Cause Marketing for Your Cause First , You Second

Cause Marketing has been booming and along with it has come some criticism and objections to using it as selfish self promotion rather than as an opportunity to give back to a favorite cause, to the point of even suggesting that it is "dead". But there are many examples of companies that  have been exemplary in representing a true giving partnership.  Joe Waters of Selfish Giving, defined cause marketing as: "a partnership between a non-profit and a for-profit for mutual profit", to which he has added several categories amongst which includes: message promotion.

But whose message? One would think the partnership would be one of somewhat  balanced messages about the cause and the business that is giving back the cause. Here are examples of cause marketing via message promotion that  puts the charity squarely in the forefront and outweighs the time allotted to the for-profit's message.

I spend a lot of time in my car, as many Californians do, where I first heard what was presumably another ad on the news station. It sounded more like a public service piece, the kind when stations offer free air time to charities. This ad provided information about the plight of foster children in our local communities. A foster child spoke about the challenges they face on a daily basis, and the kind of the support that they need for their well being. For the longest time there was no mention of any business associated with this ad, this was for most part a campaign to build  awareness for this cause. I knew which company was sponsoring this as I had  featured Sleep Train on this blog last year.
Towards the end Sleep Train did make known their sponsorship, by requesting that customers help support their program for foster children with their donation of shoes, clothing, backpacks and other necessary items at their participating stores. They also directed listeners to find out more about foster children on their link on the Sleep Train website.
No mention of mattresses, or of their stores, no sales pitch or special offers. Only at the end you heard their recognizable little jingle and the toot-toot.

Another ad I heard not too long ago began in a similar way, putting the cause first. The president of the Peninsula Humane Society talked about the work they do to help save stray and forgotten animals. Towards the end, the sponsoring company Pet Food Express mentioned their ongoing support of this organization with funding, volunteering and in-kind donations of pet food and supplies.You can check out on their giving back page other causes they support.


It's expensive to pay for media advertising, ( I know, I used to sell advertising space). As a result it is rare to hear and learn about local charities and causes on radio. They cannot afford to pay for this kind of  marketing. By sponsoring media ads for the charities, businesses have give back to the cause the great gift of increasing awareness and presumably generating more donations to the cause.

Yes, the business gets a bit of the air time for the brief mention of their name.  But the most positive thing they that have received out this partnership is a great big "Toot-toot" and hurrah, for giving the cause the opportunity for promoting their important message.

An International Women's Day Salute To Women Entrepreneurs Who Give

While the percentage of women to men that own their own small business in the United States has grown to 36%  social venture businesses may even have a higher percentage.  Social venture experts like Christina Jordan, an Ashoka Fellow, consider social entrepreneurship to be an exceptionally suitable fit for women as they tend to be more caring about issues and more philanthropic, and see their work as an extension of  how they think and feel.

Today is International Women's Day celebrating the advancement of women around the world in all facets of their life. This year's specific theme is: Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women. There are many events scheduled all over the world and throughout all of March that focus not only the designated topic for this year but on celebrating many topics about women.

For my topic, I choose to honor my favorite women entrepreneurs who have started businesses with the intent of giving back to either local or global causes. 

Tonia Irion co-founder of e-Cycle which buys cell-phones from companies, recycles and restores them for re-sale. In addition they offer companies the opportunity to give back their proceeds to a designated charity. 

 How e-Cycle Created a Winning Company With A Passion For The Environment and For Giving

Molly Taylor  founder of The Sweet Trucks, an LA bakery on wheels which donates a portion of profits to local charities such as Meals on Wheels and others. A Sweet Victory For SweetTrucks

Two women, Lauren Bush and Ellen Gustafson who founded FEED, have created fun, canvas bags as well as an expanded line of accessories. that help provide children with healthy meals in collaboration with the UN WFP and Unicef. FEED Keeps Its Promise.

Michelle Abrams of Inspire Notes, an online retailer of stationary items with inspiring messages. with Proceeds of sales are donated to cancer research a cause of personal importance to Michelle. 

Inspire Notes Lends a Daily Boost

Karen Trilevsky uses the profits from her baking company, FullBloom Bakery, to help students who primarily come from immigrant parents and are the first ones to go to college. Baking Company Helps Kids Bloom

Kathy Miner, started a philanthropic business, A Miner Miracle Shop to support  and house its namesake non-profit. A Miner Miracle. helps dress low-income men and women  and helps support them in job search. A Miner Miracle on Union Square.

Janae Jaynes creator of  Brokers for Charity , a referral service that pairs commercial and residential with with the goal of donating 10% of the agent’s commission to a charity of the client’s choice.  Brokers For Charity Helping to Change the World One Property at a Time 

 WebsitesGiveB@ck  a mother and daughter company, Elena Patrice and Linda Saker that offers creative and affordable web design for small businesses, donate  20% of the proceeds of each  project to a designated charity of the client's choosing . Charitable Designs

Help support these women in their endeavors to change the world and give back on this International Women's Day, this month, or any day of the year.

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How To Start a Local Business Volunteer Council

Here in the SF area, across the bay, lies a group of communities called the East Bay where businesses care about by giving back through volunteering and donations. As an example, last year we referred to an article, that emerged from the East Bay, Why Giving is Good for Business.  Now we get to see a role model of a group of businesses that have joined forces in the mission of volunteering for local charities in their community.


East Bay Business Volunteer Council (BVC) was founded by individuals from companies such as AAA, Charles Schwab, Safeway and others, as a coalition of businesses with the common purpose of community engagement and business volunteering. At their regularly scheduled meetings,  they provide the opportunity for members to exchange information and recognize best practices as well as identify and learn about the volunteering needs in the community. With membership there is free consulting provided by the staff to members on how to develop a volunteer program. Their programs include listings of volunteer needs, student volunteering, volunteer opportunity calender, holiday volunteering events, and organized disaster response. They are affiliated with HandsonNetwork. This organization is a terrific model for any community of businesses to follow.

How to start a similar business Volunteer Council in your community or area.

• Brainstorm together with a few like minded business leaders on how to start such a group.
• Tie in with a local community foundation, or Chamber of Commerce to set up an organization. This helps offset any start up costs of creating a non-profit on your own.
• Develop a mission  and vision statement that reflects the needs of your community and of what your organization wants to accomplish.
• Create an affiliation with a volunteer opportunities provider such as Hands On Network, or with a local organization such as a community foundation. 
• Develop a database of all the non-profits in the area and their volunteer needs
• Develop relationships with local non-profits, with links to their websites.
• Structure monthly meeting times at opportune, breakfast, lunch, or after hours, that is convenient for most and serve food!
• Publicize your organization in local media or through direct marketing though the business community, to encourage more businesses to join.
• Invite local non-profits to come to the meetings or better yet, create a membership category just for them.
• Let businesses know what the benefits are to their business for joining the organization.
• Offer members free consultation to help with developing an employee volunteer program.

What are the benefit's?  BVC describes this well on their website. But the benefits are much the same as described in the article cited above. Basically, giving back whether in time, money, services is good for your business because it helps build your community and in the end the community helps your business grow.