Cause Marketing

Some causes have been around long enough that they have a mountainous inventory of really great communications items that could potentially be monetized. But how? The challenge is more common than you might think. The Muscular Dystrophy Association is sitting on hundreds of hours of variety-show entertainment performed on its annual telethon since 1966. Assuming it owns clear rights to those performances, the MDA ought to be able somehow monetize that inventory. My old employer, the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, has similar if far less extensive inventory of entertainment performances. Likewise the National 4-H Council has 110 years-worth of posters and the like commissioned from the best graphic artists of the day. I know because I’ve personally seen the tiniest fraction of it. Wouldn’t the 4-H Council love to realize some proceeds from its treasure trove of communications materials? Long-standing causes like the Audubon Society, the March of Dimes, Federal Duck Stamps, and ot...

Years ago I worked with the American Legion and I heard a side of the story about the development of the groundbreaking GI Bill that's not commonly known. Namely, that the American Legion that had agitated and lobbied for the bill and Harry Walter Colmery, a lawyer and former American Legion National Commander, drafted it . President Roosevelt signed the bill into law on June 22, 1944. Now thanks to a timely email from Laurie Shaffer of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, I’ve learned about a campaign that has generated more than $750 million since 1934 and thereby helped preserve some 5.3 million acres of waterfowl habitat in the United States. The effort is called Federal Duck Stamps . Perhaps like me you’ve heard the name but aren’t familiar with its ins and outs. Here’s how it works: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Servic e produces an annual limited-edition illustrated stamp, similar to a postage stamp, although it can’t be used as postage. The price for 2010 edition is $15. A healthy ...