few examples of this organization’s projects or pro-
grams that you’ve seen or at least read about. Start by building them
up with true praise and be very careful that it comes across as sincere.
The truth is - you may have known very little about this organization
until you began your research looking for a potential partner. But now,
having read its annual report and other materials from the Internet or
their press releases about what they have done in the community, you
will be well-prepared to compliment them sincerely. There is no better
way to start a meeting and warm up a potentially skeptical audience
than to begin with this complimentary approach.

If your friend/contact is accompanying you to this meeting, after

all the introductions, have them open the conversation by telling why
they felt it was important that your two organizations meet and the
value that they think can be gained by both organizations working
together. This friend/contact will have the credibility of both potential
partners and thus can set the stage perfectly. However, with the stage
properly set, this friend/contact should take a backseat to the rest of
the conversation for they probably will not be involved in the on-
going relationship.

Following the introductions, the set up and the compliments, talk

about the great alignment you see between your two organizations.
This is a good point to bring up a particular project or program that
you have done in the past, are working on now or that you would like
this partnership to consider. This example should be closely aligned
with your potential partners’ past or current community or cause-relat-

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ed programming. While you are still two separate organizations scruti-

nizing each other, when you start talking about programs, missions or
projects that are closely aligned, the all-important shift will happen in
this conversation - you begin moving from they and you…to we.

Gorilla in the Room

When bringing together organizations from different sectors, and cer-
tainly of different sizes, many times there is a natural uneasiness, the
unspoken “gorilla in the room.” Bobbi Silten, of the Gap Foundation
put it this way: “There’s a dynamic that will probably never go away,
and that’s a power dynamic that’s based on money. There’s people
who hold the cash and the people who need the cash. So in our initial
meeting with nonprofits we talk about this power dynamic of money.
We say that we can never make that dynamic go away, but what we
can do is endeavor to level this power dynamic as much as possible.
It’s about trust, being transparent and putting the cards on the table.”

Once you address this gorilla, sweep it off the table and shoo it out
of the room (not always the easiest thing to do!), the difference in or-
ganizational size and perceived power imbalances should go away or
at least should be diminished to the point of not affecting your work-
ing relationship. In most cases, differences will actually benefit the
partnership, for each partner is bringing a new perspective and set of
experiences and assets to the group.

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Openly Describe Your Needs or Challenges

You are seeking a partnership to address a particular program, proj-
ect, challenge or opportunity for your organization. A for-profit or-
ganization may need to raise their company’s brand awareness in the
community or larger marketplace to drive sales, attract highly quali-
fied employees or for other good reasons. The important point here is
to be very clear about what your organization’s intentions are - you
are seeking this relationship because of specific needs or challenges
your organization faces and feel that this potential partner might be
well-aligned and motivated to help. Being completely transparent will
create an immediate trust and empathy with this potential partner.

For example, if you are a for-profit company, and your objective is

to generate sales for your new product or service, don’t beat around
the bush by saying that you really just want to be a good community
citizen (which of course you do), say that your primary objective of
this potential partnership is to generate sales. Of course, I might not be
that blunt, especially if your idea is to provide a percentage of sales of
your product or service to the nonprofit organization. Emphasize that
you want to help their organization, but in a manner that would also
generate sales for your organization.

If you are a nonprofit organization, and your objective is to find

funding to build a homeless shelter, tell them you need to build a
homeless shelter and you want their help. Certainly present the impor-
tant business value proposition of how working with you would pro-
vide excellent benefit to their organization - that will best trigger their
interest. Just be clear that funding would be necessary to accomplish
your goal. When your partner sees that your objective is sincerely to
help them meet their goals, they will work hard to meet your goals.

There is nothing that will destroy a partnership faster than being a

few steps down the road and finding out that your partner had a hid-
den agenda, that what they said were their primary goals and objec-
tives at the beginning were not.

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Take Notes
A lot of information, creative ideas, decisions and needs will come fly-
ing in this meeting. So it is very important that someone on your team
is designated to take detailed notes of the conversation. At the end of
this first meeting, an overview of what was discussed, decisions made
and next steps should be sent to all parties that are part of the relation-
ship. This is especially important so that people who were not at the
meeting, especially your leadership, will be informed with the correct
information as soon as possible.

Completing the Exploration Process and

Choosing the Right Partner
The next steps depend on what happens at this first team meeting, or
you may have held another meeting or two, possibly with some new
team members from either organization. At the end of this initial pro-
cess it’s safe to say you’re in one of two places:

1) You have mutually agreed that bad timing, poor chemistry, fi-
nancial restraints, or other such factors preclude you from forming a
productive partnership with one or more of your potential partners. It
just wasn’t the right fit. And so you shake hands, thank each other for
their valuable time and move on to your next potential partner.

2) The chemistry was great, the creativity flowed, the financial

upside looks great, you’ve accomplished all that you desired at your
meeting(s) and your partnership potential is high. If you have other
potential partners, continue on with your other meetings until you
and your team are completely assured that you have selected the best
partner, and they have selected you.

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Having gone through this recommended process, in most cases you

will find that one organization stands above all the rest. It has met all
or most of your partnership criteria. The project or cause you are ad-
dressing together is highly motivational to all of your separate stake-
holders, especially your employees. You can’t wait to work together.

In rare cases, you’ll find that more than one organization fits your
partnership criteria. If you are a nonprofit or educational organiza-
tion, it may be quite possible that you could form a partnership with
two or more partners from the for-profit or governmental sectors.
However, there needs to be only one nonprofit organizational part-
ner, unless you are supporting a coalition of nonprofits in the same
area of interest, such as health issues, homelessness, or other potential
nonprofit collaborations. This was the opportunity with the Health
and Wellness Fair in Oakland where we had three primary nonprofit
and governmental partners, and nearly 90 educational and nonprofit
service providers joining together.

Here we are going to assume that you have agreed to move forward
with a partnership with your selected cross-sector partner. At this early
stage in the partnership development process, several important deci-
sions and elements of your partnership will need to be finalized before
moving forward into the actual execution phase. These include:

1) Agreed to pursue working together toward a mutually-reward

ing partnership

2) Established a clear understanding of each other’s needs and the

partnership objectives

3) Explored what each side would bring to the partnership, such

as funding, volunteers, services, etc. (Note: You may not have
decided on the specifics of what you plan to do but should
have a clear understanding of who would be doing what.)

4) Provided assurances that your leadership is supportive of this

relationship

5) Agreed, at least initially, to the type of partnership project or

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campaign that you want to explore together (new project,

fundraising, product endorsement, cause marketing, etc.)

6) Established if there are other partners who should be involved

to strengthen the partnership and reach your goals

7) Determined if either party has a public relations or advertising

agency (pro bono or paid) that might support this partnership

8) Agreed on a very preliminary timeline

Moving Forward Together

From this point forward there will be many more conversations and
meetings. These meetings should be coordinated by the designated
point-persons from each partner, and between meetings these point-
person should be communicating back and forth on what each side
is doing toward their mutual goals. There is no accurate way of esti-
mating how many conversations and meetings will be needed or the
amount of time from this point through the completion of your project
or campaign. Most projects or cause marketing campaigns require a
minimum of six months to properly execute from start to completion,
and some require 12 or more months. It all depends on the complexity
of the effort you are undertaking together. The key point to remember
is that this is not a one-time event, sponsorship or philanthropy rela-
tionship. You are developing a long-term partnership with many facets
and many benefits for all partners involved. Don’t rush this process,
there is too much to gain or too much to lose.

Building Trust
Any successful relationship - a marriage, close friendship or a cross-
sector partnership - is built upon trust. Nothing forms trust faster than
telling the truth and being open and transparent with your potential
partner, thus building trust is a huge issue in successful cross-sector
partnerships.

Bobbie Silten provided the following example and advice: “At first
some nonprofits don’t want to show their vulnerability and that may
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be exactly what they need—to have you help them find what their
vulnerabilities are. One of the things that touched me most was how
vulnerable our partners were. One organization we had just given a
huge increase to told us that they are having real morale issues in their
organization and they need our help. I said to the Executive Director,
thank you for being so honest. This is what our partnership is about
because it said so much to me about how much you trust us and we’re
going to work together to solve this.”

Effective communication is the platform upon which trust and a

strong relationship are built. Your communication should be open,
honest, and regular. When challenges arise, you must address them
immediately, coming from the position of: “What can we do to solve
this challenge in such a way that will strengthen the partnership and
further our goals?” Your partners, and your own organization, will
appreciate your being frank and reacting in a timely way. Indeed,
working through such challenges will strengthen the trust among all
participants, and prepare you for when future challenges arise.

Transparency
Transparency is a huge issue in the development of successful cross-
sector partnerships and especially in cause marketing. Transparency
is basically telling the truth - the truth about your organization, your
partnership, your goals, which organization is actually receiving the
benefit of your cause campaign or project, and how you’re raising
your money. For example: What exactly is the percentage of donations
going to the cause or project? With the rapid growth and success of
cause marketing, there has been, most unfortunately, an increase in
the number of campaigns that, to be polite, didn’t tell the whole truth.
For example: saying that “a portion of the proceeds is going to….” is
NOT transparent. Is it 10%, 5% or .00001%? The public is not be-
ing told the truth. Consequently, the public has become increasingly
skeptical about how much money is actually going to the cause, and
in some cases, what the cause is in the first place.

Joe Waters provided me with the following example of a campaign

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that erred on providing transparency. In his post on May 16, 2011,

Urban Outfitters’ Cause Marketing for NPR is a Poor Fit, Joe discuss-
es a cause marketing program between Urban Outfitters and National
Public Radio.

Urban Outfitters offered a branded NPR t-shirt on the public radio

station’s website for $20. Profits from the sales support NPR. How-
ever, Urban Outfitters sold the very same branded shirt on its website
and a similar version offline in stores for $24, but NPR received no
profit from these sales. Joe’s concern, as it should be for all of us, is
that such practice is “totally confusing for the consumer. If a consumer
buys the NPR tee on the Urban Outfitter site, they’re probably think-
ing a portion of the purchase is supporting public radio.” Consumers
who may have heard the promotional pitch on NPR and then went
into an Urban Outfitters’ store might feel that the t-shirt they bought
in the store was benefiting NPR, when in fact, it wasn’t.

There is also the despicable practice of what I call “causeless cause

marketing,” which is when an advertisement or promotion states that
a portion of the proceeds will go to support (fill in the cause here:
homelessness, poverty, cancer research, etc.), yet nowhere in the ad-
vertisement does it name the specific nonprofit that is the recipient of
the funds! To say this is unscrupulous is a wild understatement. When
you see one of these faux-cause ads, enjoy the satisfaction of rolling it
up into a ball and throwing it in the wastepaper basket.

A recent post on Causecapitalism.com highlighted the relationship

between transparency and successful business:

“We know that transparency is a strong indicator of a company’s

social mission. Turns out, it’s also good for business. Recently, trans-
parency has been shown to be a significant driver of ultimate financial
performance. The thread between transparency and profit is trust. By
opening up internal operations, successes and failures to the public
and to employees, we demonstrate transparency as a company, which
customers like. But the reason customers like this is because it allows
them to trust us, to recommend us, to tell us when we err, and to
choose us again.”

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And so we come full circle to the issue of trust. When a company/

nonprofit/cause/campaign is not transparent, it loses our trust, and
thus our personal and financial backing. A Cone, Inc. study found the
following:

• 91 percent of Americans believe companies should tell them

how they are supporting causes, but many do not feel they are
getting sufficient information.

• Only 58 percent of Americans believe companies are providing

enough details about their cause efforts.

A good example of an organization that requires stringent trans-

parency in all of their cause-related partnerships is the American Red
Cross. Here is the required donation language for any cause marketing
donation program with the Red Cross:

“XYZ will donate to the American Red Cross, including the amount
of the donation as a flat fee (e.g. $1.00 for every shirt sold) or a per-
centage (e.g. 25% of the retail sales price) and the time frame (e.g.
from September 1, 2013 until August 31, 2014)”

This specific donation language is clear and prominently placed on

all product packaging and hang tags. The public sees exactly what
amount or percentage of their purchase is going to the nonprofit part-
ner, and the timeline of the campaign. This transparency creates trust.

Tim Ogden, Editor-in-chief of PhilanthropyAction.com, has pro-

posed a five-part set of standards. While he proposed this rating sys-
tem specifically for cause marketing campaigns, its guidelines work
very well for any cross-sector partnership that has fund development
as part of its program. Tim stated, “Any program that doesn’t meet all
of these standards should be shunned,” but then he added, “I know
that’s not realistic.” The five standards are:

1) The program says exactly which charity will receive the funds
with enough information for a person to find and investigate
the charity on their own.

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2) The program says exactly how much money the charity will
receive (either in total or from each purchase, with a projection
of the total and any minimum or maximums built-in.) Note that
percentages, especially such nebulous percentages as “2% of the
profits,” do not meet this standard. Tell me the money.

3) The program says when the charity will receive the funds.

4) The program says what the funds will be used for or if there
are any restrictions on the use of funds. This is especially
important when brands link up to very large charities that do
lots of things in lots of places (e.g. Save the Children, United
Way, World Wildlife Fund). This standard isn’t about the good
or bad of restricted funds, it’s just asking for full disclosure on
the terms of the funds and what they will be used for.

5) The program says why the charity was chosen.

Tim said: “I don’t expect any program to meet this last standard, but
I think it’s important to push corporations with charitable programs to
use the resources at their disposal to help the general public find good
charities. Corporations invest millions of dollars in these cause market-
ing campaigns. The least they can do is spend some of that money doing
due diligence on the charities and telling the public what they find.”

Thanks, Tim; excellent guidelines.

Several states are looking closely at the issue of transparency in cause

marketing practices, and some have come up with specific recommen-
dations. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman released the
“Five Best Practices for Transparent Cause Marketing” for both chari-
ties and companies engaged in “cause marketing.” After reviewing
questionnaires sent out to 150 different companies last October, AG
Schneiderman concluded that “consumers do not have sufficient infor-
mation to understand how their purchases will benefit charity.” You’ll
find this report in the Resource Center under Legal Considerations for
Partnerships.

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Maintaining an Efficient and Caring Relationship

As your cross-sector partnership project or campaign progresses, you
should be tracking all critical business aspects: Are we on target with
our budget; are donations secured or pledged; what’s the effectiveness
of our public messages, etc.? You should also be tracking the partner-
ship relationship: is it open; is it transparent and trusting; is it working
in the best way possible; are we holding each other accountable to the
agreements of the partnership?

Here are a few suggestions for developing and maintaining an effec-

tive and caring relationship:

1) Keep your focus on the greater good.

There are many bumps along the road in any endeavor, and a cross-
sector partnership brings its own unique set of them. Keep your fo-
cus on why you are doing this partnership - to beneficially impact the
greater good. Nothing overcomes adversity as well as the sincere belief
that you are doing the right thing.

2) Keep each other accountable.

Once you have developed your project or campaign plan, keep your-
self and each partner accountable for the agreed-upon responsibilities.
If one individual or partner organization begins to slide away from
their responsibilities, address this issue kindly but immediately. Things
happen, circumstances change, people leave organizations. No matter
what happens, hold up your end of the bargain and expect the others
to do the same. Keep in mind that accountability comes in at all levels.
The CEO or Executive Director might have only a few responsibilities
that they are being held accountable for during the project or cam-
paign. Your marketing director and/or development director may be
held accountable for monthly and even weekly responsibilities. Mean-
while, the point-person for each partner will have on-going, possibly
daily activities and multiple areas for which they are accountable.

3) Communicate!

Without clear, constant and caring communication, any relation-

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ship is doomed to fail. The point-person from each organization

bears responsibility to keep their organization and its stakehold-
ers fully informed of all aspects of the partnership, good and not so
good. Keep and publish minutes of your meetings, set regular times
to convene as a full partnership team, and when serious issues, dis-
agreements or other challenges arise (and they will), communicate
your concerns and work them out as a team as soon as possible.

4) Be open and flexible to new ideas and new opportunities.

New ideas and new opportunities frequently arise in cross-sector

partnerships. A new partner may wish to join your partnership who
could add to your overall success. A special event may be offered, a
major media interview requested, or an entirely off-the-wall but excit-
ing idea presented. As long as these new opportunities are “on-strate-
gy,” explore their potential, while keeping in mind your resources and
priorities.

5) Deal with a problem.

If one of your partners/organizations becomes too set in their ways,

inflexible to new opportunities or is creating tension among the other
partners, address the situation immediately before it sours the entire
partnership. In the worst case scenario, the problem person/organiza-
tion needs to leave the partnership.

6) Have fun!!

Partnerships are like any project: they’re a lot of work. Once in a

while you just need to let off some steam. Go out for a beer together,
meet for a barbecue in someone’s backyard, have a semi-competitive
game of miniature golf… anything where laughter rules over work.

The Ultimate Goal

The ultimate goal of a good cross-sector partnership is not just the ac-
complishment of the first project, program or campaign. The ultimate
goal is that you establish multiple linkages between your organiza-
tions and that over the years your relationship becomes indispensable

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to each other. After all is said and done, what makes the partnership
successful, is that you came together to create not just benefit for your-
selves and your organization, but as importantly, to generate good for
your community and society as a whole. And for the for-profit partner,
you are starting to make your organization glow.

Project or Campaign Concepts

During your individual assessment processes, and together as a team in
your initial partnership meetings, you have begun discussing what type
of project or campaign you want to undertake. There are an endless
number of projects or campaigns that a partnership can undertake. But
you have to come together with well-defined objectives.

What Has Been Done Before?

In many cases, you don’t have to invent a project or campaign totally
from scratch. My recommendation is that you search the Internet for
organizations, projects or campaigns that have involved your general
area of focus. If your campaign is not in competition with a similar ex-
isting project, the people who have designed, managed or directed the
project will often gladly give you the details, challenges, and success
stories of what they did. They will share ideas, their corporate part-
ners and any cross-sector partnerships (or the project will be described
on their website) and possibly even their specific architectural plans,
budgets and other very usable material for your project. This research
of other project experiences is also critically important to find out
where something went wrong, where an obstacle came up that could

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have derailed their plans and how they overcame or did not overcome
this obstacle. Once you have followed this simple research approach
and narrowed down your list to those projects or organizations that
you feel are most closely aligned with what your team has in mind,
reach out and contact these folks!

Ask these questions and follow the answers:

• What’s been done before?

• By whom?

• How did they raise their funding?

• What were the results?

• How did they measure their results?

• What were their challenges?

• Would they provide you with detailed information on their

project/campaign?

• Could you collaborate with this organization to share results

and on-going information?

People and organizations are proud of what they were able to ac-
complish and they will be willing to share with you, in almost all
cases, what they have done.

So now is the time to fine-tune your ideas and select the type and
scope of your project or campaign. While there is a lot of excitement
at this stage, be careful not to take on too much. Be very specific about
what you plan to do and carefully weigh your objectives with the
partnership’s ability to meet those objectives. It’s much better to start
small and build upon your success than to try to change the world and
change little to nothing.

Once you have selected your project or campaign area of focus,

communicate this selection to all of your stakeholders to start gener-
ating excitement and buy-in. And of course, secure the all-important
approvals by the leadership of each partner team.

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Now your partnership will seem very real, very doable, because you
have vocalized and visualized what you will do together. You have set
your sights on the center of the target, and as you will find, the universe
will turn toward you and help, because this project or campaign is
larger than yourselves - it will benefit the greater good. This quote by
Goethe that has been on my wall since I was a young man says it all:

Negotiation/Legal/Agreements
Internal Agreement
Undoubtedly your organization’s team and leadership will have met
to discuss the selected project or campaign and have discussed the
overall scope and flow of your organization’s involvement. There will
need to be a Written Agreement between the two or more partner or-
ganizations, which we will explore later in this section. What is most
important at this point is for each individual organization to assess
their role, the scope of their involvement, financial expectations and

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limitations, finalize the internal partnership team and clarify any and
all concerns that need to be well-understood and finalized before you
begin the development of a formal Written Agreement with your part-
ners. Indeed, as you move through your internal discussions, it is a
very good idea to begin compiling a detailed list of everything that you
feel should be included in the Written Agreement.

Internal Approval Process

As emphasized earlier, having your CEO, Executive Director, and/or
leadership team fully behind and supportive of your partnership is an
absolute necessity before going into the finalization of your partner-
ship. Also, one of your key internal agreements is having an approval
process in place before you finalize the Written Agreement of the part-
nership. This will make your communications and activities with your
partners move much more swiftly. You should explain to your part-
ners in your preliminary meetings that you’ve (hopefully) already es-
tablished a smooth internal approval process for the partnership. This
not only communicates your professionalism but also that you have
set up your internal systems to support this partnership.

Internal Budgets and Timeline

Part of your internal agreement will be key decisions concerning what
financial support your organization is willing to provide, in both
cash and in-kind donations. Also determine to your best estimate the
amount of staff and/or volunteer time, and the use and cost of us-
ing outside public relations, advertising or graphics agencies, and any
and all other personnel and/or supplies that will affect your organiza-
tion’s internal cost for this partnership. While you will not have final
partnership project or campaign cost estimates at this early juncture,
you need to know what your organization is willing to spend before
finalizing the partnership. Much of this information may have been
established in your internal Assessment Process. However, now that
you have a much clearer idea of your potential partnership project or
campaign, you should reassess this very critical area of budgets.

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As with your preliminary internal budgets, you should start esti-

mating the amount of time you will allocate to your staff and other
resources. These will not be firm estimates at this early juncture due
to the need for your final partnership Written Agreement and just the
normal give-and-take of a project or campaign’s development. How-
ever, it’s wise not to underestimate the time it will take to manage and
execute a six to 12 month campaign.

Negotiation Techniques
When bringing together parties and partners from different sectors,
with different backgrounds, sometimes with very different business sys-
tems or philosophical approaches, you may help need to find common
ground in developing your partnership. The seminal work in negotia-
tions was The Harvard Negotiation Project. Based on this research,
Roger Fisher and William Ury wrote the best-selling book, Getting to
Yes, Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. With the review and
approval of William Ury, I’ve taken some thoughts and suggestions
from their work which I think will be helpful to smooth the path and
avoid the pitfalls that can happen when different parties, especially
from different sectors, are coming together to develop a working rela-
tionship, leading to a mutually beneficial Written Agreement.

While the premise of this book is focused on achieving the great-

est amount of organizational benefit by seeking mutual success and
focusing on the greater good, it would be naïve to think that individu-
als and organizations enter into a partnership only to help the other
side or only to help the greater good. We explore partnerships to gain
advantage for our own business objectives. And this is good, for this
perspective motivates us to seek the greatest amount of benefit.

In Getting to Yes (GTY), the authors discuss this all-so-human as-

pect of negotiations. “People get angry, depressed, fearful, hostile,
frustrated, and offended. The egos are easily threatened, they see the
world from their own personal vantage point, and they frequently con-
fuse perceptions with reality.” The authors emphasize, “Failing to deal
with others sensitively as human beings prone to human reactions can
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be disastrous for a negotiation.” This concern applies to all people-to-

people interactions: in a personal relationship, in a legal confrontation
and in a more compassionate agreement to provide building materi-
als and supplies for a new homeless shelter. In all these relationships
it is important to maintain a good working relationship. As the GTY
authors say, “Base the relationship on accurate perceptions, clear com-
munication, appropriate emotions, and a forward-looking, purposive
outlook.” The following is a list of observations and suggestions tak-
en from GTY that will help you in your discussions to find common
ground throughout your partnership and people relationships:

• Recognize and understand emotions, theirs and yours. Look for

the underlying “why” that is creating these emotions.

• Allow both sides to let off some steam when necessary. The best
strategy to adopt while the other side lets off steam is to listen
quietly without responding to their attacks. Give the speaker
every encouragement to speak himself out, and leave little or no
residue to fester.

• If you are not hearing what the other side is saying there is no
communication.

• Understanding is not agreeing. Unless you convince them that

you do grasp how they see it, you may be unable to explain
your viewpoint to them.

• It is clearly unpersuasive to blame the other party for the

problem, to engage in name-calling, or to raise your voice.

• You can improve communication by limiting the size of the

group meeting.

• The basic problem in a negotiation lies not in conflicting

positions, but in the conflict between each side’s needs, desires,
concerns, and fears.

• Make a list to sort out the various interests of each side. It helps
you to write them down as they occur to you.

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• If you want to make the other side appreciate your interests,

begin by demonstrating that you appreciate theirs.

• In a negotiation, you want to know where you are going, and

yet be open to fresh ideas.

• By looking from the onset for the single best answer, you’re
likely to short-circuit a wiser decision-making process in which
you select from a large number of possible answers.

• Place yourself firmly in the shoes of the other person - you’ll

understand his/her problem and what kind of options might
solve it.

• It makes sense to draft possible terms of an agreement as you

go. Working on a draft helps to keep discussions focused, tends
to surface important issues that might otherwise be overlooked,
and gives a sense of progress.

• Before you even begin to negotiate, it makes sense to envision

what a successful agreement might look like. Think about what
it might take to persuade the other side - and you - to accept a
proposed agreement, rather than continuing to negotiate.

In the end, it may be that you are not able to reach agreement.
In such cases a successful negotiation is one in which you and they
amicably and effectively discover that the best way to advance your
respective interests is for each of you to look elsewhere and not try
further to reach agreement.

There was one paragraph in Getting to Yes that struck to the core
of creating understanding and moving forward together: “There is
power in developing a good working relationship between the people
negotiating. If you understand the other side and they understand you;
if emotions are acknowledged and people are treated with respect even
when they disagree; if there is clear, two-way communication with
good listening; and if people problems are dealt with directly, not by
demanding or offering concessions on substance, negotiations are like-
ly to be smoother and more successful for both parties.” Amen.

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Legal Issues
Due to the rapid growth of cross-sector partnerships and cause mar-
keting campaigns, and the fact that the majority of cause marketing
campaigns include some form of charitable donation/ public financial
relationship, there is increasing focus on legal issues and requirements.
A term that is often used concerning this cross-sector relationship is
“commercial co- venture.” This scrutiny is good for partnership en-
deavors as a whole, especially in light of some campaigns that have
been less than transparent in their claims or their actual donations to
nonprofit causes.

As part of your Written Agreement you will need to include or at

least be aware of where your project or campaign may need compli-
ance with any local or state laws. The need for a Written Agreement,
which can be as binding as a legal contract, varies considerably de-
pending on the proposed activity your project or campaign is under-
taking. For example, if your child is going door-to-door collecting do-
nations for UNICEF, there is no need for a contract between your child
and your neighbor. However, if you are developing a charitable sales
promotion where one dollar from every purchase of a product goes to
a particular charity, the recommended best practice is for the business
to have a written contract when it conducts a promotional program
invoking the name of the charity.

Thankfully, we have some help. Ed Chansky is an attorney with the

Las Vegas Office of Greenberg Traurig LLP. He is a trusted advisor
to many national advertisers and nonprofit organizations in the field
of cause-related marketing, charitable promotions, sweepstakes, con-
tests, rebates, coupons, and e-commerce.

Ed offers this general advice:

• Always document the agreement between the nonprofit and for-

profit entities in a charitable or cause-related promotion.

• Do not use the name of the charity in your solicitation without a

written agreement.

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• Specific campaigns, such as charitable sales promotions, may

trigger the need to register with your state, and sometimes be
bonded by the state, where such laws apply.

The regulations covering charitable promotions, cause marketing

and any cross-sector campaign that involve financial solicitation vary
greatly from state to state. And a local cross-sector partnership is un-
der the same regulations as a national campaign. It’s always advisable
for your corporate counsel or the lawyer on your nonprofit’s board of
directors to review this Written Agreement and see if there might be
need for a more formal contract.

Ed Chansky has provided a Cause Marketing Compliance Checklist

for this book which can be found in the Resource Center under Legal
Considerations for Partnerships. Ed also provided an article entitled:
For Goodness Sake: Legal Regulation and Best Practices in the Field
of Cause-Related Marketing, which can also be found in the Resource
Center.

Written Agreement
Wise partnerships develop and approve a Written Agreement among all
participating partners prior to moving into the implementation phase of
your partnership. This agreement step is not to be overlooked, no mat-
ter what the size of your partnership. Practically speaking, much may
change between the time of this Written Agreement and the completion
of your campaign. New factors will come up, new opportunities may
arise, you may find that there is a new partner that would add a lot to
what you are trying to accomplish, and so you add them to the partner-
ship, and you will need to amend your original Written Agreement.

This Written Agreement is critically important because it sets the

parameters of what the partnership wishes to accomplish and who is
obligated to do what. As Ed Chansky emphasized: “A legal contract
may be necessary if you are requiring particular payment amounts, de-
veloping a product licensing contract and possibly for the use of logos
and other necessities.”

The actual writing of the Written Agreement can be undertaken by

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any of the partners - whomever the partnership feels can best develop
the first and subsequent drafts.

Your Written Agreement should include at least the following:

1) Who are the partners involved, what are their principal roles
and what is the overall management structure of the partner-
ship?

2) Why are you doing this? What is the problem you are trying to
solve or effort you want to accomplish together?

3) What are you actually going to do? Is it a specific project, a

fundraising campaign, a new product introduction with a
donation aspect? Be specific in describing what you’re going
to do.

4) What personnel from each partner will be involved, with what

specific tasks, reporting to whom within the partnership’s
management structure?

5) Is there a split of profits, royalty payments or charitable dona-

tion as part of your campaign? Define the arrangement. If
there is a total donation/payment commitment, define the
amount and when is this payment/commitment due to the
nonprofit. Any financial arrangement must be spelled out
explicitly in your Written Agreement. Nothing can get in the
way of a good relationship as quickly as disagreements over
money.

6) Where will this project/campaign take place: in your city, on a

regional or national level, in-store, online, etc.?

7) When are you going to execute this campaign? Provide a

detailed timetable from beginning through the estimated
completion of the campaign/project/program.

8) What is your preliminary project or campaign budget? How

much money is it going to take to accomplish your goals, and
factor in not just cash but also staff time and overhead?

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9) Who is paying for what? Be very specific as to who’s putting

up what amounts of money or in-kind supplies or other tan
gible and intangible assets. It would be wise to develop a pre-
liminary campaign/program budget.

10) Will additional PR or advertising agencies or other external

services/personnel be utilized for the campaign? Be specific as
to who is providing the services and who is paying for the
services. This would also include the involvement of volunteers
from the partner organizations. What would be their role, how
many hours would you estimate they would be dedicating to
this particular program, etc.?

11) How will you measure the success of the campaign? What
metrics will you use to measure, such as increased sales,
money raised, products sold, publicity garnered, volunteers
attracted and other goals of your partnership? This area of
measurement and setting up metrics at the beginning of your
campaign is highly important so that you will be able to
analyze the effort versus the reward at the end of the project’s
first year or campaign.

This Written Agreement provides a blueprint of accountability.

Things change, people and their situations change, and sometimes
a partner will not hold up their end of the agreement. This Written
Agreement will provide an independent reminder of the allocation of
responsibilities.

When Money Is Involved, Who Gets What?

In most cross-sector partnerships and cause marketing endeavors,
there is usually one primary beneficiary. However, sometimes the fi-
nancial beneficiaries are not so clearly defined. If a donation to a par-
ticular cause results from the sale of a product or service, then both
the nonprofit and for-profit are financially benefiting. A good model
of such a multiple beneficiary partnership was the cause marketing
campaign described earlier with Campbell’s Soup, Kroger Stores, and
the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Campbell’s profited from the

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soup sales, as did the Kroger stores, and Susan G. Komen received
donations from each can of soup sold. In this type of partnership,
you must clearly define the amount of money going to the nonprofit
from each product sold. However, you usually will not stipulate how
much money either Campbell’s or Kroger’s made from their sales of
soup. Few for-profit organizations would provide that inside margin/
profit information. The nonprofit should negotiate its best donation/
benefit possible but not push for internal information from the for-
profit partner(s).

The situation is quite different if there are two nonprofits or other

partners from the same sector who will both benefit financially from
the donations of a particular campaign or program. For example, if a
nonprofit organization which runs a homeless shelter teams together
with a nonprofit food bank to develop a community-wide fundraising
program for their mutual benefit, there would need to be an upfront,
agreed-upon split of the donations received from the effort. In these
mutually beneficial campaigns, I always emphasize the importance of
pooling all of your resources and splitting the final revenue from the
campaign/program 50-50. This way everyone is working together for
mutual benefit, and no one has an advantage over the other. The only
exceptions would be if one partner does much more work or under-
writes much more of the expenses.

The Signing
OK, maybe I’m a bit dramatic but I feel that after all the discussions,
chosen project, final plans, negotiations, legal review (if necessary) and
the Written Agreement is ready to sign…you should celebrate! Well,
sign first, then celebrate. Of course, you can mail the agreement back
and forth, but what’s the fun in that? Don’t miss this opportunity to
get the full partnership teams together, bring in a pizza or two, (root)
beer, and start this amazing journey together on a high note. You are
about to do something very special.

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Moving Forward Together

Congratulations; you have a partnership! Your Written Agreement is
signed, and all parties are excitedly moving forward toward their pri-
mary objectives and jointly-held ultimate goals. Your Written Agree-
ment has provided a detailed confirmation of the type of project or
campaign that the partners are undertaking together. You have ad-
dressed not only what you are going to do but who is responsible for
the various tasks to be undertaken. As every cross-sector partnership
program, project and cause marketing campaign is different in type,
size, scope, geographical location, target audiences, partner configura-
tion, funding requirements, and so many more factors and variables,
there is really no way to provide here step-by-step guidelines through
the entire start-to-completion development process to cover all poten-
tial situations. However, I trust with what I provide in this guidebook
you will have a very full toolkit of information and support materials
to develop your own blueprint to implement a highly successful proj-
ect or campaign.

Strategy Development
You might have the greatest cause, the most desperate need, but if it is
communicated or positioned poorly, if it doesn’t hit the emotional but-
tons that make people pull out their wallets, volunteer their time, or
tell their friends, your campaign is doomed to fail. To motivate people,
you need a marketing strategy.

Your marketing strategy is a plan-of-action designed to achieve a

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particular goal. It’s asking your team the question: “How are we going
to motivate our audiences to do what we want them to do?”. It’s been
said that a strategy must be the most carefully crafted set of words for
your organization. And this is true, because when you have finally set
your strategy, each tactic, each event, each message or project of your
campaign must be “on-strategy”…and if it’s not, don’t do it. Anything
that pulls you off strategy will certainly frustrate the partners, waste a
lot of time, money and effort, and potentially throw your entire proj-
ect or campaign off its primary mission.

There are two basic elements to your strategy:

• Your creative strategy

• Your tactical strategy

Creative Strategy
Developing creative strategy is the really fun part of a campaign. This
is where you are thinking up the ideas, messages, campaign slogans
and creative techniques that you feel will best communicate your cam-
paign to your target audiences. It’s fun, yes, but it’s based entirely on:

• Determining exactly what your partnership aims to accomplish.

What is the cause, what is the need, what can you realistically
do to create change for the better?

• Limiting your effort to a specific project or goal that can be

accomplished. Do not try to fix the homeless problem in the
United States; rather, build a homeless shelter in your commu-
nity. That you can do.

• Having a clear understanding of the competitive landscape.

How are other organizations or campaigns addressing the same
or similar issues? Your creative strategy must set you apart from
any potential competition

• Identifying and understanding the various audiences to whom

you want your campaign messaging delivered. If you don’t have
a clear understanding of your target audiences, you can accom-

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plish this through surveys and market research. You do not need
to reach everyone, but you must reach those who can influence,
donate, or participate in your cause endeavor.

• Designing your message(s) so that your audiences understand

the problem, believe in the solution you are proposing, and
ideally, why this is important to them personally. If you can
create a relationship, or at least empathy, between the problem
and your audience, your potential for success is greatly increased.

• Developing your “call-to-action.” What do you want your

audiences to actually do? Without a strong call-to-action, the
audiences you reach may be better educated about your cause,
but they may not be motivated to help you.

• Determining the style and tone of your campaign. Will your

campaign messaging be highly emotional or will you use guer-
rilla marketing tactics or a more straightforward and informa-
tional appeal?

This last area of style and tone is of particular importance. All cam-
paigns have or should have a distinct style and tone. We have all seen
those advertisements or public service announcements of starving chil-
dren with tears in their eyes holding out an empty bowl for food. This
is the gut wrenching “I’m starving and I need your help,” emotional
campaign. The photos are dramatic; the announcer’s voice is pleading:
the call-to-action is urgent; the inference is clear: if you don’t help me
now, I may die.

Creativity Trumps Clutter

It is immensely challenging to cut through all the clutter and informa-
tion that the general public and the media receive on a daily basis. If
your business or organization can provide something that is highly cre-
ative, that stands out from the rest, and if possible, provides humor...
this will create attention. Though remember, it is essential that your
creativity stays focused on the strategy of your project or campaign.

Hold nothing back on the creativity of your ideas. The crazier,

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more off-the-wall ideas the better, for they just might work, or at least
they will stimulate the more practical ideas. One campaign I designed
involved asking Bay Area residents if they could “Survive the Tidal
Wave” that was going to hit (a very inland) Santa Clara, California.
The “Tidal Wave” was the name of a new looping roller coaster at
Marriott’s Great America. We even sent out a Tidal Wave “survival
kit” to all Bay Area media outlets, which included a lucky rabbit’s
foot, chocolate bar, a compass, and an invitation to the ride’s opening,
all wrapped-up within a professionally-prepared first aid kit. This cra-
zy idea was so successful that the media not only provided tremendous
coverage of the ride’s opening but actually wrote about the survival kit
itself in their stories!

Or there was the time

we put huge running
shoes and an enormous
race number chest tag on
an African elephant to
promote the annual Ex-
aminer’s Bay to Break-
ers foot race, which pro-
vided benefit to several
nonprofit organizations. Photo by Bruce Burtch
We sent a press release to the media stating that “the world’s greatest
runner” was going to participate in the race and called a press confer-
ence. Little did they know how “great” the runner was until they came
to the press conference!

Of all the different styles and tones a campaign can utilize, using
humor is probably the most challenging. As when telling a joke, the
punch-line must work and not turn your audience off. Many campaigns
take the more traditional approach of delivering a straight message -
not too emotional and certainly not humorous, in their appeal for your
participation or donation. Most health issue campaigns, such as those
for cancer research, tend to communicate the seriousness of the need
or provide a warm, fuzzy feeling, such as sending children with cancer
to a summer camp, without tears or humor but with lots of emotion.

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More and more, you are seeing special event and public presenta-
tion campaigns that are not necessarily supported by media advertising
or public service announcements. Pledge walks, foot races and other
physically active events are designed to attract participants and pledg-
es for their participation. The event is the campaign, though there is a
tremendous amount of promotion work to attract the participants and
the pledges. The Internet and social media are also allowing for new
types of events. The “flash mob” is another example. In most cases,
these are just done for fun or entertainment, but increasingly as a guer-
rilla marketing technique.

My personal favorite marketing technique is this in-your-face, guer-

rilla marketing approach to grab the attention of the public and create
an instant and strongly favorable reaction to whatever cause is be-
ing promoted. In most cases, these “shock and awe” approaches are
designed specifically to attract immediate media coverage because of
their outrageousness or as I prefer to think, their creativity!

To leverage the marketing impact, whenever possible I design cam-

paigns to bring together a combination of creative elements spread
over a multiple-month period. This combining of creative elements is
by far the most effective technique to get the maximum bang for your
usually limited buck. Whichever way you develop your creative strat-
egy and the supporting style and tone of your campaign, I recommend
that you present the problem you’re trying to address as dramatically
as possible and directly connect that problem to how your solution is
going to solve or at least have a beneficial effect on the problem. By
all means, focus on the emotion of your appeal. Emotion sticks; emo-
tion drives response. Making the problem real for the audience and
touching their heartstrings is powerful. However, remember there is a
fine line between an emotional appeal and one that is over the top and
sometimes degrading to those you are portraying. A good example of
this understanding of where to draw the line is the policy of the Ameri-
can Red Cross for their publicity photos or public service announce-
ments. In Red Cross messaging you will never see a child crying or
begging for help. They feel that such an approach demeans the plight
of the disaster victims and the seriousness of the situation. They have

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communicated the emotional need to support victims of disaster, natu-

ral or otherwise, quite successfully without resorting to tearful pleas.

Because most cause-related campaigns do not have the advertising

budgets of a nationally-marketed consumer product, or any advertis-
ing budget at all, they will be relying entirely on free public service
announcements, editorial coverage, PR, special events and other ef-
forts that are not costly. If your campaign budget is modest or low,
your creative strategy and ultimate messaging to the public must have
strong impact if it is to stand out among the thousands of messages
that bombard the public daily.

All fun aside, even when you want to support your partner’s ideas,
or your own ideas, sometimes an idea is just not right for the campaign.
Trying to be humorous about a serious disease or social problem could
have devastating repercussions. Or not clearly thinking through the
message that a particular photograph or story might convey to the
public, could bring about the exact opposite reaction you were seek-
ing to create. In your brainstorming sessions, put every idea up on the
wall. Then choose the one(s) that best conveys the messages you wish
to promote, in the most creative way, without in any way causing
damage to your brand or campaign.

A tip: People support what they create. Listen well in these meet-
ings for the good ideas of your potential partner and/or their agencies.
When they bring up an idea, explore it and see if it could fit nicely into
the program you’re discussing. If it does… they will support it.

The rule of thumb I have always used is that the smaller your budget
is, the more creative and impactful your message must be.

Don’t Rush the Process

The development of your creative strategy cannot be accomplished in
one or two meetings. As this is probably the most important part of
your entire project or campaign development, you do not want to rush
this process. You may have predetermined that the creative strategy
will be initially designed by a subcommittee of the partnership team,
ideally those with marketing, public relations, or other creative talents
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and experience. And of course, now is when you get your pro bono
advertising or public relations agencies involved. Though if your part-
nership is a relatively small team, then the entire team might undertake
the development of your creative strategy.

In any case, the development pace of your creative strategy will be

determined greatly by the information that you have on hand or have
found about the project, cause, the audiences and other factors out-
lined above. The development of the key points of your campaign mes-
saging, call-to-action, slogans and/or other communications should be
developed as the final part of this creative development strategy. So
don’t jump into the fun stuff first. Your final messaging must be based
on real information.

Having been involved in innumerable cause projects and campaign

strategy development efforts, I know there really is no exact science
on how to develop your overall creative strategy. As in any science or
in baking a cake, you start with the basic elements, stir them together
and go from there.

Slogans as Part of Your Creative Strategy

Your project or campaign will rarely need a separate logo. Indeed, in
almost all cases you want to use the more established logos of your
partners to lend credibility to your partnership effort. However, cam-
paign names and slogans can be important when well-conceived and
executed, for they can galvanize attention to your cause. They should
be short, easily remembered, and communicate what the partnership
effort is all about. For the 5th Annual Health and Wellness Fair in
Oakland we developed the slogan: Your Road to Wellness. It com-
municated clearly that by coming to our Health Fair you were on the
road to better health.

Tactical Strategy
Once you have determined your creative messages and strategy, you
move on to the development of your tactical (sometimes called opera-
tional) strategy, which is how you deliver your creative strategy to your
target audiences. Your tactical strategy will involve many elements:

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• Determine the priority of the audiences you wish to reach in

your campaign. Your creative strategy has defined who your
strategic audiences are. Now you want to list them in order of
importance. If you have limited funding or team bandwidth to
reach them all, focus on your top priority audiences first.

• If your creative strategy suggests different messages to different

audiences (sometimes a very smart tactic, as long as they are
dead-on with your creative strategy) or a particular order in
which your campaign messages should be delivered, determine
the best order and audience targets for your messaging.

• Is the campaign being rolled out in different phases? For

example, will you need to complete a fundraising campaign
before you start construction of your homeless shelter or other
project?

• If you have an advertising, PR, or promotional budget, what

media will be your primary and secondary delivery mechanisms
(print, radio and TV, social media, online, etc.)?

• How you are allocating your budget and staff time to the dif-
ferent areas of media, creative and materials development, roll-
out phases of the campaign and other cost and time elements?

• Who will be managing and how will they be held accountable

for each part of the campaign?

Operational Timeline
With all the pieces of your tactical strategy defined, now is the time
to develop a master operational calendar or timeline. This timeline
should include not only all of the many elements of your creative and
tactical strategies; it should also include who will be responsible for
managing each element. When developing such a detailed timeline,
be sure to take into account any holidays, major events, such as annu-
al community or professional sports activities, which might possibly
conflict with your obtaining maximum media and public exposure.
Many cities have a listing of the events and activities of their primary

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nonprofit organizations. For example, San Francisco’s Nob Hill Ga-

zette weekly newspaper publishes a listing of all major society events.
You do not want to schedule your project or campaign’s press confer-
ence or other significant activity and find it competes directly with
another potentially larger media or public interest-generating program
or holiday event.

Once finalized, this operational timeline guides all of your partner-

ship’s plans, decisions, your funding requirements, everything in the
execution of your project or campaign. Do not overlook the impor-
tance of establishing and following this critical timeline.

Creative Development and Problem Solving

There may be several times throughout your cross-sector partnership
development process when you will need to address a problem or de-
velop a new creative approach, especially when attempting to identify
potential partners, determining the desired project or cause campaign
or when developing your creative and tactical marketing strategies. At
such times you may wish to hold what is commonly called a “brain-
storming session.” These sessions have varying degrees of success be-
cause the discussions tend to flow in many directions, and naturally,
people with the strongest belief that their own idea is the best will
usually try to convince others to follow their path.

There is a much better way to approach this need to find a solution

or better idea - by having the sessions and feedback of ideas structured
in such a way that everyone has equal input and especially, moving the
process from individual positions to group thinking.

Bob Lanier is CEO of BioClaris, a company which teaches how to

directly access specific brain systems associated with generating ideas.
They have developed the Bioclaris® Method for creative development
and problem solving. It is, quite simply, the most effective approach to
obtaining the maximum results from group thinking I have ever seen,
and it’s fun. Bob has kindly provided to this book, and more impor-
tantly to you the reader, their unique step-by-step approach to achiev-
ing the optimum results for creative development and problem-solving.

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I highly recommend this process as a powerful teambuilding, prob-

lem-solving and idea-generating opportunity to maximize your effec-
tiveness in conceiving and developing your project or cause marketing
campaign. You’ll find the Bioclaris® Method in the Resource Center
under Creative Development and Problem Solving, along with more
detailed information, including templates to help you manage the pro-
cess. The Bioclaris® Method is a gift to us all in our collective desire
to make our organizations more effective and to best tap the creative
juices of our team and partners.

Marketing Plan
You’ve heard the expression, “If you don’t know where you are go-
ing, then any path will take you there.” The point of this expression
to me is that sometimes people and organizations will grab onto a
good idea and start executing it immediately, without stepping back
and taking the time to develop a fully thought-out Marketing Plan.
This is a huge mistake because rarely, if ever, will this approach meet
your partnership objectives. Your Marketing Plan must identify all
the opportunities to communicate and promote the partnership to all
your stakeholder audiences, and this plan must provide a step-by-step
process to achieve your objective(s).

First and foremost, your Marketing Plan is based on your creative

and tactical strategies. As you develop the many areas of your Market-
ing Plan, some of the elements of your tactical strategy may change,

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and this may also affect your overall timetable. In most cases, these
course corrections are based on new ideas and new opportunities and
thus are good for the overall effort. However, rarely, if ever, should
you change your creative strategy. Your creative strategy is the solid
rock upon which all of your messaging, marketing and motivation is
built. And as I emphasized earlier, if something comes up that is not
on strategy - don’t do it.

The Marketing Wheel

A large amount of opportunities and approaches can be incorporated
into a Marketing Plan. The following diagram is what I, and probably
many others, call “The Marketing Wheel.” Think of it as a creative
work in progress. You start by putting your project or cause campaign
in the middle, and you surround it with all the different marketing
disciplines you might possibly integrate into this campaign. These in-
clude public relations, media relations, social media, special events,
speaking engagements, internal and external communications, printed
materials and other marketing activities.

At this early stage, don’t let the large amount of opportunities on

this Marketing Wheel overwhelm you. In fact, you should be excited
to see all that you and your team might be able to accomplish. As
you develop your campaign in more detail, you may add some areas
or possibly take some off your Marketing Wheel, depending on time,
money, volunteers and staff requirements. Working together, your
team will decide which opportunities on the Marketing Wheel have
the highest priority and the highest potential for success.

As you can see by this depiction of the Marketing Wheel, there are
many areas of marketing and promotional opportunities for your proj-
ect or cause. And each of these areas of opportunity may have several
subcategories. For example:

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Printed Materials
• brochures and flyers

• newsletters

• direct mail

• posters

• pinups and plaques

Promotional Opportunities
• in-store displays

• milk cartons and shopping bags

• movie theater PSA slides and video

• cooperative promotions

Unfortunately, many marketing plans do not explore all of the op-

portunities available, not because they aren’t important but because
sometimes the partners don’t even think about them. And that’s a
great opportunity lost. I find it very useful to use this diagram to make
sure that I’m not missing an opportunity to integrate into the Market-
ing Plan. And I look for others that I may not have thought about. For
example, by working with a local grocery store, United Markets, I was
able to put a public service announcement for a Red Cross emergency
preparedness project on tens of thousands of their shopping bags that
were passed out in their stores for a one month period. We also de-
veloped a four-color slide of the same public service announcement
(PSA) and had the slide projected in San Francisco Bay Area movie
theaters. Both of these marketing opportunities were produced at very
little cost, the placements were provided for free and they reached an
untold number of people when they unpacked their grocery bags or
waited to watch the movie. And did I mention…all for free?

The complete development of your Marketing Plan and its imple-

mentation may be the most detailed and time-consuming aspect of
your project or cause campaign. But it is the Marketing Plan that

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drives the funding and promotional success of your project or cause,

and it can be really fun to execute.

The goal of your Marketing Plan is to develop a step-by-step action

plan and a blueprint that guides all aspects of your creative and tacti-
cal strategy. Each and every aspect of your Marketing Plan must be
directed by the strategy of the campaign (which we detail in the next
section) and must reinforce your messages and be consistent through-
out the campaign.

Gather your partnership team, or a marketing subcommittee of the

larger partnership team, and explore each of the individual opportuni-
ties around this Marketing Wheel. For each different marketing disci-
pline/opportunity, ask these questions:

1) What elements fall under each category around the Marketing

Wheel?

2) Who on our team has experience in working in this particular

area?

3) How can we take our overall creative strategy and apply it to

this particular area?

4) What can we do to maximize our campaign’s exposure

through this area? Be specific.

5) If we don’t have the expertise internally to address this particu-

lar area, who might we enlist to help us?

Before you actually execute each area of the Marketing Wheel, you
will need to have finalized your campaign’s creative strategy, any slo-
gans and key messaging statements. However, at this point you are
just making a laundry list of all the different areas and subcategories
of your marketing opportunities.

Media Relations
To emphasize the large amount of opportunities, let’s dive into one of
the circles of the Marketing Wheel - media relations. Here is a list of

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the significant amount of potential opportunities which fall under the

Media Relations aspect of your project or cause campaign, and there
may be more.

• Press conferences

• Press releases

• Public Service Announcements (PSAs)

• Photography

• Video, audio and YouTube releases

• Content research and development

• Media training for company spokespersons

• Media list development

• Radio and TV talk show appearances

• Interviews with newspapers, magazines, Internet and blog

reporters

• Media contests and promotions

• Translation of media materials into different languages

• Media associations

The use of social media might also fall under the Media Relations cat-
egory, as you are using social media to communicate your messages out
to different audiences. However, we will address that area separately.

I put Media Relations at the top of the Marketing Wheel because

it is that important to your project or campaign. No other area of
the Marketing Wheel or the overall fund development or promotional
campaign provides as much reach and impact to the largest amount
of people, in the most efficient way, than a well-conceived and well-
executed media relations program. If you have a good story to tell,
and you do, there is a terrific amount of opportunity to share this story

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through the media to the public. Every opportunity in the category

of Media Relations can be provided to your organization and your
partnership absolutely “free.” Granted, if you are producing a public
service announcement, you may need to hire a writer if no one else on
your team can write it. If you’re going to send photographs to a televi-
sion station, newspaper or Internet site to support a story or for a TV
public service announcement, you might have to hire a photographer.
But then again, you probably can get this service donated by a volun-
teer, employee or local photographer.

To ensure that you get what you want and need for photographs
and video from your press conference or other early-on events, pro-
vide your own photographer and videographer. Do not hope that you
can receive copies of photographs or video taken by the media. Hav-
ing your own photos and video gives you complete control and allows
for the greatest flexibility in your on-going campaign. Prior to any
event, provide the photographer/videographer with a specific “shot
list” of the people you want to capture, as well as an agenda of the
key elements of the event so that they are prepared for what’s coming
up next. Also make any introductions necessary so that they have easy
access to get the photos/video you need.

While there are many reasons Media Relations is at the top of the
Marketing Wheel, one that stands out is that the cost of Media Rela-
tions can be a fraction of the value that you will receive. In most cases,
for every dollar you spend, your return can usually produce upwards
of $100. Pretty hard to beat that!

Simply put - Media Relations will place your good works on a pub-
lic stage and turn the light on. Your organization will not glow unless
people know and see what you are doing.

Develop a Comprehensive Media List

As media contacts are always changing, I use an Excel spreadsheet
to manage and update my media list. Other database management
programs will also work for this purpose. I first categorize my media
spreadsheet by type (television, radio, newspaper, magazine, Internet

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news sites, blog writers, wire services, etc.) Then under the appropriate
type heading, I list each media outlet in my marketing territory. This
territory could be local for smaller organizations, regional for larger
ones, national and international for some. For example, under the tele-
vision/local heading I would list all television stations within the San
Francisco Bay Area, making sure all the ethnic TV stations are included.

And then for each particular media outlet, I have separate listings
for the following: news director, assignment editor, community rela-
tions director or public affairs director, talk show producer, market-
ing and/or promotions director, and/or other titles depending on the
medium. For each listing, I will have a person’s name, direct telephone
number, cell phone number if I have it, email address, and physical ad-
dress. It is also important when pitching a news story or special event
to get the direct news line at radio and television stations and their
news emails. For example: to email a news story to KGO TV Channel
7 in San Francisco, the ABC affiliate, I use abc7listens@kgo-tv.com,
which goes directly to their News Assignment Editor. I email and make
a personal phone call to these news lines if, and only if, it is really a
news story - something happening now or within the next 24 hours.
It is a similar procedure when working with print media (newspapers
and internet news primarily) except your primary contact will usually
be the City Desk Editor. For example: to send a news story to the San
Francisco Examiner, I use the address: newstips@sfexaminer.com.

Find out who produces their public affairs/community talk shows.

Start with contacting their public affairs director. Most of these shows
are taped during the week and aired on Sunday mornings. And many
times interview opportunities are available on certain newscasts or
other locally-produced programs during the day. This is where you
can place a spokesperson in an interview situation to talk about your
cause or project. Every radio and television station is required by
Federal broadcast regulations to provide some form of public affairs
programming, such as talk shows, public service announcements, a
calendar of community events, and other public service and commu-
nity-benefit messaging. Importantly, all such programming is free for
you. Putting together such media lists is a great jello job.

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The marketing and/or promotions director is the best contact if

you’re trying to create a media co-sponsorship, contest, or other on-
air promotional opportunity.

The simplest way to find out all this information is to pick up the
phone and call the different media. Call their main switchboard and
ask for the person’s title such as news editor, city editor, community
relations director, etc. Then ask this person which telephone number
and email is best to reach them when you want to pitch a story, inter-
view or news item. Usually, they are happy to help. An Internet search
for the media outlets in your area also will usually provide a detailed
list. For example, I did a quick search for “All radio stations in Texas”
and came up with www.ontheradio.net/states/texas, which listed every
Texas radio station and links to its website.

If your project or campaign has a specific date for an event, you will
find that almost all media provide some form of an event calendar.
These event calendars will need your information anywhere between
two and six weeks prior to the event. So check with each individual
media outlet for their deadline. A calendar release (sample in Resource
Center) is a very short who, what, when, where and why announce-
ment. Also look for the independent websites that cover your market-
ing region. Craigslist.org provides a calendar of events section in the
regions where they provide their service. Add all of these contacts and
names to your master media list.

Also be sure to do a web search for websites and blogs that cover
your particular topic area in your greater marketing region. Provide
them with a short but topical story or release about your project or
cause marketing campaign.

This media list is your Bible in the PR, news and promotion world.
It is important that you keep it up-to-date.

Deadlines
When developing your media list, be sure to ask each different contact
what their deadline is for their particular area. For example: contact-
ing the media to place a spokesperson on a talk show usually requires
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a six to eight week lead time; a calendar release three to four weeks; a
breaking news story, well obviously, immediately! List these deadlines
in your master media list for each particular contact or area.

This is not a complete listing of every Media Relations opportunity,

but you get the picture. There are a lot of ways in which you can lever-
age your strategy and messaging for relatively little cost. In all cases
with all media, the less commercial your message the better. If your
partnership is promoting that $.10 from every can of soda (or any
product or service) goes to a particular nonprofit, the media may not
consider this as a public service message, even though it benefits a non-
profit. In many cases they will tell you to buy advertising. And that’s a
whole other circle! The success of everything listed above depends on
how you position your message as a benefit for the cause and for the
greater good of the community.

Spokespersons
You’ll need to determine who will best serve the important role of
spokesperson for your project or cause. In fact, you may have several
spokespersons on different topics for different types of public speak-
ing or media interview opportunities. Ideally, this person will be expe-
rienced in working with the media, comfortable being on camera and
able to deliver concise and meaningful messages about your project or
campaign. While you may have several spokespersons including the
CEO or Executive Director of your cross-sector partners, it is not nec-
essary to always have the “top dog” as your primary spokesperson, as
many times it’s hard to get that much time from their schedules. Select
among your partners two or three people who have the experience
to serve this role well, as this also provides more scheduling options.
I’ve found that it is highly productive to have two or three differ-
ent spokespeople coming from different perspectives, though talking
about the same project or campaign.

For the Health and Wellness Fair in Oakland, we sent reporters and
talk show producers one paragraph bios of three different potential
spokespersons/interview guests: a CEO who would speak to his com-
pany’s long history of community involvement; the director of nursing

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for the Alameda County Public Health Department who could speak
to the health and wellness needs of the community; and an executive
from the Center for Elders’ Independence who could speak about the
health and insurance challenges faced by senior citizens. The media
had the choice of who was most appropriate for their particular show
or story idea. This multiple-spokesperson approach proved to be very
successful in garnering significant interview and talk show placements.

Feature Stories
Feature stories can also be developed. For example, if you were pro-
moting, or as it’s called in the media world, “pitching,” a story for a
homeless shelter, it would be best to line up several individuals the
reporter could interview, such as the Executive Director, a person be-
ing served by the homeless shelter, a local doctor who is providing
services to the homeless, and volunteers helping to build the shelter.
Feature stories tend to be more about trends and various viewpoints
on an important subject, rather than to provide a specific message or
call-to-action. So it’s best to be prepared with information about the
industry, even other people in your same business, when pitching a
feature story.

Public Service Announcements (PSAs)

Public Service Announcements (usually called PSAs) are free radio and
TV messages usually in one of three versions: 10 seconds, 20 seconds
and 30 seconds. In most cases you will write the copy (words) for
the PSAs and the station will either record them or have their on-air
talent read them during programming. In most cases, public service
announcements need to be provided to the media five to six weeks
prior to when you wish to have them aired. Because such announce-
ments are free and air-time is limited, there is tremendous competition
in getting these placed. You stand a much better chance of placement
if your PSAs are well-written, concise, and provide a strong value to
the general community. The media will provide guidelines and/or ex-
amples for you to follow. I have placed public service announcement
examples in the Resource Center under Media Relations.

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Ethnic Media
According to New American Media, a collaboration of ethnic news
organizations, there are approximately 2,000 ethnic media organi-
zations in the United States, connecting approximately 57,000,000
adults. Not only is this a huge population, but this population is very
loyal to their particular media, especially when a considerable percent-
age them don’t speak English and must get their news and informa-
tion in their native language from ethnic media. To overlook ethnic
media, and thereby important populations for your marketing cam-
paign, would be a big mistake. For instance, marketing and commu-
nications campaigns, nonprofit or for-profit, in the San Francisco Bay
Area many times will deliver their messaging in English, Spanish and
Chinese (both Cantonese and Mandarin). This focus on the prominent
languages spoken in their community is certainly true of most metro-
politan areas in the United States.

While many ethnic media, will, out of necessity, accept public ser-
vice announcements, press releases and other information in English,
it is far more productive (and respectful) to provide this information in
their own language. Of course, there are translation services you can
use, but I’ve never had to use one. In your pool of partners, stakehold-
ers and volunteers there will undoubtedly be someone who can help
with the translating you need. Take advantage of the wealth of mar-
keting and publicity opportunities that are provided by ethnic media.

Media Associations
Many large cities and regions will have associations made up of mem-
bers of the media, and these associations can be very good friends
of your project or campaign. Our area’s is the Northern California
Broadcasters Association. The primary focus of such media associa-
tions is to generate ideas and collaborative advertising campaigns. In
other words, their purpose is to generate sales for their association’s
radio stations and yet they can be very helpful in providing advertising
for major cause-related campaigns in their marketing region…so don’t
overlook this important opportunity to help your campaign.

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Public Relations
The key objective of public relations is to create a favorable image
and reputation of your organization. It is this favorable image and the
enhancement of your brand that will make the public want to learn
more about your organization and buy your products or utilize your
programs and services. If your PR is stronger and more favorable than
your competitor, it is likely that the public will buy from you or sup-
port your cause-related campaigns rather than your competitor’s.

While public relations and brand promotion of your cause are your
focus, the way you attract this awareness is through press relations,
speaking at events, serving as a guest on media talk shows, or the
luncheon speaker at a Rotary or Kiwanis club, providing educational
seminars and trainings, creating linkages with organizations that sup-
port your mission, etc. Like media relations, there’s a misconception
that public relations is free…. it’s not. It takes creative strategy and
development, staff or volunteer time from your partnership, the cost
to develop promotional and public relations materials and a modest
cost to underwrite general expenses. But as we discussed in Media Re-
lations, you are not paying for the actual media time you are receiving
or mind share you are creating. That part is “free.”

Here is where your public relations agency (pro bono or paid) can
be of immense service to your partnership.

Special Events
Are special events worth the trouble? That depends. The good news is
that a special event can create tremendous excitement, media interest
and coverage, public and potential donor interaction with your cause,
and even raise funding. The bad news is that special events can take an
extraordinary amount of time, staff, volunteers and funding. I remem-
ber all too well when I was working with one large nonprofit organi-
zation and they were planning their annual fundraising gala. While
it was chaired and run by a volunteer committee, the gala required a
huge amount of time from marketing, fund development, and other
departments of the organization. Many months were spent in plan-

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ning the event and, in the end, it raised approximately $100,000 after
expenses. My conviction then and still today was that this amount of
money paled in comparison to what that same staff and volunteer time
could have accomplished in fundraising and marketing reach if the ef-
fort had been placed on a particular project or two and focused on a
greater good… and not a glitzy, ballroom-based, black-tie party that
received almost no media or general public coverage, except for one
photo on the society page.

Many nonprofits believe that this type of major event is good for
donor relations. I feel that there are many better ways to make your
donors happy and attract new ones, especially when putting their
money to good work and showing them what you’ve done.

Special events engage the public, attract the media and bring aware-
ness to your program or cause. Just think twice before jumping in with
both feet, and analyze the cost/reward ratio of major, glitzy special
events.
Press Conferences
Nearly everyone thinks that their event, project or campaign will draw
all sorts of attention from the media, and invariably will recommend
that a press conference be held. This is a natural reaction due to your
excitement about the partnership you’ve created and the cause endeav-
or that you are undertaking. However, like any special event, a press
conference takes considerable time, planning, staff and cost, and thus
should be used only when you really have a major news announcement
to make. The media come to press conferences because they’re expect-
ing news. If you feel that what you are undertaking can sincerely create
news excitement on a local or regional basis, then by all means hold
a press conference. You will want to have your top leaders from the
partnership there to explain your project or the campaign that you are
launching. It is also helpful if you can include your local mayor, city
councilmember, fire chief, police chief or other dignitary to help draw
attention to the importance of this event and attract the media. How-
ever, be forewarned that the attendance of these dignitaries does not
necessarily guarantee news coverage. The mayor, for example, may be
attending many events every day, so is not necessarily a draw.
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Paid Advertising
The best things about paid advertising are that you can craft your
message to be delivered exactly how you want, place your ads on the
media where you think they will have the greatest impact, schedule
the times or locations that they will be shown, and have all guaran-
teed with a contract between you and the particular media outlet. The
downside, of course, is that you have to pay for all of this, and paid
advertising can be prohibitively expensive for most cross-sector part-
nerships.

If you’re fortunate enough to have an advertising agency working

as part of your team, many doors can be opened to leverage paid ad-
vertising. The most obvious point of leverage is the fact that advertis-
ing agencies spend their client’s money to buy advertising, and major
agencies spend millions of dollars on it. However, the media is not
always motivated to help you, even if you have an advertising agency
on your team because many times they like to keep the sales and edito-
rial sides of their business separate.

The best approach is to have your agency contact their sales rep at
the media and ask if there’s any way that they might influence cover-
age for a better deal. Just don’t do this yourself. The one big excep-
tion to this rule is working with small media outlets, especially weekly
newspapers. In many of these cases, sales and editorial are closely
linked, so in some cases, if you don’t buy an ad you won’t get editorial
coverage.

Partner Relations and Promotions

The best part of a partnership is that you’re not alone. You have the
ability to tap the intelligence and resources of all members of your
partnership and in many cases, other relationships your partners will
bring to support your project or campaign. One of the partners in the
Health and Wellness Fair was the Center for Elders’ Independence. Be-
cause they joined our partnership, we were able to develop an entirely
separate section of the Health Fair devoted specifically to seniors and
thereby reach out to senior-oriented media for excellent publicity and
discounted advertising. Our Health Fair was greatly strengthened and

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expanded to new audiences because of the educational and promo-

tional opportunities brought to us by this partner.

Explore all opportunities with your partners. They may be able to

share their media list or have close working relationships with key
members of the media, or have extensive databases to deliver the mes-
sages of your campaign. They will have communications vehicles such
as newsletters, annual reports, quarterly updates, direct mail, blogs,
social media, e-mail communications, etc. Combining all of these po-
tential audiences, you’re talking about a significant amount of people
who could receive and be motivated by your campaign messaging.

Guerilla Marketing
I have put guerilla marketing in its own category, even though it usu-
ally involves some form of event and certainly engages the use of media
relations, public relations and other aspects of the Marketing Wheel.
Guerilla marketing is a tactic focused on generating immediate public
interest, usually through an unexpected, in-your-face event. For exam-
ple: A group of supposedly random people in a shopping mall all of a
sudden undertaking a coordinated song and dance routine, referred to
as a “flash mob,” is a form of guerilla marketing. Marketers use these
unexpected events to generate viral awareness and news coverage to
promote their products and services. Guerilla marketing is at its best
when it’s unconventional, thought-provoking, imaginative and buzz-
generating, while delivering the marketing message you want to convey.

Websites
Each of your participating partners will have websites that the part-
nership should utilize to help spread the message of your project or
campaign. I recommend that you develop a webpage devoted spe-
cifically to your partnership, project or campaign. For example, this
page could be listed as www.shelterforthehomeless.org/newshelter or
on your partner’s site, something like: www.Ramosbuilding.com/new
shelter. On this page you will want to provide:

• A concise description of your project or campaign, with goals,

timetables, etc.

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• A description of each of the partnering organizations and a link

to their website

• If possible, photos or renderings of what you are building or

doing

• A prominent button or link in a bright color (red is perfect) to a

donation page (such as PayPal or other online donation collector)

• A place for volunteers to register, if you need volunteers from

outside the partnership

• A link to news stories that have been placed concerning the

project

• Short biographies of people serving as your campaign’s spokes-

persons

• Contact information, including phone number, e-mail, and

possibly a person’s name for additional information

Each partner’s website should link the reader directly to the project
or campaign’s home page. Your campaign website should be updated
whenever “news” happens (you’ve broken ground for the building),
you’ve reached a particular milestone (your funding goals were met),
and the like. Always post photographs alongside each stage to pro-
vide the visitor with a visual timeline presentation of your progress.
Once you have all your partners sharing this information with people
visiting their websites, the cross-pollination of these website links will
raise your search engine optimization (SEO). That’s the fancy way of
saying Google, Bing, and Yahoo, among others will list you higher and
people will find you faster.

There are many free website platforms that you can use for your
campaign’s site. These platforms provide templates for design, add-
ing photography and text, and all else that you will need to develop a
highly attractive and effective website. My recommendation is to use
WordPress. I use it for my personal blog (www.burtch.wordpress.com)
and a huge number of organizations and individuals use WordPress as

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their website platform. One of the best reasons for using WordPress,
besides its being free and easy to design and navigate, is that the major
search engines love WordPress.

Printed Material
To help spread the messaging and images of your project or campaign,
having printed material to pass out is very helpful. Being able to con-
trol exactly how you want to communicate your messages and design-
ing those messages to your particular audiences, including presenting
your materials in different languages, gives you total power over how
you want the public and your other stakeholders to see your project
or campaign presented. As much as we try, publicity approaches often
cannot communicate your message as comprehensively or as accurate-
ly as you would like. Flyers, posters, banners, e-mail newsletters, di-
rect mail and other forms of printed or electronically-distributed ma-
terials will deliver your message in multiple formats and exactly how
you designed them. While four-color, glossy printed brochures make
for an excellent presentation, they can be expensive and sometimes
deliver the wrong message. When you’re undertaking a campaign that
requires raising funds, you do not want to communicate that you are
spending a lot of money on fancy collateral material. With digital tech-
nology and relatively low-cost, high-speed color printers, you can pro-
duce exceptional collateral material at very reasonable prices.

Social Media
Social media covers a lot of ground: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, mo-
bile applications/texting, blogs, podcasts, Foursquare, Google+, Insta-
gram, Pinterest, crowdsourcing…and a whole lot more. There has been
so much written about social media and so many good sources of in-
formation that can be found through an Internet search (and in the Re-
source Center under Social Media) that I will not go into a long expla-
nation here. Needless to say, social media opportunities are exploding
and can work exceptionally well when communicating and engaging
people in a good cause. Creating an online community to support your
organization and in particular, your partnership’s cause-related project
or campaign, should be part of your Marketing Plan.

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As we discussed earlier in the section on cause marketing, the Amer-

ican Red Cross took full advantage of social media through an inno-
vative texting program following the earthquake devastation in Haiti
and Hurricane Sandy, as did the more local I Am Here campaign in
Austin, Texas.

My one word of caution is that the use of social media needs to be

put into its proper perspective, by which I mean that spending an inor-
dinate amount of time and effort on developing an online community
can sometimes overshadow or possibly neglect other very important
aspects of your Marketing Plan. For example: if your project or cam-
paign is focused on one local or regional area, the focus of each area/
discipline of your Marketing Plan will be directed toward having the
largest and most productive impact to the target populations of that
local or regional area. I don’t suggest you give too much effort focus-
ing on people in other parts of the state, country or world who you
might be able to reach via social media but who would have little to no
effect on the success of a particular local/regional campaign.

If your partnership is able to develop a comprehensive email list of

potential donors, supporters, supplies, media contacts, stakeholders,
etc., using e-mail is a far more direct and effective form of commu-
nication to these critical audiences than Twitter, Facebook, or other
such social media platforms. Of course, the very best approach is to
integrate social media with your other marketing efforts.

I’ve seen many campaigns place so much emphasis on developing

a social media platform and community that they have overlooked
and sometimes totally disregarded other areas of the Marketing Wheel
that would have had a stronger impact on their partnership’s success.
Building and maintaining a social network/community is a time-con-
suming, people-requiring process, so be careful here when resources
(time, staff and money) are limited.

Working with Celebrities

There is an understandable desire to involve celebrities in your project
or campaign. However, this can be a double-edged sword. The good

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news is that celebrities can draw attention to your cause, your project
or campaign. Their photograph on your printed material will create
instant recognition. If they agree to do public service announcements,
appear in advertising for you, or make a personal appearance at your
press conference or groundbreaking, these can all add to the glamour
and potential news and public interest in your project.

One of the negatives in using celebrities, however, is that they have

been used in a lot of cause-related campaigns and in many cases, the
public has become skeptical of celebrity endorsements. Indeed, many
people believe that celebrities give these endorsements only because
they were paid. This belief can kill all credibility of their endorsement.
You can avoid this potentially negative impression if the celebrity has
an honest story that relates to your cause. For example, s/he has suf-
fered or has a relative who has suffered from the medical issue/ cause
that you are addressing (e.g. Michael J. Fox’s focus on finding a cure for
Parkinson’s disease), or possibly there is video coverage of them helping
build a home, playing soccer with Special Olympics athletes or some
other proof that the individual truly believes in this particular cause. If
this is the case, celebrity endorsements can be especially powerful.

It’s important to mention that not all celebrities are the typical
Hollywood, music or sports celebrities. There are many well-known
individuals that you might want to recruit for your cause, such as
politicians, scientists, authors and others. The key is finding the best
alignment between the person and your cause, making sure that it’s
appropriate. For one public service campaign, we included a 10-year-
old boy who was the youngest person ever to swim from Alcatraz
Island, home of San Francisco’s infamous prison, to the San Francisco
shoreline. We felt this boy would be an excellent spokesperson for
both youth and their parents…and he was tremendous. Sometimes it’s
much better to have real people who have a real reason to participate
in and promote your organization’s campaign.

While celebrities may donate their appearance fee, in many cases

you’ll have to pay their union fees for whichever film, music, actors or
other association they belong to. Or in cases of having an entertainer

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for an event, they may provide their services free but you will usually
have to pay for their musicians, travel, food, “beverages”, union fees,
the roadies and other crewmembers that are a part of their operation
and other expenses. If the celebrity donation/attendance draw is large
enough, these additional costs may be reasonable compared to the
impact their involvement would create for your cause.

Integrating Your Marketing Elements

I want to emphasize the importance of integration. There will be con-
siderable overlap in the marketing elements as you develop the differ-
ent areas, and this is good. Each and every one of the elements and
marketing disciplines of your Marketing Wheel should be integrated
with each other to the fullest extent possible. For example, press re-
leases, slogans, key talking points, PowerPoint presentations and col-
lateral material you develop for your press conference can be also be
used throughout the execution of your project or campaign. The same
goes as you develop photography and video. The photographs and
video your photographer/videographer take at the press conference,
especially interviews with your key spokesperson and the people you
will be serving by your new project, can also be used on your websites,
in your press releases, your advertisements, public service announce-
ments, social media, newsletters, e-mail blasts and all forms of your
written, visual, online or electronic communication. By pre-planning
and then integrating the development of these elements and materials,
you will save time and money because you can develop most of them
at the same time, at one cost, and use them over and over again.

Finalizing Your Marketing Plan

You are now ready to create a written-out, integrated Marketing Plan,
incorporating your creative and tactical strategies, the results of your
problem solving and creative development process, and your explo-
ration of the many opportunities within the Marketing Wheel. Re-
member: You are not writing the Magna Carta. Your Marketing Plan
should be concise, easy to understand and easy to communicate to
others. There is no need to put anything in this plan that is not ab-
solutely necessary to the execution of its parts. Like a blueprint, you

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want clear direction that your team can build upon…and nothing else.

This Marketing Plan should include:

• A concise description of the project or campaign that the part-

nership will undertake, and why this project or campaign is
important to the cause and to the benefit of your community

• Your primary objective, and if necessary, your second and third

objectives, so there is no misunderstanding of the specific goals
and mission of your partnership

• A concise but complete explanation of your creative and tactical

strategies

• A description of each element of each area of the Marketing

Wheel you wish to undertake

• The specific order and operational timetable in which you will

roll out these strategies and elements over the course of your
campaign, including monthly goals to be met, whether it’s a
three-month or two-year campaign

• Who has specific responsibility for the development and man-

agement of each particular element or area of the Marketing Plan

• The budget the partnership has allotted to cover the costs of

each element and the total budget for the campaign itself

• Who will provide the financing and the approval payment

process for projected expenses

• Who will have overall responsibility for managing the entire

Marketing Plan/campaign This could be one person or a small
subcommittee of the overall partnership team, but I recommend
no more than three people maximum

Tap Your Entire Marketing Team

You just never know where the best ideas are going to come from.
They could be from your marketing department, PR team, or mem-

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bers of your core partnership team. But when you think about all of
your employees, Board of Directors, volunteers, business partners and
more, you realize that you have an amazing collection of minds to
tap…so tap them! Before you finalize your Marketing Plan, I suggest
that you write up your creative and operational strategies in a concise
overview, and add to that the areas of the Marketing Wheel that you
have decided to pursue. E-mail this document as a “Draft Marketing
Plan” to many of your senior management, key employees, volunteers
and board. Ask these people to review the plan, add their thoughts,
and especially any out-of-the-box thinking. Ask them to provide per-
sonal contacts related to any aspect or element of the Marketing Plan.
By sending an email, they will have an electronic form of the docu-
ment, which will make it easier for them to add their ideas and send
them back to you. Be sure to caution them not to share this Draft
Marketing Plan with anyone outside of their or your organization.

A few things will likely happen:

• You most probably will receive some excellent, maybe even out-
landish (and that’s a good thing) ideas pertaining to the different
areas of your Marketing Wheel. You might want to hold a con-
test for the best ideas. I have seen this work very well when a
dinner and a movie were offered as a grand prize, and gift cert-
ificates to coffeehouses or other relatively inexpensive prizes were
offered for other good ideas.

• Your stakeholders may have connections to people within the

media, pro bono agencies, graphic design firms/printers, or many
other valuable contacts that could be invited to join your team
and support your project or campaign.

• The very best reason to tap your entire stakeholder team is simply
to engage them. By reaching out to them, you are clearly com-
municating their importance to your organization, to this cross-
sector partnership and to this particular project or campaign.
They want to feel included and valued, and they will respond
accordingly.

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When I was with Marriott Corporation in charge of the opening

promotion of the Marriott’s Great America Park, I was asked by a TV
reporter: “How many people do you have on your PR staff?” I said,
“3,000.” And I meant it. The construction workers building the park,
the employees who were being hired, the many vendors who were
supplying products and services – this was our PR team and they were
excited about being part of such an exciting project. And they spread
the good news about Marriott’s Great America to tens of thousands of
others in the marketing region of our new theme park, which greatly
increased our chances for success.

Once your Marketing Plan is complete and approved, send it to the

entire partnership team and key stakeholders. Your final Marketing
Plan will also provide assurances to your leadership, that of your part-
ner’s and to other stakeholders that this campaign was well-conceived
and that all costs to possibly impact their organization should provide
a high return on their investment. In other words, you want and need
their buy-in to this final Marketing Plan.

Stuff Happens
One last note on your Marketing Plan: No surprise, but things change,
new ideas will come up, new partners may want to join in, etc. For ex-
ample, the Center for Elders’ Independence was not part of the initial
partnership team when we were developing the Health and Wellness
Fair in Oakland. However, when we learned of their interest and that
by including them in the partnership we would expand our reach to a
significant audience of seniors, we jumped all over this new opportunity.

The same goes when you find something is not working or becomes
just too difficult to put together. In a partnership I was developing
between the USS Potomac Association and the Red and White Fleet of
San Francisco, though a seemingly an extraordinarily mutually-bene-
ficial opportunity, in reality we were faced with Port of San Francisco
fees, limitations on dockage of such a large ship, and other challenges
which greatly limited the potential of the partnership.

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Bottom-line: Don’t be afraid of new ideas, as long as they are di-

rectly related to your strategy. Be prepared to amaze yourselves!

Evaluation and ROI

Evaluation
Looking back on projects, programs or campaigns you have done be-
fore, perhaps you can see where changes could have been made along
the way if you stopped and sometimes had the courage to raise your
hand and say, “Let’s look at this situation another way.” What differ-
ences would that evaluation-in-progress have made in your results?

One of the best four-letter words in cross-sector partnerships is:

STOP! At times we get so intense in our work that we don’t stop to
evaluate where we have been, where we are, and where we need to
go next. This necessity for evaluation is critical on several levels. First
and foremost, to assure the partnership that you are on track toward
the goals you’ve set up in your strategy and Marketing Plan. Are you
on course for success? At regular intervals throughout your project
or campaign’s progress, you must stop, bring the partnership team
together and evaluate what’s working and what’s not.

To be most effective in evaluating your progress, you need to have

a valid baseline upon which to start. I recommend that as part of your
final Marketing Plan, you include specific metrics and measurement
processes that you will follow throughout the development of your
project or campaign. Before we began an emergency preparedness

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marketing campaign for the Red Cross (a case study follows shortly)
we conducted a survey finding that only six percent of San Francisco
Bay Area residents were “Red Cross prepared” for a major disaster.
And at the beginning and conclusion of each of the three years of the
campaign, we surveyed our target audiences to understand where we
stood against our goals. Without these surveys and knowing where we
were, we would not have been able to tweak the campaign or realize
that we were on the right path to significant success.

You will need to decide on which areas are most important for you
to measure. The following list will provide sample guidelines as to what
you might measure throughout your project and campaign’s develop-
ment. At the end of your effort you should provide a final tabulation
of each measurement area for the partnership’s review.

• Total dollar amount raised in donations

• Total increase in product or service sales
• Increased brand awareness
• Number of people that were trained or came into your organiza-
tion seeking assistance or just doing what your campaign asked
them to do
• Number of public service announcements and media impressions
that you received during your campaign
• Value of the free media coverage you received (Note: There are
formulas that give you a fair value both for articles in PR value
or what that space would have cost if it was a paid advertise-
ment. Conduct an Internet search for: “What is the advertising
value of publicity?” and you will find several links to these
formulas.)
• New markets that were opened up because of this project or
campaign
• Increased engagement of new audiences, such as Millennials or
seniors
• Number of volunteers that were attracted to your project

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• Number of employee volunteer hours provided by each partner

• Number of external volunteer hours provided
• Raised level of employee satisfaction due to participation in
project or campaign
• Number of coupons that were redeemed or pinups sold
• Number of fans or likes on your Facebook page
• Number of new members who joined your organization
• Increased engagement and investment in your organization by
new investors or major donors
• Lowered marketing costs due to effectiveness of campaign
• Increase or decrease in the level of commitment by all partners
Depending on the type of project or campaign you’re develop-
ing, there will be other areas to evaluate and provide measurement.
Remember, all along the way you must test your assumptions against
your measurement factors. How else can you measure success?

ROI (Return on Investment)

Trying to obtain quantitative return on investment (ROI) results for
social programs, cross-sector partnerships and cause marketing is
challenging at best. There is no exact science. Yet in many cases the
leadership of the partnering organizations will want to have an ROI
report following the completion of a project or campaign or first phase
of multiyear partnership to help justify the effort involved. For our
purposes, I want to offer two basic ways to approach return on invest-
ment for cause marketing and cross-sector partnerships:

• The less intensive approach would be to measure and analyze

the many areas I have suggested above as they relate to your
project or campaign. This approach is more focused on whether
you received value based on your objectives. For example, if your
project was completed on time and on budget, if your campaign
greatly increased the number of volunteer hours provided to the

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project or nonprofit partner, or if donations raised for the project

were above your costs, these would be an easily measured value
resulting from the partnership and a good measure of your suc-
cess and ROI.

• The more in-depth approach of measuring ROI is to take all fac-

tors possible into the accounting equation and see whether or not
the partnership created specific financial benefit or business
value to your organization and to the partner’s organizations. In
other words, by “business value” - did the partnership, after all
costs are factored in, increase financial revenue for the partner
organizations or decrease their business expenses so there was a
net positive gain?

One of the country’s leading experts in this area of ROI evaluation

and measurement is Farron Levy, President and Founder of True Im-
pact. True Impact provides web-based tools and consulting support to
help organizations measure the social, financial, and environmental
return on investment of their programs and operations. As one of this
book’s guest experts, Farron has provided excellent information on
the second, more thorough approach - measuring Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR), cross-sector partnerships and/or cause market-
ing programs in terms of financial benefit and business value. His pa-
per, A Practical Framework for Measuring Social and Business Value
and a Bottom Line Outcome Measures, which provides an equation of
revenues, cost and social value, can be found in the Resource Center
under Measuring Return on Investment.

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ROI for Employee Volunteer Programs

I want to complete this section on return on investment with a focus
on employee volunteer programs. As I have emphasized throughout
this book, the opportunity to raise employee morale and thus increase
their retention is one of the major opportunities in the development
of cross-sector partnerships. There has been increasing emphasis and
research on this important area of employee involvement in cause-
related, nonprofit community activities. Senior management and Hu-
man Resource departments of organizations providing such employee
volunteer opportunities are looking for ways to measure the return on
investment against the cost of such activities. This has given rise to a
relatively new area of “employee volunteer standards.” The Points of
Light Institute, in partnership with several nonprofit, for-profit, and
foundation participants, produced the 2010 Employee Volunteer Pro-
gram Reporting Standards. This document provides a wealth of in-
formation and guidelines on measuring the return on investment for
employee volunteer programs. For example, the report discusses both
the straight return on investment (ROI) and also what is called the
social return on investment (SROI) of employee volunteer programs.

The full Points of Light Institute report can be found in the Resource
Center under Employee Volunteer Programs. Measuring social media
ROI can also prove to be challenging, so I also recommend that you
read “20 Free Social Media Monitoring Tools you should be Using,”
which is located at smallbiztrends.com/2012/09/20-free-social-media-
monitoring-tools.html

Years ago when I was volunteering with San Francisco Special

Olympics, we wanted to increase the number of athletes participating
in our programs. My public relations agency (The William Bentley
Agency) provided pro bono services, working with KGO TV, the San
Francisco ABC affiliate, and the Special Olympics Board of Directors.
Together we developed a registration drive campaign called “Join the
Winners’ Circle,” with the goal of attracting as many new athletes to
the program as possible. We set up as our measurable goals:

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Goals to be measured Results

• Increase registration of new 46% increase in registration

Special Olympics athletes

• Increase new volunteers 30% increase in volunteers

In addition, this campaign generated exceptional public interest in

Special Olympics through the public service announcements on KGO
television and other media outlets, and this campaign served as an
outstanding introduction for a new major gifts fund development
program which was launched following the registration drive. The
campaign was so successful that a detailed “how-to” guidebook was
developed and sent to every major Special Olympics chapter in the
United States, underwritten by the Kennedy Foundation.

Funding Plan
Adequate financial support is required to meet the goals of your part-
nership. Generally speaking, this support comes from partner funding
and external funding. Your partner funding is the internal financial
support to develop and run your cross-sector partnership, project or
cause marketing campaign. Your external funding is the financial sup-
port that your campaign will be designed to attract from the general
public, foundations, corporations, and other funding entities. While
this book is not intended to provide a course in fundraising, I will pro-
vide some guidelines and direction on how to approach this critically
important element.

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Partner Funding
Prior to the completion and certainly prior to the execution of your
Marketing Plan, you will need to raise the funding for the campaign
budget to cover the initial and potentially all the elements of your plan.
In most cases, this funding will come from the corporate partner(s).
For the American Red Cross partnership with Pacific Gas & Electric
campaign (case study in next section), the vast majority of funding
came from a three-year grant from Pacific Gas & Electric. Howev-
er, the Red Cross provided staff time of their marketing department,
training teams, accounting and other personnel and overhead costs,
which became part of the overall budget expenditures. These costs in
personnel, supplies, overhead and other expenses must be accounted
for in your financial planning.

Your financing requirements are not always the sole responsibility

of your for-profit partners. In several campaigns cash funding and in-
kind donations have come from nonprofit organizations who contrib-
uted due to the benefit that their organization and their mission would
receive. Yes, your nonprofit, education or possibly government part-
ners will probably invest far more in staff time and other non-cash re-
sources, but at least explore if these organizations might also provide
some financial assistance to the overall campaign or project.

You do not want to develop a Marketing Plan that reaches beyond

your ability to pay for it. And you certainly don’t want to get halfway
through your campaign or project and run out of money. That’s like
building half a bridge.

So don’t go into any project, campaign or program without having

all of your expenses planned and covered first. It’s far better to scale
back ambitious plans to a point where you are fully confident that
you are able to execute your plan. Successfully completing the first
project or Phase 1 of a multi-year campaign and being able to show
this success to the public, all of your stakeholders, and especially your
funders, will set the stage for the successful funding and completion of
a potential next project or Phase 2.

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Don’t take on too much too fast - no bridge is better than building
half a bridge.

External Funding
In almost all cases, your campaign will include an external fundraising
effort. In the section on the different types of cause marketing cam-
paigns, we discussed ways to raise money, such as a pinup campaign,
online donations and several others. In your assessment leading up
to the development of your strategy and marketing campaign, you
should have decided what type of external (non-partner) fundraising
approach you will use.

Although I advise against spending too much time applying for

foundation or corporate grants, if someone on your board or another
supporter holds an influential position within a corporate or indepen-
dent foundation, or knows somebody well who does, by all means
explore this potential. You should plan on a six-12 month funding
cycle for this granting process, unless your advocate can personally
influence and possibly shorten this typical timetable.

In the majority of projects or campaigns, you will want to encour-

age donations from the public. Through your public service announce-
ments, paid advertising (if available), printed collateral material, cer-
tainly on your website (see next section) and whenever a spokesperson
is on a talk show, media interview or speaking engagement, the need
for public donations to your project or campaign should be highlighted
in this messaging. Most importantly, say how the audience can donate.

If your cause is of significant size, such as raising funds for an in-

ternational natural disaster, an epidemic, HIV/AIDS or other program
that affects a large population, holding special events in restaurants,
performance centers, and other public venues can prove to be an excel-
lent approach for raising funds. The same approach can also be used
with much smaller, more local campaigns. For example, if you want to
support a child with cancer, a local school or a family who lost their
home and all their belongings in a fire, you could hold house parties,
small dinner gatherings, events at local restaurants, etc. This is where

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your friends, partners, employees, and local supporters can be of great

help participating in or coordinating a hands-on fundraising event.

The Challenge of Foundations

Most professional fundraisers and nonprofit development directors (of
which I am neither) cringe when I say that I personally feel that a large
amount of effort is often wasted by nonprofit organizations seeking
foundation grants. Having worked with several of the largest corpo-
rate and independent foundations in the country, I know that they are
inundated with requests for funding from the nonprofit community,
and the line is getting longer. There also is a growing trend for founda-
tions (corporate and independent) to focus on specific areas on which
to concentrate their funding. In many cases, foundations are not seek-
ing to develop a long-term partnership with another organization. Now
there are exceptions, but the majority of corporate and independent
foundations may fund a project or initiative, but do not provide vol-
unteers, coordinate in-kind donations, lend highly skilled executives,
or the myriad of other benefits we have explored previously as part of
the relationship between your organization and a cross-sector partner.

If your cross-sector partnership program or campaign falls within the

specific funding guidelines of a local or national foundation, and you
have a well-connected friend or someone on the inside of a foundation to
help guide you, then investigate the potential of this funding. I just rec-
ommend that you don’t spend too much time standing in that long line.

Online Fundraising
It is imperative that you make it easy for people to donate to your
project or campaign. Put a donation button/link prominently on your
websites to direct readers to a page that clearly explains the project,
the partners, and especially, the cause. There are several platforms that
you can incorporate within your website to collect funding such as
Causes, which is integrated into Facebook, Donate Now/Network for
Good, Fundly, Rally, DonorsChoose, and many more. It is also very
easy to put a PayPal button/link on your site. This is where social me-
dia can be of great support. Utilize your Facebook, Twitter and other

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social media platforms to communicate your message and drive people

to your donation page. And all other aspects of your Marketing Plan
should direct people to the same place.

In all cases, donations provided to your project or campaign should

be immediately acknowledged with a thank you note (please, not an e-
mail - a real paper note/letter). Senna, the daughter of a good friend of
mine, wanted to raise money to save the baby sea lions that were being
stranded and dying off the California coast. So she set up a campaign
through the online platform GoFundMe.com in the hopes of raising
$350, which seemed like a very ambitious goal to a seven-year-old girl.
Her campaign website featured a very cute picture she drew of a seal
lion pup. (Note strong emotional pull!) I sent in a donation through
the website and approximately one week later I received a personal
thank you letter in the mail from Senna, with a copy of her picture and
a note that the campaign had reached nearly $800 and was still grow-
ing. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Whatever you do, do not include a pitch for more money in a thank
you note! This happens all the time, which I think is horrible. With
their contact information and financial support of your project or
cause, you have begun a relationship, one that should be nurtured
throughout the life of the project or campaign and beyond.

As you explore different funding approaches, be sure to examine

how your nonprofit or education partners are currently raising fund-
ing for their organizations. For example: What is the size of their cur-
rent donor base; what is the range of donations from large to small;
what are the total annual contributions; how do they communicate
with their donors, through e-mail, regular mail, newsletters, etc. You
are looking for the funding approaches and forms of communication
that they have in existence now. This will help you determine how to
utilize this information as part of your campaign.

Obviously, this is just an overview of ways to have your project or

campaign funded from both internal and external sources. Fund de-
velopment is a profession in and of itself, but it’s not that complicated

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when you have a good cause, use the right messaging and donation
platforms and have good people to help.

bCause™ by Socxs™
Over the years I have been approached by many people introducing
new technologies or new approaches for marketing, fund development
and social media. They have wanted my review as to the relevance of
their new product or service to my marketplace - primarily for-profit
and nonprofit organizations. First and foremost, I am not that techni-
cal, but I do understand a good idea when I see one. I was introduced
to the CEO and founder of Socxs, and not to be too cute, but this
technology knocked my socks off! The team behind Socxs is top-tier
technologists and they have integrated all forms of social media, web
and mobile communications into a brand-promoting technology plat-
form for a person or organization. They also came up with a brand
name I wish I had thought of: bCause™.
bCause™ provides a unifying  platform to integrate the power of
web, social and mobile technologies, allowing nonprofit brands to cre-
ate new markets, increase donor engagement and drive more personal,
year-round  funding opportunities. bCause creates a unique interactive
relationship between the nonprofit, the volunteer and the contributor.
Powered by Socxs™, bCause™ stimulates grassroots fundraising by
simplifying donor acquisition, tracking, and two-way communication. 
Being able to instantly empower personal volunteer networks with so-
cial media is a compelling new paradigm for fundraising. With bCause,
every volunteer builds his/her own individual network through per-
sonal outreach among friends, family and co-workers while collectively
supporting their chosen nonprofit organization. bCause™ turns each
volunteer into a personal champion for the cause while also acknowl-
edging the volunteer for their personal efforts on behalf of the cause.
I was so impressed that I have moved all my social media, web pres-
ence, mobile, etc. to bCause, because I feel it will hyper-accelerate my
brand recognition and create an interactive, push/pull messaging op-
portunity for my partnership-building business. Socxs works just as
well with for-profit organizations. Check them out at www.socxs.com.

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Implementation
Game on! At this point you will have all the partners on board, stake-
holders engaged, project or campaign decisions made, Marketing Plan
finalized, funding secured or in the pipeline. You have the many sup-
portive resources in the Resource Center, such as the forms, sample
communication templates, content from our guest experts, and much
more. You have everything you need to begin developing your own
highly successful cross-sector partnerships, and most importantly, you
are on your way to having your organization glow.

So in the Immortal Words of Nike - Just Do It!

You are now in full implementation mode. Whatever challenges come
up, your relationships are strong and you can handle them. When new
ideas or opportunities arise, you are prepared to run them by your
strategy, your budget and timetable to see if they should be added, dis-
regarded or held off for the next project or campaign. As the momen-
tum begins to build, as your plans begin to take shape, you will find
an energy and excitement that is rare in the business (any business)
world because you know that all this effort will produce results for all
partners and for the greater good you are serving.

Most importantly during the implementation phase, keep your com-

munications flowing and your budgets and timelines on track while re-
maining flexible and keeping relationships trusting and caring. These
necessary elements of success will serve you well in the process of
meeting and exceeding your key objectives.

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I have been involved in developing partnerships of all sizes and

variations, and each and every one of these was unique, exciting and
sometimes a bit nerve-racking. Each pushed the partnership team to
the limit of their engagement and creativity, and because of that, cre-
ated results beyond our wildest imaginations in nearly every case. Of
course, there were a few exceptions, though in 35 years of building
partnerships, only a very few.

Case Study: Prepare Bay Area

As we’ve seen throughout this book, when the right partners come to-
gether focused on the greater good, magic can happen. The following
case study explains in detail the implementation of a campaign that
brought together two very different primary partners who, focused
on a singular mission, hit on all creative and tactical cylinders and ac-
complished an unprecedented achievement.

The partnership was between the American Red Cross Bay Area
chapter and Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E). As you go
through this case study, you will see that we employed an unusually
large amount of marketing opportunities and tactics to motivate our
audiences. But most importantly, every aspect of this campaign was
based upon a very tight creative strategy, tactical roll-out and timeline.
If you’re a small or midsized organization, look at how the success of
this campaign was based almost entirely on its creativity, its motivat-
ing messages and finding the right partners. Organizations of any size
can proportionately achieve such success.

Background of the Issue

In 2004, the US Geological Survey predicted that a catastrophic earth-
quake would hit the San Francisco Bay Area within the next 30 years.
Which could also mean…in the next 30 seconds! In 2005, following
this report, the American Red Cross Bay Area chapter commissioned an
independent survey finding that only six percent of Bay Area residents
were prepared for a major emergency. Six percent! The San Francisco
Bay Area experiences small earthquakes all the time and with the sig-
nificant media coverage through the years since the devastating 1906
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earthquake it was clear that most everyone was aware of the impend-
ing threat. The problem was that Bay Area residents had become com-
placent and weren’t doing anything about preparing for the next “Big
One.” And yet the “Big One” is going to be catastrophic. Estimates
are that 3,400 people will die, 63,000 injured and 400,000-500,000
will be made homeless….all within 15 seconds of a catastrophic earth-
quake. Something had to be done!

Partners
I was Director of Marketing & Communications for the American
Red Cross Bay Area at the time. With a dismal six percent of the Bay
Area being prepared, we decided to develop a combined public aware-
ness and training program that would address this potential, possibly
impending catastrophe. As the Red Cross is a first responder in such
disaster situations, our goal was to significantly increase the number
of Bay Area households prepared for a major earthquake or any other
form of significant disaster. Because it was truly a life or death situa-
tion, we were highly motivated.

There was just one problem, or more like two: our Red Cross chapter
did not have the training staff capacity to undertake such an enormous
training program. And the Red Cross could not provide the funding
necessary to undertake a comprehensive Bay Area-wide promotional
and cause marketing campaign. We needed a corporate partner who
had both the financial resources and a vested interest in preparing the
San Francisco Bay Area public for a disaster.

We didn’t have far too look. Whenever a major disaster hits, the
local utility company is hit very hard, with downed power lines, bro-
ken gas mains, people not knowing whether or not to turn off their
household gas lines, etc. So we approached our regional utility, Pacific
Gas & Electric Company, because they had the aligned mission to
inform and prepare people in case of a major emergency, let alone a
catastrophic earthquake. Meeting together, we realized that we had
the opportunity to undertake such a massive effort, if we combined
our knowledge and abilities. We formed a very strong partnership and
together developed a program called Prepare Bay Area.

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We then set the audacious, certainly unprecedented goal of train-

ing one million Bay Area residents in emergency preparedness. In Red
Cross terms, being prepared meant that residents:

• Made an emergency plan, which included exit plans from their

residence, and developing a communications link with friends
and relatives outside of the Bay Area, and more

• Built an emergency supply kit of food, water, radio, flashlights

and other emergency supplies

• Were trained in CPR and other life-saving information

PG&E provided a one million dollar grant over three years to sup-
port the Prepare Bay Area initiative. Together the Red Cross and PG&E
developed a two-pronged tactical approach to our goal of training
1,000,000 people, which by the way, meant that we would have to
train approximately 25% of the people living in the four-county re-
gion covered by the American Red Cross Bay Area chapter. It’s hard
to put such an unprecedented goal in perspective.

Our first tactical approach was to greatly increase the internal Red
Cross capability to manage the training of such a very large number
of Bay Area residents in emergency preparedness. With approximately
90% of the PG&E funding being allocated to the training program,
we were able to hire two full-time employees specifically tasked to
coordinate the existing training staff of the Red Cross, develop the
training materials and help manage the significant support staff of vol-
unteers who were our feet-on-the-street for the public trainings.

Our second tactical approach was to develop a Bay Area-wide me-

dia/promotional campaign to motivate the general public, corporate,
educational, nonprofit and governmental organizations to take the
life-saving training provided by the Red Cross. It was my job to create
and manage the media/promotional campaign and motivate the obvi-
ously complacent public to do something they’ve never done before…
prepare for a major earthquake or any kind of a disaster by complet-
ing our three-step process.

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Why Did Pacific Gas & Electric Join This Partnership?

It is very important for this case study exploration, and for your de-
velopment of cross-sector partnerships to understand why PG&E
would join this partnership and commit one million dollars over three
years to support the Prepare Bay Area campaign. Ezra Garrett, Vice
President, Community Relations and Executive Director, PG&E Cor-
poration Foundation, shares their thinking, “A priority for PG&E’s
community investment program is to identify initiatives where we can
provide our experience and expertise – above and beyond our finan-
cial support – to help address critical community needs. So as a util-
ity company and first responder when disasters strike, the American
Red Cross and the Prepare Bay Area Campaign were a natural fit.”
He added, “In addition, the Red Cross applied real rigor in their as-
sessment of the preparedness needs of the Bay Area community and
articulated a strategy that we felt could deliver significant positive im-
pact at scale. These were the fundamental drivers that enabled our one
million dollar commitment to support the effort.”

As we have discussed throughout this book, each partner comes into

a cross-sector partnership with specific objectives which they would like
to achieve. So what did PG&E hope to accomplish through this cam-
paign? Ezra explained: “Our customers have very high expectations of
PG&E as it relates to our support for the community. They want to see
us actively engaged in efforts to strengthen the neighborhoods that we
serve, and the Prepare Bay Area’s high profile campaign really helped
to shine a light on PG&E’s community involvement work. PG&E was
co-branded with the American Red Cross throughout the duration of
the three-year campaign, and as the campaign touched more and more
people, we saw a commensurate improvement in the level of customer
awareness of PG&E’s work in the community. This improvement sup-
ported an increase in overall customer favorability for the company
over that period.” Yes, PG&E, which has had a mixed reputation with
the public, got involved in part to improve its favorability ratings.

We knew we needed creative help on such a significant campaign,

and we found a great partner in Publicis & Hal Riney, one of the na-

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tion’s leading advertising agencies, based in San Francisco. Approach-

ing a major advertising or public relations agency with such a huge
pro bono request was shooting for the top, and we knew it. Despite
our enthusiasm to develop an unusual campaign, the seriousness of
the need facing our greater community and the fact that their CEO,
Karen Francis, was a supporter of the Red Cross, this was not going
to be an easy sell.

I was introduced to Karen by our CEO, Harold Brooks, and when

we sat down she said something that is one of the key lessons in the
whole area of pro bono relationships. She told me how busy her cre-
ative team was and that the work for Red Cross would be taking se-
rious time away from large, money-making advertising projects that
they already had. Then she told me they would give us one idea for a
campaign, and only one. If we liked the idea, we would work together
and develop it to the fullest extent possible. If we didn’t like the idea,
we would part as friends…but that was all they were going to offer. A
fair offer, to be sure.

However, it didn’t turn out quite that way. When their creative team
started brainstorming, the ideas started to flow, then explode! Their
Creative Director became fixated on this project, to the point of Karen
telling me that it was taking a lot of time away from their regular
projects. But their excitement was so high, and the ideas were so as-
tonishing that she kept the green light on. At the final creative presen-
tation, with Karen Francis sitting there, the creative team unveiled not
one, not two, but three entirely different creative campaign concepts,
with multiple elements within each. It was overwhelming, just simply
amazing. For the next couple of hours we cut and pasted from those
three campaign concepts and bundled together the most creative and
certainly one of the most effective cause marketing campaigns I have
ever seen, which you are about to see.

Creative Strategy Development

We knew that to get the public engaged and motivated to prepare for
an earthquake, we needed to really shake things up…pun intended.

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We also knew that given our limited marketing budget (approximately

$100,000 over three years) against such a huge task, that our cam-
paign strategy would have to be extremely creative. It would have to
excite the Bay Area media so they would communicate our messages
to the public for free. After exploring out-of-the-box concepts from
Publicis & Hal Riney and adding some great ideas from our very cre-
ative Red Cross marketing team, we decided upon our campaign’s cre-
ative strategy. We named it: “What do we have to do to get your atten-
tion?” Now this slogan was for our internal creative direction, not for
our external media and promotional messaging. This creative strategy
drove all aspects for our campaign. It also set the tone and style of
our tactical approaches for the campaign, as the idea was to present
a somewhat extreme, shock and awe, in-your-face guerilla marketing
approach that would grab the public’s attention, and hopefully, moti-
vate the public to take the free Red Cross training. We felt that nothing
short of this high intensity, frontal attack would motivate a Bay Area
population so used to earthquake threats and warnings.

The Prepare Bay Area media and promotional campaign was multi-
disciplined, multi-event and tightly integrated. The following will pro-
vide a brief overview of the primary marketing and creative elements
and the tactical approach we executed for this campaign.

Please visit the Prepare Bay Area section of the Resource Center to
see four-color renderings of all of the samples and to watch an abso-
lutely must-see video of the billboard and people’s reactions produced
by Jason Boyce, a Red Cross volunteer.

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Press Announcement and Conference

We began the campaign by sending
out a mock newspaper to all Bay
Area media outlets, announcing that
an 8.1 earthquake had hit the San
Francisco Bay Area and that the Red
Cross was calling a press conference
for the following morning in down-
town San Francisco. Note: The 1906
earthquake which devastated San
Francisco was a 7.9 on the Richter
scale. 8.1 got their attention!

Mobile Billboards
Our next guerilla marketing technique was the design and production
of a 22-foot long by 13-foot high super-photorealistic double-sided
mobile billboard, which we placed at the foot of Market Street, di-
rectly across from San Francisco’s iconic Ferry Building. The billboard
was designed to fit within the natural visual perspective as one would
see walking out of the Ferry Building, where thousands of commut-
ers enter San Francisco each morning. The billboard was designed by
Publicis & Hal Riney. Below is the original design concept, showing
the perspective we wanted on downtown, and then the final mobile
billboard in position. What confronted these early-morning commut-
ers was a full color photo-realistic presentation of Market Street with
an earthquake crack running right down the middle, buildings col-
lapsing all around it, and sparks flying from downed electrical lines. It
literally stopped people in their tracks.

The opposite side of this mobile billboard depicted the same earth-
quake crack running all the way up to the Ferry Building, showing
overturned cars, a collapsing Ferry Building tower and the inside of
the building engulfed in flames! If you were on Market Street, as many
thousands were, on their way to work, this was their view when look-
ing down the street toward the Ferry Building. On the following page
is the original design concept and then the final billboard in position.

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These billboards were so realistic you could almost smell the smoke
and feel the fire.

Anyone who had a camera, cell phone or video recorder pulled it

out and started taking pictures of these amazing billboards. We also
positioned Red Cross volunteer videographers and photographers

Design concept of billboard placement

Final billboard in position with a perfect street/buildings perspective

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around the area to capture the reactions of the people on the street,
many of whom stood in stunned silence. It was shock and awe at its
very (luckily non-lethal) best! We held the press conference adjacent to
the mobile billboard and introduced the emergency preparedness cam-
paign and the free trainings that the Red Cross was offering. This was

Design concept of billboard placement

Final billboard in position with a perfect Ferry Building perspective

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the kickoff of an extraordinary series of promotional activities. Over

the next two weeks, the mobile billboard was driven throughout the
greater San Francisco area, stopping pedestrians and traffic wherever
it went, while Red Cross volunteers passed out informational pam-
phlets about our free emergency preparedness training.

The Bay Area media jumped all over these in-your-face billboards
and provided exceptional news coverage on local television and radio
stations, newspapers and blogs. Of course, we also invited the wire
services and other media outlets to visit the billboards, and we sent
photos to our extensive media list.

Blogs and Wire Services

The blog community and wire services went especially wild, sending
the photos of the mobile billboards all across the world. Of all the
extraordinary media coverage, our favorite was a blog comment that
stated: “When did the Red Cross get so cool?

China magazine story England newspaper story

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“Crashed” Taxicabs
A few weeks after our press conference and the unveiling of the mobile
billboards, we put two “crashed” taxicabs into service in downtown
San Francisco and downtown Oakland. These were real working cabs…
with slight modifications! A decal was placed across the car providing
“be prepared” website and contact information. Sitting prominently
on the roof of these taxicabs was a fabricated pile of “rubble” suppos-
edly from falling debris. While tens of thousands of people stood only
a few feet away from this startling preparedness message, I’m not sure
how many people actually got into the cabs themselves.

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Outdoor Billboards and Bus Cards

Thanks to the generosity of Bay Area outdoor billboard companies, as
well as the contacts and influence provided by Publicist & Hal Riney,
we placed approximately 50 outdoor billboards and smaller posters
(called bus cards) at bus stops all across the Bay Area, depicting fa-
mous San Francisco area landmarks “shaking” with the message of
Prepare Bay Area. The only part of these posters in focus was the
damaged sign, telephone number and website address. It was a very
effective communication of our earthquake preparedness message.

Photos courtesy of American Red Cross

Publicity Campaign
By design, the primary focus of our media relations and publicity cam-
paign was to generate free coverage through our extraordinary guerilla
marketing techniques and events. Additionally, press information was
continually distributed on the importance of preparing for an earth-
quake and encouraging people to visit the Red Cross website where
they would find detailed information on developing an emergency kit,
making a plan and signing up for CPR training.

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We also received excellent coverage by placing Red Cross spokes-

persons on local community affairs radio and TV programming and
many other media interview opportunities.

Wherever possible, we also delivered our campaign message in Span-

ish and Chinese.

Northern California Broadcasters Association

I was able to make a presentation to the Board of Directors of the
Northern California Broadcasters Association and asked for their help
and influence in supporting this campaign. In an unprecedented offer-
ing of paid advertising spots, the Northern California Broadcasters
Association provided 3,300 30-second spots on 60 radio stations to
support this campaign. These spots were not public service announce-
ments, but rather actual advertisements that were placed in the normal
daytime advertising rotation on their stations. The estimated value
of this donation was nearly $700,000 of free advertising. This was
the largest advertising donation I have ever seen in my career for a
regional, cause-related campaign, and it was extraordinarily helpful in
motivating people to get trained by the Red Cross.

Super Crack!
As they say on the infomercials: “But wait… there’s more!” Never
underestimate your creativity when you’re on a roll. Several months
later, to re-energize the media coverage and the public awareness of
our Prepare Bay Area campaign, we held an event called Super Crack!
Again utilizing the terrific creativity of our pro bono partners Publicis
& Hal Riney, we designed and placed a 60’ x 10’ photorealistic decal
across Union Square in downtown San Francisco. This decal made it
look as if the world-famous Union Square had been cracked in half
by an earthquake. As Union Square sits above a multi-story parking
lot, the decal depicted a three-dimensional view, showing crumbling
chunks of concrete which had fallen into the crack and smashed the
cars below. To emphasize the “reality” of the devastation, we put yel-
low “Caution: Do Not Cross” security tape on stanchions surround-
ing the decal and had security personnel present to make sure that

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Photos by Bruce Burtch

people didn’t “fall” into the crack. We took television and wire ser-
vice camera teams to the top of the Macy’s building which overlooks
Union Square so they could photograph and videotape Super Crack
from its best perspective, looking down on Union Square.

As with the mobile billboards, the unique, in-your-face approach of

Super Crack received strong media coverage in Bay Area media sta-
tions and far beyond.

As in any successful motivational campaign strategy, once you grab

your audience’s attention, you need to provide them with information
you want them to use. In the case of Super Crack, our Red Cross train-
ing team and volunteers had set up tents and provided free emergency
preparedness training throughout the week Super Crack was on Union
Square.

Guerilla marketing techniques, which we utilized in this campaign,

come in all sizes and types. When you realistically depict the destruc-
tion of major streets and landmark buildings, crack a famous public
park in half and pile simulated rubble on top of actual working taxi-

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cabs - this is guerrilla marketing on steroids. However, as with any

form of marketing, guerilla or otherwise, the message you are convey-
ing must be on target with your campaign strategy. In this Red Cross
example, our guerilla marketing strategy of “What will it take to get
your attention?” was well executed and presented by visually attack-
ing the complacency of San Francisco Bay Area residents unprepared
for a major earthquake or other national disaster.

Campaign Results
Taken as a whole, the Prepare Bay Area campaign was an unquali-
fied smash, so to speak. The campaign created tremendous public ex-
posure and interaction and generated sensational news stories, wire
photographs, viral and social media coverage and more which went
all around the San Francisco Bay Area, across the country, and around
the world. The pro bono creative and personnel donations alone from
Publicis & Hal Riney easily exceeded $200,000.

However, no matter how creative a campaign may be, if it doesn’t

meet its objectives - it’s a waste of time and money. This was not
the case. The Prepare Bay Area campaign generated an astonishing
three million dollars in free publicity and media coverage. Most impor-
tantly, the publicity and enormous word-of-mouth promotion moti-
vated the training of over one million Bay Area residents in emergency
preparedness - that means approximately 26% or more of all people
living in the American Red Cross Bay Area chapter’s four-county re-
gion. Prepare Bay Area was (and still is) the most successful nongov-
ernmental emergency preparedness campaign in history.

Reflecting upon the success of Prepare Bay Area, PG&E’s Erza Gar-
rett commented, “Beyond the critical importance of preparing one
million of our customers for an emergency - which of course includes
our own employees, families, friends and loved ones – this program
provided PG&E the opportunity to reinforce for our customers that
we are focused on public safety and enabled our employees to work
directly with their neighbors, in the communities where they live and
work, to build their own personal preparedness plan.”

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The three-year campaign expenses for the marketing, publicity, cre-

ative and material production, not including our Red Cross market-
ing staff time, were approximately $100,000. Compared with smaller,
more local cross-sector partnerships and cause marketing campaigns,
such a sum may seem quite large. For a marketing campaign the mag-
nitude of Prepare Bay Area, which received $3 million in free pub-
licity and was undertaken in the sixth largest metropolitan area of
the United States, it was an extraordinarily small amount. Due to the
creative strategy, we were able to leverage the motivation and abilities
of all of our partners to make this happen. I firmly believe that almost
any campaign or program has the opportunity to attain a high level of
success when the right partners come together and get creative, while
focused on the greater good.

Prepare Bay Area 2.0

The clearest indication of a successful cross-sector partnership cam-
paign is when all partners want to continue their relationship. Fol-
lowing the extraordinary success of Prepare Bay Area, Pacific Gas &
Electric and the American Red Cross Bay Area chapter again teamed
up in 2010 to expand the preparedness program through the Ready
Neighborhoods Initiative. Ready Neighborhoods is designed to trans-
form communities throughout Northern and Central California into
models of disaster readiness. As Ezra Garrett explained, “The tremen-
dous results on multiple fronts that were delivered by Prepare Bay
Area provided strong motivation for us to look for opportunities to
extend this success by 1) deepening our impact within the Bay Area,
and 2) scaling the program out beyond the Bay Area across the state.
As the gas and electric utility provider for northern and central Cali-
fornia, we serve one in twenty Americans, so the ability to scale is a
very important factor as we assess partnership opportunities.”

For this expanded initiative, PG&E donated $2.5 million to the Red
Cross, two and a half times their initial funding of the original Prepare
Bay Area campaign.

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Rejoice, Revise and Repeat

The Debrief
Shortly after the end of the first phase or first year of the project or
campaign, while all the successes and challenges are still fresh in each
partner’s mind, bring your entire partnership team together and do an
analysis/debrief on every aspect of the partnership, the project or cam-
paign, the successes and the shortcomings. This meeting should have a
predetermined agenda to be sure that you will cover all the important
areas. I suggest you cover the following areas at the minimum:

• Did you meet the overriding partnership objectives as established

in your original partnership assessment, creative and tactical
strategies, Written Agreement, Marketing Plan and other aspects
of the effort?

• What was your ROI, in other words what specifically did you
accomplish as to the amount of money raised, people served,
project built on time, etc.?

• If you didn’t meet all of your goals, looking back do you feel the
standards were set too high?

• Was anything left out because of a lack of time, lack of resources,

or for other reasons?

• Did all the partners fulfill their individual responsibilities?

• Did the individual organizations work together as an integrated

partnership team?
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• If sponsors or outside organizations were involved (such as pro

bono agencies, sponsors for specific events, etc., did they meet
the expectations of the partnership? Did they fulfill their con-
tractual relationships, if applicable?

• Did the volunteers fulfill their responsibilities?

• Were the volunteers managed for success so that they could

maximize their effectiveness?

• What went wrong?

• What really amazed you?

• What would you like to change going forward into a Phase 2,

second year or other progression of the partnership?

• Moving forward, would you like to add new partners, and if so,
who?

This is not a time to point fingers and blame people; it is a time to

make sure that you have an accurate and candid report on all the key
aspects of the campaign or project. The answers to these questions
and more should be written down into a final report which can be re-
viewed by the individual partners and key stakeholders. It serves both
as a comprehensive wrap-up and sets the foundation for what comes
next. This debrief must not be overlooked – no matter what happened.

Rejoice
Put a closing stamp on this project or campaign and that stamp should
be one of rejoicing! After all, this entire effort was about serving the
individual and mutual goals of the partners and to serve the greater
good…and there’s just not enough rejoicing about such important ser-
vice. So it’s time to party!! Get your team together and all others who
were integral to the success of your campaign. Go out to dinner in a
neutral location, somewhere fun, and as far away from the workaday
world as possible. This is a great time for some zany rewards, such as
a prize for the person who came up with the craziest idea, a volun-
teer who offered the most time, the one who talked too much at the

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meetings (I always win that one!), etc. I don’t recommend plaques or

trophies…unless they are humorous. Make this stuff fun.

In addition to these fun internal awards, now is the time to go after

some serious recognition. I guarantee you that your pro bono public
relations or advertising agency will want to submit their work for in-
dustry awards and you want to encourage them to do just that, and
support their submissions. If there are awards within the industry or
nonprofit areas of your partners - go after these also. Absolutely con-
tact your local press, Chambers of Commerce, nonprofit associations,
industry newsletters, and other forms of press and communications
and give them the facts and figures of your successful project or cam-
paign. (Of course, you should have been giving them updates all along
the process.) Be sure to promote the success and involvement of all the
partners, and any outside funders, sponsors, supporters, suppliers, etc.
that helped you achieve your success.

This is not just tooting your own horn. Everyone likes and deserves
to be recognized for a job well done. In many cases this recognition
will attract the interest of new partners, the media and other impor-
tant stakeholders who might want to join you as you move into the
next phase. Everyone likes to jump on the bandwagon that’s playing
the song of success. Take advantage of this opportunity.

The primary goal of Win-Win for the Greater Good is to provide

you with a guidebook on the most efficient, most effective, most prov-
en ways to have your organization and your partnership stand out to
all your audiences for the good work you are doing for them and for
the greater good. Your organization will not glow unless people know
and see what you are doing. So shine those spotlights!

Revise and Repeat

After the emotional (and possibly literal) hangover from all this party-
ing and recognition, you will find yourself in one of three places:

1) Your campaign was a blow-out success - congratulations! Start

planning for next year.

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Set a date in the very near future to bring the partnership team
back together and discuss moving forward into the next phase. If your
partnership was focused on a particular project such as building a new
homeless shelter, what might you do next to serve the homeless in your
community or beyond? The most successful cross-sector partnerships
do not hit their stride until the second or third year. The Campbell’s
Soup/Kroger Foods/Susan G. Komen partnership doubled their sales/
donations in their second year. Safeway’s relationship with Easter Seals
is 25 years and growing.

2) You did not fully meet your expectations, but the partnership
sees strong potential in moving forward to develop a follow-up cam-
paign.

Your debrief uncovered areas for improvement, but overall you felt
that it was a good partnership with positive results, and you know
you could do even better next year. You have the strong advantage of
knowing what worked and what didn’t work. Your success may have
attracted new partners and new stakeholders. Certainly ideas came
up during the first campaign that might work better in the second or
third year with more experience under your collective belt. Partner-
ships are not for the timid. Success comes through trial and error, but
mostly when you keep your eye focused on increasing your efforts for
the greater good.

3) You decided, for whatever reasons, to call it quits after this one
project or campaign.

Okay, stuff happens. Fortunately, it doesn’t happen that often. Per-

sonal chemistry plays a big part in failed partnerships. If the people
don’t work well together, the partnership is doomed, at least in most
cases. If you must call it quits, still hold the debrief session and maybe
the party. There is much you can learn from this experience that could
be of service to you in other aspects of your business and future part-
nerships. You never know when you will run into these partners again,
need to ask for advice or possibly provide an introduction to some
other organization. So, if you must end the partnership, end on as high
a note as possible.

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Scaling Your Success

Assuming you do not call it quits, but have your first success under
your belts, the partnership has built trust and confidence in taking on
a major challenge and the knowledge that as a well-oiled team ma-
chine, you can accomplish just about anything. Joining along with you
is a strong support system of energized individuals or team members
who want to ride this wagon of success, media who want to see what
you will do next (and cover it) and a community ready to lend a hand.
So why stop here?

Building one homeless shelter or any first project or campaign for

that matter is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. You may wish to
build additional shelters or initiate pet adoption drives, a HIV/AIDS
awareness campaign, afterschool programs, youth art installations,
and so much more in your city, county, state or across the country,
depending on the size and scope of your operation. Organizations like
Habitat for Humanity and Rebuilding Together have formed national
partnerships with well-aligned for-profit organizations such as Sears,
Whirlpool, Home Depot, Bank of America and Lowe’s, who are work-
ing together on multiple projects in multiple locations.

You don’t need to be a major for-profit or nonprofit to expand your

partnership to other locations or greater achievements.

As you are beginning to develop your creative and operational strat-

egy to scale your success, pull together everything you developed as
part of your campaign: every proposal, graphic design, press release,
budget, your creative and tactical strategies, Written Agreement, pho-
tographs, video clips, volunteer strategy, partner descriptions, Mar-
keting Plan, media coverage, debrief session report, etc., cataloguing
what went right and what went wrong. At the very least, this compila-
tion will serve as an excellent record of your project or campaign to be
shared with all partners and all stakeholders. At best, it serves as your
solid foundation and blueprint for your next, possibly even greater
cross-sector partnership accomplishment.

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You Are Beginning to Glow!

If you read this book in preparation for beginning your exploration
of a cross-sector partnership project or campaign, my hope is that you
can now envision the beneficial effect this campaign will have on your
organization, your partners, your stakeholders and yourself. I hope
you can see how others will be attracted to your campaign because of
the greater good you are seeking to achieve. Of course you can! And
as you start to see the success and feel this attractiveness, you and all
involved in your organization will begin to radiate confidence and a
sense of accomplishment of having done something really well that
serves others in need - the greater good. You must feel it…for you are
beginning to glow.

The more you are focused on having all of the partners and stake-
holders benefiting from this project or campaign, the brighter that
glow will become. It may begin subtly, as in the pride and positive tone
in the voice of your CEO in answering questions from a TV reporter,
or in the laughter of your colleagues recalling a particularly funny situ-
ation that came up when volunteering for this project, or the lump in
your throat when the doors opened and a homeless family entered the
shelter for their only meal of the day - a shelter you helped build. As
these tiny, seemingly insignificant moments of emotion and pride be-
gin to swell up and bond together, your organization and each partner
will start to glow even brighter, and this glow will meet its zenith when
your world, be it local, regional or national, recognizes what you have
done together in partnership for the greater good.

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Whether you are a for-profit organization that has embedded a

cause consciousness deep within your corporate culture or the non-
profit, education or government partner that is the recipient of the
partnership’s efforts, your organization will stand apart from all of
your competition. Your employees’ satisfaction levels will rise, the best
employees will want to work with you, new investors or donors will
want to engage with you, your brand will shine, your organization
will grow, your community will sing your praises and new partners
will bring you innovative and exciting ideas.

The grand opportunity is not just to achieve this glow but to main-
tain the glow, and in time, increase its brightness and its attractiveness
to your organization. Bask in this glow, revel in its brilliance, and ap-
preciate that your hard work, long hours and deep commitment led
to this magical feeling. Like moths to a flame, this attractiveness, this
glow, will draw new opportunities, new challenges and new successes.

Maintaining Glow
You must be vigilant and not let the glow fade—you have too much
to lose. For once you have achieved this internal and external state of
glow, every fiber in your being will want to continue moving forward,
seeking new ways to benefit those who need your help. Whether you
continue on the path of your first project or campaign, expanding its
benefit and reach, or venture down new roads of partnership, new
areas of opportunity to explore, you must do so well-prepared. You
now have all that it takes to achieve and act upon your personal and
organizational foundation of cause consciousness.

There is so much that needs to be done. And you are ready. So go

forth, and glow brightly!

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Epilogue
Her name was Jill. She taught me more about courage, determination,
overcoming obstacles, and the sheer joy of participation than anyone
I ever met.

In the early 80’s my public relations firm was providing pro bono
services for the Special Olympics California State Games. Everything
was going rather well, so I decided to walk around and check out
some of the competitions. I just happened to go over to the 25-yard
dash that was about to start for the most physically-challenged (in ad-
dition to being mentally-challenged) athletes at the Special Olympics
games.

There were about 10 young men and women lined up, all eagerly
anticipating the firing of the starter’s pistol. When the shot rang out,
off they went in speeds, ranging from pretty fast - especially one fellow
on crutches who was really moving - to others who were struggling
just to walk. Quickly the first athlete (the guy on crutches) passed the
finish line to the screams and hugs of everyone watching the race. He
was followed over the next several seconds by the rest of the athletes,
all except one.

Back near the starting line sat a young woman in a wheelchair, and
she was just about 4 feet from the starting line. Jill was so physically
challenged that she was bent completely over in her wheelchair. Her
head was about a foot above her lap and she couldn’t use her left arm,
but her right hand was on the large wheel of her wheelchair and her
eyes were staring straight down the track. She could only move the
wheel one stretch of her right hand. So I imagine she went about eight
to 10 inches down the track with each challenging motion of that
hand. When I looked at her face, she had the most amazingly deter-
mined expression I have ever seen.

As you can imagine, all the athletes and visitors who were watch-
ing this particular event started to whoop and holler and cheer for
this courageous young woman. She would move her hand one move-
ment and stop, then move it again, and stop… so slowly, methodically,

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moving down the track. The noise from the people surrounding that
part of the track grew so loud and so sustained that it attracted the
attention of nearly everyone in the stadium. In a matter of minutes,
there were hundreds of people surrounding that short piece of track,
surrounding Jill and cheering her on. And slowly, her hand continued
moving that wheel about eight to 10 inches with each turn.

I don’t remember how long it took Jill to reach the finish line. It
could’ve been seven minutes, it could’ve been 10. We were all so
caught up in the courage of her effort that time didn’t exist. Everyone
was screaming encouragement, and nearly everyone, including myself,
was crying, overwhelmed by emotion. When she finally crossed the
finish line, the entire stadium erupted in pandemonium and Jill was
mobbed. You should have seen her smile.

I have been to many Special Olympics meets over the years and to
many sporting events at all levels, including the International Olympic
Games, but I have never witnessed such a triumph or seen such an
athlete like Jill.

I know it’s tough out there. So the next time you face any challenge
in your cross-sector partnership, cause marketing, business, nonprofit
or personal efforts, let Jill be your inspiration. I want you to feel her
determination and receive the gift that she continues to give to us all.
Because you can’t tell Jill that she’s not going to finish that race. You
can’t tell Jill that it’s just too hard. You can’t tell Jill that she’s not spe-
cial, because she is. Jill is the greater good.

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 About the Author
Called the “Father of Cause Marketing” by the Cause Marketing Fo-
rum, Bruce Burtch is recognized as a pioneer and international expert
in the field of cross-sector partnerships and cause marketing. Bruce
builds highly innovative partnerships among the nonprofit, for-profit,
education and government sectors, which maximize their strategic
marketing, revenue development and brand-building success. He has
served as Public Affairs Manager with Marriott Corporation, Public
Relations Director for the United States Olympic Committee, VP and
General Manager of Schulberg Mediaworks, Director of Marketing
and Communications for the American Red Cross Bay Area chapter,
and served as Consultant to the President of Xerox Global Services.
Bruce founded The William Bentley Agency, the first integrated mar-
keting agency in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In 2010, Bruce founded a highly-specialized consultancy, Bruce

W. Burtch, Inc., to focus on the area of his greatest interest: creat-
ing cross-sector partnerships and cause marketing campaigns between
nonprofit, for-profit, education and government sectors, with the fo-
cus of creating a greater good. Bruce is also Executive Director of
10,000 Partnerships™, a nonprofit organization which provides train-
ing workshops in cross-sector partnerships.

Bruce is credited with designing the first cause marketing campaign:

a partnership between March of Dimes and Marriott Corporation in
1976. He designed and directed the American Red Cross Prepare Bay
Area cause marketing campaign which motivated the unprecedented
228
training of over one million San Francisco Bay Area residents in emer-
gency preparedness, while garnering three million dollars in free pub-
licity.

Bruce was awarded the Distinguished Leadership Award, presented

by the National Association of Community Leadership, for spearhead-
ing the development of the Tenderloin After-School Program, in San
Francisco. While still an undergraduate, Bruce conceived the nation’s
only degree-granting college, based on England’s Oxford-Cambridge
tutorial system, the nationally-acclaimed Honors Tutorial College at
Ohio University.

Bruce W. Burtch, Inc. provides consulting, training and speaking

services which motivate win-win partnerships focused on creating a
greater good.

I want to Hear From You!

If you have followed the guidelines, case studies and sugges-
tions in this book and from our online Resource Center, you
now know more about developing cross-sector partnerships
and cause marketing than most. Take advantage of this amaz-
ing opportunity to do good and to glow. It is my sincere hope
that you will let me know about the partnerships you have de-
veloped. Please contact me directly at bruce@bruceburtch.com,
and share your good news!

229
 Praise for Win-Win for the Greater Good
“Win-Win for the Greater Good provides the ‘how to’ blueprint for organizations of
any size and from any sector to build highly productive partnerships. It reveals the
true essence of success - focusing on the business objectives of your partner, while
striving together to create a greater good.”
Casey Sheahan, CEO, Patagonia, Inc.
“Win-Win lucidly captures Bruce Burtch’s decades of practitioner wisdom on cross-
sector partnerships. The book is filled with rich examples and insightful practical
guidance on how to build powerful partnerships. Read it and learn from a master!”
James E. Austin, Harvard Business School, Emeritus, Author, The Collaboration
Challenge
“A ‘must read’ for any organization. Through real stories and his deep experience,
Bruce Burtch proves that magic can happen when a partnership is focused on creat-
ing a greater good.”
Howard Behar, President, Starbucks Coffee International, Retired
“America had Christopher Columbus. Cause marketing has Bruce Burtch. A man of
firsts like the great explorer, Bruce has been designing innovative, highly-successful
cross-sector partnerships since 1975. Win-Win for the Greater Good will help you
chart a course for success for your organization and for a better world.”
Joe Waters, Selfishgiving.com, Co-author, Cause Marketing for Dummies
“If you are looking for a guidebook on how to best ignite your organization’s eco-
nomic and social impact on your stakeholders, your community and our world...
this is it!”
Chip Conley, Founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality and Author of PEAK
“In Win-Win for the Greater Good Bruce Burtch takes over three decades of first-
hand experience and puts it into an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guidebook for the
creation of successful cross-sector partnerships.”
Julie Wilder, Manager of Employee Impact Programs, Autodesk
“An amazing compilation of great ideas! Win-Win for the Greater Good provides
terrific tools and concepts that will help your non-profit, your business or your com-
munity make a difference in the lives of many.”
Sherri Lewis Wood, Founder, One Warm Coat
“Worth its weight in fundraising gold. Win-Win for the Greater Good turns the
tables on traditional approaches to nonprofit/for-profit funding relationships.“
Peggy Duvette, Executive Director,
WiserEarth
“Best book ever written on this important
subject! A treasure chest of ideas for
creating good.”
Mary O’Mara, Executive Director,
Marinlink