Newsletter: 12 Stunning Things Partnership Teams Told Me Last Month 🙄 ; Study: Companies Are Lying About Their Giving 🤥 ; The Power of Handwritten Notes 💥✍️

Over the past month, I've spoken to multiple partnership teams and my eyes literally rolled into the back of my head 🙄 when they told me...

✍️ They began their prospect emails with "Dear Prospect..."

📆 It took them a month to thank a partner for renewing their partnership.

💥 They never scheduled a time to discuss the impact of a partnership on them or the partner.

🥃 They are happy with a partnership renewal rate that is 50% or less.

🤔 Team members have hundreds of unqualified prospects in their portfolio that they "are working on."

😇😈 They don't distinguish between charity partnerships vs. marketing partnerships.

🏆 They never write-up their successful partnerships and use them as case studies for prospects.

☎️ They don't communicate with partners or prospects beyond phone calls and emails.

🎯 They don't have a marketing staff because "they don't need one" or "they don't believe in marketing."

📊 They pitch the same programs to the same partners every year without consulting the partnership opportunity graph.

⏰ They spend as much time with a $10,000-a-year partner as they do with a $100,000-a-year partner.

1️⃣ The only time they interact with a partner is when it's time for their renewal.

I could go on and on!

But if you address these 12 things your partnership efforts will be much more successful.

Don't know how to fix some of these issues?

Just hit reply to this email and let me know!

✍️ Partnership Notes

1. Study: Companies are lying about how much they are giving via cause marketing. Huge red flag for the industry, folks. 🚩🚩🚩 If shoppers don't trust companies to give transparently to causes, corporate partnerships will tank.

2. The Elton John Aids Foundation has partnered with Clear Channel on a QR Code fundraising campaign. Great awareness, but without a powerful CTA will anyone donate?

3. Great story here on a company that supports Charity:water and how they don't just give money. Almost two years into the partnership, they've recruited more than 2,000 new donors raising over one million dollars. (Hit a paywall? 🧱Remember, I can email you this article or any other article I link to in my newsletter.)

🤑 Marketing Your Cause

1. Nonprofits should be more focused on answering people's questions with great content. They can learn a lot from this lawyer who grew his business fourfold by doing just that! Don't be just good. Be good for something.

2. Some lessons here on how nonprofits can increase email open rates by 14%.

3. This city is using trashy talk to get people to pick up their trash.

😎 Cool Jobs in Cause

1. Officer, Children's Miracle Network Programs, Children's Hospital Trust, Boston

2. Senior Program Manager, Corporate Fundraising Strategy, American Red Cross, Washington, DC

3. Corporate Partnerships Manager, World Food Program USA, Remote ($75k - $80k)

4. Senior Vice President of Development, Corporate Partnerships, United Way of Massachusetts Bay, Boston ($140k - $160k)

🧠🍌 Brain Food

1. The power of handwritten thank you notes, according to David Sedaris.

2. Opinion: Brands have gone too far into purpose marketing. "...The industry in general has just gone too far into the good and potentially not paying enough attention to growth."

3. If you really want to support Pride Month, you should take your team out to a local LGBTQ bar.