Impressions from the American Marketing Association Cause Marketing Conference in April

I had the opportunity recently to take part in a panel discussion at the American Marketing Association's Cause Marketing Conference in San Diego. A few hundred profesionals from both the nonprofit sector as well as business comnnunity attended, sharing insights and best practices.

There is really a fire taking place with all the companies and causes joining the push to align themselves with each other. It is overwhelmingly positive, as at the end of the day, I see more nonprofits benefiting with extra dollars. Corporations are eager to start new cause intiatives or redirect marketing budget towards worthy endeavors.

Within cause marketing, people are now trying to define what makes a good partnership and how to go about securing an alliance. The business speakers stressed the need to be clear what the nonprofit was willing to do besides ask for money. Would they be able to create a value proposition? Would the nonprofit be able to promote the business beyond a one time event? Nonprofits wanted to make sure their name was not being used solely to generate profits for the company, that there was a sincere connection with the charity mission too.

As our company name implies, we are all about cause marketing via auctions on eBay Giving Works. I received a number of questions from the audience about how the process works, and what they needed to do to get started. One of the best tips I gave was to look at one's nonprofit board first. There is a great untapped resource there for auction items, many of which can be an experience rather than a physical item. Tie in a corporate donor there, and suddenly, that donation of a luxury box to a sporting event can turn into a cause marketing opportunity for the business and a new relationship with the nonprofit.

Auction Cause often is approached by both nonprofits and corporations to "find a match" with one another, so we do get an insider's point of view on this too. I would have to say that both sides need to do their homework and truly think out all they want from the other side. Nonprofits are quickly realizing they need to think like a business in order to be taken seriously, and businesses realize they need to often provide more than just dollars to make the relationship work.