Newsletter: A "Batty" Idea to Attract a Cauldron of Corporate Partners🦇; Corporate Giving Jumps 11% 📈 ; Blue Pumpkin Buckets Raise Awareness of Trick-Or-Treaters with Autism 🎃
Last month, I wrote that the key to corporate partnership success is audience-building because brands look for audiences to tell them what's popular, profitable and good in the world. In short, audiences are a magnet for companies.
For example, two weeks ago I covered Carson King's Venmo fundraiser for Iowa's Children's Hospital. After Carson raised $250,000, Venmo stepped in and offered to match donations. Then Busch Light offered to match donations AND put Carson's face on its beer cans. Why? Because Carson had built a passionate audience of supporters and funders that Venmo and Busch wanted to align with and tap into.
I've been looking for examples of nonprofits working on audience-building. With Halloween coming up, I found a good one thanks to Bat Conservation International.🦇
Like most species on this planet, bats are in trouble. It's sad because bats are amazing! Did you know that a single little brown bat can eat up to 1,200 mosquitoes in a single hour? Another cool fact is that a group of bats is called a cauldron. How spooktacular is that?
To draw attention to bats and build an audience of supporters, BatCon hosts Bat Week at the end of October. The digital assets are a microsite and an email newsletter.
As Triple Pundit senior reporter Tina Casey points out, the timing of Bat Week with Halloween isn't a flight of fancy. "Bat Week provides businesses with an opportunity to spread the bat conservation message to millions of shoppers, including those who already consider animals part of the family."
I agree with Tina. But businesses won't come calling en masse until Bat Week builds an engaged audience - and that will take time. However, the microsite, email newsletter and all the activities planned for Bat Week are a great start in filling a cauldron that brands may one day gather around.
✍️ Partnership Notes
1. Yes, you can fundraise at gyms and health clubs by asking people to donate at the front desk.
2. It's a good time to be asking companies for money. Corporate giving jumped 11% between 2016 and 2018.
3. Two great cause-related digital activations from Best Friends Animal Society and Music and Memory. [SPONSORED LINK]
🤑 Marketing Your Cause
1. How blue trick-or-treat pumpkin buckets are being used to raise awareness of kids with autism this Halloween.🎃
2. Don’t panic, but organic impressions are about to take another blow on Facebook. If you're active on Facebook but don't have a paid ad strategy you're kind of wasting your time.😬
3. Time to rethink your event strategy? According to new research: nearly 59% of nonprofits said live events are critical for attracting new donors, but just 18% of donors said they’ve learned about a charity through a live event. [Can't read this? I can email it to you.]
😎 Cool Jobs in Cause
1. Manager, Partnership Development, Out Teach (Washington, DC)
2. Manager, Corporate Partnerships & Engagement, Safe Horizon (NYC)
3. Corporate Engagement Manager, United Way (Jacksonville, FL)
Have your cause-related job featured here for FREE. Hit reply to this email and give me the details and a link to the position.
🧠🍌 Brain Food
1. Networking doesn't have to be a drag. Some great resources here.
2. Is your elevator pitch not working? 7 things you're doing wrong and how to correct them.
3. Flashback: 16 top fundraisers on the lessons of scary movies.👻
Have a question, comment, or just want to say hi? Just leave a comment below or head over to Twitter.
