Newsletter: This Cause Marketing Myth Drives Me Nuts 🥜 ; Puff Puff Give Donates to Local Nonprofits 💨 ; Your Zodiac Sign is 2,000 Years Out of Date ♎️
Do you know what I’m absolutely sick of hearing? That small nonprofits can’t do cause marketing. Like it’s some exclusive strategy only big players like St. Jude can pull off because they spend millions on marketing and have a partnership team of 100, or some crazy number like that.
It’s such bullshit.
Here’s the truth: small nonprofits can do cause marketing, and do it really well.
Consider Capuchin Soup Kitchen in Detroit. They’re not St. Jude, far from it. They don’t even have a saint in their name! It’s just a bunch of friars running a soup kitchen on half a million in annual revenue. Yet they’ve built a legendary cause-marketing partnership with Buddy’s Pizza that’s raised millions since 1976.
BTW, Buddy’s isn’t some neighborhood pizza joint. It’s a regional chain with 23 locations across Michigan.
Slice for Life began when employees at the original Buddy’s voted to support the Capuchins. Today, Buddy’s donates 20% of sales one day a year and auctions off vintage pizza pans. 100% of the proceeds go to the soup kitchen. In 2024 alone, the event raised nearly $100,000. Since its inception, Buddy’s has donated over $4 million.
Capuchin isn't some mega-charity with a huge partnership team. It’s a working soup kitchen that turned a neighborhood pizza parlor into a long-running cause marketing powerhouse. The religious angle is far from being a cross. It anchors trust, community resonance, and authenticity.
So if you’ve ever thought “we’re too small / too niche / too faith-based / too under-resourced” to run cause marketing—think again. Capuchin and Buddy’s prove that purpose + local credibility + creative execution = big results, no matter your size.
✍️ Partnership Notes
In my "Partnership Notes" section, I share stellar corporate partnership programs and show you how to do your job better!
1. Local bookseller donates proceeds of politician's book to immigrants.
💡Small businesses can do cause marketing, too! A small, family-owned bookstore, People’s Book in Takoma Park, Maryland, has surpassed $7,000 for local nonprofits supporting immigrants and asylum seekers.
Cause marketing doesn’t take a million-dollar budget—just values, creativity, and a good local partner.
2. Puff goes the cause marketing.
💡 A local cannabis shop in my town has a great cause marketing program called Puff Puff Give. Samantha Woodman at Garden Remedies Cannabis kindly shared all the details with me.
"Overall, the program was created to connect with like-minded non-profits and call awareness to the selected non-profit's mission coupled with $1 donation for every Puff Puff Give pre-roll sold during a selected month. In the wholesale sheet you will see it says $0.50 because the partner does half the donation and we match it, if they do not want to match it then we do the full $1 donation per pre-roll sold. We do understand, though, that cannabis is still federally illegal, so non-profits that get federal funding may choose to refuse our donation. Most recently, we have donated to Embrace Boston ($2,373), the Last Prisoner Project ($5,615), and Paws 4 Survival ($1,719) over these past three months."
3. 15 experiential tactics that made a racket at the US Open.
💡 At the 2025 US Open, brands turned sponsorships into experiences: AmEx with glow-tennis and POV videos, Dove with an “Underarm Ambassador” social media push, Evian with a star-studded dinner on hydration. The lesson for partnership pros? Great activations don’t just show logos—they create moments people want to share.
🤑 Marketing Your Cause
In my "Marketing Your Cause" section, I share strategies for growing your brand and audience—two key ingredients for securing more partnerships.
1. Rethinking the preheader: A simple change that nearly doubled revenue.
💡 Preheader text is the line of copy that shows up next to or below the subject line in most inboxes. It’s prime real estate, and I carefully craft mine for this newsletter because it's prime real estate.
Every email lands with three things: your name, the subject line, and the preheader. Most people ignore that last one. They shouldn’t.
As one marketer found out: "A recent A/B test I ran delivered a 95.6% increase in revenue-per-email (RPE)—yes, nearly double the control. And all we changed was the preheader text."
2. Are you forgetting the -ING in your fundraising writing?
💡 Progressive -ING verbs act like a time machine in your copy. They pull partners into the moment to feel like they’re right there—coughing, tightening, fluttering—instead of reading a flat report of what happened. Sprinkle them at crucial moments to make your writing more vivid and memorable (but don’t overdo it). Small tweaks, big impact.
3. Bye, 'Leukemia & Lymphoma'! Hi to Blood Cancer United
💡 Leukemia & Lymphoma Society just rebranded to Blood Cancer United, signaling unity across 100+ blood cancer types. But the bigger story is how they launched: with NASDAQ, Good Morning America, Roku, ESPN, and more all amplifying the message. That’s not just a rebrand, it’s a partnership strategy. Clear, inclusive branding gives companies a stronger reason to stand with you.
😎 Cool Jobs in Cause
In my "Cool Jobs in Cause" section, I share open partnership positions so you can discover your next adventure.
1. Director, Corporate Initiatives, Alzheimer's Association, NYC ($120k-$155k)
2. Assistant Director, Corporate and Civil Society Partnerships, UNICEF USA, Remote ($81k-$106k)
🧠🍌 Brain Food
In my "Brain Food" section, I share things that spark inspiration, fuel curiosity, and bring a smile to your face!
1. Trump administration pauses work on annual federal worker charity drive.
💡 I did consulting work for the Combined Federal Campaign years ago. Sure, it had seen better days, but it was still effective. No taxpayer dollars, costs covered by charities, and, most importantly, a proven way for federal employees to support causes nationwide. Pausing it stalls $66 million in charitable impact when charities really need the dough. Or is that the point?
2. Your zodiac sign is 2,000 years out of date.
💡 So, let me get this straight: I'm not a Libra? I'm a Virgo. This is really throwing my scales off! ⚖️
3. It's berry season in the garden!
💡 The birds and wildlife love them! These aren’t just plants. They’re four-star buffets for my furry and feathered friends.
From left to right: Jack-in-the-Pulpit showing off its fiery red seed tower. American Spikenard dripping with juicy (but seedy!) fruit. John Adams Elderberry weighed down with clusters. Possumhaw Viburnum is glowing with its mix of pink and blue berries.
