Find Funding Network

A few years ago, when Yoplait started selling yogurt with pink lids as a way to raise money for breast cancer research, the only thing they raised from me was suspicion. To me, asking women to lick clean lids of yogurt, collect them, and mail them in was a lot of work for a few measly pennies per lid. I asked myself, wouldn’t it be easier for Yoplait just to write a big check to Breast Cancer research and call it all a day? Little did I know, this was the beginning of a very influential trend which has the potential to alter corporate philanthropy permanently: cause marketing.

Cause marketing, the partnering of a corporate brand with a social need, was named one of the top philanthropic trends of 2006. You don’t have to look very far to see that this is true: flip through a glossy magazine to see celebrities donning pink clothes, red cell phones, and yellow bracelets for the cause of the moment; check out at Barnes & Noble  at the holidays and get asked if you want to add a few books for kids in foster care to your total; shop for the cure and wear all pink!

Cause marketing is important for non-profits (and grant writers) for two reasons.

1. It shows that non-profits are moving continually into a operations model that mirrors the corporate business world. Marketing is no longer a field reserved for those with a product to sell; non-profits must learn how to sell their cause in order to compete for donors’ dollars.
2. There will be an increase in cause marketing grants. Take for example, the following grant opportunity offered last year. (Emphasis added is mine). The deadline was early June – giving potential applicants more than enough time to run to the theaters to watch the movie!

Youth Service America and Lionsgate are excited to announce the “Bee” the Change Community Service Grant for literacy. This grant opportunity offers $1,000 to ONE young person between the ages of 5-25 to implement a sustainable community service project that increases literacy in their community and uses the movie, AKEELAH AND THE BEE, in theatres April 28th, as inspiration.

$1,000 seems a small price for Lionsgate to pay in order to create the image that their product inspires kids to make a difference. I don’t question their desire to do good, but one cannot ignore the obvious benefit to their bottom line of this partnership.

Cause marketing has significantly matured since the days of collecting yogurt lids, and it is a trend that we can’t ignore, especially if we are writing grants for corporate dollars. When done correctly, it is certainly a win-win situation for both the business and the non-profit. For grant writers, it means learning how to infuse marketing principals into the “outcomes” of your grant proposal.

Learn more about Cause Marketing at www.causemarketing.ca

Popularity: 20% [?]