Newsletter: Theaters are Your Next Cause Marketing Partners🎄; A New Option for Couples’ Wedding Registries: Donations 💒 ; Forget ‘Sincerely’ This Email Closing Works Best 📧

It's not even Thanksgiving yet, but I'm already thinking about Christmas.🎄🎅🏼

Ever since I was a kid I've been a huge fanboy of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, which was published way back in 1843. I collect Carol memorabilia and have seen EVERY version of the story. I've even held three first editions of the book in my sanitized hands. One that is housed at the Burns Library at Boston College, and two that are kept under lock and key at the British Library in London.

Every year for Christmas I ask Santa for the same thing: My own first edition of A Christmas Carol. But he's never gifted me one, and I think I know why (and it's not because of my bad behavior). First editions of this slender book in excellent condition can cost up to $40,000! But who knows, maybe this year I'll finally get a first edition in my stocking. 🧦📕🤞

While I wait and hope, your nonprofit could benefit from A Christmas Carol this holiday season.

You see, just about every community in the United States hosts a theater production of A Christmas Carol. Here in Boston I know of at least a dozen theaters that are planning an opening night for the play later this month. Theaters love the play because it's a huge money-maker for them. People pack theaters from before Thanksgiving until after New Year's to enjoy this holiday classic. The pandemic couldn't even stop this tradition as many theaters switched to virtual productions.

Another thing that can't be stopped is the fundraising for charities that happens at almost all of these plays. The season and the play both lend themselves to charity. [Study: Watching a live performance makes people more charitable] I've seen all kinds of fundraisers from book and bake sales to food and donation drives.

For example, a production of A Christmas Carol in Spokane, Washington, which opened on November 12th 😱, is collecting donations for The Women’s and Children’s Free Restaurant & Community Kitchen.

"As a tradition, the production has always found a local nonprofit to work with. And at the end of the show, the actors announce from the stage that collections will be taken for a local non-profit."

So here's the question for you: Who is your local production of A Christmas Carol supporting?? If not this year, could it be supporting your nonprofit next year??

Friends, there is some money to be raised here! Remember the formula for point-of-sale success: Lots of locations and lots of foot traffic. A Christmas Carol has both!

✍️ Partnership Notes

1. This is great money for a program at "just" 110 stores. Most purchase-triggered programs of this size don't raise this much. Great work!

2. It's good to see that restaurants are once again asking diners to donate when they get their bill.

3. A Chicago couple that was forced to cancel their wedding due to COVID-19 and donated their $5,000 catering deposit to charity inspired Crate & Barrel to allow couples to add a donation to Feeding America on their wedding registry. C&B seeded the campaign with $250,000. They have even bigger plans for early next year!

🤑 Marketing Your Cause

1. To market your cause (or your partnership program) I recommend Email + 1. Email is non-negotiable, but the +1 is up to you. Here's a wicked smahht combo: Email + SEO.🔍

2. Speaking of email👆, which is a must, here's some great advice on how to write emails that get opened and read. Did you know that using brackets [😲] in your email subject line can increase your open rate by 31 percent??

😎 Cool Jobs in Cause

1. Director of Corporate Development, Gift of Adoption Fund, Northbrook, IL

2. Corporate Engagement Manager, World Vision Canada, Remote ($45k - $61k)

3. Director, Cause Marketing & Workplace Giving, Habitat for Humanity, Atlanta ($93k - $130k)

4. Senior Director, Corporate Alliance & Philanthropic Marketing, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH

5. Director of Marketing Partnership, San Antonio Zoo, San Antonio, TX ($57k - $88k)

Do you have a partnership position you are trying to fill? Hit reply and share the job posting with me! I'm happy to post it here for FREE.

🧠🍌 Brain Food

1. From ProPublica: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital hoards billions while many of its families drain their savings.

2. Forget “Best” or “Sincerely,” this email closing gets the most replies. Sadly, my email closing "toodles" didn't make the list.

3. You know those stickers, the ones that supermarkets put on produce so they can scan them at the register? Can you eat them? 🤔