I responded more fully on Joe’s blog but I’ll sum up quickly here: a transaction that generates goodwill is a gift. A transaction that generates wealth is capitalism. Both can be revenue streams for a nonprofit’s bottom line. But only the first one is a gift.

I’m appreciating learning all the ins and outs of CM, so thanks for swinging by.

I’m always glad to see Cause Marketing discussed as a topic, because I think the more people that learn about the values (and downsides; heck, everything has a downside) of CM, the better. However, on its face, your definition and examples of cause marketing are narrow and incomplete: ‘…a portion of the sale’s proceeds will be contributed to charity’, is merely a slice in the Cause Marketing pie.

Whether you believe that is the end all/be all of Cause Marketing, or it was an incorrect truism (all % of sales are Cause Marketing, but not all Cause Marketing is % of sales), you take away from your own argument by that genarlization. Either way, I still don’t agree w/ you, so, again, anyway…

In this case you’re right. People can’t choose the charity, BUT they can choose to give. Studies have shown that given the choice between two similar products with similar prices, they choose the one that gives more often than not. They’re choosing the one that gives to a charity & without making that choice the charity gets less. Gift.

It looks like the foundational sticking point to calling it a gift is that it benefits a for-profit. Which is highly understandable, as we’ve seen some for-profits that shirk responsibilities at the expense of others *cough-BP-cough*. Cause Marketing will never replace straight donations and gift-giving, but when a gift is delivered to a non-prof’s door, even if it helped a for-profit, I’m not going to reflexively look that gift-horse in the mouth.

There’s no tax-deduction for buying. This actually makes the case that this is a true gift, as people are doing it to do good, not to get back or a tax deduction; I’m not too worried that the gov’t doesn’t consider it a gift — I don’t get a deduction when I give my friend a gift for his birthday, but I’m gonna still call it a gift.
Gift.