Cause Marketing

There’s been some chatter recently in the blogosphere and elsewhere about strategic cause marketing. That is, if you’re a sponsor, ensuring that your sponsorship of the cause bears some rational relationship to your business. The effort on the left from Montblanc, the fountain pen maker, pretty much passes muster. From June 2009 to May 2010 when you bought this special edition pen, called the Meisterstruck Signature for Good Edition, 10 percent of the purchase price went to a UNICEF education programs because “The ability to read and write is a fundamental human right and the most important asset to children.” (For examples of other Montblanc 'donation pens,' click here . For this campaign, Montblanc set a minimum donation of $1.5 million. And while we're at it, let us now take a moment to praise a campaign that sets a minimum donation, but not a maximum. Huzzahs to Montblanc)! I would have said that parents who can feed and shelter their children is a child’s most importan...

All nonprofit fundraisers must make some accommodation with the issue of ‘tainted’ money. It’s a question of morality. Is there money that you cannot accept because of the way it was generated or from whom it comes? If you’re PETA do you take money from Purina or Hormel ? If you’re MADD do you accept donations from beer and liquor companies? If you’re a liberal political action committee can you accept money from a conservative? Or, vice versa? If you’re the Sierra Club can you take money from Clorox  (without having to fire state directors)? It’s not just a matter of cashing checks. It’s what cashing those checks says to the rest of your supporters. Will taking money from certain individuals or entities stifle dissent or muzzle your voice? Can you retain your independence and still accept money from those you disagree with? Are you enabling what I’ve come to call ‘causewashing?’ For many nonprofits the indirect nature of the donation in cause marketing doesn’t make the que...