Charitable Marketing

Project Overview
In this project you will select a cause (charity or non-profit) that you are personally interested and then you will select a Fortune 500 company that is currently not involved with your selected cause and propose a potential strategic partnership that benefits both sides equally.

The justification you select for combining the cause (charity) and the company you choose is very important and should not be taken lightly. Simply jamming two organizations together will not suffice. I expect a well-developed, clearly articulated set of reasons why you feel the company and the cause organization will BOTH benefit from this strategic partnership. A common mistake student’s make in this project is they simply choose a wealthy corporation to fund a poorly funded cause. This is not what this project is about. I am seeking a solid connection between the company and the cause with little focus on just the finances.

You are to create a full marketing plan that would logically combine your selected cause with your selected corporation. I define a cause as an activity that benefits a non-profit organization or initiative. An example could be the Red Cross or the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Cause marketing refers to a type of marketing involving the cooperative efforts of a “for profit” business and a non-profit organization for a mutual benefit. The paper you will deliver to me is a persuasive document that connects the two organizations and your justification for suggesting this partnership.

Please use the following paper format outline

Section One: Executive Summary
A paragraph that introduces both the cause and the company providing an overview as to why you see a potential partnership. This should be a concise set of statements that does not get too into the details of the pairing.
Section Two: Elevator Speech, the Description
Imagine you are telling a stranger your new idea why the cause you have selected needs a corporate partner. You need to be able to communicate your basic idea in just one breath, not that easy to do. Write what you would say. Don’t worry about slick phrasing; just get the idea across in two or three sentences. This needs to be presented clearly in your marketing plan.

Section Three: Target Audience Description
Who might want your product or service? Don’t be afraid to be creative here. Imagine that you can find any group or type of person, no matter how specific: left-handed Jewish dentists, working mothers, whoever. Crazy ideas are sometimes the easiest to develop because the market is so well defined. Who cares about this cause and why? If you can’t define the group that is most aligned with this cause then you are sunk. *Important suggestion: get data. If you want to support say a cause that reduces homelessness in Antigua then you need to tell me how many people are homeless in that country (market). You need to put a scope to your cause (problem) otherwise you cannot create a justification why a major corporation would adopt it as a partnership.
Come up with at least three different audiences that may benefit from resolving this problem and why. Please clearly mark them “Audience 1”,
”Audience 2”, and 
”Audience 3”.
Section Four: Persuasive Appeal to the Corporation
Now ask yourself, WHY would the corporation you chose want to target this group? What problem is solved, or what benefit received? Most importantly, how does it align with their current market and customer base? Example: If you say you would like Dell Computer to help reduce illiteracy, does that make sense to combine that company and that cause? Potential reasons include:
-People must be able to read in order to use a computer
-Dell is already involved in other areas of educational assistance as a charity
-Michael Dell’s parents were involved in education so he as background in education

You need to find the common appeals to both parties that may save money, improve a process, help relief support staff to work faster, etc.
What is special about each audience? How do their special needs or desires match the special qualities of your company’s primary products or services?
The value of a marketing plan is that we can TARGET our distinct audiences with special messages and cause marketing sharpens that message even further. We as marketers try to craft our appeal and our marketing piece to meet the special needs of a defined audience. In this project you need to research both audiences, the cause and their supporters and the corporation and their market targets.
Section Five: Persuasive Appeal to the Cause
A cause or charity often has a specific focus and identity that they will not want to compromise simply because they have found a corporate partner. Share with me why you see a match for the cause in this paragraph and again please do not simply say it is because the charity needs money. Hint: Often very senior executives of companies have a life experience with the topic or issue the cause addresses, an example could be breast cancer or drunk driving. See if you can find a logical connection between the company and the cause and provide some details in this section.

Section Six: Communications Medium
The medium is the form of communication, which will deliver your message. It could be the internet, a magazine, a newspaper, or a mailer addressed to a list you buy from a list broker. Between libraries and the internet, you can find a way to reach any audience. More and more companies are using social media outlets to target their audiences as well. It is fast, inexpensive and potentially viral in nature so a cause/company combination can see exposure to both brand and cause very quickly.
Write ideas next to each audience/persuasive appeal. Again, let your imagination go: imagine the perfect means to reach the audience. Then imagine another way. The object is to come up with several ideas so you can make a choice.
Section Seven: The Marketing Connections
In this section please take your ideas and share with me where and how you would apply them to actual products
Products and Services 

The information in this category could vary depending on the purpose of the plan, you don’t need to list every product or service they offer, just a clear overview of the business. If this is a company wide marketing plan then all primary products and services should be listed briefly giving a good description of what each of them can provide. If this marketing plan were specific to a product, then a description in more detail would better suit the marketing plan.
Financial Feasibility This section is optional as it would be nearly impossible to do for a project like this so please do not stress. If you are able to find any details as to how the company funds partnerships such as this then you may choose to include those details. I suggest you look in a company’s Corporate Social Responsibility report or other outward marketing programs to see if they share any financials around other programs. It is likely they will not have much if any data so do not be discouraged. If you can’t find this information then please do not feel compelled to make something up.

Mission/ Vision / Objectives
Not to be confused with the Company Mission, this statement is what you would like to get out of the marketing program of your partnership. If this is a marketing program for a single product, then this statement should state what your company expects out of the product and they plan to achieve this as a result of the partnership. This is also an opportunity for you to choose a specific product or service from the many products or services and tell me why you think that product aligns especially well with your cause and why rather than trying to link all products or services to the cause.
If one of the objectives is to make 50,000 people aware of your new product then this is something that should be included in your objectives. You can also include company objectives in this section if they are directly affected by your marketing. For instance, if your goal is to make one million dollars in sales the first year, then this is an objective that comes in direct contact with the marketing program. Think of this as the goal of the plan. If your plan is successful the following things will happen…
Competitive Environment
Here is where you need to outline the competitive environment of your market. This would include any competitors whether they are in direct or indirect competition. You may find that all of your company’s competitors already have public partnerships with other causes. If that is the case then there is an expectation of stakeholders in that industry to have outreach programs. If there are not many partnerships then perhaps this could become a competitive advantage. Try to provide a more in-depth how you plan to effectively market against the competition. This section should outline direct competition’s weaknesses and how you plan to capitalize on these weaknesses to grab the market share.
Situation Analysis
There are two effective marketing tools that can be used in a situation analysis purpose. The SWOT analysis or the BCG Dot Matrix. (Please refer to textbook for these two items if you are not familiar with the formats.
For an in-depth analysis include both the SWOT Analysis and the BCG Dot Matrix in the Situation analysis. These diagrams can compare your products to your competitors and help you to determine the best approach for winning your section of the market. I expect you to create either a SWOT analysis or a BCG matrix for this report.