Funding Your Startup or New Charity

One of the most confounding charitable endeavors I was ever involved in was figuring out how to fund a startup charity that made grants to other charities. HelpUsAdopt.org, founded in 2007, is in a similar boat. The 501(c)(3) foundation grants would-be adoptive parents up to $15,000 for adoption expenses.

In short, they raise money to give it away.

Included in their fundraising mix are gala-type events, annual donor solicitation, and a small catalog of products including the necklace and bracelets modeled in the ad at the left by actress Nia Vardalos, of My Big Fat Greek Wedding fame.

The necklace Nia is wearing in this ad from the June 2011 Redbook magazine goes for $225 and the bracelets for $35 each. The HelpUsAdopt.org store also currently sells a brown wooden bead necklace for $95 and a tote bag for $20.

The nonprofit fundraising world is set up to favor established charities, and with good reason. IRS figures show that 16 percent of nonprofit charities that filed a 990 tax return in 2000, didn’t file one in 2005. Since 501(c)(3)s don't have to file a tax return if they take in less than $25,000 not filing means that they either went out of business or that they couldn't raise money.

As a consequence, if your organization is less than five years old, grantmaking foundations seldom gaze your way. Knowing this, grant writers often keep themselves aloof from new charities. Corporate donations are unlikely, although not impossible, to secure for nubes. Bequests, which are a big slice of the revenue pie for established charities are really rare for rookie charities. New charities, therefore, tend to rely on major donors until they can get their feet under them.

HelpUsAdopt.org seemingly has five major donors who came in at the $15,000 level, including the founders, Becky and Kipp Fawcett. So that’s $75,000. Four more came in at between $5,000 to $10,000. So figure $7,500 times four which adds in another $30,000, bringing a grand total of approximately $105,000 from nine major donors. Events and smaller donors brought in the rest of the $300,000 HelpUsAdopt.org has given away since 2007.

It appears to me that as a new charity HelpUsAdopt.org is relying on the jewelry to sell. For my part, I’m chary of such a strategy.

If you sell stuff, someone has to keep inventory on hand. The jewelry is sold online only, so someone has to drive traffic to the website. Then the website has to covert traffic to sales. Someone has to fulfill orders. And if it doesn’t sell someone has to eat it all. It appears to me that HelpUsAdopt.org is the entity on the hook for all this.

All of this would be OK if HelpUsAdopt.org was 'all benefits company' like Newman’s Own, which sells stuff in order to make grants to charities. It would be OK if HelpUsAdopt.org was merely doing a cause marketing deal of the type that Susan G. Komen does where someone else takes the risk of putting the pink ribbon on garden trowel or warm-up suit and selling it. But HelpUsAdopt.org is not Newman’s Own or a Susan G. Komen licensee. It’s a straight-ahead 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity.

I hope I’m wrong about HelpUsAdopt.org’s foray into product direct sales. They have a worthy cause. But I don’t think I am.

Batting Your Eyelashes at Prescription Drug Cause Marketing

I’m a little chary about making sweeping pronouncements, but I believe I've just seen the first cause marketing promotion in the U.S. involving a prescription drug. The drug is from Allergan and it’s called Latisse , “the first and only FDA-approved prescription treatment for inadequate or not enough eyelashes.” The medical name for this condition is hypotrichosis. Latisse is lifestyle drug the way Viagra or Propecia are. That is, no one’s going to die (except, perhaps, of embarrassment) if their erectile dysfunction or male pattern baldness or thin eyelashes go untreated. Which means the positioning for a product like Latisse is a little tricky. Allergan could have gone with the sexy route as with Viagra or Cialis and showed lovely women batting their new longer, thicker, darker eyelashes. But I’ll bet that approach didn’t test well with women. (I’m reminded of a joke about the Cialis ads from a comedian whose name I can’t recall. He said, “Hey if my erection lasts longer than ...

Cause Marketing: The All Packaging Edition

One way to activate a cause marketing campaign when the sponsor sells a physical product is on the packaging. I started my career in cause marketing on the charity side and I can tell you that back in the day we were thrilled to get a logo on pack of a consumer packaged good (CPG) or even just a mention. Since then, there’s been a welcome evolution of what sponsors are willing and able to do with their packaging in order to activate their cause sponsorships. That said, even today some sponsors don’t seem to have gotten the memo that when it comes to explaining your cause campaign, more really is more, even on something as small as a can or bottle. The savviest sponsors realize that their only guaranteed means of reaching actual customers with a cause marketing message is by putting it on packaging. And the reach and frequency of the media on packaging for certain high-volume CPG items is almost certainly greater than radio, print or outdoor advertising, and, in many cases, TV. More to ...

Chili’s and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

I was in Chili’s today and I ordered their “Triple-Dipper,” a three appetizer combo. While I waited for the food, I noticed another kind of combo. Chili’s is doing a full-featured cause-related marketing campaign for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. There was a four-sided laminated table tent outlining the campaign on the table. When the waitress brought the drinks she slapped down Chili’s trademark square paper beverage coasters and on them was a call to action for an element of the campaign called ‘Create-A-Pepper,’ a kind of paper icon campaign. The wait staff was all attired in black shirts co-branded with Chili’s and St. Jude. The Create-A-Pepper paper icon could be found in a stack behind the hostess area. The Peppers are outlines of Chili’s iconic logo meant to be colored. I paid $1 for mine, but they would have taken $5, $10, or more. The crayons, too, were co-branded with the ‘Create-A-Pepper’ and St. Jude’s logos. There’s also creatapepper.com, a microsite, but again wi...

Cause Marketing

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