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2017 AMA NONPROFIT MARKETING CONFERENCE JULY 10-12 | WASHINGTON, DC

2017 AMA Nonprofit Marketing Conference July 10–12 | Washington, DC The 2017 Nonprofit Marketing Conference brought together experts and practitioners to explore the unique challenges faced by marketers in the nonprofit arena.

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Scaling a Movement: How Girl Rising Makes Its Brand Flexible for Maximum Shareability

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5 Reasons Brands Need a Higher Purpose

Headlined by top minds in the nonprofit community, the event focused on the latest best practices, trends and technologies to help marketers make an even bigger impact for good.

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The Content Audit that Saved Make-A-Wish

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Balancing Volunteerism With a Full-Time Job

This e-book features the highlights and takeaways as well as other relevant content.

10 Meet the Hot New Employment Nonprofit that Aims to Remake the Job Landscape for Opportunity Youth 13

Photos by Pierce Harman

NRDC, Ad Council Raise Awareness to Fight Food Waste

18 What Nonprofits Can Learn from the Met’s Rebrand About Customer Experience 20 Middle Market Philanthropy Supports Engagement 22 3 Ways Nonprofits Can Compete with Corporations for Consumer Trust and Attention 24 5 Ways Nonprofits Can Engage Donors 26 Key Takeaways from Partner Speaker Sessions

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2016 AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education

Event Coverage

Scaling a Movement: How Girl Rising Makes Its Brand Flexible for Maximum Shareability By Sarah Steimer

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artha Adams, chief creative officer at Girl Rising, says her organization doesn’t follow traditional branding rules. They’ve used multiple slogans and changed colors and verbiage. But her focus, as with many other marketers, is on storytelling and scaling. Her organization’s story began with the goal of using filmmaking to end global poverty. The more experts they spoke with, the more people pointed to the data around girls’ education: When young females receive education, growth yields increase, national security improves and other major, positive impacts result. With that in mind, Adams knew the story they had to tell would be focused on girls’ education, but it wouldn’t be easy. “That’s a really tough sell,” Adams says. “Also, who is going to pay for that? We had to think in an unconventional way.” One of Girl Rising’s first corporate partnerships came via Intel. Adams says their marketing, HR and diversity teams understood that funding the film could yield gains for the company in recruiting the best female grads and relating to half the world’s population, women, as its consumer. “So they funded a big-ass movie,” Adams laughs. With funding and other nonprofit organizations on board, Girl Rising started working with experts and data. “Inspiration without information was not going to get us anywhere,” Adams says. There were plenty of documentaries already in the human rights sphere, but Girl Rising wanted to reach people who had never considered the issue. Its argument needed to stand on numbers, and it needed to be inspiring.

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Girl Rising found nine girls in nine different countries and sought female authors from those countries to tell their stories. In addition, celebrities signed on to narrate, and the filmmakers focused on high production value. Most importantly to Adams met and interacted with the girls whose stories the movie told. “I would insist that you go, that you’re there,” she says to marketers looking to leverage the power of testimonial storytelling. “I thought about [one girl’s] story 24/7. I couldn’t get it out of my system.” Thanks to key partnerships with organizations and celebrities, the interest was building before the movie was ever released. What followed was a cascade of audience involvement. People who viewed “Girl Rising” started their own efforts and led the charge in their communities. Adams insists the movement scaled on its own. The organization focused on ensuring the work wasn’t crowding other pro-female efforts. Since the initial launch, the film has been brought into new markets. It has been used as an educational element for community leaders, and the organization has allowed the film and all of its elements to be customized by the country, culture and otherwise. One of the key goals for the “Girl Rising” film and related elements was pushing for behavior changes or mindset changes, which is difficult to measure. “The work we do is of paramount importance, but it’s really hard to measure,” Adams says. “We try to focus on the storytelling aspect, then put it into the hands of many organizations, adapting it thoughtfully,” Adams says. 

2017 AMA Nonprofit Marketing Conference

5 Reasons Brands Need a Higher Purpose By David Aaker

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ilton Friedman famously said that the “social responsibility of business is to increase profits.” To many observers that is the accepted paradigm. With few exceptions, most businesses throughout the world take a different view. Just look at the missions and value statements in annual reports. In most cases, firms have a social or environmental purpose alongside their mission of creating and marketing a functional offering and increasing sales and profits. Walmart, for example, has an offering-driven purpose to “Save people money so they can live better.” The firm also has a second purpose: “to use Walmart’s strengths to support and improve the social and environmental systems to increase economic opportunity, enhance sustainability and strengthen local communities.” Toward that end, Walmart has dozens of programs that aim to make its operation run on renewable energy, influence suppliers to make products and packaging more sustainable and encourage 2.6 million associates to directly help communities. Why have higher-purpose objectives and programs gotten so much traction? There are five reasons.

1. Employees need a higher purpose. They need a reason to come to work besides increasing sales and profits and getting a paycheck. They want to respect and admire their firm and have meaning in their lives. A higher purpose can address these needs and represent an energizing common goal that leads to more productive and committed employees. Many millennials, in particular, are looking for meaning in their working world as well as their personal life. They are interested in working for an organization that will leave society and the environment better off because of its policies and programs. It is not hard to imagine that by 2020, when millennials become 51% of the workforce, a higher purpose will become an even greater imperative.

2. Customers want to have a relationship with brands that share the values reflected in an organizational higher purpose. Even if that group is relatively small, it can still mean the difference between struggling and financial success. In addition, a small committed group can have an effect well beyond its numbers by reaching out to others to tell the organizational story and reaffirm the value proposition. Further, those customers who voice support for a brand’s higher purpose but do not change their short-term buying choices may still be influenced in the long run, especially when new products are introduced or the brand runs into a negative public relations issue.

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A higher purpose is increasingly important to customers because it can provide self-expressive benefits. Sharing a higher purpose with a brand or organization is a way to affirm a person’s values and passions. Driving a Prius, with its unique design, affirms a desire to combat global warming. Avoiding brands or organizations seen as contrary to a personal selfimage is part of the same motivation. Being connected with exploitive off-shore manufacturing is often a brand issue to a meaningful segment. The challenge is to get credit for social or environmental programs. That involves having meaningful programs that connect and inspire but also getting communication breakthroughs that make the programs come alive for the target segment. This is not easy because of the tendency to view such programs as self-serving, without substance and with claims too similar to other firms.

3. There can be a tangible positive effect on profits from a higher-purpose program. One profit kick can come from energy savings. Walmart decided to undertake its ambitious environmental program around 2005, which affected the stores, products carried and logistics. One early finding was a surprise: the “do-gooder” energy programs actually saved money. Expanding markets present another opportunity. Unilever points out that increasing the health and economic status from developing nations creates meaningful markets for their products. Businesses have enormous advantages over governmentled solutions with insights in local conditions, assets and their ability to manage programs and implement quickly. Social and environmental programs can create energy and visibility not otherwise achievable to brands. Consider the Always #LikeAGirl video where the image of running or throwing like a girl was shown to be very unlike the self-image of 11-year-old girls. The video, designed to help the self-esteem of those making the transition into womanhood, got more than 80 million views. No product advertising campaign could do that. Higher-purpose programs can reduce the risk of catastrophic damage to the environmental, social and economic framework in which we live. Objectively, such an achievement should be a plus for long-term business profitability.

4. The stock market rewards social and environmental programs. According to the Global Sustainability Investment Alliance’s 2016 review, $8.7 trillion was invested in the U.S. at the beginning of 2016 with sustainability and social impact criteria involved, up 33% from only two years prior. That 2017 AMA Nonprofit Marketing Conference

number represents 22% of all investment assets in professional management in the U.S. It is not clear whether there is a need to turn against the stock market to have a social or environmental higher purpose.

The challenge is to

5. Social and environmental programs are right from a moral and ethical perspective.

environmental programs.

Salesforce’s Marc Benioff says, “All businesses can and should help make the world a better place.” Unilever’s CEO Paul Polman notes that, because of the limits of capitalism, we have partly created an unsustainable set of problems, which include global warming, resource depletion and an increasing gap between the rich and poor. The Unilever business model calls on the firm to be an active contributor in finding solutions and makes the needs of citizens and communities carry the same weight as the demands of shareholders. The ethical rationale usually comes from getting close to problems. If you see devastation caused by global warming, children dying or receiving inadequate education, and your firm can do something about it within your business model, why would you not act? In the face of this logic and firm behavior, we saw the specter of Brazilian private equity group 3G Capital, which owns Kraft Heinz—whose strategy was summarized by Fortune as “buy, squeeze, repeat”—rebuffed in its effort to buy Unilever. Unilever is a shining light with its embrace of a social and environmental purpose for all its brands. Its vision was launched in 2010 under the umbrella USLP (Unilever Sustainable Living Plan). The firm has specific environmental goals, such as cutting its environmental footprint in half, getting people access to safe water, increasing the use of renewable energy and stopping all hazardous waste going to landfills. Social programs abound at

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get credit for social or This is not easy because of the tendency to view such programs as self-serving, without substance and with claims too similar to other firms.

Unilever. Consider the Dove programs to raise the self-esteem of girls and women and Lifebuoy’s program to get 1 billion people to change their hand-washing habits to reduce infant deaths throughout the world, which they are half way toward realizing. What would 3G’s strategy do to Unilever? 


The Content Audit that Saved Make-A-Wish

Event Coverage

By Sarah Steimer

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This shift in focus helped the organization learn it was telling e are well-known but not known well,” the wrong stories. It needed to let volunteers know that they are says John Vranas, chief strategy officer at the heroes, so more would want to join. The result were videos Make-A-Wish International, describing the designed specifically for Make-A-Wish’s World Wish Day, which challenge his organization faced in boosting donations. featured those who help make the wishes come true. ESPN Vranas’ goal in repositioning Make-A-Wish in recent years partnered for long-form My Wish stories, along with some other (he tried to avoid the phrase “brand refresh”), was staying true media outlets. to the brand as it scaled. As he put it, little had changed in the The nonprofit also changed the way its staff told stories. It organization’s 37-year history, during which it grew its presence launched a content strategy collaborative in which field staff to include 62% of the world’s population, a wish granted every learned how to improve their 17 minutes, 31,000-plus wishes storytelling and how to write for granted annually and more than different audiences. 40,000 volunteers. Perhaps most importantly, the Though Make-A-Wish was wellorganization decided to tell fewer recognized and had statistically but better stories. It focused these high equity, trust and awareness, efforts on YouTube and Facebook. it wasn’t pulling in donations to Make-A-Wish hired a company match. As Vranas put it, if there’s no to trim and curate its YouTube money, there’s no mission. stories, and it built up its Facebook The organization dug around community (finding along the way to find its fit and consideration was that corporate photos fare rather low, meaning the mission didn’t poorly). fit potential donors’ lifestyles, and One Facebook initiative, a when Make-A-Wish did capture partnership with Disney, prompted new donor funding, retention was users to “Share Your Ears.” Disney low. pledged $5 to Make-A-Wish for The nonprofit had statistics every profile takeover on Facebook, on its donors, but wasn’t aware up to $1 million. The campaign saw of what non-donors thought of 1.4 million people changing their the organization. A survey found profiles, and Disney doubled its 50% of those who did not give donation as a result. to Make-A-Wish had a common “It showed the power of what misconception: that Make-A-Wish we were trying to do: build up only benefits children who are communities and tell stories,” terminally ill. Respondents were Vranas says. He cautioned against scored based on commitment with Make-A-Wish International’s just coming out and asking an chief strategy officer, John donors rated at 7.1 and those who Vranas audience for money. That’s not thought Make-A-Wish was for engagement he says, but instead terminal patients only rated 5. With marketers need to find where each point representing $170 in donors come from to build a relationship and a database. lifetime value, the impact of the findings was huge. As for what’s next for Make-A-Wish, Vranas says the Vranas and his team realized part of the issue was in the organization is looking at the impact of its wish-granting. A organization’s storytelling. He says there are five phases of recent study in Israel showed children are more compliant to the wish journey: referral, design of wish, child’s planning/ medical orders when they have a wish-granting to look forward anticipation of the wish, actualization of the wish and impact. to, a phenomenon researchers say is “manifested by lower levels Vranas had been focusing mostly on the actualization of the of depression, anxiety and psychological symptomatology.” wish. “We’ve spent years saying it’s fun, but we need to tell you “We started to look at who is the hero of the story,” Vranas we impact lives and change communities,” Vranas says, noting says. “The kids are not the hero, they’re the quest. The volunteers researchers have said children don’t need to be cured to be are the heroes.” healed. 

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Balancing Volunteerism With a Full-time Job By Sarah Steimer

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hen there are barely enough hours in the day, it can feel challenging to spend extra time giving back. Christine Mau, one of Ad Age’s “Women To Watch” and a former design director at Kimberly-Clark, chooses to spend her time with No More, a nonprofit to end domestic violence and sexual assault. Mau discussed her involvement and how others can choose a philanthropic mission that speaks to them and uses their skills.

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How did you get involved with No More?

[No More Co-founder and Director] Virginia Witt, who I did not know, sent out a cold e-mail saying, “I am putting together a think tank of thought leaders in advertising, design and marketing in order to put together a new brand to tackle domestic violence and sexual assault.” Within five seconds she got back my enthusiastic “Absolutely yes. Tell me when and where to be and I will be there.”

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You started out just offering your design expertise, but how did your role grow from there?

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They had two think tanks, one in Los Angeles and the other in New York. The first one, in L.A., didn’t really deliver on expectation, and they were a little apprehensive going into New York. We had a fantastic brainstorm and some really strong ideas for going forward. We were walking out and they said, “Thank you so much for your time” and I said, “Oh, I’m not done. I would very much like to remain involved.”

If I’m not going to have a real personal connection, chances are I’m not going to give it the 110% that everyone around me is.

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I have been a part of the strategic planning and the reviews on the creatives and research. At that point it was still just an idea, and I said, “I can help you with the design development. I can help with the research of what people actually want and need and how they will respond to this.”

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How were you able to use some of your professional skills in the work that you’ve done with No More?

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They reached out to me because they knew that I had worked on things like U by Kotex, Poise and Depends, which are products that have some stigma that people aren’t as open and willing to talk about. I came in as an expert who knows how to market and make it OK to remove those stigmas. At this point we were calling [the organization] Zero, and had thought we’d have a simple logo. It would be something that anybody could wear so it wouldn’t matter your age or gender. Something that could be immediately recognized, much like the pink ribbon for breast cancer. We wanted to come up with something that could be so simple that people could use it in conjunction with their logos. This wasn’t supposed to compete with or replace the name of your coalition, the name of your practice or the name of your crisis center. It would start to link all of these together, so people could see the enormity of the problem.

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How was this logo created?

I worked with the organization as the creative director to tighten the [creative] brief and lead the team through the creative reviews. I reached out to a very talented team from Sterling Brands who donated their time and services. They made something visual and iconic that met that vision that could stand for No More.


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The final design is a blue “vanishing point” that evolved from the concept of zero. Describe the meaning of the design.

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It’s not always overt. It’s a conversation starter. It doesn’t give you everything spelled out. It’s more of an invitation to ask me, and then I can talk about it. Start breaking the silence and making it OK.

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You’ve talked about your personal connection to the message and the goal of No More. How would you recommend others choose a cause to get involved with?

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Everyone who has accepted the invitation to join has a personal relationship with the cause of No More. That’s really important to make that time in your calendar and to feel that personal sense of reward. If I’m not going to have a real personal connection, chances are I’m not going to give it the 110% that everyone around me is. If you pick something that you are personally connected to, it doesn’t feel like work. It just comes so naturally that it doesn’t feel like an extra burden. You actually have a feeling of reward for doing it.

I’ve seen them since get involved in their schools and in their organizations, and they’re giving back in ways that are meaningful to them. One of my sons got a grade one day that he wasn’t that proud of, so he sat at his desk and he read and went over things again and again. When he finally figured it out for himself, he created a self-study manual and tutoring guide for the entire coursework of that semester and handed it to the instructor and said, “I want to give this to the next class because it was really hard for me and this helped. This is how I did it.”

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What advice would you give someone who is considering becoming involved, whether on a large scale, such as joining a nonprofit board, or on a small scale, such as volunteering?

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You end up getting back more than what you give. I feel almost selfish in that I’ve had these opportunities. Whenever you take on these personal projects you develop another skill. You broaden your network. You create something that you’re really proud of that then helps you get to that next level in your career. 

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When you have a career and a family and so many other things going on, how do you split your time? How are you able to stretch your time and abilities to really make it count?

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When I was at Kimberly-Clark, I had great support from the company. If it was something that went into personal time—because it was something that I personally was passionate about—that was a learning opportunity to talk to my kids about what I was doing and why I was doing it.

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AWARD-WINNING MARKETERS As part of its mission to encourage excellence in marketing, the AMA Foundation honors marketing professionals who are helping shape the future of the industry.

NONPROFIT MARKETER OF THE YEAR This award honors extraordinary leadership and achievement in the field of nonprofit marketing, specifically how recipients’ work has helped advance the field or transform their organization.

WINNER:

Lisa Bowman

Executive V.P. and Chief Marketing Officer United Way Worldwide

HONORABLE MENTION:

Sponsored by:

Amy Shearer

Chief Marketing Officer Philadelphia Zoo

2018 Nominations Are Now Open! ama.marketing/NPMY18

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Meet the Hot New Employment Nonprofit that Aims to Remake the Job Landscape for Opportunity Youth By Zach Brooke

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his May, droves of national nonprofit execs decamped opportunity youth categories, and these are young people 16 to from the country’s coastal cities to descend on the 24 who aren’t in school and aren’t in work and who have not yet gorgeous hardwood and exposed brick Lacuna Artist obtained a post-secondary credential,” says Elyse Rosenblum, Lofts in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. principal at Grads of Life. “The mission of Grads of Life is to Their mission: find for-profit work. Not for themselves, but create a functioning talent marketplace that connects employers for the dozens of young men and women who shrugged off the with opportunity youth as a new source of talent.” chilly showers of late spring for a chance at the American dream. The organization may only be three years old, but Upstairs, the job seekers convened around a breakfast Rosenblum has promoted this particular cause for years. “The buffet before taking seats in work really built on about front of television monitors five years of work that came projecting the opaque but before the launch of the inspiring slogan, “The Dream campaign where we were Is Free But The Hustle Is Sold working with employers to Separately.” As they ate, one identify what was working There are 6 million young adults man nourished their hunger for them in expanding their across the country that fit the for accomplishment with a talent pipeline to include pep talk. opportunity youth.” opportunity youth categories, and “Everyone in here is The phrase “opportunity necessary for this city to youth” is used repeatedly these are young people 16 to 24 who by Rosenblum and others thrive,” says Jeffrey Wallace, president and CEO of at the event. It’s a respectful aren’t in school and aren’t in work LeadersUp, a nonprofit that but coded term. In plain works to build a pipeline English, it refers to those and who have not yet obtained a between employers and young adults who entered the post-secondary credential. vulnerable communities in workforce right out of high need. “There is something school. Rosenblum has been in you that no one else can doing this so long she can contribute.” remember when such people Downstairs, other leaders at the Career 360 event are were called disconnected youth. Whereas in the past, these prepping to process the attendees after they’ve finished workers would look forward to the promise of a good-paying breakfast. One station near the main entrance of the gallery is blue-collar job lifting them into middle-class comfort, profound set up to guide people through mock interviews. Another area, shifts in the U.S. economy have eroded the lion’s share of these overseen by local nonprofit Skills Scout, will walk candidates opportunities. through simulated on-the-job tasks. Toward the back, employers Rosenblum also knows better than most the challenges of with a large presence in Chicago—United Airlines, FedEx, lobbying companies to place opportunity youth. In a previous C.H. Robinson—have set up career fair booths to pitch their role, she brought together employers for the Kellogg Foundation companies to would-be applicants. to get their perspectives on this group of young people. In the middle of the room is a massive black backdrop that “The responses pretty much across the board for all the reads “Real 7-Second Résumés.” It’s outfitted with flat-screen employers, many of whom were service sector employers, were TVs and flanked by computer terminals and two-person highlike, “What? No, we don’t hire those kids,” she says. “Really no top pub tables. It’s a mysterious offering that is being billed as interest, no awareness.” the main draw at today’s event, and it’s the brainchild of yet Since then, however, there’s been significant movement another nonprofit at the space today, Grads of Life, and its new around the employment outlook for working-class, or nonagency, 22squared. degree adults, as well as conversations about the true value of Launched in 2014, Grads of Life seeks to convince employers college and whether higher education is for everyone. This, to look for talent outside of the traditional academic pipeline. Rosenblum says, is no accident. “There are 6 million young adults across the country that fit the

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“It’s now in the common conversation,” she says. “There’s been a lot of work by us and others to raise this issue.” Rosenblum scored an early major win for the cause when, shortly after launching the organization (the name Grads of Life was developed by its first agency, Arnold Worldwide), she was able to lean on an old connection to land a pitch meeting with the Ad Council, the nonprofit media company that secures access to creative channels for public service organizations. “When we heard about the issue of the opportunity gap and about how many jobs were going unfilled because employers weren’t aware of and hiring opportunity youth, we knew we wanted to be a part of the solution,” says Michelle Hillman, Ad Council’s head of campaign development. “We were so happy to find a partner who had a leadership position in the national dialogue around the issue of opportunity youth and who was such a respected voice.”

General awareness of hiring opportunity youth has increased from 17% in 2014 to 29% in 2017.

Ad Council responded by securing donated media in several spaces to advertise the Grads of Life cause. Developed by Arnold Worldwide, the creative included traditional outdoor spots appearing in Times Square and along bus routes and train lines operated by the Chicago Transit Authority showing welldressed young men and women confronting the tendency of HR professionals to overlook diamond-in-the-rough employees. “To Find A Great Candidate, Give Traditional Hiring Practices the Day Off,” reads one, while another chastises, “In Looking For The Ideal Résumé, You’ve Ignored The Ideal Candidate.” These static advertisements were also put to use in print media in Sunday editions of The New York Times and The Boston Globe. They were accompanied by TV ads played on the Bloomberg Network and the CNN Airport Network. The campaign also established a strong online presence through a sponsored blog on Forbes.com. “[Forbes] just turned out to be a phenomenal donation to the campaign,” Rosenblum says. “We use that space to showcase important issues around the skills gap, the opportunity divide, talent strategy and we engage thought leaders all across the country to contribute and be guest bloggers on the site. We’ve had tremendous traction.”

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The outlets are not the places where the people they serve would congregate, and that’s by design, Rosenblum says. Early on in the partnership with the Ad Council, she pushed to make sure the campaign focused not on reaching out to opportunity youth, but rather on raising awareness and buy-in from prospective employers. “Initially [the Ad Council] said, ‘Yes we want to do something on the issue of opportunity.’ But the first thought was a campaign focused on the young people to get them to see a world of opportunity out there,” Rosenblum says. “We pushed back and said … if employers aren’t open to opportunity youth, then getting these young people all jazzed up doesn’t really make sense.” “It was a new thing for the Ad Council,” she adds. “They had not really done a B-to-B campaign before. Most of their campaigns are entirely public-facing. It was a stretch for the Ad Council, [and] it was certainly a stretch for us.” There are signs it’s worked. Grads of Life’s most recent “Impact Update” from May shows that the Forbes blog has been visited more than 4.7 million times. All told, there has been $76 million in donated media given to the organization since its inception. Rosenblum calls this figure, “wildly successful” beyond her greatest aspirations, which were about $20 million, she says. All this exposure has helped Grads of Life realize its altruistic mission. According to Grads of Life, general awareness of hiring opportunity youth has increased from 17% in 2014 to 29% in 2017. The number of employers that are planning to fill positions with these workers has grown by 8% in the same period. A third-party survey of 600 recruiters and hiring managers found that a quarter had seen the Grads of Life campaign, and nearly 75% believed that hiring opportunity youth is “good for business.” Grads of Life also had significant success convincing specific employers to come aboard. “We work with employers from all different sectors,” Rosenblum says. “We have a partnership right now with the National Network for Business and Industry, which sits at the Business Roundtable, and we’re working with industry associations and their employers. We’re working closely with the American Hospitality and Lodging Association and a number of big companies, such as Hilton Intercontinental Hotel. We’re just about to start working with Marriott.” It’s important to note that through all this, Grads of Life does not actually work directly with opportunity youth. Rather, it is focused entirely on convincing businesses to recognize these workers and tweak their hiring practices so more of them can find worthwhile career opportunities. It’s important that Grads of Life collaborate with other nonprofits working directly with this group and attend events like Career 360 in Chicago, especially because its next campaign, Real 7-Second Résumés, leans heavily on nonprofits. “On average, hiring managers are only looking at résumés for seven seconds, which is kind of nuts when you think


about it,” says Kevin Botfeld, executive creative director of 22squared. “They have a stack of paper on their desk, and they’re flipping through it. Opportunity youth don’t necessarily have the résumés that everybody else does. They have different circumstances,” he says. The seven-second résumés exercise aims to create an opportunity to tell their stories and highlight their life skills—things like work ethic, tenacity, dedication—that don’t show up on a traditional CV. At Career 360, job seekers are given the opportunity to create a seven-second résumé. First, they fill out their information at one of the computer terminals. Then, they stand in line to work with one of a handful of job experts who will quiz them on their work history and unique job experiences, looking for marketable facets to make candidates stand out during the very brief video clips. “We’ve had some amazingly interesting stories,” Botfeld says. “Grads that were going to the program who were homeless. Grads who were working two to three jobs. Grads that had to care for their younger siblings while they were trying to go through the program. We’re trying to draw out those stories and those experiences because those are ones employers are looking for.” After they finish their scripts, grads wait to be called into a room where a two-person film crew will shoot the videos. Then, they will be edited on site and uploaded to each subject’s LinkedIn profile. Those who don’t have a LinkedIn profile will be assisted in creating one before they leave. “LinkedIn has also been a great partner for the campaign and has donated both digital space as well as a number of InMail offerings, where we’ve had high-profile employers talk about what they’re doing to build opportunity youth talent pipelines,” Rosenblum says. All grads will also receive an e-mail link to all the assets they have created today. The seven-second résumés are also the primary creative concept behind Grads of Life’s next big advertising push, set to kick off this month. But, the video résumés will help youth on an immediate personal level by landing them a job offer. “Anything I can do to get in the door and build a career out of right now,” says Juan Rubio, a 23-year-old grad at the event. Rubio only learned about LeadersUp, the recruitment organization working directly with opportunity youth, a few days prior. “It was just about a couple days ago, I was sitting at home scrolling though Facebook, and they were advertising,” he says. The advertising struck him as suspect, in the same vein as those spam messages touting the ability to make thousands of dollars a month online while working from home. But he decided to give it a shot and entered in his contact information. “The next day I got e-mails and text messages. I followed through and showed up here and it turned out to be legit,” he says. “I think it’s a good opportunity. There’re not a lot of opportunities for us here in Chicago. If you go to a staffing agency, they just send a bunch of people to work for a couple of days. Here you get to meet the people who get you in the door and get you a job.”

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Rubio has come prepared with a “whole stack of résumés” and seems particularly hopeful that he convinced a United employee to accept one. “He wrote some information on the back. I’m not sure what he wrote, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.” Right now he makes a living driving for Uber, but in his life he’s been a lifeguard, an office assistant at a dental practice and a construction worker. He also spent three years in landscaping, where he rose to the rank of a foreman, overseeing a crew of workers, some twice his age.

On average, hiring managers are only looking at résumés for seven seconds. Its facts like these that seven-second résumés are designed to elicit and highlight. Rubio’s front-line supervisor experience commands a premium in the job market right now, according to Rosenblum. “We’ve been doing research over the last year with Harvard Business School’s Competitiveness Project and Accenture, looking at talent strategies in the private sector, and one of the things we’ve uncovered is that there’s this really significant pain point for employers in terms of talent around first-line supervisor,” she says. “If you can get employers thinking about bringing opportunity youth in and moving them up and into those first-line supervisor roles, it’s a win-win.” It certainly would be a win for Rubio, who’s now spent hours hearing from others how much they want him to have a good job. He’s not sure about the seven-second résumé, but he’s willing to do what it takes to get a job. “At this point, it’s OK to try anything. The only place is up,” he says. 


NRDC, Ad Council Raise Awareness to Fight Food Waste By Sarah Steimer Turn off the lights. Don’t leave the water running. Separate the recycling from the garbage. What about the dinner leftovers?

wasted water, fertilizer and crop land that is being dedicated to a product that never goes anywhere.” This $162 billion in wasted resources seemed to the NRDC an issue easily fixable and apolitical. The potentially wide appeal of the matter seemed the perfect fit for partnering with the Ad ocial awareness campaigns have tackled everything Council, whose bread and butter is looking at which issues need from saving the rainforest to stopping animal abuse to a spike in awareness. vaccinating children. The Natural Resources Defense “We felt there was a really good opportunity to use Council (NRDC) is now aiming to add food waste reduction to communications to reach people with tangible tips and tools, so this list, potentially making “Cook it, store it, share it” the next they could start mobilizing in their homes to not waste food,” “Reduce, reuse, recycle.” says Michelle Hillman, head The ball is rolling on the of campaign development at undertaking, with the “Save the Ad Council. “Right away the Food” campaign one year it’s one of those issues where old as of April. The posters it wasn’t on people’s radar. have gone up, the media And the minute that you raise How do we help people take partners have come aboard awareness about it, people and, quite importantly, the good intentions and translate start thinking about things audience has taken note they can do to change their that into saving the environment and asked questions. Once behavior.” everyone has learned the issue The Ad Council, in [and] putting more money into and acknowledged the role turn, pulled in ad agency that they play in an issue, the SapientRazorfish to design their pocket? definition of social awareness the campaign pro bono. has been accomplished. Truly The imagery is simple and successful campaigns, though, highlights statistics from actually change consumer the NRDC. Many of the behavior. It’s difficult to say campaign assets include a how many consumers have photo of a food item—a milk reduced their food waste, but the table has been set. carton, bread, eggs, chicken breasts—stamped with “Best if used.” The abbreviated version of the common food label phrase Planting the Seeds is intended to underscore the idea that consumers should spend less time trying to decipher labels and more time actually using The “Save the Food” campaign was sparked by research from the product. Each asset also includes the “Save the Food” slogan, Dana Gunders, an NRDC senior scientist in the food and “Cook it, store it, share it.” agriculture program. Gunders kept seeing statistics on food The “Save the Food” website takes these simple instructions waste during her research, and the findings were so impactful to much further, providing tips for food storage, cooking and her that she shifted the scope of her work. The result was a 2012 more. Gunders even published a how-to on the topic, “Wastereport titled “Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent Free Kitchen Handbook: A Guide to Eating Well and Saving of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill.” The paper explores Money By Wasting Less Food.” David Serrano, client services all parts of the supply chain in which food is wasted and found director at SapientRazorfish, says his agency has worked closely the largest amount of waste occurs at the consumer level. with Gunders on the campaign. “Because of all that waste, there’s a huge amount of “This is a combination of Dana’s knowledge at the NRDC, environmental impact that takes place,” says Nora Mango, senior coupled with research that we did internally to understand what integrated marketing manager at the NRDC. “Everything from the common thread is in food that consumers are wasting and the amount of methane released based on the amount of food the tips they were looking for,” Serrano says. In year two of the that would be decomposing in landfills—food is the single campaign, Serrano says the team is considering how to evolve largest contributor to landfills in the U.S.—to the amount of the content.

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Fertilizing the Crops The team chose to target mothers and millennials, the former being household gatekeepers often pressed for time, and the latter in the early stages of food decision-making, which was seen as a key intervention point to make a food waste behavior change. “What we didn’t know going into this, and that we’re learning from our continuous tracking, is that PSA awareness and the recognition on the creative is shifting more significantly among millennials,” Mango says. “Not only are they developing habits that could help to make a real long-term impact in this [by] teaching their growing families and their friends, but they’re more aware of what’s happening.” Millennials’ obsession with food has been well-documented. Author Eve Turow told The Atlantic in 2015 that the millennial focus on food is largely the result of technology. Constant screen time has caused some sensory deprivation, she said in the interview, noting this generation senses an increased feeling of isolation. Food creates a near-perfect answer to these two issues: Grab a meal with all its sensory fulfillment, and make it a communal experience. The “Save the Food” campaign is reaching out to these demographics on the platforms they already use when seeking recipes or other food advice. The Pin Factory from Pinterest, which acts as a creative studio for brands, implemented “Save the Food” messaging on its site, adding to the campaign’s presence on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. NRDC has partnered with Upworthy, Social Native and BuzzFeed. The campaign also worked with the Food Network for a special episode of “Chopped Junior,” in which contestants cooked with food scraps. “From a media community perspective, every time we pitch food waste among our other campaigns, it just rises to the top,” Hillman says. “People are coming out of the woodwork to partner on this. It’s an issue that is attractive to the media community because it’s an easy consumer action that can have a great environmental payoff.” Serrano says the campaign aims to inspire consumers by engaging with them through the relevant channels and touch points they use throughout the day. But the messaging matters as much, if not more, than the platforms used, and the team aimed to motivate without shaming their audience. “There was research done prior to the campaign that broke down these four reasons why people waste food,” Mango says. “A lot of it has to do with people wanting to take care of other people; making sure you’re prepared to provide food if someone came over. It had to do with aspirations when shopping; you hope that you’re going to eat better that week. There’s confusion around storage; a lot of people don’t understand how to store something properly so it doesn’t go to waste or they don’t understand the date labels.” Whatever the reason for over-shopping or tossing food, the NRDC and its partners wanted to educate the audience because people reported that food waste is an issue, but didn’t believe they, themselves, waste food. 14

“I think that part of this issue is the lack of awareness that people have,” Hillman says. “The crux of the campaign is to say, ‘Despite your best intentions, you’re wasting food and it has this impact.’ The good intentions piece is really important and deliberate. How do we help people take good intentions and translate that into saving the environment [and] putting more money into their pocket?”

Every American wastes 290 pounds of food a year. A family of four spends $1,500 a year on food they don’t eat. The campaign determined four buckets to focus on that can cause food waste—self-improvement, comfort, security and thoughtfulness—and created tips based on these. Mango says the campaign references back to these tips every time new creative debuts. These tips tend to be widely appealing, Mango says, because of consumers’ great food memories, food storage tips or recipes for leftovers that are passed down through generations. “It came down to offering tips on how to keep your food the freshest the longest or how to store it properly in your refrigerator or how to use it when you think it might be going bad,” Serrano says. What motivates people, however, is not one-size-fits-all. For some, the monetary aspect of wasting food will be the most impactful, so the campaign offers estimated figures for how much money a household could save by reducing food waste (a family of four could put $1,500 back in its wallet). Some find the environmental figures the most compelling, so the campaign offers those details (the water wasted when throwing out a single banana amounts to 42 minutes in the shower). For others still, the campaign tapped into an emotional component—by way of a strawberry. SapientRazorfish created the spot, “The Extraordinary Life and Times of Strawberry,” that follows a single strawberry through its lifecycle. The fruit is picked on a farm, packaged and sent to the grocery store where a little girl begs her mother to purchase the package. Despite the mother’s brief reluctance, the strawberry is purchased, refrigerated and eventually forgotten before it is thrown out. The strawberry even fell in love with a nearby lime along its journey.


The Extraordinary Life and Times of Strawberry “For some people, creating that emotional journey and being able to show the life of the strawberry and the different touch points along the continuum that were wasteful, that really spoke to them,” Hillman says. “And then there are some people who are driven more from that rational facts and figures place. There are some people who were interested in the dichotomy between hunger as an issue in America and the idea of food waste, and we haven’t even tapped into that piece yet on the campaign.” Whatever the tactic or motivator, Hillman says they’ve consciously ensured “Save the Food” isn’t an anti-consumerism campaign. The NRDC and the Ad Council aren’t asking people to not shop or purchase the things they need. Rather, they’re urging consumers to only purchase what they know they’ll use. “It’s anti-abundance,” Hillman says.

Time to Harvest The campaign is only a little over a year old, but the audience appears to have taken note: » Since its launch in April 2016, the “Save the Food” website has garnered more than 1.2 million sessions. » About 55% of general market adults strongly agree that food waste is a major problem in the U.S., compared with 51% before the campaign. » Recognition of the campaign among mothers grew from 20% in April 2016 to 26% in December 2016. Among millennials, this number grew from 31% to 41%. » 57% of those aware of the “Save the Food” PSAs sought information. Mango says many people will send the campaign photos of the “Save the Food” posters and billboards they see in their town. They’ve also reached out to the campaign with questions for how to take action on a local level. “We want to be sending people posters, more tips, linking them with other partners on the ground,” Mango says. “We start to address some of the next steps into donations and things like that through our community management and social channels.” She acknowledges that it’s tricky to direct people appropriately because awareness campaigns are supposed to be broad efforts. As a result of requests, Mango says the team has been brainstorming ways people can leverage the national campaign locally by creating templated pieces for use in schools or designing draft letters. The campaign worked with the Nashville mayor’s office on the “Restaurant Food Saver Challenge,” for example, creating window clings and signs that offer half orders or reminders to take leftovers home. “We want to engage cities and we’re saying, ‘We want you to tackle waste on every level. Here’s our staff that can help you do that,’ ” Mango says. “But the easy way to start is implementing our campaign’s assets in the city.” By way of cities, “Save the Food” has made its way onto the sides of waste trucks and into farmers markets. Engagement and education have led the campaign efforts.

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Mike Walker, president and founder of Alter Action, a behavior-change marketing and consulting group, says with so many people who are unaware or haven’t given much thought to food waste, marketing is an appropriate first step. He argues, however, that marketing and advertising can only go so far when it comes to social behavior change. “If the only tool you have as an advertising agency is coming up with clever, catchy ads, then that’s what you’re going to throw at a behavior change challenge,” Walker says. Studies on the efficacy of public service advertising campaigns show they’re relatively ineffective at changing behavior. Walker says these campaigns are particularly good at the early stages of raising awareness about a problem and providing examples of explicit directions for what the audience should be doing. “Those two things are insufficient,” he says. “What you really need is a third piece of the triangle to drive behavior change, and that’s sometimes called choice architecture. The concept is that no decisions happen in a vacuum, so if you really want to have an impact, you need to understand and investigate the point at which people make decisions or act. Sometimes they make them subconsciously, sometimes they don’t think about them at all. You need to understand all the forces that are bearing down on that decision and that’s where you find opportunities.” Walker uses an example from his organization’s past work, which aimed to increase organ donors in the U.S. on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services. They found that the more anyone talked about organ donation, the more squeamish people became. They also learned of a decision point barrier: when the body came into the hospital. The emergency medicine doctors and transplant surgeons they spoke with said they would estimate that 70% to 75% of people who show up to the emergency room have no identification, making the “organ donor” label on a person’s ID basically null. The point of decision actually came down to what the next of kin had to say. As a result, the campaign focus shifted to educating these decision-makers on organ donation. Walker says the food waste issue has multiple decision points, including those at the store when purchasing food and at home when choosing how to store and cook it. The goal is to approach people at these critical points. The home is a much less complicated environment than the grocery store, he says, because the consumer has far more control and fewer influencers. “One thing that I like to see in campaigns like this are very explicit instructions for what people should do, and that’s one thing that advertising is great at,” Walker says. “I really like one example on the [“Save the Food”] homepage to keep herbs like cut flowers with their stems in a glass of water. That’s awesome advice. And it’s specific enough that I could do it. What goes wrong a lot of times with behavior change campaigns is we assume people know [what to do next] or we assume that they can translate from a broader goal to a specific behavior. You have to make that translation for them.”


Walker praises numerous parts of the “Save the Food” campaign, but says one statistic—that each person wastes almost 300 pounds of food every year—may have an unintentional effect: It may normalize the practice. “That’s probably an ineffective message,” Walker says. “It’s social norming the wrong behavior. This isn’t guilt necessarily, but what we think the research suggests is that if you look at this you conclude, ‘If we’re all throwing 300 pounds of food away, I’m not doing anything different than anybody else. So what?’ But a more effective approach is to show examples of how people are doing the right thing.” Another crucial piece of behavior change is to strip away all possible barriers on the path to making the correct decision. Walker says he would be thinking very hard about what happens once consumer meets food, and he says the prompts provided on the “Save the Food” website are an excellent start. He offers a few of his own examples that could reduce barriers to saving food: asking food grower associations to include tips on the produce stickers to make food last, or creating products that assist in keeping food fresh longer, such as freshnesspreserving containers. Walker says he has told clients to dismiss what consumers should be doing and consider what would actually make a difference in their current behaviors. If a consumer is handed a simple cup intended for herb storage, the barrier of rummaging through the pantry is eliminated. It doesn’t have to be a major barrier, he notes, but campaigns need to consider a “whatever it takes” approach.

One such solution could be through technology. “Save the Food” just partnered with Amazon’s Alexa to launch a skill whereby users can ask the device how to store food longer, determine if food is still edible and learn how to revive foods that are past their prime. Hillman says in the future, the ultimate integration could be looping in Amazon Fresh. Consumers could order their groceries through Amazon, and Alexa would know what was bought and could offer information on those items. “In the consumer journey, what are the different pieces we can look at or the tools we can give people?” Hillman says. “When they’re in their kitchen and they’re preparing food, what if they had a cutting board that has the right portions so they know how much to use and what is waste? How do we plug in and tie in? There are a lot of tech tools that will probably be part of the next iteration of this while we’re continuing to build awareness.” Whether reducing food waste will be the result of enough tips, tricks or webconnected kitchen tools is, as yet, unknown. Enough attention has been drawn, though, that Mango believes reducing food waste could be the next wave of environmental awareness. “Food is universal, it’s lifelong, it’s life-sustaining,” Mango says. “That is something that people care more about, whether it’s organics or sustainable or wasted. All of those issues, people are really passionate about. It’s connected to their daily life, it comes into their home and invokes memories. It’s an emotional connection they have. If that’s the way you need to find an emotional connection to greenhouse gases and climate change, great.” 

If you really want to

have an impact, you

need to understand and investigate the point

at which people make decisions or act. You need to understand

all the forces that are

bearing down on that

decision and that’s where you find opportunities.

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What Nonprofits Can Learn from the Met’s Rebrand About Customer Experience

Event Coverage

By Sarah Steimer

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f Coca-Cola can build emotional connections with a sugary beverage, why can’t mission-based nonprofits build relationships equally as strong? Cynthia Round, a cultural and nonprofit organization advisor, posed her question to the audience of the AMA’s 2017 Nonprofit Marketing Conference, explaining that brands such as Coca-Cola and Apple have earned status among consumers. These brands have considered what makes them irresistible to their mega fans and distilled these lessons down to their essence. She points to a Harvard Business Review article on how consumers prefer emotional connection to customer satisfaction. Nonprofits and cultural organizations can do the same, she says. “If you know how to build a human relationship, you know how to build a brand relationship,” says Round. “It’s built on trust, authenticity, consistency and it’s a two-way [street].” As senior vice president of marketing and external relations at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Round built a strong emotional connection between the institution and its visitors. Despite the museum’s notoriety, people in general were visiting cultural institutions less and less, and many didn’t even know the Metropolitan consists of three separate museums (even many New Yorkers missed this). “The burning question has always been: How is this brand significant in the lives of its users?” says Round. The Metropolitan had to fight the perception that it had become an elite institution. The museum wanted to make it more accessible to a more diverse audience. It found 34% of visitors are first-timers and 50% have not visited in many years. The consensus was that visitors were overwhelmed and underinformed, with 45% of visitors around the time of the survey saying they felt the Met wasn’t for “people like me.” Round chose to think of one question in particular to help her grow visitorship and loyalty: How is the Met significant in the lives of its users? This would help her study those who love the brand, the ideal patron. Surveys have found many people think museums are dark, historical and boring, but those who really loved the Met found it to be very lively. The idea, then, would be to bring life to art and art to lives, to increase reach and relevance. To do this, the organization undertook a rebranding that simplified its messaging. All three museums now fall under the oft-used nickname, The Met. The representative symbol was scrapped in favor of a wordmark. The user experience was streamlined online and in the museum, and even the guards received a bit of a wardrobe change. “We wanted to go beyond relevant to become irresistible,” Round says. “We want to invite visitors to use the museum, to make it part of their lives and work as a source of inspiration.”

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Cynthia Round speaks at the Nonprofit Marketing Conference.

The magic question is, how is our brand significant in the lives of our loyal users? You can expand that to grow support among many others.


The Met, on Fifth Avenue, saw a fiscal 2016 record high 7 million visitors, 37% of whom were 18 to 35 years old. The website had 32.5 million visitors, and the museum’s Instagram account had 1.4 million followers. The new wordmark made its way onto front-of-building banners, an obvious choice but missing in years past. “It was kind of arrogant not to have the sign out there, to just assume they would know,” Round says. The signage also resulted in a coherent social media presence as visitors snapped Instagram photos. The Met started inviting Instagram users in for #emptymet experiences, eventually expanding it for others looking for a deeper relationship with the museum. The website also features its own unique experience: The Met asked contemporary artists to discuss ancient art at the museum to illustrate how modern and ancient art are linked. The experiences didn’t stop there, with special late-night events directed at New Yorkers and collaborations with other cultural institutions for “Teens Take the Met” visits.

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As a result, the main location of The Met, on Fifth Avenue, saw a fiscal 2016 record high 7 million visitors, 37% of whom were 18 to 35 years old. The website had 32.5 million visitors, and the museum’s Instagram account had 1.4 million followers. Round suggests nonprofits and cultural institutions perform a brand audit: » Think about the specific things that trigger your institution’s identity in your mind. » What specific feelings do you experience in connection to it? » What personal memories or associations does your institution bring to mind? » Beyond the technical function it performs, what does your institution do for you that others do not? » How do the feelings and emotions it evokes in you differ from those of other institutions? » How do people who choose this institution differ from those who choose others? Round discussed, in particular, the importance of perforating the walls. She gave the example of the Art Institute of Chicago, which was tasked with generating excitement when it had the opportunity to display all three of Vincent Van Gough’s bedroom paintings. The museum partnered with Airbnb to create a bedroom that looked exactly like Van Gough’s that could be rented for $10 per night. The effort garnered $6 million in earned media and the museum had the highest daily attendance rate that it had in 10 years. “You have to view your brand as a relationship beyond experience and into a two-way conversation,” Round says. “The magic question is, how is our brand significant in the lives of our loyal users? You can expand that to grow support among many others. You still have to distill that to its essence, be clear about what the answer is to that question. Know and remember that everything you do, whether it’s security guards checking your bags or the way your accounting department handles a credit card issue, all of those are what you try to do to create a 360-degree experience and an irresistible relationship.” 


Middle Market Philanthropy Supports Engagement By Sarah Steimer

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Choosing the right organization can matter quite a bit for a he corporate philanthropy of yesteryear—images of company, as the America’s Charities report found 90% of survey CEOs handing over giant checks—has been made respondents said partnering with a reputable nonprofit enhances over. Middle market firms now have an opportunity their brand. to step up and get involved in philanthropic initiatives on a “Look for a strong alignment,” Miniutti says. “Once the level deeper than monetary contributions. Many are choosing company has identified some charities that are good candidates, personal causes, and they aim to connect with their internal we recommend that the company vet them to make sure that and external communities, steps that benefit both giver and they’re financially strong, accountable, transparent and that they recipient. can speak to the impact of their work.” The “Giving USA 2016” report by Charity Navigator showed Many individuals and companies choose a cause that’s that corporations donated $18.45 billion in 2015, a 3.9% very personal to their lives or the company’s mission. Bradley increase from the previous year, and corporate giving made Schmarak, senior partner at Reed Smith and global co-chair of up 5% of all U.S. charitable contributions. A 2015 report on its private equity practice, corporate philanthropy from is board chairman for the America’s Charities found Middle Market Open, an 60% of companies offer yearannual golf tournament round giving. The report also that benefits the National found 60% of small to midsize Kidney Foundation of Illinois. companies offer volunteer If the company is looking to build Schmarak says the event opportunities, 37% have goodwill among shareholders, began from a very personal payroll contributions and place for tournament 28% engage in matching gift consumers and regulators, then it’s creator Scott Lang. His options. then-wife worked for NKF The opportunities are important to see that there is an of Illinois. Lang reached out nearly endless for corporate for participants from the philanthropy. According authentic relationship between the companies he worked with to Sandra Miniutti, vice the most, pulling largely from president of marketing at company and the charity’s mission. the middle market business Charity Navigator, options community in Chicago. include direct contributions, Schmarak says middle participating in nonprofit market companies and the special events, attending firms that support them can galas and buying tables or have philanthropy built into participating in activities. their core. For example, 71% of lawyers at Schmarak’s firm did Some companies also allow their employees to take time off to pro bono work in 2016, coming out to 76,000 hours, or $40 volunteer or to use part of their work hours to donate their skills million in billable time. and expertise directly to a charity. “Oftentimes, the organizations that the middle market companies choose to embrace happen to have ties to the Choosing a Cause leadership of those organizations,” Schmarak says. “If you’ve got There are plenty of causes to choose from: The top recipients a CEO who is battling lung cancer, that company might choose of monetary charitable contributions in the U.S. include to work with the related charity that’s important to him or her. religious groups (33%), education (16%), human services (12%), That’s often what we see in pro bono: You have leadership where foundations (11%) and health-related groups (8%). Miniutti something is sparked in them and they want to get involved. says companies should find a cause they have a meaningful As they get more fulfillment from the work they’ve done, they connection with. make those opportunities available to their employees and other “If the company is looking to build goodwill among people in the company.” shareholders, consumers and regulators, then it’s important to Another option for companies that may not have a personal see that there is an authentic relationship between the company cause to pursue is to consider charities that clients or and the charity’s mission,” she says. 20


customers are already involved with. The National Center for the Middle Market explains close relationships with customers are key in this market, and demonstrating a tangible interest in the same causes as your clients is an opportunity to strengthen these relationships. Companies must involve employees in these decisions. The America’s Charities survey found employee engagement receives a boost when supported causes are those that employees are passionate about, not just those the leadership team chooses. “It’s helpful to give employees an opportunity to help select the causes that the company participates in,” Miniutti says. “There’s been lots of research showing that that’s much more powerful than having it be a top-down decision.”

Community-building Opportunities One of the lesser-discussed benefits of philanthropic involvement is the opportunity to work with others—both inside and outside of the company. Local volunteer work brings employees together and is a chance to showcase the company’s nonprofit work to the surrounding community. According to the America’s Charities survey, 86% of employers say employees expect them to provide opportunities to engage in the community. When working with other middle market companies, philanthropy can often lead to highly beneficial networking. Schmarak says the Middle Market Open is one of the few times the leadership of the Chicago business community comes together for a day of charity. “We’re used to working together, and now we’re coming together for competition, for fun and philanthropy,” Schmarak says. “There may be a dozen law firms [at the event], and we all compete for work every single day. But at the same time, we know each other, we respect each other, we refer deals to each other when we have conflicts. We know at the end of the day, there’s a likelihood these people are going to be on the other side of a deal with us, so it’s nice to have that personal relationship as well.” The board for the Middle Market Open includes about 35 people who meet once per month. Schmarak says the board members witness one another working on the strategy, planning and execution of the event. “Any number of people there have gotten work from other board members who have been impressed with the way they conduct themselves at the board meeting,” he says. “We’re doing this altruistically, but at the same time, if a board member who’s with a private equity fund thinks that one of the board members who’s an investment banker is doing a phenomenal job with strategy, vision and execution for the event, that person may likely say, ‘I like working with you in a pro bono context, I’d like to hire you for a deal.’”

PR and HR Benefits The main purpose of engaging in corporate philanthropy is to help others, but many middle market companies see public and

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human relations benefits as well. Millennials, in particular, are drawn to companies that give back. “Increasingly, there are studies coming out showing that millennials really care about the corporations that they work for and their social responsibility,” Miniutti says. “They look for companies where they have opportunities to give back, where it’s baked into the DNA of that organization. [Marketing and PR] have historically been where the focus is for companies getting involved in philanthropic activities, but we’re seeing increased data showing that it’s important for HR efforts as well.” The America’s Charities report says millennials expect their employers to support their involvement with causes. They consider a company’s social responsibility and support for philanthropic activities when deciding whom to work for. Seventy-seven percent of respondents to the survey believe offering employee engagement opportunities is key to attracting millennial employees. One of the benefits of hiring millennial employees may also be that they’re tech-savvy, and technology has begun to play a major role in corporate philanthropy: The America’s Charities report found 80% of respondents use technology to allow employees to give money, 65% use it to record volunteer hours and 69% use technology to sign up for volunteer events. Technology has also broken down barriers to entry for small and midsize businesses getting involved in charity. A company’s social media presence plays a powerful role in getting the word out about charitable giving. Compared with large companies that often have greater restrictions on employee social media use, the report found small and midsize companies believe their employees have higher expectations around social media tools that allow them to post content and promote causes to their peers. Fifty-six percent of employers incorporated social media tools into their giving program in 2015, the report found. Another promotional avenue is for the company to help disseminate a press release on behalf of a charity, as a for-profit company likely has more PR tools at its disposal, Miniutti says. This sort of give-and-take on the marketing side strengthens the partnership between the two, something the report found is important for companies of all sizes. Strong partnerships between reputable nonprofits and companies are a supreme benefit to all involved, as 90% of survey respondents say they enhance the brand. Partnerships, whether between colleagues, companies or nonprofits, may be the most important piece of middle market charity. They can help draw employees to a company and a cause. “I think the charity component plays a significant role,” Schmarak says of the Middle Market Open. “All of these participants can play golf at any course they want, anytime they want, but coming together and doing it for an organization like the NKF of Illinois makes the day a little bit different.” 


Event Coverage

3 Ways Nonprofits Can Compete with Corporations for Consumer Trust and Attention By Sarah Steimer

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t’s jarring for Lisa Sherman, president and CEO of the Ad Council, to compare what her life was like growing up to what it’s like to grow up in 2017. The amount of content and the rate at which it’s released is shocking; however, it’s this combination of young people and media today that makes for the ideal climate for nonprofits. Marketers know how to connect with people, Sherman says, by taking risks, by telling stories that move people; they make the audience laugh and cry. “Everything has changed except this: Content is still king, it’s just that the monarchy has collapsed,” Sherman says. Content is coming from everywhere and from everyone. With microtargeting and Big Data, finding the audience is easier than ever before, so Sherman says the focus is on the challenge of grabbing their attention. One of the greatest shifts in the sphere is that consumers now care more about content than the content creator or author. Nonprofits used to garner greater respect than corporations in this arena, but recent studies have found trust in nonprofits has dropped to the same level as corporate brands. “Your social currency is evaporating,” Sherman says of nonprofit marketers in the room. “If it’s entertaining or moving, they’ll click. If it’s not, they move on.”

1. Get Attention by Making Connections To get the audience to pay attention, especially as digital advertising is about to overtake television advertising, Sherman suggests starting with young people. Nonprofit marketers have the opportunity to connect with millennials’ sense of social awareness. 22

“[Millennials] would rather make change than cocktails,” Sherman says. “Forget big sales, they focus on big ideas instead.” Corporate America has clearly taken note of this, and Sherman noted that big brands are now playing in the nonprofit field with purpose-driven advertising. To compete, nonprofits need to keep an eye trained on their authenticity.

2. Personal Stories Telling a personal story is something Sherman learned firsthand has a massive impact. During her tenure at Verizon, she was never open about her sexual orientation, concerned that coming out as gay would affect her career. Before leaving the organization, she spoke with Verizon’s CEO about her decision to remain closeted, and their conversation prompted the executive to involve himself more actively in promoting diversity. “By sharing my story, by showing who we really are and being authentic, we change minds and open hearts and expand the imagination of everyone around us,” Sherman says. Sherman’s promise to herself to always remain authentic has followed her to the Ad Council. The organization tells stories that reveal common ground among audiences and help people understand their subconscious bias. One such place of bias, for example, lives in how marketers portray women. A study by Unilever found only 3% of ads today show women in a place of power, 2% show them as intelligent and a mere 1% of ads show women as having a sense of humor. Sherman points to one Ad council spot that had an opportunity to get things right: the “Love Has No Labels” video. The ad shows only the skeletons of people behind a screen 2017 AMA Nonprofit Marketing Conference

as they dance, kiss and make other positive gestures. When the people come out from behind the screen, they reveal they are a diverse group that includes LGBT couples, mixed-race couples, people with disabilities and more. The video was shared the world over, with 164 million views.

3. Speak for Your Would-be Supporters To Sherman, this proves people are hungry for positive, inspiring content. The Ad Council also worked with the NFL on a “Fans of Love” campaign, an extension of the “Love Has No Labels” campaign. The PSAs were filmed live at the NFL Pro Bowl and featured a twist on the traditional kiss cam by replacing it with an unbiased camera that features various forms of love. The goal was not to reach people who already agreed with diverse forms of love, but those who may not. Sherman encourages nonprofits to speak to those who haven’t yet embraced the message. “With powerful new tools and a new generation on your side, you can make change,” Sherman says. To emphasize her point, she offers the following advice: » Being a nonprofit is nothing more than a tax status. » Leave the audience feeling inspired, not depressed. » Tell stories, not stats. » Speak beyond your core audience. » You must be inclusive. Sherman urges nonprofit marketers to advocate within their organizations, think differently and focus on their audiences, not just policy reports. “Find some magic,” she says. “It’s that moment when you connect with your audience in the most convincing and unexpected ways.” 

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Lisa Sherman, president and CEO of the Ad Council


5 Ways Nonprofits Can Engage Donors By Vikas Mittal

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Charity Navigator report showed an estimated $373 billion was given to charitable causes in the U.S. in 2015, with 71% of donations coming from individuals. Individuals donate to a variety of nonprofit causes such as religion (33%), education (16%), human services (12%), health (8%) and public-society benefits (7%). Melinda Gates, a pioneer of the Giving Pledge initiative, argues: “Philanthropy is different around the world, but almost every culture has a long-standing tradition of giving back.” This statement suggests that people donate not just to give back, but to fulfill multiple motivations. Nonprofits can address five specific motivations to encourage donor engagement.

A 2013 study in the Journal of Marketing found that donation increased among symbolizers, but not among internalizers, when a nonprofit said the names of donors would be published on the charity’s website. Symbolizers also donated more when the nonprofit was willing to acknowledge the donation with a thank-you note. Cost-effective recognition mechanisms can increase donations among symbolizers in a nonprofit’s donor base. Lowcost recognition strategies that are effective include listing donor names on a website, sending thank-you notes and utilizing online tools and social media such as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

1. Moral Identity Formalized in 2002, moral identity is the extent to which the idea of being moral is important to a person’s self-concept. A 2009 study examined differences between men and women donating to victims of Hurricane Katrina or victims of terrorism in the U.S. or Middle East. The study found that men, in general, are less likely to donate than women. However, as the importance of moral identity increased, donation behavior increased among both males and females. Scores of studies with many samples of customers in different donation contexts and for a variety of nonprofits show the same conclusion: Donors who place a higher importance on moral identity also donate more. In addition to identifying current and potential donors who score high on moral identity through a survey, nonprofits can use simple communication strategies to activate the importance of moral identity among donors. Both of these approaches can enable charities to focus on donors with the highest giving potential.

2. Recognition Donor recognition is a cornerstone of fundraising. Nonprofits recognize donors in newsletters, on websites, by engraving their names on building facades, using ribbons pinned to donors’ jackets and sending them thank-you notes. Yet, donor recognition does not motivate all donors. Recognition may increase donations among donors who are symbolizers, but not among internalizers. Internalizers feel fulfilled by acknowledging the importance of donation to their own self; they do not need any social verification of the importance of donating. Symbolizers, on the other hand, feel fulfilled when others acknowledge their donation; social verification is crucial for symbolizers. As such, internalizers are uninfluenced by recognition, whereas symbolizers cherish it. The moral-identity scale mentioned earlier can be used to identify symbolizers.

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Scores of studies with many samples of customers in different donation contexts and for a variety of nonprofits show the same conclusion: Donors who place a higher importance on moral identity also donate more.

3. Time Versus Money Is donating time the same as donating money? Are time and money interchangeable means of donor engagement? Research in the 2007 issue of the Journal of Marketing shows that donors who place a higher importance on moral identity prefer to donate time than money, even when the opportunity cost of time and money is the same. This happens for two reasons: First, donors may see the act of giving time as embodying the values of care, social responsibility and being heartfelt. Second, donors may view the act of giving time as more self-expressive and engaging than writing a check. This is especially true when time is donated amid multiple other donors and volunteers. Donating time is more engaging and socially rewarding for donors than donating money. Nonprofits may start by asking donors to volunteer time. As engagement and self-expression increases, donors may be approached 2017 AMA Nonprofit Marketing Conference

for monetary donations. Even when they give a lot of money, donors can feel more committed if they also give time.

4. Charity Positioning Save the Children is a charity dedicated to helping children get a healthy start in life, an opportunity to learn and protection from harm. Such a charity should be equally attractive to all donors, but in a randomized study, respondents saw Save the Children either as a private charity or as a government-managed agency. Among those with high moral identity, Republicans were more likely to donate when the charity was positioned as a privately managed charity. In contrast, Democrats were more likely to donate when the charity was positioned as a governmentmanaged agency. Another study showed women were more likely to give to charities positioned as providing for other people—even strangers and distant others. In contrast, males were more likely to give to charities with a narrower focus. No doubt, the overall mission of a nonprofit is critical to gain donor support. Equally important is aligning the charity’s positioning with the broader set of attitudes and values of its donor base. Are the donors generally more conservative or liberal? Do they care more about local or global causes? Understanding these values can be very useful in soliciting donations. Identify issues that are important to donors, and align your nonprofit’s positioning and brand to be consistent with these issues and attitudes. This will require subtle changes in the messaging and positioning of a nonprofit, but it can go a long way in improving fundraising.

5. Social Media When donors were asked to like a charity’s profile on social media, donations decreased among some who liked the charity on social media, compared to those who did not. Termed “slacktivism,” the phenomenon of liking a nonprofit on social media serves two purposes: It fulfills a desire to present a positive image to others and a desire to be consistent with one’s own values. More generally, it serves the dual purpose of internalizing and symbolizing. Intriguingly, after liking a charity on social media, donors donated time and money if they saw the engagement as being meaningful. Thus, social media engagement can be a useful way to prime donors, but only if donors find the subsequent engagement to be meaningful.

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Social media engagement can be a useful way to prime donors, but only if donors find the subsequent engagement to be meaningful. Nonprofits can strategically use social media to initiate engagement among their donors. Coupling this with meaningful activities can help donors align their values with the nonprofit’s cause and feel more connected to it. Nonprofits should use social media as part of a larger plan to meaningfully engage donors.

Engage Donors by Treating Them as Customers Successful organizations long ago realized the complexity of customer needs; the same goes for donor needs. Identifying patrons with a strong sense of moral identity and understanding, whether they are internalizers or symbolizers is a key step for engaging them. Once donors are engaged, nonprofits can manage the engagement process in terms of donor time, money and social media presence. Finally, the nonprofit’s mission, while crucial, may not be the sole driver of donor engagement. Subtle tweaks to how the mission is communicated to donors can garner strong donor engagement. Insights to address these issues can be easily obtained via surveys and in-depth conversations with donors. 


Key Takeaways from Partner Speaker Sessions

1) Airbnb’s Social Impact Experience platform can be leveraged as a marketing tool for your cause. 2) Use travel to connect with other like-minded entrepreneurs in the social impact space. 3) Submit your ideas for a social impact experience on Airbnb!

1) Too much information can make finding the “right” decision next to impossible.

1) As nonprofits look to reach younger supporters and donors, they are increasingly turning to millennial adults and even K-12 students. 2) Two-thirds of the US population is affiliated with at least one school, which is why breaking into the education channel is key. And teachers are key influencers within the school community. 3) Nonprofits are having success with in-school fundraising, educating future supporters and advocates, and building awareness through schools.

2) Keep short- and long-term decision making in alignment with goals. 3) Use decision tools to keep teams focused on the larger strategic direction.

1) Learn what analytics data you should be analyzing. 2) Learn what data you’re spending too much time analyzing. 3) Create an analytics strategy that helps your nonprofit make website decisions moving forward.

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