Cause Marketing 2023: 6 Experts Weigh in

© 2009-13 CafeGive, All Rights Reserved.

CAUSE MARKETING2023

SIX EXPERTS weigh in on

in

© 2009-13 CafeGive, All Rights Reserved.2

For cause marketers, a lot has changed in the past ten years. Thanks to advancements in social media and mobile technologies, as well as dramatic political, environment, and economic developments, cause marketing looks almost unrecognizable from what it was a decade. And chances are things will change even more rapidly in the next ten years.

So what will cause marketing look like in 2023? That’s the question we posed to six experts in the field, including our own Sandra Morris. More on each participant can be found on the next page.

THE QUESTION //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


JOE WATERS is a speaker, writer, cause marketer, and the author of Selfish Giving, a blog devoted to articles, ideas, and products of interest for fundraising groups. His books include Cause Marketing for Dummies and QR Codes for Dummies. Joe’s work has been featured in The Huffington Post, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Mediapost: Causes, Forbes and The Nonprofit Quarterly.

DAVID HESSEKIEL is the founder and president of the Cause Marketing Forum (CMF), the world’s leading community of cause marketers, agencies, and nonprofit and business executives. Since 2002, the CMF has provided members of the cause marketing industry with guidance, information, and connections. An authority in the field, David has been quoted in The New York Times, USA Today, PROMO, Advertising Age, License! and PRWeek.

MAURA KOEHLER-HANLON is Director of Client Services at VolunteerMatch, a web-based nonprofit that connects volunteers with opportunities that matter to them. Dedicated to developing relationships between volunteers and nonprofits, VolunteerMatch has connected over seven million volunteers to causes since 1998.

PHILIPS MCCARTY is the founder of Good Scout group, a social good consultancy that works with corporations, nonprofits, and individual philanthropists to build brand leaders and build a better world. Good Scout’s clients include Williams-Sonoma, the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Visa, Unicef, and the PBS Foundation.

WIL KRISTIN is a community centered designer and filmmaker, and part of Context Partners, a team of designers, storytellers, thinkers, scientists, teachers, and entrepreneurs working together to connect organizations and communities through community centered design. Clients of Context Partners include Nike, Eli Lilly and Company, National Geographic, and the Rockefeller Foundation.

SANDRA MORRIS is the CEO of CafeGive, a leading provider of social media marketing apps designed to give back and make the world a better place. After a career that included executive positions at Kodak, Intel, and RCA, Sandra founded CafeGive on the belief that social media’s purpose is to build communities and drive social change. Since then, she has worked with organizations such as US Bank, Toys for Tots, Girl Rising and more.

THE EXPERTS ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


Thank you all for joining us to discuss the future

of cause marketing. Let’s start with a basic question: What emerging technologies do you see taking hold of

cause marketing by 2023?

JOE: With cause marketing, I think we’re currently in between

media, in terms of our strategies. On the one hand, you have

traditional strategies that are still very successful and very lucrative,

like point-of-sale (POS) programs.

SANDRA: I love David’s thoughts on this. Technology has helped

inform and raise awareness of so many issues in the world. It

would be great if consumers could instantly see how a company’s

involvement has impact on the world at the moment they are making

the decision to buy something or to become a customer of services.

DAVID: I’m not a technologist, but it clearly appears that all sorts

of marketing messages are moving to more and more powerful

mobile platforms. Who knows if by 2023 you’ll be able to control

these with your eyes or your mind? Wouldn’t it be great if

technology could enable us to take meaningful action based on

what our conscience told us what the right thing to do!

In some ways it’s interesting because these technologies are changing the process, but

it’s also forcing nonprofits to go back and do the basics a little bit more. What’s going to

get nonprofits on company’s radar screens is when they have a strong brand. And while

social media and mobile are great ways of communicating that brand, they reflect it

more than they create it, so they have to go back to basics to build that brand up more.

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


What should cause marketers start/stop doing today?

WIL: Stop saying the same thing. Start finding champions and have them tell their

stories for you.

PHILIPS: Start thinking of cause marketing as long-term relationship building and stop

thinking about it as a magic bullet to marketing and fundraising. This really applies to

both the brand and nonprofit sides of the coin. Cause marketing partnerships should be

developed as strategic alliances that take a fully integrated approach to engagement

of all stakeholders. This is about engaging at all levels, analyzing goals, objectives,

and outcomes, refining approaches, and developing initiatives that go far beyond

in-store, consumer driven fundraising. Employee engagement, sponsorship, cause-

related marketing, philanthropic giving, in-kind and budget relieving support—all are

components of a “cause marketing” partnership and should be explored and expanded

as part of the greater alliance.

MAURA: Stop with the pledges already! Very few nonprofits want or need pledge

campaigns in order to effectively work toward their missions. Instead, start and continue

with the actionable engagement.

CHANGING GEARS /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


What should cause marketers start/stop doing today?

DAVID: Like Philips said, cause marketers should take giant steps forward in engaging

their employees and consumers in their pro-social efforts. They should stop being

afraid to share the details of their programs including the fact that they reap business

benefits from cause marketing.

JOE: The best thing companies can do is ask their employees and customers to give

money. Right now, corporate giving is at an all-time low: It’s under one percent of revenues.

Not only are companies cutting costs, many simply can’t afford to give back. So they have

to come up with other ideas: “How can we use OPM?” (Other people’s money.) Put that way,

there’s a good side and a bad side to it, of course, but it’s reality.

The major responsibility of companies to educate their consumers, to teach them that

more good will be done in an infrastructure where everyone gives.

CHANGING GEARS /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


What’s the biggest opportunity

for nonprofits in the next decade?

PHILIPS: Collaboration. And I would say it’s not the biggest opportunity,

but the biggest necessity. We all know there are literally millions of

charities in existence—too many that are diluting the market and actually

doing the cause they are working toward a disservice. I’d like to think

we will see a decline in these numbers due to nonprofits merging, but

JOE: Nonprofits are going to look at metrics beyond donation. I come

at my work from the nonprofit perspective, i.e. “how much can we raise

with this program?” That’s why I’ve been so focused on POS programs in

the past, because if there is no margin, there is no mission. So in setting

up nonprofit/corporate partnerships, it’s been important to be bottom

line-focused. So many nonprofits will say, “It’s great that we got so many

Likes, we got so much awareness, but how should we really raise?”

I think it’s highly unlikely. So coalition building is where I see the greatest opportunity moving

forward. Not coalitions for the sake of appearance. Nonprofits with like-minded missions,

working on both causes in the same space and complementary spaces, coming together to

develop strategic alliances that pay off by approaching fundraising, marketing, and goals and

measurement as a collaborative effort. It will take putting egos aside for missions, and it will

take a group of highly influential nonprofit orgs to set the stage as the test case, if you will.

BIG OPPORTUNITIES ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

But that being said, as nonprofits are forced to become focused on the other benefits of cause

marketing—like brand awareness—they’re going to do a better job measuring these things so

they can put a grain of value on it and say, “We didn’t raise a dime for this program, but look at

all the Likes and engagement we got on our Facebook page. Look at all the people who are

talking about this.” And as engagement grows on social media, nonprofit marketers may see

donations rise for those active times. They’ll do a better job correlating that data, and seeing

the combined results.


What’s the biggest opportunity

for nonprofits in the next decade?

WIL: Social change is a different sector and one that should not fear

competition in the manner it currently does. Organizations should

be fully transparent about their strengths and look to partner with

organizations that can complement them. For now, it still feels like

there’s a bit of a “founder’s syndrome” going on where too many people leaders behave like they need to be the big name on a particular issue and not budge or

relinquish decision making inside their organizations. That’s problematic and with more and

more people dedicating themselves to careers in addressing social problems, there will be

more and more talent in the sector and more opportunities to work together to get tough

problems solved faster.

BIG OPPORTUNITIES ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

SANDRA: We often have conversations with businesses and nonprofits

about the nuances of fundraising. The partnership opportunities are really

great. Personally, I don’t think that technology can change the psychology

of why people or companies give, but it can make the partnership more

meaningful, long-lasting, and deeper. We imagine relationships that can

help build community in new ways—across geographic boundaries, age

segments, and other demographics. When brands and businesses share

community, that bond will become stronger.


Wil, your hometown, Portland, Oregon,

has been cited as a forward-thinking city

in terms of social change. What do

you hope other communities take

from Portland in the next ten years?

WIL: I actually left Portland five years ago because it felt like too much

of a “bubble” in terms of people only thinking about Portland. I moved to

Washington, DC and worked for Ashoka, the world’s largest community

of social entrepreneurs. After my stint in DC, I wanted nothing more

than to return to the Pacific Northwest. And having come back, my world is much different now. The city looks and feels more open. I’m connected to important

work happening globally that is being pioneered in Portland. The bottom line is that other

communities can learn about the power of a city that has learned how to take care of itself

and its people. Portland is a town where it’s a given that every social and environmental

issue should be taken very seriously. It’s core to the ethos of Portlanders to think about other

people and the environment. There are lots of examples that other communities can look to:

everything from local food efforts to green public transportation. Mostly, Portland proves that

good things can start on a very small scale. While it’s not NYC or LA, we’ve built the world’s

greatest suburb in my opinion.

PORTLAND PASSIONS //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

P OR T L AND


Joe, you’re based in Boston. What

lessons did you take away from

the recent Boston Marathon bombing

in terms of the way people and

businesses interact with causes?

JOE: One of the things I’ve been writing more about is how businesses

are doing a better job empowering their customers and employees to

raise money for causes. Boston was a great example of that. After the

Boston Bombing, two Emerson college students created a t-shirt that’s

raised nearly $1 million for the victims. Normally they wouldn’t have the ability to go into the t-shirt business, but thanks to Ink for the People, they were able to partner

with them, upload the design, and get it out there.

This is the wave of the future. Businesses are looking for more ways to empower consumers

and individuals to support good causes, because there’s a twofold benefit: Not only do the

businesses look good because they’re connected with a good cause, but you also raise more

money. There’s only so much in the corporate checkbook that in most instances companies

are better off raising money from customers.

BOSTON BOMBING /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

B O S T ON


What brands/individuals should

we be watching carefully now?

DAVID: I think we need to be watching entities at the large and small ends

of the spectrum. On the business side, we should follow how Fortune

100 companies such as Unilever are making radical changes in how

they conduct business as well as start-ups like Warby Parker that are

leveraging technology and creativity to generate profits and purpose.

PHILIPS: Our client Heifer International is phenomenal when it comes to

corporate alliance development. They are looking at it from all angles.

Corporate partners in the field, cause marketing at the domestic level,

employee engagement, philanthropic giving—they are taking a very

holistic approach to cause marketing which is critical for success.

Similarly on the NGO side, it’s fascinating to see how big players are reengineering themselves

to work with companies globally (e.g. UNICEF and World Wildlife Fund) and smaller groups

(e.g. DonorsChoose.org, DoSomething.org and Kiva) are breaking new ground in creating

meaningful engagement and impact.

THE LEADERS ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


register and say, “I want my coffee, but I also want to buy a coffee for someone who needs it.

So Starbucks keeps track of the coffees that have been bought for others, and when people

come in later that day, they’re asked if they would like to pay it forward as well. That’s not the

company making the donation, it’s about the company enabling the consumer.

THE LEADERS ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

SANDRA: The great thing about affordable technology is that more and

more companies can tell their stories well, and build momentum around

the great things they do. Social media and mobile technologies are now

accessible to businesses of all sizes, helping them build awareness about

their causes and purpose. It’s clear that consumers want to understand a

JOE: Panera Cares is another great example. That’s not about Panera

giving back—that’s about Panera creating an infrastructure for people

to contribute to the homeless and the hungry. We’re going to see more

businesses become focused on that.

The “Pay It Forward” movement is deeply related to everything we’re

talking about. In Starbucks, in the UK right now, you can go up to the

business’s role in the world beyond its P&L; Businesses are made of up of people who are not

only employees, but are also parents, consumers, and part of a community. The opportunity

for purpose to come into play as part of all business is a really exciting trend.


David, Based on the insight and

knowledge you’ve accumulated over your many years in the industry, what

advice do you have for someone looking

to start a cause marketing effort

now—for the cause and for the company?

DAVID: Whether you are starting a new enterprise or creating

programming for a large organization, cause marketing should be

thought of as part of an overall sustainable business plan. Doing good

is a necessary, but not sufficient component to creating a successful

enterprise. Way too often I see companies create “nice” programs that lack the rigor and resources that would be applied to other serious business building

initiatives. Adding Purpose to the other marketing “P’s” can supercharge your efforts, but

you must also have strong product, appropriate pricing, adequate distribution and effective

promotion to be a success.

JUST STARTING OUT ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


How are you seeing the

role of social media change?

MAURA: While social media has opened new avenues for involvement in

the form of sharing, fundraising, liking, and being part of the critical mass

of supporters at key moments of a nonprofit’s work, it hasn’t fundamentally

changed the way that we think about most forms of traditional volunteering.

With so much attention paid to these flashy new forms of supporter

JOE: I’ve seen Facebook Like campaigns, but what’s most interesting is

how more businesses and nonprofits are focusing on hashtag campaigns.

Hashtags transcend platform—they’re not just stuck on Twitter or

Instagram; they’re something that can be used everywhere. If a brand says,

“Hey, if you use this hashtag, we’re going to donate a dollar to this particular

charity,” not only is it a great way to keep track of how much is given, but

the brand can also build audience interest around a topic that they’re

interested in.

engagement, folks often forget just how much nonprofits continue to rely on volunteers in nearly

every function.

That said, one way social media has changed volunteering is that we can engage now with great

stories of volunteering. Being an immediate form of communication, we can better convey the

stories, photos, and excitement.

CH-CH-CH-CH-CHANGES /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

You can use a hashtag that not only taps into a topic, but identifies with people’s values—

something they care about, like solving hunger, or saving the whales. You’re not just sourcing

it around a topic, but around things people care about, which is what brands should really be

focusing on.


Maura, how do you think

companies view their volunteering

efforts today? Do you see that

changing over the next ten years?

MAURA: Over the last few years as volunteering has become more universal

at companies, the sense I get is that the same old programs just aren’t good

enough any more in the eyes of companies. A lot of the companies that we

work with that do amazing work and get high engagement seem to feel like

they could be doing more… And they are searching for new and innovative ways to engage their employees. I think we’ll see the impact of this thinking over the next ten years.

And if anything, employees are expecting innovative approaches now. According to the research

we’ve seen, employees see impactful volunteering and corporate social responsibility as a

requirement that they seek out when choosing an employer.

What can companies do to further embed volunteering at the core of their operating procedures?

Of course there’s always more to be done! It needs to be unique to each company, depending

on how they are structured, what they do, and how they operate. For a program to be successful,

you have to look at what will fit with the company’s culture—whether it be building a grassroots

program, building competition into the volunteer program, making it part of the professional

development track, et cetera.

VOLUNTEERING EFFORTS /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


What’s cause marketing’s biggest

unknown in the next 10 years? What are

you afraid of, or excited about?

PHILIPS: If I knew that, it wouldn’t be the unknown! (Laughter) I think the

biggest unknown is how consumers will continue to respond to cause

marketing. Cause marketing in the traditional sense is, in my opinion,

getting tired. I think consumers will tire quickly. They already have in

many ways, and expect authenticity at all costs when it comes to cause

JOE: We could definitely blow it. There could be a really spectacular failure that would cause consumers

to turn their backs on cause marketing. They could say, “I don’t want this in my products anymore. I

don’t want anymore people asking me for money. If you want to support a good cause, you take it out

of your pocket and you give it yourself. I’ll worry about supporting causes at my own discretion.” I worry

about that. Will there be too many cases like the disastrous Komen/KFC partnership from 2010? When

customers say, “I don’t trust you to handle my money, my donation,” We’ve blown it.

MAURA: Surprise! I think it’s probably the nonprofits. Just as corporate

approaches are evolving, so too are many nonprofits today innovating,

changing their business models and collaborating in new ways. And with

that, the kind of support they’ll need will change too. Hopefully these

nonprofit needs will be in alignment with corporate expectations.

marketing campaigns. But I know this—consumers are savvy, smart, and have set the bar of

expectations from brands and nonprofits. They will accept nothing but effectiveness moving

forward. The unknown is at what point will they say “enough is enough” in the use of cause

marketing to raise funds for causes and nonprofits.

THE GREAT UNKNOWN ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


DAVID: At the same time, it’s so exciting to see so many businesses being

started these days that have giving back rooted in their DNA. That’s a big

change from established companies that have needed to add programs

designed to do well by doing good into their business practices. One

of the big unknowns is whether many of today’s socially conscious

SANDRA: You can’t imagine the number of people I talk to who say they

want a more fulfilling purpose aspect of their work. We have a generation

of people who are demanding more from their employers, too. I think this

will define a new way for companies to embed purpose in their business

strategies. Cause marketing will expand, in my view, to include this.

Ultimately, authenticity will come from deep inside companies—from

employees who are testing and living it.

WIL: Changes in digital storytelling and design are making it easier for

more and more people to contribute their voices to the causes they care

about most. Individuals have great examples in their personal networks of

content creators that are designing and publishing media in every format

imaginable. That’s a huge difference from a time when the bulk of stories

come from major media outlets and publishers.

businesses will be able to go to scale and generate significant financial and societal benefits.

THE GREAT UNKNOWN ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


Phillips, how would you

describe the role of celebrities and entertainers in aiding good

causes? How will it change in the future?

PHILIPS: Authenticity is the most critical factor to engaging consumers in

cause marketing and pro-social initiatives, and this could not be truer than

with celebrity utilization in these programs. Celebrities and talent must have

an authentic tie to the cause to have a long-term effect on donor engagement.

Donors tell us all the time that they’ll pay attention to a cause because of a celebrity, but they will not activate for the cause just because the celebrity asks (or tells) them

to do so. Celebrities can be important in the branding of a cause or nonprofit, and we counsel

clients to engage with celebrities if the fit is right and if it is authentic—meaning there is no

financial expectation by the celebrity and the mission fit is there. But in the end, it’s up to the

organization to make its case and engage effectively with the donor once the donor comes

into the fold to learn more from the celebrity “ask”. I think we’ll see this change in the future as

nonprofits and causes become better storytellers. There is nothing better than an authentic story,

and the better storytellers we have working for causes and nonprofits the less reliance we’ll

have on celebrities and other personalities to do this. In the end, it’s best to hear firsthand from

beneficiaries and mission-affected people.

THE STARS ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


What are you doing today to

prepare for the next decade? What do

you see yourself working on?

WIL: Building storytelling capacity for causes that need it most.

DAVID: Cause marketing involves numerous types of players (large and small businesses, nonprofits,

agencies and suppliers) engaged in very varied types of activities (e.g. consumer-focused programs,

employee engagement, transactional programs, message-focused programs, corporate social marketing).

We want to refine and segment our offerings to serve the interests of these very varied practitioners.

PHILIPS: Quite simply, we’re hiring a team that is smarter than my

generation. (laughing) Seriously, we are remaining focused on our core

businesses of corporate alliance strategy, cause platform development

and pro-social organizational development. We’ve worked primarily in the

nonprofit/NGO space in the past. Now, we’re taking our knowledge and

expanding into the brand and entertainment spaces. We’re also building

incredible alliances with complementary agencies and consultants that

PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

bring new thinking to the table for our clients. Preparing for the next ten years means staying

ahead of our clients, yet understanding that many need to take methodical steps in creating

change. This pro-social/social good space is all about change—it’s constantly evolving. So we

have to do the same without losing focus of our core expertise.

JOE: I can see myself shifting more to focus on how individuals access services. It’s a story about the

individual. How can we take “cause” and integrate it into every facet of people’s lives. That’s the way we

can really raise money and solve some problems. Imagine what it will be like when anytime people use

their credit cards at a store, they donate to a cause. When they go to work, they’ll volunteer on projects.

They’re going to ask their companies to be responsible with the environment, work practices, and so on.

We’re looking at all the ways we can integrate cause into our lives. It won’t be about “cause marketing” anymore, it will be

about supporting good causes.

PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


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