Newsletter: Your Fall Sponsorship Strategy Starts Now 🤝 ; Cause Marketing is Getting More Complicated ⚖️ ; Museum Shows How Not to Waste a Good Story 🐋

One of the biggest mistakes nonprofits make is assuming companies plan sponsorships the same way they do.

They don’t.

While many nonprofits won’t begin thinking seriously about next year’s sponsorships until the fall—or even later—many large companies have already started. Budgets are being drafted, priorities are being discussed, and employees are beginning the process of securing internal approvals.

By the time many organizations send their first proposal, some sponsorship decisions have already been made.

So what should you be doing right now?

Join Larry Weil (aka The Sponsorship Guy) and me as we discuss how to position your organization before the planning window closes. We’ll cover:

• How large companies actually plan their sponsorship calendars.

• Why understanding the internal approval process gives you an advantage.

• The marketing assets that help sponsors say “yes,” including case studies, sponsorship pages, and landing pages.

• How to get on a company’s radar before you ask for support.

• Whether submitting through a company’s online sponsorship application is really your best move.

If you’re hoping to secure sponsorships this fall—or even next spring—the work starts now!

👉 ​Click “Attend” on LinkedIn to get a reminder​

✍️ Partnership Notes

Two partnership insights that matter.

⚖️ ​Cause marketing is getting more complicated​.
A new legal update from Karen Wu at Perlman & Perlman highlights a growing trend: states are paying closer attention to cause marketing campaigns, from charitable sales promotions to checkout donations and online fundraising platforms. The result? More registration requirements, disclosure rules, and compliance obligations for companies and nonprofits alike.

Joe’s Take: Cause marketing has come a long way from slapping a charity’s logo on a product. As these partnerships become more sophisticated—and more common—regulators are taking a closer look. Karen also notes that the new 1% corporate charitable deduction floor could lead more companies to structure partnerships as marketing or business expenses rather than charitable contributions. (I wrote about this very issue ​earlier this year​.) As companies rethink how they fund and structure these initiatives, legal compliance becomes even more important. That’s not a reason to avoid cause marketing. It’s a reminder to involve legal counsel early so a great partnership doesn’t get tripped up by preventable compliance issues.

🤑 Marketing Your Cause

One move you should steal.

😂 ​Don’t waste a good story​.
When someone gave the Massachusetts' own New Bedford Whaling Museum a one-star Google review and called it the “Worst Aquarium Ever,” the museum could have ignored it—or gotten defensive. Instead, it embraced the joke, printing the review on T-shirts, sweatshirts, and tote bags. The result? A viral marketing campaign that generated hundreds of online orders, national media coverage, and new visitors to the museum.

Joe’s Take: Every nonprofit has stories hiding in plain sight. Maybe it’s a funny review, an unexpected comment from a donor, or a memorable moment from a volunteer. We spend so much time trying to create marketing that we sometimes overlook the stories our community is already telling. Authenticity is hard to manufacture, but easy to amplify.

😎 Cool Jobs in Cause

Find your next adventure.

🤝 Director of Corporate Partnerships, ​Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida​, Orlando, FL

🤝 Director of Corporate Partnerships, ​Happy Hearts Fund​, Washington, DC

🤝 Director, Corporate Partnerships, ​GBH​, Boston, MA

🧠🍌 Brain Food

One thing that is feeding my thinking.

🤔 ​When does sponsorship become the story?​
Historian Kevin Levin has a hot take on a new USAA-sponsored digital monument on the National Mall honoring the 41 million Americans who have served in the military. His concern isn’t the tribute itself, but whether the sponsorship competes with the remembrance it was intended to honor.

Joe’s Take: Every partnership has to answer the same question: Who is the hero? The best corporate partnerships in our space elevate the cause, not the company. When the sponsor becomes more memorable than the mission, it’s worth asking whether the balance has shifted too far. What do you think?