Newsletter: 5 Key Takeaways from the CVS Lawsuit ✅ ; How Nonprofits Can Use ChatGPT 🤖; Many Nonprofit Salaries are Going Public 📌

Last week I reported on CVS being accused of fundraising fraud at checkout. While I think its likely CVS will be vindicated of the charges, there are a few takeaways we should all keep in mind for future checkout charity programs.

❌ Companies shouldn't soley rely on consumer donations. While CVS pledged to make up any shortfall for the $10 million they agreed to raise, there was no direct pledge of dollars from CVS to the American Diabetes Association (ADA). Frankly, it looks better when the company makes an upfront donation. Think of it as a sort of prerequisite for doing checkout charity.

In short, if a company is asking shoppers to make a donation, the company should make their donation first and then tell consumes they are donating to the fundraiser. This will make everyone feel better!

✅ Companies should donate more to causes, but they shouldn't be discouraged from or penalized for asking customers for donations. As Popular Information pointed out:

"Since CVS signed the agreement [with ADA], the company has brought in $395 billion in revenue. $10 million represents 0.002% of CVS' revenue from June 2021 to September 2022."

Corporate giving is running on fumes with most companies donating less than one percent of pre-tax earnings to causes. A generation ago companies donated over two percent.

The reasons companies don't give more to causes is complicated - but greed and selfishness both play a role. Corporate giving guru Curt Weeden lays out the issues in his most excellent book on the subject.

However, the CVS lawsuit doesn't mean companies shouldn't engage in checkout charity, which is a legitimate and effective way to raise money for causes.

Just look at the numbers. According to Big Dave at Engage for Good, in 2020 alone the top 76 fundraisers raised over $600 million.

If shoppers start to view checkout charity as nothing more than a scam, good causes will suffer.

❌ Companies shouldn't hold on to consumer donations. The Boston Globe reported that it was unclear how much the ADA had received of CVS customer donations. Donations should be sent to charities as they are received and with some regular frequency (week, monthly, etc.). Companies should treat customer donations like a hot potato🔥 - just get rid of them! Holding onto donations for any length of time is just not a good look. A company should send them to their nonprofit partner ASAP.

✅ Companies should clearly state that customers are making the donation. CVS touted its donation with this headline: CVS Health announces $10 million commitment to the American Diabetes Association. CVS isn't making the commitment, their customers are, and that should be made clear in every headline, in every paragraph, and in every press release. Period.

✅ Companies and nonprofits should work together to make it clear to the public that businesses can't write off customer donations made at checkout. Of course, folks on Twitter were saying this about CVS. However, as this article shows, companies can't deduct customer donations from their taxes. This is one of the most pernicious lies I see online and one that both partners need to denounce as blatantly untrue.

What do YOU think are some of the lessons from the storm around the CVS/ADA partnership?

✍️ Partnership Notes

1. This video from the Cleveland Browns demonstrates the power of sponsorship and how connecting a company with your brand can give your partner a big boost just by association. Nonprofits should talk about this more!

2. How companies are making it easier for rank-and-file donors to give to their favorite causes. For example, Walmart is launching a new program called Spark Good, which allows online shoppers to round up their purchases to the nearest dollar. Best of all, shoppers can pick the charity the money will go to so local nonprofits will benefit.

3. 👏👏👏 Healthy Family Project cause marketing programs raised $238,000 in 2022. 🍎 + 🌽 + 😇 for the win!

🤑 Marketing Your Cause

1. Have you been reading about the powerful AI software ChatGPT? I've been playing around with it and I think it has a lot of potential for nonprofit marketing, which I'll talk more about in upcoming newsletters.

Check out these examples of how people are using it .

My turn...

✅ I asked ChatGPT to explain to me the downside of cause marketing for the nonprofit partner.

✅ I asked it to explain the difference between Percy Shelley and Lord Byron's poetry. Boy, would this have been helpful in high school!

✅ I asked it to have a conversation between two donors on Charity: Water and Water.org.

Pretty cool! 😎 And remember: We are only at the dawn of the AI revolution!

Interested in going down the rabbit hole on ChatGPT? Read this article on 100 innovative use-cases.

😎 Cool Jobs in Cause

1. Event & Sponsorship Manager, Children's Institute, Los Angeles ($70k - $80k)

2. Territory Business Development & Partnerships Director Southeast, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Remote ($74k - $96k)

3. Major Gifts Officer & Corporate Sponsorships Lead, Jewish Federation, Dallas, ($75k - $80k)

4. Vice President, Development & Revenue Generation, Creating Healthier Communities, Alexandria, Virginia ($150k - $200k)

5. Head of Institutional Partnerships, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL

🧠🍌 Brain Food

1. Many nonprofit salaries are going public due to new laws and the job market.

2. Who wants to buy this for me for Christmas?🎄🦵🏻🍺