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Everything You Need to Know About Matching Cause and Sponsor in Cause Marketing

Here’s everything you need to know about matching cause and sponsor in cause marketing campaigns in 225 words or less.

Without resurrecting every post I’ve written on the topic of matching causes with sponsors there are basically eight options.
  1. Pick a cause or causes that are a direct fit: for instance, a restaurant or a grocery store sponsoring a food bank.
  2. Pick a cause or causes that are an indirect but related fit: McDonald’s sponsorship of the Ronald McDonald House. In this case it’s related because of the way McDonald’s targets kids.
  3. Pick a cause or causes that are meaningful to important company stakeholders: Many sponsors of the various breast cancer charities fit this criteria.
  4. Pick a cause or causes that have tons of popular appeal: Target’s sponsorship of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is an example.
  5. Pick multiple charities with a single theme. JC Penney focuses much of its cause marketing giving on after-school causes, for instance. Kohl’s cause marketing money goes to children’s health and education.
  6. Pick multiple charities without a unifying theme.
  7. Pick a charity or charities the executives or rank and file prefers.
  8. Pick a charity or charity for no rational reason.

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