Today on CauseTalk Radio, Megan and I talk to Mollye Rhea, President of For Momentum, an Atlanta-based cause-related marketing agency.

With Mollye, we tackle one of the toughest issues for nonprofits - how to identify, sell and close new corporate partnerships. It's not easy! Fortunately, we have one of the best partnership experts in the business on today's show. 

Since Mollye founded For Momentum in 2003, she's helped over 60 clients with projects ranging from setting strategy to valuing campaign ROI. She and her team have created and grown more than 75 partnerships, raising tens of millions for non-profit clients and directing millions in support to corporate clients.

On today's show we discuss...

Today on CauseTalk Radio, Megan and I talk to Mason Wartman, owner of Rosa's Fresh Pizza in Philadelphia. Over the past several month's Mason has become a media darling for his efforts to feed the homeless in his neighborhood. He's even appeared on Ellen!

Like all great ideas, Mason's is simple but powerful. When customers buy a slice of pizza they can buy another for someone in need. Rosa's walls are lined with sticky notes and well wishes that the homeless can redeem for a slice.

Since the program began last year, Rosa's has given away nearly 11,000 slices in a neighborhood that needs all extra dough it can get.

Today on CauseTalk Radio, Megan and I talk to Maureen Carlson, President, and Brittany Hill, Vice President of Research and Insights at Good Scout Group, a social good consultancy, about their 2015 Cause Alliances Trend Report.

Megan, Maureen, Brittany and I dig into three of the ten industry trends in the report: data-driven cause alliances, emerging industries and franchise growth.

Today on CauseTalk Radio, Megan and I talk to Alison DaSilva, Executive Vice President, Cone Communications about how fabulous it is to work in cause marketing - and how you can join us!

Alison, Megan and I get calls and emails every week from people who want a job in cause marketing. Most of them are recent college graduates, or might already be already working in fundraising, marketing, advertising or public relations. 

What they all share is a desire to work at the intersection of philanthropy, marketing and business.

So, how do you get a job in cause marketing? 

Today on CauseTalk Radio, Megan and I talk to Tanya Coventry-Strader, Managing Director of Bear Marketing Communications at Build-A-Bear Workshop about their Share Your Heart program to benefit Make-A-Wish.

For the second year in a row, Build-A-Bear will commemorate Valentine's Day by asking customers to donate a dollar or more at checkout in their stores or online. Last year, the fundraiser raised $440,000.

Since the first Build-A-Bear opened in 1997, the chain has donated $41 million to charities.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm a huge history buff! I'll study just about any era or event, but I'm particularly interested in U. S. History during the 18th and 19th centuries.

As a cause marketer, I'm obviously interested in the history of cause marketing. I have a hypothesis that it all started in Boston (like all good things do), but I have yet to prove it!

There are plenty of other events in cause marketing history, many of which are not included in my infographic. But it's a start!

I hope you enjoy the history lesson.

Today on CauseTalk Radio, Megan and I talk to Ken Ungar, Founder & President of U/S Sports Advisors. Ken is a "newsjacking" expert and author of the book Ahead of the Game: What Every Athlete Needs to Know About Sports Business.

Newsjacking, which Ken defines as "When a brand takes advantage of a popular story or topic and inserts itself in the news cycle," is becoming an increasingly popular tactic for companies that want to ride the wave of someone else's popularity. But can it work for nonprofits and causes?

Last month, I wrote a post for Hubspot titled 5 Ways Blogging Can Advance Your Nonprofit Career (and 3 Ways to Get Started). I heard from several people who agreed that blogging would be a great way to advance their nonprofit careers. But they wanted more information on the tools I use to blog so consistently - and on my best days - so effectively.

Here's the list. I've noted the tools that are are free or have a free version or trial. What tools would you add to my list?

Today on CauseTalk Radio, Megan and I talk to Michael Hoffman, CEO of See3 Communications. See3 is a Chicago-based firm that provides strategy, video and web services to nonprofits and social causes.

Megan and I have known Michael for some time and respect him as a leading authority in online video for nonprofits.

That's why less than a week before Super Bowl XLIX, which will be a face-off between my New England Patriots and Megan's Seattle Seahawks, we asked Michael to join us on the show. We knew he wouldn't take sides and would talk about something we were all cheering for: the Super Bowl ads.

Today on CauseTalk Radio, Megan and I talk to Joe Hamlin, Director, Corporate Development at Cleveland Clinic about the growth of the hospital's cause marketing program from zero to $750,000.

The growth of the program is impressive in light of the clinic's small cause marketing staff, which also handles sponsorships and traditional corporate giving - among other things.

The two-person team - Joe and senior director Chris McMahan - are a formidable duo (think Batman and Robin)!

Today on CauseTalk Radio, Megan and I talk to Clark Sweat, Chief Corporate Partnership Officer at Children's Miracle Network (CMN). 

Clark oversees 85 corporate partnerships that raised $205 million in 2014. Ninety percent of those dollars come from point-of-sale programs. And 50 percent of that money comes from just one POS program: charity pinups!

In December, Selfish Giving celebrated its 10th anniversary. For almost as long as I’ve been blogging, I’ve been writing an annual post on the best cause marketing promotions. 

I love writing this post because you love reading it! It always ignites a lot of interest in cause marketing.

Every year, I choose cause marketing promotions that are both successful and aspirational.

Which one is your favorite? Did your favorite promotion make my list, or did I pass it over? I'd love to hear from you!

I can't believe it's already the end of 2014! But I'm having fun looking ahead to 2015 - and looking back at the successes and challenges of the past year. So much accomplished, but so much more left to do!

I wrote dozens of posts on my blog this past year, and I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. I wrote many more posts for other sites that are definitely worth checking out.

Here are the top ten cause marketing posts from my blog in 2014. 

I'm blogging abroad this week with two great posts on two great websites - Wild Apricot and Network for Good! The first is on sponsorship and the second is on fundraising - specifically donation boxes.

Check them out!

I really don't like making predictions, but I do like writing about the future of cause marketing. So I've combed through my 2014 posts to cull three cause marketing expectations for the upcoming year and beyond.

Let's come together next December to see which predictions came true and which ones didn't!

I do my best to keep track of holiday cause marketing promotions. I have boards for Super Bowl Sunday, Valentine's Day, Halloween, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, World AIDS Day and #GivingTuesday.

But my biggest collection of pins by far is for Christmas. I have over 120 examples of Christmas cause promotions on this Pinterest board. In sorting through them over the weekend, I found several campaigns that made me laugh, shake my head and cringe.

How could I not share them with you!

Today on CauseTalk Radio, Megan and I talk to Pinterest expert Jason Miles. He's a 20-year veteran of the nonprofit world and the author of three books, including Pinterest Power. Jason and his wife are also the founders of Sew Powerful, a nonprofit that teaches sewing and tailoring skills to women in Zambia.

Jason, Megan and I discuss why nonprofits can't ignore Pinterest any longer and easy ways to get started on the site.

Today on CauseTalk Radio, Megan and I talk to Russell Sparkman, CEO, Content Strategy for FusionSpark Media about new research on the content marketing practices of nonprofit professionals.  

With Blackbaud and the Content Marketing Institute, FusionSpark Media has published its second annual Nonprofit Content Marketing 2015: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends.

Russell, Megan and I discuss what is content marketing, the key to its success, the elements of a content marketing plan and why content is the future of fundraising success!