On September 5th at 6pm at the beautiful Cafe Mira in Adams, NY ---- I'll be hosting a cabaret benefit for Allison Porter's Team In Training effort, to raise funds for cancer research. That's right, it's a night of hands-on fundraising for a great cause!

For more about the event,  see the Cafe Mira fan page on Facebook.  To donate, please go to www.teamintraining.org and search for Allison Porter. You will be connected with her online fundraising page. Donating is easy and simple -- and when you do you can rest assured you're giving to one of the best cancer organizations around, The Lekemia & Lymphoma Society.

Here's to beating cancer!

The Transformative Power of Service to a Cause

As a board member for a very small 501c3 dedicated to restoring a historic house and providing arts programs to the community of Catskill, NY, I had the distinct pleasure of being among the hosts for our annual fundraiser last Saturday evening.   Each year The Friends of Beattie-Powers host a dinner,  designed to offer our biggest supporters a memorable dining experience in the house itself.  Our Executive Director, a decorator, goes to great lengths to swath the night in a visual theme that's both stylish and unique.  This year, orange table cloths were draped with Damian Hirst-inspired polka dot runners, topped with  Gerber daisy centerpieces.  But the real showstopper of the event each year without fail is the view from the house itself, which overlooks the Hudson River with Frederick Church's  Olana  just beyond the sight lines of this shot:

I love all of the actual, on the ground work we put forth to produce it -- from hustling up tickets to weeding the garden to going table to table to ask for donations for the evening's raffle.  It's a nice contrast to the strategic planning I do professionally.   And as exhausting as the evening can be for us Board members, it serves to reinforce our commitment to this organization - just as it brings us closer to our biggest donors.  There can be a lot of pride associated with events like these -- and with that a great opportunity to engage cause ambassadors!

Imagine if all of our attendees shared news of our next Bard student concert...or forwarded our year-end fundraising appeal to their employers for a matching gift? 

Or heck - what if they we could turn just a few of those attendees into active volunteers for next year's event?? 

A great cause-related experience is a terrible thing to waste.  Share it and inspire alike.

For more about the event mentioned -- follow The Friends of Beattie-Powers blog at: http://www.beattiepowersplace.blogspot.com/

Is it innovation or is it too late?

Yesterday this press release was posted on MarketWatch: Innovators Help Business Change from Within (see: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/innovators-help-business-change-from-within-2012-06-07).

This is fourth year that The Aspen Institute has recognized "individuals who are working within companies to unite business growth with a sustainable society in the products and services they are developing."  What's fascinating about this group is that many of the honorees appear to be overseeing cause marketing programs (of one form or another). Only one, however -- AOL, cites the role specifically. 


Now you tell me....when you hear the word innovation, does AOL come to mind? I'm afraid not. AOL was, of course, one of the first vibrant communities online. But their inability to adapt to consumer behaviors and technology advances often positioned them at odds with their very constituents. As a series of shiny new platforms presented themselves, AOL became less and less relevant. Innovation hasn't been their strong suit for quite some time and despite their efforts in facilitating cause marketing through AOL Impact, it's hard to make the case now. 


That said, my issue is with the AOL Impact program itself.  Here's their reference in the article and how they describe the program: 


"...is the Senior Director of Cause Marketing for AOL. She is responsible for the development and management of AOL's relationships with non-profit partners and the advertisers that support them. In this newly created position, ...key objectives are driving traffic and revenue growth at AOL, while increasing brand perception by connecting and informing their consumers on important causes...efforts have resulted in a centralized giving platform called AOL Impact, which provides custom high-reach marketing opportunities for non-profits and cause marketers across multiple arms of the company including AOL.com, AOL Mail, Patch and the Huffington Post."


By providing non-profit partners and "the advertisers that support them" with a giving platform an important criteria in cause marketing is lost --- the benefit to the consumer. Yes, AOL has "generously" (OK those are my quotes) reached out to a number of non-profits to support a presence on their platform(s), but the reason for doing so is focused on "driving traffic and revenue" for AOL.  I would argue the real reason to do so is to provide a benefit to the public that extends the cause. There's nothing innovative about offering a non-profit a channel presence you then require they promote. A true innovation would focus more specifically on the benefit to the consumer and the measurable impact (or return) for the cause. A(nother) giving platform in an of itself is not enough.

The distinction is critical in this example.  At this juncture, AOL still has work to do to earn this honor and it appears the Aspen Institute should be more discerning in their selection. 

And so it continues...This Cause Marketing Life!

A passion to exert an impact on the greater good has marked much of my professional career and personal commitment -- from my work at The American Lung Association and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to my fundraising efforts for organizations like Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, New Dance Group Arts Center, and The Friends of Beattie-Powers, to name a few.

But when I consider how this came to be,  I owe much of the influence to my family on both my mother and father's sides.  Both took community service very seriously. They were always volunteering or fundraising for some important project in our rural community of Jefferson County in upstate New York - whether it was supporting the local historical society (Grandpa Brown), managing dinners for the volunteer firemen (Grandma Whitley) or building a new playground (Mom).  There was at least one person in my family leading a major fundraising campaign at any given moment -- and that meant participation from the entire family.  Supporting causes were just part of our way of life. 

When I moved to New York in the late 80's, amidst the AIDS crisis and with few funds as a 'starving artist,' I was drawn to volunteering.  Even in the big city, I would see first hand the impact a relatively small group could have on providing services and support.  In the arts I would lose an extraordinary number of friends to AIDS, which would indelibly imprint my belief in the importance of access to information.  

As the web launched and I found myself overseeing the online presence of The American Lung Association -- all of these influences coalesced for me in an environment ideally suited to serve an even broader audience.  Yet, despite the enhanced potential social media offers today,  I've come to believe that expert cause marketing execution is the next frontier for causes.  Getting for-profit companies to partner with non-profit organizations on a specific cause-related initiative to benefit the public holds the potential to provide the greatest level of influence, if not outcome.   

Yet, as tidy as that sounds, conducting a truly effective cause marketing campaign is no easy task.  This blog will examine cause marketing from a number of different aspects and seek your input as we continue the conversation.

"A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
Margaret Mead